FROM 
 THE 
 
 r T 
 
 RHODES - SOLIMAN'S MOSQUE 
 
 OF 

 
 <D
 
 " Your swarthy hero Scanderbeg, 
 Gauntlet on hand and boot on leg, 
 And skilled in every warlike art, 
 Riding through his Albanian lands, 
 And following the auspicious star 
 That shone for him o'er Ak-Hissar" 
 LONGFELLOW
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES 
 
 A STORY OF THE TIMES OF SCANDERBEG 
 
 AND 
 THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE 
 
 BY JAMES M. LUDLOW, D.D., LITT.D 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 
 1890
 
 Copyright, 1886, by DODD, MEAD & Co. 
 Copyright, 1890, by JAMES M. LUDLOW. 
 
 Electrotyped by Dodd, Mead &* Co.
 
 SRLF. 
 
 URL 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE story of the Captain of the Janizaries originated, 
 not in the author's desire to write a book, but in the 
 fascinating interest of the times and characters he has 
 attempted to depict. It seems strange that the world 
 should have so generally forgotten George Castriot, 
 or Scanderbeg, as the Turks named him, whose career 
 was as romantic as it was significant in the history of 
 the Eastern Mediterranean. Gibbon assigns to him but 
 a few brief pages, just enough to make us wonder that 
 he did not write more of the man who, he confessed, 
 "with unequal arms resisted twenty-three years the 
 powers of the Ottoman Empire." Creasy, in his history 
 of the Turks, devotes less than a page to the exploits 
 of one who " possessed strength and activity such as 
 rarely fall to the lot of man," " humbled the pride of 
 Amurath and baffled the skill and power of his suc- 
 cessor Mahomet." History, as we make it in events, 
 is an ever - widening river, but, as remembered, it is 
 like a stream bursting eastward from the Lebanons, 
 growing less as it flows until it is drained away in the 
 desert. 
 
 Though our story is in the form of romance, it is 
 more than " founded upon fact." The details are drawa 
 from historical records, such as the chronicles of the
 
 vi PREFACE. 
 
 monk Barletius a contemporary, though perhaps a 
 prejudiced admirer, of Scanderbeg the later Byzantine 
 annals, the customs of the Albanian people, and scenes 
 observed while travelling in the East. 
 
 The author takes the occasion of the publication of 
 a new edition to gratefully acknowledge many letters 
 from scholars, as well as notices from the press, which 
 have expressed appreciation of this attempt to revive 
 popular interest in lands and peoples that are to reap- 
 pear in the drama of the Ottoman expulsion from Eu- 
 rope, upon which the curtain is now rising.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 FROM the centre of the old town of Brousa, in 
 Asia Minor old even at the time of our story, 
 about the middle of the fifteenth century rises an 
 immense plateau of rock, crowned with the fortress 
 whose battlements and towers cut their clear outlines 
 high against the sky. An officer of noble rank in the 
 Ottoman service stood leaning upon the parapet, 
 apparently regaling himself with the marvellous pan- 
 orama of natural beauty and historic interest which 
 lay before him. The vast plain, undulating down, to 
 the distant sea of Marmora, was mottled with fields 
 of grain, gardens enclosed in hedges of cactus, 
 orchards in which the light green of the fig-trees 
 blended with the duskier hues of the olive, and dense 
 forests of oak plumed with the light yellow blooms of 
 the chestnut. Here and there writhed the heavy 
 vapors of the hot sulphurous streams springing out of 
 the base of the Phrygian Olympus, which reared its 
 snow-clad peak seven thousand feet above. The 
 lower stones of the fortress of Brousa were the me- 
 mentoes of twenty centuries which had drifted by them 
 since they were laid by the old Phrygian kings. The
 
 2 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 flags of many empires had floated from those walls, 
 not the least significant of which was that of the Otto- 
 man, who, a hundred years before, had consecrated 
 Brousa as his capital by burying in yonder mausoleum 
 the body of Othman, the founder of the Ottoman 
 dynasty of the Sultans. 
 
 But the Turkish officer was thinking of neither the 
 beauty of the scene nor the historic impressiveness 
 of the place. His face, shaded by the folds of his 
 enormous turban, wore deeper shadows which were 
 flung upon it from within. He was talking to himself. 
 
 " The Padishah* has a nobler capital now than this, 
 across the sea there in Christian Europe. But by 
 whose hands was it conquered ? By Christian hands ! 
 by Janizaries ! renegades ! Ay, this hand ! " he 
 stripped his arm bare to the shoulder and looked upon 
 its gnarled muscles as he hissed the words through 
 his teeth <: this hand has cut a wider swathe through 
 the enemies of the Ottoman than any other man's ; a 
 swathe down which the Padishah can walk without 
 tripping his feet. And this was a Christian's hand 
 once ! Well may I believe the story my old nurse 
 so often told me, that, when the priest was dropping 
 the water of baptism upon my baby brow, this hand 
 seized the sacred vessel, and it fell shattered upon 
 the pavement. Ah, well have I fulfilled that omen ! " 
 
 The man walked to and fro on the platform with 
 quick and jarring step, as if to shake off the grip of 
 unwelcome thoughts. There was a majesty in his 
 mien which did not need the play of his partially sup- 
 pressed fury to fascinate the attention of any who 
 *A title of the Sultan.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 3 
 
 might have beheld him at the moment. He was tall 
 of stature, immensely broad at the shoulders, deep 
 lunged, comparatively light and trim in the loins, as 
 the close drawn sash beneath the embroidered jacket 
 revealed : arms long ; hands large. He looked as if 
 he might wrestle with a bear without a weapon. His 
 features were not less notable than his form. His 
 forehead was high and square, with such fulness 
 at the corners as to leave two cross valleys in the 
 middle. Deep-set eyes gleamed from beneath broad 
 and heavy brows. The lips were firm, as if they had 
 grown rigid from the habit of concealing, rather than 
 expressing, thought, except in the briefest words of 
 authority, Caesar-lips to summarize a campaign in a 
 sentence. The chin was heavy, and would have 
 unduly protruded were it not that there were needed 
 bulk and strength to stand as the base of such prom- 
 inent upper features. Altogether his face would have 
 been pronounced hard and forbidding, had it not been 
 relieved as remarkably by that strange radiance with 
 which strong intelligence and greatness of soul some- 
 times transfigure the coarsest features. 
 
 These peculiarities of the man were observed and 
 commented upon by two officers who were sitting in 
 the embrasure of the parapet at the farther end of the 
 battlement. The elder of the two, who had grown 
 gray in the service, addressed his comrade, a young 
 man, though wearing the insignia of rank equal to 
 that of the other. 
 
 " Yes, Bashaw,* he is not only the right hand of the 
 Padishah, but the army has not seen an abler soldier 
 
 * Bashaw ; an old name for pasha.
 
 4 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 since the Ottoman entered Europe. You know his 
 history ? " 
 
 " Only as every one knows it, for in recent years he 
 has written it with his cimeter flashing through battle 
 dust as the lightning through clouds," replied the 
 young officer. 
 
 The veteran warmed with enthusiasm as he nar- 
 rated, " I well remember him as a lad when he was 
 brought from the Arnaout's* country. He was not 
 over nine years of age when Sultan Mahomet con- 
 quered the lands of Epirus, where our general's 
 father, John Castriot, was duke. As a hostage young 
 George Castriot was brought with his three brothers 
 to Adrianople." 
 
 " Are his brothers of the same metal ? " asked the 
 listener. 
 
 " Allah only knows what they would have been had 
 
 not state necessity " The narrator completed 
 
 the sentence by a significant gesture, imitating the 
 swirl of the executioner's sword as he takes off the 
 head of an offender. 
 
 " But George Castriot was a favorite of the Sultan, 
 who fondled him as the Roman Hadrian did his beau- 
 tiful page, Antinous. And well he might, for a lad 
 more lithe of limb and of wit never walked the ground 
 since Allah bade the angels worship the goodly 
 form of Adam.f Once when a prize was offered for 
 the best display of armor, and the provinces were 
 represented by their different champions in novel 
 
 * Arnaout ; Turkish for Albanian, a corruption of the old 
 Byzantine word Arvanitse. 
 f Koran, Chap. II.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 5 
 
 helmets and corselets and shields, none of which 
 pleased the imperial taste, it was the whim of the 
 Padishah to have young Castriot parade before the 
 judges panoplied only in his naked muscle, and to 
 order that the prize should be given to him, together 
 with the title Iscanderbeg.* And well he won it. 
 In the after wrestling matches he put upon his hip the 
 best of them, Turcomans from Asia, and Moors from 
 Africa, and Giaoursf from the West. And he was as 
 skilful on a horse's legs as he was on his own. His 
 namesake, Alexander, could not have managed Bu- 
 cephalus better than he. I well remember his game 
 with the two Scythians. They came from far to have 
 a joust with the best of the Padishah's court. They 
 were to fight singly : if one were overthrown, the 
 other, after the victor had breathed himself, was to 
 redeem the honor of his comrade. Scanderbeg sent 
 his spear-head into the throat of his antagonist at the 
 first encounter, when the second barbarian villain 
 treacherously set upon him from the rear. The young 
 champion wheeled his horse as quickly as a Dervish 
 twists his body, and with one blow of his sword, 
 clove him in twain from skull to saddle." 
 
 " Bravo ! " cried the listener, " I believe it, for look 
 at the arm that he has uncovered now." 
 
 " It is a custom he has," continued the narrator. 
 " He always fights with his sword-arm bared to the 
 shoulder. When he was scarce nineteen years old he 
 was at the siege of Constantinople, in 800 of the 
 
 * Iscander-Beg ; or The Lord Alexander, 
 f Giaours ; a term of reproach by which the Turks designate 
 the unbelievers in Mahomet, especially Christians.
 
 6 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 Hegira,* with Sultan Amurath. His skill there won 
 him a Sanjak.f Since that time you know his career." 
 
 "Ay! his squadrons have shaken the world." 
 
 " He has changed of late, however , grown heavy 
 at the brows. But he comes this way." 
 
 As the general approached, the two bashaws bowed 
 low to the ground, and then stood in the attitude of 
 profound obeisance until he addressed them. His 
 face gleamed with frank and genial familiarity as he 
 exchanged with them a few words ; but it was again 
 masked in sombre thoughtfulness as he passed on. 
 
 Near the gate by which the fortress was entered 
 from the lower town was gathered a group of soldiers 
 who were bantering a strange looking creature with 
 hands tied behind him evidently some captive. 
 
 " What have you here ? " said Scanderbeg. ap- 
 proaching them. 
 
 " That we cannot tell. It is a secret," replied the 
 subaltern officer in charge of the squad, making a low 
 salam, and with a twinkle in his eyes which took from 
 his reply all semblance of disrespect. 
 
 " But I must have your secret," said the general 
 good-naturedly. 
 
 " It is not our secret, Sire," replied the man, " but 
 his. He will not tell us who he is." 
 
 " Where does he belong ? What tongue has he, 
 Aladdin ? You who were once interpreter to the Bey 
 of Anatolia should know any man by his tongue." 
 
 " He has no tongue, Sire. He is dumb as a toad. 
 
 * 800 of the Hegira ; 1422 of the Christian era. 
 f Sanjak ; a military and administrative authority giving the 
 possessor command of *,ooo horse.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. ^ 
 
 His beard has gone untrimmed so long that it has 
 sewed fast his jaws. He has not performed his 
 ablutions since the last shower washed him, and his ears 
 are so filled with dirt plugs that he could not hear a 
 thunder clap." 
 
 The face of the captive seemed to strangely interest 
 the general, who said as he turned away, " Send him to 
 our quarters. The Padishah has taken a fancy to deaf 
 mutes of late. They overhear no secrets and tell no 
 tales. We will scrape him deep enough to find if he 
 has a soul. If he knows his foot from his buttocks he 
 will be as valued a present to His Majesty as a fifth 
 wife.* Send him to our quarters." 
 
 The general soon returned to the fortress. A room 
 dimly lighted through two narrow windows that 
 opened into a small inner court, and contained a divan 
 or couch, a table, and a motley collection of arms, was 
 the residence of the commandant. A soldier stood by 
 the entrance guarding the unfortunate captive. 
 
 "You may leave him with me," said Scanderbeg 
 approaching. 
 
 The man was thrust into the apartment, and stood 
 with head bowed until the guard withdrew. The gen- 
 eral turned quickly upon him as soon as they were 
 alone. 
 
 " If I mistake not, man, though your tongue be 
 tied, your eye spake to me by the gate." 
 
 " It was heaven's blessing upon my errand reflected 
 there," replied the man in the Albanian language. " I 
 bear thee a message from Moses Goleme, of Lower 
 
 * The Moslems are allowed four wives. Beyond this number 
 their women can be only concubines.
 
 8 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 Dibria, and from all the provinces of Albania, from 
 every valley and every heart." 
 
 " Let me hear it, for I love the very flints on the 
 mountains and every pebble on the shore of old Alba- 
 nia," replied Scanderbeg eagerly. 
 
 " Heaven be praised ! Were my ears dull as the 
 stones they would open to hear such words," said the 
 man with suppressed emotion. " For since the death 
 of thy noble father " 
 
 " My father's death ! I had not heard it. When ? " 
 exclaimed the general. 
 
 " It is four moons since we buried him beneath the 
 holy stones of the church at Croia, and the Sultan sent 
 us General Sebaly to govern in his stead." 
 
 " Do you speak true ? " cried Scanderbeg, laying his 
 hand upon the man's shoulder and glaring into his 
 face. " My father dead ? and a stranger appointed in 
 his stead ? and Sultan Amurath has not even told me ! 
 Beware, man, lest you mistake." 
 
 " I cannot mistake, Sire, for these hands closed the 
 eyes of John Castriot after he had breathed a prayer 
 for his land and for his son one prayer for both. 
 Moses Goleme was with us, for you know he was thy 
 father's dearest friend and wisest counsellor, and to 
 him thy father gave charge that word should be sent 
 thee that to thee he bequeathed his lands." 
 
 " Stop ! Stop ! " said Scanderbeg, pacing the little 
 room like a caged lion. " Let me think. But go on. 
 He did not curse me, then ? Swear to me," and he 
 turned facing the man " swear tome that my father 
 did not curse me with his dying breath ! Swear it ! " 
 
 " I swear it," said the man, " and that all Albania
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 9 
 
 prays to-day for George Castriot. These are the tid- 
 ings which the noble Moses bade me bring thee, 
 though I found thee at the Indus or under the throne 
 of the Sultan himself. I have no other message. 
 That I might tell thee this in the free speech 
 of Albania I have kept dumb to all others. If 
 it be treason to the Sultan for thee to hear it, let 
 my head pay the penalty. But know, Sire, that our 
 land will rest under no other rule than that of a 
 Castriot." 
 
 " A Castriot ! " soliloquized the general. " Well, it 
 is a better name than Scanderbeg. Ho, guard ! Take 
 this fellow ! Let him share your mess ! " 
 
 When alone the general threw himself upon the 
 divan for a moment, then paced again the apartment, 
 and muttered to himself 
 
 " And for what has a Castriot given himself to the 
 Turk ! Yet I did not betray my land and myself. 
 They stole me. They seduced my judgment as a 
 child. They flattered my conceit as a man. Like a 
 leopard I have fought in the Padishah's arena, and for a 
 leopard's pay the meat that makes him strong, and 
 the gilded cage that sets off his spots. I have led his 
 armies, for what ? For glory. But whose glory ? The 
 Padishah cries in every emergency, ' Where is my 
 Scanderbeg ? Scanderbeg to the rescue ! ' But it 
 means, ' Slave, do my bidding ! ' And I, the tinselled 
 slave, bow my head to the neck of my steed, and the 
 empire rings with the tramp of my squadrons, and the 
 praise of Scanderbeg's loyalty ! Pshaw ! He calls me 
 his lightning, but he is honored as the invisible Jove 
 who hurls it. And I am a Castriot ! A Christian ! Ay,
 
 10 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 a Christian dog, * indeed, to fawn and lick the hands 
 of one who would despise me were he not afraid of 
 my teeth. He takes my father's lands and gives them 
 to another ; and I I am of too little account to be 
 even told ' Thy father is dead.' " 
 
 Scanderbeg paused in the light that streamed 
 through the western window. It was near sunset, and a 
 ruddy gleam shot across the room. 
 
 " This light comes from the direction of Albania, 
 and so there comes a red gleam blood red from 
 Albania into my soul." 
 
 He drew the sleeve of the left arm and gazed at a 
 small round spot tattooed just above the elbow the 
 indelible mark of the Janizary. 
 
 " They that put it there said that by it I should 
 remember my vow to the Padishah. And, since I can- 
 not get thee out, my little talisman, I swear by thee 
 that I shall never forget my vow ; no, nor them that 
 made my child-lips take it, and taught me to abjure 
 my father's name, my country's faith, and broke my 
 will to the bit and rein of their caprice. It may be 
 that some day I shall wash thee out in damned 
 Moslem blood. But hold ! that would be treason. 
 Scanderbeg a traitor ? How they will hiss it from 
 Brousa to Adrianople ; from the lips of Vizier and pot- 
 carrier ! But is it treason to betray treason ? But 
 patience ! Bide thy time, Castriot ! " 
 
 A slight commotion in the court drew the attention 
 of Scanderbeg. In a moment the sentry announced : 
 
 " A courier from His Majesty ! " 
 
 The message told that the Ottoman forces had been 
 
 * The Moslems call Christians dogs.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 1 1 
 
 defeated in Europe the noted bashaw, Schehadeddin, 
 having been utterly routed by Hunyades. The missive 
 called the Sultan's " always liege and invincible servant, 
 Scanderbeg, to the rescue ! " Within an hour a 
 splendid suite of officers, mounted on swift and gaily 
 caparisoned steeds, gathered about the great general, 
 and at the raising of the horse-tail upon the spear- 
 head, dashed along the road to the coast of Marmora 
 where vessels were in waiting to convey them across to 
 the European side. Scanderbeg had but a moment's 
 interview with the dumb captive, sufficient to whisper, 
 
 " Return our salutation to the noble Moses Goleme ; 
 and say that George Castriot will honor his confidence 
 better in deeds than he could in words. I know not 
 the future, my brave fellow, and might not tell it if I 
 did, even to ears as deaf as yours. But say to Goleme 
 that Castriot swears by his beard by the beard of 
 Moses that brighter days shall come for Albania even 
 if they must be flashed from our swords. Farewell ! " 
 
 The man fell at the general's feet and embraced 
 them. Then rising he raised his hand, " By the beard 
 of Moses ! Let that be the watchword between our 
 people and our rightful prince. Brave men scattered 
 from Adria to Hsemus will listen for that watchword. 
 Farewell, Sire. By the beard of Moses ! " 
 
 Scanderbeg summoned a soldier and said sternly, 
 " Take this fellow away. He is daft as well as dumb 
 and deaf. Yet treat him well. Such creatures are 
 the special care of Allah. Take him to the Bos- 
 phorus that he may cross over to his kin, the Greeks, 
 at Constantinople."
 
 12 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A LITTLE hamlet lay, like an eagle's nest, high on 
 the southern slope of the Balkan mountains. 
 The half dozen huts of which it consisted were made 
 of rough stones, daubed within and without thick with 
 clay. The roofs were of logs, overlaid with mats of 
 brushwood woven together by flexible withes, and 
 plastered heavily. The inhabitants were goatherds. 
 Their lives were simple. If they were denied indul- 
 gence in luxuries, they were also removed from that 
 contact with them which excites desire, and so 
 were contented. They seldom saw the faces of any 
 from the great world, upon so large a portion of which 
 they looked down. Their absorbing occupation was 
 in summer to watch the flocks which strolled far away 
 among the cliffs, and in winter to keep them close to 
 the hamlet, for then terrific storms swept the moun- 
 tains and filled the ravines with impassable snow. 
 
 Milosch and his good wife, Helena Ma'ika Helena, 
 good Mother Helena, all the hamlet called her were 
 blessed with two boys. Their faces were as bright as 
 the sky in which, from their lofty lodgings, they might 
 be said to have made their morning ablutions for the 
 eleven and twelve years of their respective lives. Yet 
 they were not children of the cherubic type ; rather 
 tough little knots of humanity, with big bullet-heads 
 thatched over with heavy growths of hair, which 
 would have been red, had it not been bleached to a 
 light yellow by sunshine and cloud-mists. Instead of 
 the toys and indolent pastimes of the nursery they had
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES, 13 
 
 only the steep rocks, the thick copse, the gnarled 
 trees, and the wild game of the mountains for their 
 play-things. They thus developed compactly knit 
 muscles, depth of lung and thickness of frame, which 
 gave agility and endurance. At the same time, the 
 associations of their daily lives, the precipitous cliff, 
 the trembling edge of the avalanche, the caves of 
 strange beasts, the wild roaring of the winds, the 
 awful grandeur of the storms, the impressive solitude 
 which filled the intervals of their play like untranslat- 
 able but mighty whispers from the unknown world 
 taking the place of the prattle of this, these fostered 
 intrepidity, self-reliance, and balance of disposition, 
 if not of character. For religious discipline they had 
 the occasional ministrations of a Greek priest or 
 missionary monk from the Rilo Monastir, many leagues 
 to the west of them. They knew the Creed of Nicaea, 
 the names of some of the saints ; but of truly divine 
 things they had only such impressions as they caught 
 from the great vault of the universal temple above 
 them, and from the suggestions of living nature at 
 their feet. 
 
 By the side of Milosch's house ran or rather 
 climbed and tumbled, so steep was it that road over 
 the Balkans, through the Pass of Slatiza, by which 
 Alexander the Great, nearly two thousand years 
 before, had burst upon the Moesians. Again, within 
 their father's memory, Bajazet, the " Turkish Light- 
 ning " as he was called because of the celerity of his 
 movements, had flashed his arms through this Pass, 
 and sent the bolts of death down upon Wallachia, and 
 poured terror even to the distant gates of Vienna.
 
 14 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 Often had Milosch rehearsed the story of the terrible 
 days when he himself had been a soldier in the army 
 of the Wallachian Prince Myrtche ; and showed the 
 scar of the cut he had received from the cimeter of a 
 Turkish Janizary, whom he slew not far from the site 
 of their home. 
 
 Their neighbor, Kabilovitsch, a man well weighted 
 with years, not only listened to these tales, but added 
 marvellous ones of his own ; sometimes relating to the 
 wars of King Sigismund of Hungary, who, after Prince 
 Myrtche, had tried to regain this country from the 
 cruel rule of the Moslems ; more frequently, however, 
 his stories were of exploits of anonymous heroes. 
 These were told with so much enthusiasm as to create 
 the belief that the narrator had himself been the actor 
 in most of them. For Kabilovitsch was a strange 
 character in the little settlement ; though not the less 
 confided in because of the mystery of his previous life. 
 He had come to this out-of-the-way place, as he said, 
 to escape with his little daughter the incessant raids 
 and counter-raids of Turks and Christians, which kept 
 the adjacent country in alarm. 
 
 Good Uncle Kabilovitsch as all the children of the 
 hamlet called him named his daughter, a lass of ten 
 summers, Morsinia, after the famous peasant beauty, 
 Elizabeth Morsiney, who had so fascinated King 
 Sigismund. 
 
 Morsinia often braided her hair, and sat beneath 
 her canopy of blossoming laurel, while Constantine, 
 the younger of Milosch's boys, dismounted from the 
 back of his trained goat at the mimic threshold, and 
 wooed her on bended knee, as the good king wooed
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 15 
 
 the beautiful peasant. Michael, the elder boy, was 
 not less ardent, though less poetic, in the display of 
 his passion for Morsinia. A necklace of bear's claws 
 cut with his own hand from a monster beast his 
 father had killed ; a crown made of porcupine quills 
 which he had picked up among the rocks ; anklets of 
 striped snake skin these were the pledges of his love, 
 which he declared he would one day redeem with 
 those made of gems and gold that is, when he should 
 have become a princely warrior. 
 
 To Constantine, however, the little maiden was 
 most gracious. It was a custom in the Balkan villages 
 for the young people, on the Monday after Easter, to 
 twist together bunches of evergreens, and for each 
 young swain to kiss through the loops the maid he 
 loved the best. With adults this was regarded as a 
 probationary agreement to marry. If the affection 
 were mutually as full flamed the following Easter, the 
 kiss through the loop was the formal betrothal. 
 Constantine's impatience wreathed the evergreens 
 almost daily, and, as every kiss stood for a year, there 
 was awaiting them if the good fairies would only 
 make it true some centuries of nuptial bliss. 
 
 The little lover had built for himself a booth 
 against the steep rocks. Into this Morsinia would 
 enter with bread and water, and placing them upon 
 the stone which answered for a table, say, in imitation 
 of older maidens assuming the care of husbands, " So 
 will I always and faithfully provide for thee." Then 
 she would touch the sides of the miniature house with 
 a twig, which she called her distaff, saying, " I will 
 weave for thee, my lord, goodly garments and gay."
 
 l6 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 She would also sit down and undress and redress her 
 doll, which Constantine had carved from wood, and 
 which they said would do for the real baby that the 
 bride was expected to array, in the ceremony by which 
 she acknowledged the obligations of wifehood.* 
 
 But Michael was not at all disconsolate at this pref- 
 erence shown his brother ; for he knew that Morsinia 
 would prefer him to all the world when she heard 
 what a great soldier he had become. Indeed, on some 
 days Michael was lord of the little booth ; and more 
 than once the fair enchantress put the evergreen loop 
 around both the boys in as sincere indecision as has 
 sometimes vexed older hearts than hers. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 IN the winter of 1443 a few months subsequent to 
 the events with which our story begins the Pass 
 of Slatiza echoed other sounds than the cry of the 
 eagle, the bleating of the flocks, and the songs and 
 halloos of the mountaineers. Distant bugle calls 
 floated between the cliffs. At night a fire would flash 
 from a peak, and be suddenly extinguished, as another 
 gleamed from a peak beyond. Strange men had gone 
 up and down the road. With one of these Uncle 
 Kabilovitsch had wandered off, and been absent sev- 
 eral days. Great was the excitement of the little folks 
 when Milosch told them that a real army was not far 
 *These are still Servian customs.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 17 
 
 off, coming from the Christian country to the north of 
 them, and that its general was no other than the great 
 Hunyades, the White Knight of Wallachia called so 
 because he wore white armor the son of that same 
 King Sigismund and the fair Elizabeth Morsiney. 
 How little Morsinia's cheeks paled, while those 
 of the boys burned, and their eyes flashed, as 
 their father told them, by the fire-light in the cen- 
 tre of their cabin, that the White Knight had already 
 conquered the Turks at Hermanstadt and at Vasag 
 and on the banks of the Morava, and was if the story 
 which Milosch had heard from some scouts were true 
 preparing to burst through the Balkan mountains, and 
 descend upon the homes of the Turk on the southern 
 plains. Little did they sleep at night, in the excite- 
 ment of the belief that, at any day, they might see the 
 soldiers real soldiers, just like those of Alexander, 
 and those of Bajazet tramping through the Pass. 
 The tremor of the earth, occasioned by some distant 
 landslide, in their excited imagination was thought 
 to be due to the tramp of a myriad feet. The hoot of 
 the owl became the trumpet call for the onset : and the 
 sharp whistle of the wind, between leafless trees and 
 along the ice-covered rocks, seemed like the whizzing 
 flight of the souls of the slain. 
 
 Once, just as the gray dawn appeared, Kabilovitsch, 
 who had been absent for several days, came hurriedly 
 with the alarming news that the Turks, steadily retir- 
 ing before the Christians, would soon occupy the 
 Pass. They were already coming up the defiles, as 
 the mists rise along the sides of the mountains, in 
 dense masses, hoping to gain such vantage ground
 
 1 8 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 that they could hurl the troops of Hunyades down 
 the almost perpendicular slopes before they could 
 effect a secure lodgment on the summit. The chil- 
 dren and women must leave herds and homes, and fly 
 instantly. The only safe retreat was the great cave, 
 which the mountaineers knew of, lying off towards the 
 other Pass, that of Soulourderbend. 
 
 The fugitives were scarcely gone when the moun- 
 tain swarmed with Moslems. The mighty mass of 
 humanity crowded the cliffs like bees preparing to 
 swarm. They fringed the breastworks of native rock 
 with abattis made of huge trunks of trees. During 
 the day the Turks had diverted a mountain stream, so 
 that, leaving its bed, it poured a thin sheet of water 
 over the steepest part of the road the Christians were 
 to ascend. This, freezing during the night, made a 
 wall of ice. The Christians were thus forced to leave 
 the highway and attempt to scale the crags far and 
 near ; a movement which the Turks met by spreading 
 themselves everywhere above them. Upon ledges 
 and into crevices which had never before felt the 
 pressure of human feet clambered the contestants. 
 Every rock was empurpled with gore. Turkish tur- 
 ban and Hungarian helmet were caught upon the same 
 thorny bush ; while the heads which had worn them 
 rolled together in the same gully, and stared their 
 deathless hatred from their dead eyes. 
 
 The Turks in falling back discovered the mouth of 
 the cave in which the peasants had taken refuge. As 
 the Moslem bugles sounded the retreat, lest they 
 should be cut off by the Christians who had scaled 
 the heights on their flanks, they seized the women and
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 19 
 
 children, who soon were lost to each other's sight in 
 the skurry of the retiring host. The hands of Con- 
 stantine were tied about the neck, and his legs about the 
 loins, of a huge Moslem, to whose keeping he had 
 been committed. An arrow pierced the soldier to the 
 heart. 
 
 It seemed as if more than keenness of eye some 
 inspiration of his fatherly instinct led Kabilovitsch 
 on through the vast confusion, far down the slope, 
 outrunning the fugitives and their pursuers, avoiding 
 contact with any one by leaping from rock to rock 
 and darting like a serpent through secret by-paths, 
 until he reached the horsemen of the Turks, who had 
 not been able to follow the foot-soldiers up the steep 
 ascent. He knew that his little girl would be given 
 in charge to some one of these. He, therefore, con- 
 cealed himself in the growing darkness behind a clump 
 of evergreen trees, close to which one must pass in 
 order to reach the horses. A moment later, with the 
 stealth and the strength of a panther, he leaped upon 
 a Turk. The man let go the tiny form of the girl 
 he was carrying ; but, before he could assume an 
 attitude of defence, the iron grip of Kabilovitsch was 
 upon his throat, and the steel of the infuriated old 
 man in his heart. Under the sheltering darkness, 
 carrying his rescued child, Kabilovitsch threaded 
 his way along ledges and balconies of rock projecting 
 so slightly from the precipitous mountain that they 
 would have been discerned, even in daylight, by no 
 eye less expert than his own. At one place his way 
 was blocked by a dead body which had fallen from the 
 ledge above, and been caught by the tangled limbs of
 
 20 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 the mountain laurel. Without relinquishing his load, 
 he pushed with his foot the lifeless mass down through 
 the entanglement, and listened to the snapping of the 
 bushes and the crashing of loosened stones, until the 
 heavy thud announced that it had found a resting 
 place. 
 
 " So God rest his soul, be he Christian or Paynim ! " 
 muttered the old man. " And now, my child, are you 
 frighted ? " 
 
 " No, father, not when you are with me," said Mor- 
 sinia. 
 
 " Could you stand close to the rock, and hold very 
 tight to the bush, if I leave you a moment ? " 
 
 " Yes, father, I will hold to the bush as tight as it 
 holds to the rock." 
 
 Kabilovitsch grasped a root of laurel, and, testing 
 it with main strength, swung clear of the ledge, until 
 his foot rested upon another ledge nearly the length of 
 his body below. Bracing himself so that he spanned 
 the interval with the strength of a granite pillar, he 
 bade the child crawl cautiously in the direction of his 
 voice. As she touched his hands, he lifted her with 
 perfect poise, and placed her feet beside his own 
 on a broad table rock. 
 
 " Now, blessed be Jesu, we are safe ! Did I not 
 tell you I would some day take you to a cavern which 
 no one but Milosch and I had ever seen ? Here it is. 
 Unless Sultan Amurath hires the eagles to be his 
 spies as they say he does no eye but God's will see 
 us here even when the sun rises. You did not know, 
 my little princess, what a coward your old father had 
 become, to run away from a battle. Did you, my
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 21 
 
 darling ? " said he kissing her. " Never did I dream 
 that Ar , that Kabilovitsch would fly like a fright- 
 ened partridge through the bushes. But my girl's 
 heart has taken the place of my own to-night." 
 
 As he spoke he slipped from his shoulders the 
 rough cape, or armless jacket, of bear-skin, and wrapped 
 the girl closely in it. He then carried her beneath 
 the roof of a little cave, where he enfolded her in his 
 arms, making his own back a barrier against the cut- 
 ting night wind and the whirling snow. The cold was 
 intense. Thinking only of the danger to the already 
 half-benumbed and wearied body of the child, he took 
 off his conical cap, and unwound the many folds of 
 coarse woollen cloth of which it was made, and with it 
 wrapped her limbs and feet. 
 
 Thus the night was passed. With the first streak of 
 the dawn Kabilovitsch crept cautiously from the 
 ledge, and soon returned with the news that the Turks 
 had. vanished, swept away by the tide of Christian 
 soldiers which was still pouring over and down the 
 mountain in pursuit. 
 
 Horrible was the scene which everywhere greeted 
 them as they clambered back toward the road. The 
 dead were piled upon the dying in every ravine. Red 
 streaks seamed the white snow channels in which the 
 current of many a life had drained away. The road 
 was choked with the hurrying victors. But the old 
 man's familiarity with the ground found paths which 
 the nimble feet of the maid could climb ; so that the 
 day was not far advanced when they stood on the site 
 of their home. Scarcely a trace of the little hamlet 
 remained. Whatever could be burned had fed the
 
 22 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 camp-fires of the preceding night. The houses had 
 been thrown down by the soldiers in rifling the grain 
 bins which were built between their outer and inner 
 walls. 
 
 The old man sat down upon the door-stone of what 
 had been his home. His head dropped upon his 
 bosom. Morsinia stood by his side, her arm about his 
 neck, and her cheek pressed close to his, so that her 
 bright golden hair mingled with his gray beard as 
 in certain mediaeval pictures the artist expresses a 
 pleasing fancy in hammered work of silver and gold. 
 They scarcely noticed that a group of horsemen, more 
 gaily uniformed than the ordinary soldiers, had halted 
 and were looking at them. 
 
 " By the eleven thousand virgins of Coin ! I never 
 saw a more unique picture than that," said one who 
 wore a skull cap of scarlet, while an attendant carried 
 his heavy helmet. " If Masaccio were with us I 
 would have him paint that scene for our new cathedral 
 at Milano, as an allegory of the captivity in Babylon." 
 
 " Rather of the captivity in Avignon. It would be 
 a capital representation of the Holy Father and his 
 daughter the Church," replied a companion laughing. 
 " Only I would have the painter insert the portrait of 
 your eminence, Cardinal Julian, as delivering them 
 both." 
 
 " That would not be altogether unhistoric ; for the 
 deliverance was not wholly wrought until our time," 
 replied the cardinal, evidently gratified with the flat- 
 tering addition which his comrade, King Vladis- 
 laus, had made to his pleasing conceit. " But 
 if to-day's victory be as thorough as it now
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 23 
 
 looks, and we drive the Turks out of Europe, it would 
 serve as a picture of the captivity in which the 
 haughty, half-infidel emperor of the Greeks and his 
 daughter, Byzantium, will soon be to Rome." 
 
 " But, by my crown," said Vladislaus, "and with due 
 reverence for the great cardinal under whose cap is 
 all the brain that Rome can now boast of I think the 
 Greeks will find as much spiritual desolation in 
 Mother Church as these worthy people have about 
 them here." 
 
 " I can pardon that speech to the newly baptized 
 king of half-barbarian Hungary, when I would not 
 shrive another for it," replied Julian petulantly. " The 
 son of a pagan may be allowed much ignorance 
 regarding the mystery of the Holy See. But a truce 
 to our badgering ! Let us speak to this old fellow. 
 Good man, is this your house ? By Saint Cathe- 
 rine ! the girl is beautiful, your highness." 
 
 " It was my home, Sire, yesterday, but now it is his 
 that wants it," replied Kabilovitsch. 
 
 " And where do you go now ? " asked the cardinal. 
 
 " Towards God's gate, Sire ; and I wish I might see 
 it soon, but for this little one," said the old man, 
 rising. 
 
 " Holy Peter let you in when you get there," 
 rejoined His Eminence, turning his horse away. 
 
 " Hold ! Cardinal," replied the king. " I am sur- 
 prised at that speech from you. You have tried to 
 teach me by lectures for a fortnight past that Rome 
 has temporal as well as spiritual authority, all 
 power on earth as well as in heaven. Now, by Our 
 Lady ! you ought to help this good man over
 
 24 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 his earthly way towards God's gate, as well as 
 wish him luck when he gets there. But the priest 
 preaches, and leaves the laity to do the duties of 
 religion. Credit me with a good Christian deed to ; 
 balance the many bad ones you remember against me, 
 Cardinal, and I will help the man. The golden hair 
 of the child against the old man's head were as good 
 an aureole as ever a saint wore. And that Holy Peter 
 knows, if the Cardinal does not. Ho, Olgard ! Take 
 the lass on the saddle with you. And, old man, if you 
 will keep close with your daughter, you will find as good 
 provision behind the gate of Philippopolis as that in 
 heaven, if report be true. And, by Saint Michael ! 
 if we go dashing down the mountain at this rate we 
 will vault the walls of that rich Moslem town as 
 easily as the devil jumped the gate of Paradise." 
 
 Kabilovitsch trudged by the side of Olgard, who 
 held Morsinia before him. It was hard for the old 
 man to keep from under the hoofs of the horses as 
 the attendant knights crowded together down the 
 narrow and tortuous descent. Suddenly the girl 
 uttered a cry, and, clapping her hands, called, 
 
 " Constantine, Constantine ! " 
 
 The missing lad, emerging from a copse, stood for 
 an instant in amazement at the apparition of his little 
 playmate ; then dashed among the crowd toward her. 
 
 " Drat the witch ! " said a knight between the 
 legs of whose horse the boy had gone aiming at him 
 a blow with his iron mace. Constantine would have 
 been trampled by the crowding cavalcade, had not the 
 strong hand of a trooper seized him by his ragged 
 jacket and lifted him to the horse's crupper.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 25 
 
 " So may somebody save my own lad in the moun- 
 tains of Carpathia ! " said the rough, but kindly 
 soldier. 
 
 " Ay, the angels will bear him up in their hands, 
 lest he even dash his foot against a stone, for thy 
 good deed," exclaimed a monk, who, with hood 
 thrown back, and almost breathless with the effort to 
 rescue the lad himself, had reached him at the same 
 moment. 
 
 " Good Father, pray for me ! " said the trooper, 
 crossing himself. 
 
 "Ay, with grace," replied the monk, extricating 
 himself from the crowd, and hasting back to the side 
 of a wounded man, whom his comrades were carrying 
 on a stretcher which had been extemporized with an 
 old cloak tied securely between two stout sap- 
 lings. 
 
 As night darkened down, the plain at the base of 
 the mountain burst into weird magnificence with a 
 thousand campfires. The Turks were in full retreat 
 toward Adrianople, and joy reigned among the 
 Christians. It was the eve of Christmas. The stars 
 shone with rare brilliancy through the cold clear 
 atmosphere. 
 
 " The very heavens return the salutation of our 
 beacons," said King Vladislaus. 
 
 A trumpet sounded its shrill and jubilant note, 
 which was caught up by others, until the woods and 
 fields and the mountain sides were flooded with the 
 inarticulate song, as quickly as the first note of a bird 
 awakens the whole matin chorus of the summer 
 time.
 
 26 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 Cardinal Julian, reining his horse at the entrance to 
 the camp, listened as he gazed 
 
 " ' And with the angel there was a multitude of the 
 heavenly host praising God ! ' Let us accept the joy 
 of this eve of the birth of our Lord as an omen of the 
 birth of Christian power to these lands, which have 
 so long lain in the shadow of Moslem infidelity and 
 Greek heresy. Our camps yonder flash as the sparks 
 which flew from the apron of the Infant Jesu and 
 terrified the devil.* Sultan Amurath has been scorched 
 this day, though the infernal fiend lodge in his skin, 
 as I verily believe he does." 
 
 " Amurath was not in personal command to-day. 
 At least so I am told," replied Vladislaus. " He is 
 occupied with a rebellion of the Caramanians in Asia. 
 Carambey, the Sultan's sister's husband, led the forces 
 at the beginning of the fight. He was captured in the 
 bog, and is now in safe custody with the Servian Des- 
 pot, George Brankovich. Hunyades and the Despot 
 have been bargaining for his possession. But the real 
 commandant, as I have learned from prisoners at 
 least he was present at the beginning of the fight was 
 Scanderbeg." 
 
 " Scanderbeg ?" exclaimed Julian with great alarm. 
 " What ! the Albanian traitor, Castriot ? Iscariot, 
 rather, should be his name This then, Your Maj- 
 esty, is no night for revelry ; but for watching. The 
 flight of the enemy, if Scanderbeg leads them, is only 
 to draw us into a net. What if before morning, with 
 the Balkans behind us, we should be assaulted with 
 fresh corps of Turks on the front ? There is no fath- 
 * Vide Apochryphal Gospels.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 27 
 
 oming the devices of Scanderbeg's wily brain. And 
 never yet has he been defeated, except to wrest the 
 better victory out of seeming disaster. Does General 
 Hunyades know the antagonist he is dealing with ? that 
 it is not some bey or pasha, nor even the Sultan him- 
 self, but Scanderbeg ? I have heard Hunyades say 
 that since the days of Saladin, the Moslems have not 
 had a leader so skilful as that Albanian renegade: that 
 a glance of his eye has more sagacity in it than the 
 deliberations of a Divan : * and that not a score of 
 knights could stand against his bare arm. We must 
 see Hunyades." 
 
 " I confess," replied King Vladislaus, " that I liked 
 not the easy victory we have had. I would have 
 sworn to prevent a myriad foes climbing the ice road 
 we travelled yesterday, if I had but a company of 
 pikemen ; yet ten thousand Turkish veterans kept us 
 not back ; and they were led by Scanderbeg ! There 
 is mystery here. Jesu prevent it should be the mys- 
 tery of death to us all ! Let's to Hunyades ! If only 
 your wisdom or prayers, Cardinal, could reclaim Scan- 
 derbeg to his Christian allegiance, I would not fear 
 Sultan Amurath, though he were the devil's pope, 
 with the keys of death and hell in his girdle." 
 
 Hunyades was found with the advance corps of the 
 Christians. But for his white armor he could scarcely 
 be distinguished from some subaltern officer, as he 
 moved among the men, inspecting the details of their 
 encampment. The contrast of the commander-in- 
 chief with the kingly and the ecclesiastical soldier was 
 striking. He listened quietly to their surmises and 
 * Divan ; the Turkish Council of State.
 
 28 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 fears, and replied with as little of their excitement as 
 if he spoke of a new armor-cleaner : 
 
 <l Yes ! we shall probably have a raid from Scan- 
 derbeg before morning. But \ve are ready for him. 
 Do you look well to the rear, King Vladislaus ! And 
 do you, Cardinal, marshal a host of fresh Latin prayers 
 for the dying ; for, if Scanderbeg gets among your 
 Italians, their saffron skins will bleach into ghosts for 
 fright of him." 
 
 The cardinal's face grew as red as his cap, as he 
 replied : 
 
 " But for loyalty to our common Christian cause, 
 and the example of subordination to our chief, I 
 would answer that taunt as it deserves." 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 r PHE company which Kabilovitsch and the children 
 1 had joined was halted at the edge of the great 
 camp. Other peasants and non-combatants crowded 
 in from their desolated homes ; but neither Milosch's 
 face, nor Helena's, nor yet little Michael's, were among 
 those they anxiously scanned. The command of 
 King Vladislaus secured for the three favored refugees 
 every comfort which the rude soldiers could furnish. 
 The boy and girl were soon asleep by a fire, while the 
 old man lay close beside them, that no one could 
 approach without arousing him. He, however, could 
 not sleep. On the one side was the noisy revelry of
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 29 
 
 the victors ; on the other, the darkness of the plain. 
 Here and there were groups of soldiers, and beyond 
 them an occasional gleam of the spear-head of some 
 sentinel, who, saluting his comrade, turned at the end 
 of his beat. 
 
 The dusky form of a huge man attracted Kabilo- 
 vitsch's eye. As the stranger drew near, his long bear- 
 skin cape terminating above in a rough and ungrace- 
 ful hood, and his long- pointed shoes with blocks of 
 wood for their soles, indicated that he was some 
 peasant. He seemed to be wandering about with no 
 other aim than to keep himself warm. Yet Kabilo- 
 vitsch noted that he lingered as he passed by the 
 various groups, as if to scan the fa.ces of his fellow- 
 sufferers. 
 
 " Heaven grant that all his kids be safe to-night ! " 
 muttered the old man. 
 
 As the walking figure passed across the line of a 
 fagot fire, he revealed a splendid form ; too straight 
 for one accustomed to bend at his daily toil. 
 
 " A mountaineer ? a hunter ? "thought Kabilovitsch, 
 " for the field-tillers are all round of shoulder, and 
 bow-backed. But no ! His tread is too firm and 
 heavy for that sort of life. One's limbs are springy, 
 agile, who climbs the crags. A hunter will use the 
 toes more in stepping." 
 
 Kabilovitsch's curiosity could not keep his eyes 
 from growing heavy with the cold and the flicker of 
 the fire light, when they were forced wide open again 
 by the approach of the stranger. The old man felt, 
 rather than saw, that he was being closely studied 
 from behind the folds of the hood which the wanderer
 
 30 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 drew close over his face, to keep out the cutting wind 
 which swept in gusts down from the mountains. He 
 passed very near, and was talking to himself, as is 
 apt to be the custom of men who lead lonely 
 lives. 
 
 " It is bitter cold," he said, with chattering teeth, 
 " bitter cold, by the beard of Moses ! " 
 
 The last words startled Kabilovitsch so that he gave 
 a sudden motion. The stranger noticed it and 
 paused. Gazing intently upon the old man, who had 
 now assumed a sitting posture, he addressed him 
 
 " By the beard of Moses ! it's an awful night, 
 neighbor." 
 
 " Ay, by the beard of Moses ! it is ; and one could 
 wear the beard of Aaron, too, with comfort Aaron's 
 beard was longer than Moses' beard ; is not that what 
 the priest says ? " said Kabilovitsch, veiling his excite- 
 ment under forced indifference of manner, at the 
 same time making room for the visitor, who, without 
 ceremony stretched himself by his side, bringing his 
 face close to that of the old man, and glaring into it. 
 Kabilovitsch returned his gaze with equal sharpness. 
 
 " What know you of the beard of Moses ? " said 
 the stranger. " Was it gray or black ? " 
 
 " Black," said Kabilovitsch, studying the other's 
 face with suspicion and surprise. " Black as an 
 Albanian thunder cloud, and his eye was as 
 undimmed by age as that of the eagle that flies over 
 the lake of Ochrida." * 
 
 " You speak well," replied the stranger, pushing 
 back his hood. 
 
 * A lake in Albania.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 31 
 
 His face was massive and strong. No peasant was 
 he, but one born to command and accustomed to it. 
 
 " You are Drakul ? " asked the man. 
 
 " No." 
 
 "Harion?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Kabilovitsch ? " 
 
 " Ay, and you ? " 
 
 " Castriot." 
 
 Kabilovitsch sprang to his feet. 
 
 " Lie down ! Lie down ! Let me share your 
 blanket," said the visitor. " This air is too crisp and 
 resonant for us to speak aloud in it ; and waking ears 
 at night-time are over quick to hear what does not 
 concern them. We can muffle our speech beneath 
 the blanket." 
 
 Kabilovitsch felt the hesitation of reverence in 
 assuming a proximity of such intimacy with his guest ; 
 but also felt the authority of the command and the 
 wisdom of the precaution. He obeyed. 
 
 " I feared that I should find no one who recognized 
 our password. I must see General Hunyades to- 
 night ; yet must not approach his quarters. Can you 
 get to his tent ? " 
 
 " Readily," said Kabilovitsch. " During the day 
 my little lass yonder won the attention of King Vla- 
 dislaus, and he gave me the password of the camp 
 to-night for her safety. ' Christus natus est'." 
 
 " You must go to him at once, .and say that I would 
 see him here. You will trust me to keep guard over 
 these two kids while you are away ? I will not wolf 
 them."
 
 32 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 " Heaven grant that you may shepherd all Albania," 
 - and the old man was off. 
 
 " I knew that the prodigal Prince George would 
 come back some day," said he to himself. " Many a 
 year have I kept my watch in the Pass, and among the 
 mountains of Albania. And many a service have I 
 rendered as a simple goatherd which I could not 
 have done had I worn my country's colors anywhere 
 except in my heart. And, ' by the beard of Moses ! ' 
 During some weeks now I have carried many a mes- 
 sage, had some fighting and hard scratching which I 
 did not understand, except that it was ' by the beard 
 of Moses ! ' And now Moses has come ; refused at 
 last to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and 
 will free his people. God will it ! And George Cas- 
 triot has lain under my blanket ! I will hang that 
 blanket in the church at Croia as an offering to the 
 Holy Virgin. But no, it belongs to the trooper. 
 Heaven keep me discreet, or, for the joy of it, I can- 
 not do my errand safely. I'll draw my hood close, 
 lest the moon yonder should guess my secret." 
 
 Kabilovitsch was challenged at every turn as he 
 wound between the hundreds of camp-fires and tents ; 
 but the magic words, " Christus natus est," opened 
 the way. 
 
 A circle of splendid tents told him he drew near to 
 headquarters. In the midst of them blazed an 
 immense fire. Camp-tables, gleaming with tankards 
 and goblets of silver, were ranged beneath gorgeous 
 canopies of flaxen canvas, which were lined with blue 
 and purple tapestries. A multitude of gaily dressed 
 servitors thronged into and out of them. Here was the
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 33 
 
 royal splendor of Hungary and Poland ; there the 
 pavilion of the Despot of Servia ; there the glittering 
 cross of Rome ; and, at the extreme end of this extem- 
 porized array of palatial and courtly pride, the more 
 modest, but still rich, banner of the White Knight. 
 
 Kabilovitsch approached the latter. 
 
 " Your errand, man ? " said the guard, holding his 
 spear across the flapping doorway of the tent. 
 
 " Christus natus est ! " was the response. 
 
 " That will do elsewhere, but not here," rejoined the 
 guard. 
 
 " My business is solely with General Hunyades," said 
 Kabilovitsch. 
 
 " It cannot be," said the spearman. " He has no 
 business with any one but himself. If you are a shep- 
 herd of Bethlehem come to adore the Infant Jesu 
 as you look to be you must wait until the morning." 
 
 " My message is as important to him as that of the 
 angels on that blessed night," said the goatherd, mak- 
 ing a deep obeisance and looking up to heaven as if 
 in prayer, as he spoke. 
 
 " Then proclaim your message, old crook-staff ! we 
 have had glad tidings to-day, but can endure to hear 
 more," said the guard, pushing him away. 
 
 " No ear on earth shall hear mine but the general's," 
 cried the old man, raising his voice : " No ! by the 
 beard of Moses ! it shall not." 
 
 " A strange swear that, old leather-skin ! Did you 
 keep your sheep in Midian, where Moses did, that you 
 know he had a beard. Your cloak is ragged enough 
 to have belonged to father Jethro ; and I warrant it is 
 as full of vermin as were those of the Egyptians after 
 3
 
 34 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 the plague that Moses sent on them. But the ten 
 plagues take you ! Get away ! " 
 
 " No, by the beard of Moses ! " shouted Kabilo- 
 vitsch. 
 
 " Let him pass ! " said a voice from deep within the 
 tent. 
 
 " Let him pass ! " said another nearer. 
 
 " Let him pass ! " repeated one just inside the outer 
 curtain. 
 
 The goatherd passed between a line of sentinels, 
 closely watched by each. The tent was a double one, 
 composing a room or pavilion, enclosed by the great 
 tent ; so that there was a large space around the pri- 
 vate apartment of the general, allowing the sentinels 
 to patrol entirely about it without passing into the 
 outer air. 
 
 At the entrance of the inner tent Hunyades 
 appeared. He was of light build but compactly knit, 
 with ample forehead and generous, but scarred face ; 
 which, however, was more significantly seamed with 
 the lines that denote thought and courage. He was 
 wrapped in a loose robe of costly furs. He waved his 
 hand for Kabilovitsch to enter, and bade the guards 
 retire. Throwing himself on a plain soldier's couch, 
 he drew close to it a camp seat, and motioned his 
 visitor to sit. 
 
 " You have news from the Albanians, by the beard 
 of Moses ? " said Hunyades inquiringly. 
 
 A moment or two sufficed for the delivery of Kabi- 
 lovitsch's message. 
 
 " Ho, guard ! when this old man goes, let no one 
 enter until he comes back ; then admit him without
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 35 
 
 the pass, instantly," said Hunyades, springing from 
 the couch. " Now, old man, give me your bear skin 
 now your shoes your cap. Here, wrap yourself in 
 mine. You need not shrink from occupying 
 Hunyades' skin for a while, since you have had 
 to-night a more princely soldier under your blanket. 
 Did you say to the north ? On the edge of the camp ? 
 A boy and a girl by the fire ; and he ? " 
 The disguised general passed out. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 " T) Y the beard of Moses ! I'll break your head with 
 J3 my stick if you come stumbling over me in that 
 way," growled Scanderbeg from beneath his blanket, 
 as a peasant-clad man tripped against his huge form 
 extended by the camp fire. 
 
 " Then let the cold shrink your hulk to its proper 
 size," replied the stranger. " But you should thank 
 me, instead of cursing me, for waking you up ; for 
 your fire is dying out, and you would perish, sleeping 
 in the blanket that exposes your feet that it may cover 
 your nose. But I'll stir your fire and put some sticks 
 on it, if I may sit by it and melt the frost from my 
 beard and the aches from my toes. But whom have 
 you here ? " 
 
 The man stooped down and eagerly removed the 
 blanket from the partially covered faces of the 
 children.
 
 $6 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 " Constantine ! " he exclaimed, " God be praised ! 
 and Kabilovitsch's girl, or the starlight mocks me ! " 
 
 " Father ! " cried the boy, waking and throwing his 
 arms about the neck of the man who stooped to 
 embrace him. 
 
 " And Michael ? is he here, too ? " asked Milosch. 
 
 " No, father," said the child. " We were parted at 
 the cave, and I have not seen him except in my 
 dream." 
 
 "In your dream, my child? In your dream? 
 Jesu grant he be not killed, that his angel spirit came 
 to you in your dream ! Did he seem bright and 
 beautiful more beautiful than you ever saw him 
 before as if he had come to you from Paradise ? 
 No ? Then he is living yet on the earth ; and by all 
 the devils in hell and Adrianople ! I shall find him, 
 though I tear him from the dead arms of the traitor 
 Castriot himself, as I was near to taking you, my boy, 
 from the grip of the Turk whose heart I pierced with 
 an arrow the day of the fight ; but I was set upon 
 and nigh killed myself by a score of the Infidels." 
 
 " And our mother dear ? " asked Constantine. " She 
 is safe ? " 
 
 " Ay ! ay ! safe in heaven, I fear, but we will not 
 give up hope until we have searched our camps 
 to-morrow ; nor then, until we have burned every 
 seraglio of the Turks from the mountains to the sea. 
 But who brought you and the lass here ? " asked 
 Milosch, eyeing the form of the surly man beside him. 
 
 " Why, good Uncle Kabilovitsch did," said the boy, 
 staring in amazement at the spot now usurped by the 
 strange figure of Scanderbeg.
 
 THE CAPTAIN- OF THE JANIZARIES. 37 
 
 " Kabilovitsch went to fetch some fire-peat from 
 the gully I told him of," muttered Scanderbeg. 
 
 " Yes, he is coming yonder," said Milosch, as 
 Kabilovitsch's well-known hood and cape were out- 
 lined against the white background of a snow-covered 
 fir tree a short distance off. " But he has found no fuel. 
 Wrap close, my hearties : you will have no more blaze 
 to-night. Ha ! Kabilovitsch! " said he, raising his voice, 
 as the familiar form seemed about to pass by. " Has 
 the fire in your eye been put out by the cold, that you 
 cannot find your own place, neighbor ? I would have 
 sworn that, if Kabilovitsch were blind, he could find a 
 lost kid on the mountains ; and now he hardly knows 
 his own nest." 
 
 The assumed Kabilovitsch came near, and gave an 
 awkward salute, which, while intended to be familiar, 
 was not sufficiently unlimbered of the habit of authority 
 to avoid giving the impression that its familiarity was 
 only assumed. 
 
 " By the beard of Moses ! I had almost mistook 
 my own camp, now the fires are smouldering," said 
 he, approaching. 
 
 " He is not Kabilovitsch," said Milosch, half to 
 himself and half aloud. 
 
 " No," replied Scanderbeg. " But I'll go and find 
 Kabilovitsch. Perhaps he has more peat than he can 
 carry. And, stranger, I'll help you find what you are 
 seeking for you seem daft with the cold if you will 
 help me find him I am to look for. By the beard of 
 Moses ! that's a fair agreement ; is it not ? " 
 
 " A strange swear, that ! " said Milosch, looking 
 after the two forms vanishing among the fir trees. " It
 
 38 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 is some watchword, and I like it not among these 
 camp prowlers. I fear for Kabilovitsch. The new- 
 comer wore his clothes, which I would know if I saw 
 them on the back of the cardinal ; for good Helena 
 cut the hood for our neighbor as she cut the skirt for 
 his motherless child, little Morsinia there. Some mis- 
 chief is brewing. I shall watch and not sleep a 
 wink." 
 
 Had one been lurking in the copse of evergreens to 
 which the men withdrew, he would have overheard 
 conversation of which these sentences are parts. 
 
 "Yes, General Hunyades, the time has come. I 
 can endure the service .of the Sultan no longer. But 
 for what I am about to do I alone am responsible, and 
 must decline to share that responsibility with any 
 other, either Moslem or Christian. I believe, Sire, that 
 I am in this directed by some higher power than my 
 own caprice. I am compelled to it by invisible forces, 
 as really as the stars are dragged by them through the 
 sky yonder." 
 
 " No star," replied Hunyades, " has purer lustre 
 than that of your noble purpose, and none are led by 
 the invisible forces to a brighter destiny than is Scan- 
 derbeg." 
 
 " Let not your Christian lips call me Scanderbeg, 
 but Castriot," said his companion. " Yes, I believe that 
 my new purpose comes from the inbreathing of some 
 celestial spirit, from some mysterious hearing the soul 
 has of the inarticulate voice of God. Else why should 
 the thought of it so strangely satisfy me ? I cast my- 
 self down from the highest pinnacle of honor and 
 power and riches with which the Moslem service can
 
 THE C APT Aim OF THE JANIZARIES. 39 
 
 reward one ; for I am at the head of the army, and 
 even the Vizier has not more respect at Adrianople 
 than have I wherever the soldiers of the Sultan spread 
 themselves throughout the world. To leave the 
 Padishah will be to leave every thing for an uncertain 
 future. Yet I am more than content to do it." 
 
 " Not for an uncertain future, noble Castriot," 
 replied Hunyades warmly, grasping his hand. " The 
 highest position in the armies of Christian Europe is 
 yours. My own chieftaincy I could demit without 
 regret, knowing that it would fall into your hands. 
 The army of Italy you can take command of to-mor- 
 row if you will ; for that scarlet-knobbed coxcomb of 
 an ecclesiastic, Julian, is not fitted for it. Or Branko- 
 vitch, the Servian Despot, will hail you as chief 
 voivode.* You have but to choose from our armies, 
 and put yourself at the head of whatever nation you 
 will : for the legions will follow the pointing of your 
 invincible sword as bravely as if it were the sword of 
 Michael, the Archangel. " 
 
 " No ! No ! These things tempt me not," said 
 Soanderbeg. " I must live only for Albania. That 
 strange spirit which counsels me comes into my soul 
 like a pure blast from off my Albanian hills. The 
 voices that call me are like the dying voice of my 
 father, the sainted Duke John, who prayed then for 
 his land and for his son for both in the one breath 
 that floated his soul to God. Let me look again upon 
 the rocky fastnesses of the Vitzi, the waters of little 
 Ochrida and Skidar, and call them mine ; I shall then 
 not envy even the plume on your helmet, generous 
 * Voivode ; a Servian and Albanian term for general.
 
 40 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 Hunyades ; nor regret what I forsake among the 
 Moslems, though my estate were that of the entire 
 empire which the Padishah sees in his dreams, when, 
 not the city of Adrian, but the city of Constantine 
 shall have become his capital." 
 
 *" Christendom will hardly forgive the slight you put 
 upon it, noble Castriot, by declining some general com- 
 mand, and will soon grow jealous of your exclusive 
 devotion to little Albania," said Hunyades, with evi- 
 dent candor. 
 
 " Christendom will not lose, but gain, thereby," 
 replied Scanderbeg. " For is not Albania, after all, a 
 key point in the mighty battle which is still to be 
 waged with the Turk over these Eastern countries of 
 Europe, from Adria to the Euxine ? " 
 
 " How so ? " asked Hunyades. " Have we not this 
 day broken the power of the Turk in Europe ? and is 
 he not now in headlong haste to the sea of Marmora ? " 
 
 Scanderbeg replied with slow, but ominous, words : 
 
 " General Hunyades, the Moslem power was not this 
 day broken. Trust not the semblance. My arm could 
 have hurled your soldiers down the northern declivi- 
 ties of yonder mountains with as much ease as yours 
 shattered the Turkish ranks at Vasag and Hermann- 
 stadt. The armies still in front of you wait but the 
 word to assail your camp with dire vengeance for their 
 mysterious defeat ay, mysterious to them. And the 
 Padishah is hasting with the hordes released by his 
 victories over the Caramanians, to join them. No, 
 Sire, the battle for empire on these plains, and in Mace- 
 donia, and along the Danube, has not ended : it has 
 but just begun. And Albania will be the key spot for
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 41 
 
 a generation to come. No Ottoman wave can strike 
 central Europe but over the Albanian hills. A Chris- 
 tian power entrenched there will be a counter menace 
 to every invasion from the side of the Moslem, and a 
 tremendous auxiliary in any movement from the side 
 of Christendom. My military judgment concurs with 
 the voice of that spirit which speaks within me, and 
 bids me as a Christian to live for Albania." 
 
 " I see in your plan," replied Hunyades, " a gleam 
 of that far wisdom that won for you the title of ' The 
 eye of the Ottoman/ as your valor made you the 
 * right hand of the Sultan.' While my view of the rel- 
 ative power of the two civilizations now fronting each 
 other on our battle-lines might be different from yours, 
 and I should place the key point in the great field rather 
 on the lower Danube than so far to the west, I yet 
 submit my judgment to yours. Assign to me my part 
 in the affair you would execute, and, my word as a 
 soldier and a Christian, you shall have my help." 
 
 " Nay," replied Scanderbeg. " As I said, I can 
 share the responsibility of my action with no one. 
 Grave charges will ring against my name. My old 
 comrades will scorn my deed as treacherous. Even 
 history will fail to understand me. Let me act alone ; 
 obeying that strange voice which will justify me, if not 
 before men, at least at the last day of the world's judg- 
 ment. The Moslem has wronged me ; outraged my 
 humanity ; slit the tongue of my conscience that it 
 should not speak to me of my duty ; and tried to put 
 out the eyes of my faith. The Divinity bids me avenge 
 myself. But the vengeance is only mine, and God's. 
 No other hand must be stained with the blood of it :
 
 42 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 least of all thine, noble Hunyades. My plan must be 
 all my own. I only ask that, when I have extricated 
 myself from Moslem ties, I may have the friendship of 
 Hunyades. Especially that the way may be left open 
 for my passing through the places now held by your 
 troops, without challenge and delay. All else has 
 been arranged by a handful of faithful Albanian 
 patriots." 
 
 " It shall be as you desire, General Castriot. Choose 
 your password, and it shall open the way for you 
 though it were through the back door of the Vatican." 
 
 " Let then the ' beard of Moses ' be respected. My 
 trusty Albanians are accustomed to it." 
 
 " Good ! " replied Hunyades. " And I will seal our 
 compact by taking Adrianople in honor of the depart- 
 ure of its only defender." 
 
 " Nay," said Scanderbeg. " It will not be wise to 
 press upon the capital. Every approach is guarded 
 more securely than were those at Vienna by the Chris- 
 tians. The Padishah's engineers are more skilful than 
 any in the land of the Frank or German. The new com- 
 pound of saltpetre and sulphur, of which you hardly 
 know the use, is buried beneath every gate ; and 
 a spark will burst it as ^Etna or Vesuvius.* Even 
 the valor of the White Knight cannot conquer the 
 soulless element. The black grains never blanch with 
 fear. No panic can divert a stone ball hurled from 
 cannon so that it shall not find the heart of the bravest. 
 I advise that your armies pause awhile with the pres- 
 tige of having scaled the Balkans. In a few months 
 opportunities may have ripened. Once I am in Albania, 
 * Gunpowder was at this time coming into general use.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 43 
 
 Sultan Amurath shall know that the name of Scanderbeg 
 the Lord Alexander was not his, but Fate's entitling; 
 for, unless my destiny is misread, the Macedonian le- 
 gions of the Great Alexander were not swifter than my 
 new Macedonian braves shall be. This will encourage 
 the Venetians and Genoese ; and with their navies on 
 the Hellespont, the timid Palaelogus pressing out from 
 his covert of Constantinople, and insurrection every- 
 where from the Crimea to Peloponnesus, there will 
 not, a generation hence, be left a turban in Europe. 
 Believe me, General, the Turk's grip of nearly a cen- 
 tury, since he pinched the continent at Gallipoli, can- 
 not be loosened in a day." 
 
 " To no other than Castriot would I yield my judg- 
 ment ; and not to him, but that his words are as con- 
 vincing as his sword. Then so let it be," was the 
 reply of the Christian leader. 
 
 The Albanian disappeared. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TJ UNYADES, closely muffled in his bear-skin dis- 
 JT1 guise, returned to the camp. 
 
 " A desperate adventure that of Castriot," thought 
 he. " It is well that he permits no voice but his own 
 to speak his plans, and no ear but mine to hear 
 them. 
 
 " Hist ! 
 
 " No ; it is but the ice crackling from the balsams.
 
 44 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 Yet who knows what interlopers there may have been ? 
 and if the brave Scanderbeg may not be hamstrung 
 before he reaches his own camp ? The ride will be 
 long and rattling after he enters the Turkish lines. 
 Will it excite no suspicion ? Nor his absence ? Heaven 
 guard the brave heart, for the very mole holes in the 
 ground are the Sultan's ears, into which he drinks the 
 secrets of his soldiers. By the way, I must lift the 
 dirty cap from the fellow who called me Kabilovitsch at 
 the herdsman's fire ; for the messenger who brought me 
 word surely said that only Castriot and the two chil- 
 dren were there. Who may this other one be ? I must 
 discover ; and if he knows aught he should not, he 
 shall know no more this side of hell-gate, or my dag- 
 ger's point has grown so honest that it has forgotten 
 the way to a knave's heart." 
 
 Approaching the little group, Hunyades went 
 behind them, that, if possible, he might overhear some 
 words before any persons there knew of his presence. 
 
 Milosch had been ill at ease through the continued 
 absence of his friend Kabilovitsch, the peculiar action 
 of ^he strange man who had taken his place beneath 
 the blanket, and the apparition of the one who wore the 
 cap and cape which he thought he could not mistake. 
 There had always been a mystery about Kabilovitsch's 
 early life, which their long and close neighborly rela- 
 tions upon the mountain had not enabled him to solve. 
 The girl, he often thought, was of too light a 
 build and too fair featured to be the child of the moun- 
 taineer. The story Kabilovitsch often told about the 
 early death of the child's mother, Milosch's wife 
 never heard without impatience and a shrug
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 45 
 
 of the shoulders. Who was the child ? Could there 
 be any plot to carry her away among persons who 
 knew the secret of her birth ? Milosch could reach 
 one definite conclusion about the matter, and that was 
 that he ought to guard the child just now. So, with 
 senses made alert by suspicion, he heard the soft foot- 
 fall of Hunyades through the crust-broken snow ; and 
 though with head averted, noted his stealthy approach. 
 The caution observed by the stranger made Milosch 
 feel certain of the intended treachery. Loosening the 
 short sheath-knife, which hung by the ring in its bone 
 handle from his girdle, he grasped it tightly, and with 
 a sudden bound faced the intruder. 
 
 " Your business, man ? " said he, eyeing him as a 
 hunter eyes a wolf to anticipate the spring of the 
 brute, that the knife may enter his throat before the 
 fangs strike. 
 
 " A rude greeting to a neighbor, that," was the 
 quiet reply. 
 
 " A fair enough greeting to one who wears a neigh- 
 bor's fleece, and prowls by night about his flock. 
 Stop ! not a step nearer ! or, by the soul of Kabilo- 
 vitsch, whom, for aught I know, you have murdered, 
 I will send you to meet him ! " 
 
 A motion of the stranger toward his weapon was 
 anticipated by the mountaineer, who gripped the in- 
 truder with the strength of a bear, pinioning his arms 
 by his sides, and falling with him to the ground. In 
 an instant more, however, the dagger point of his 
 antagonist began to penetrate Milosch's thigh. 
 Clenching tighter to prevent a more deadly thrust, he 
 felt beneath his opponent's rough outer robe the hard
 
 46 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 corselet woven with links of iron not the coarse 
 fabric such as was worn by common soldiers, but the 
 lighter steel-tempered underwear of knights and 
 nobles. 
 
 " You have murdered another better than yourself, 
 damned villain, and have stolen his shirt. But it shall 
 not save you this time." 
 
 As he let out these words one by one and breath by 
 breath, Milosch worked the knife into such a hold that 
 he could press it into the back of his antagonist. 
 Slowly but surely the stout point made its way between 
 the hard links until the man's flesh quivered with 
 the pain. Then Milosch hissed through his clenched 
 teeth : 
 
 " Who are you ? If you speak not, you die. If you 
 lie, let the devil shrive your black soul ! for I'll send 
 you to him on the knife point. Speak ! " 
 
 " I am General Hunyades," replied the almost 
 breathless man. 
 
 The words relieved him from the pressure of the 
 knife, but not from the crunching hug of his captor. 
 
 " Prove it ! " hissed Milosch. " I have heard that 
 Hunyades has a scar on the left side of the neck. 
 Uncover your neck ! " 
 
 Milosch released Hunyades' left hand sufficiently 
 to allow him to reach upward. In an instant the 
 leathern string which bound the bear-skin cape about 
 his neck was broken, the lacings of a velvet jacket 
 loosened, and the fingers of Milosch led over the 
 roughened surface of the scarred skin. 
 
 The herdsman rose to his knees, and kissed the 
 hand of the general.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 47 
 
 " Strike thy dagger into me ! for I have raised my 
 hand against the Lord's anointed," cried he in shame 
 and fear. 
 
 " Nay, friend," said the chief ; " the fault was mine, 
 and yours shall be the reward of the only man who 
 ever conquered Hunyades. Your name, my good 
 fellow ? " 
 
 " Milosch ! " 
 
 " Milosch, the goatherd of the Pass ? I have heard 
 tell of your strength ; how you could out-crunch a 
 bear ; I believe it. You have been faithful to your 
 absent friend, as you have been severe with me." 
 
 " But what of my friend Kabilovitsch ? You surely 
 wear his gear," said Milosch. 
 
 " Yes, I borrowed these of a passing stranger I 
 know not that he be Kabilovitsch with which I might 
 pass disguised among the guards. The owner of this 
 cape and hood is keeping warm in a tent hard by until 
 I return. But whom have you here ? " 
 
 " The lad is mine. The lass is my neighbor's. He 
 calls her Morsinia, in honor of your fair mother," 
 replied Milosch. 
 
 " Then I must see her face. She should be fair 
 with such a name." 
 
 As he raised the coarse-knit hood which closely 
 wrapped her, a flicker of the dying fire-light 
 illumined for an instant the features of the child. 
 The uncombed mass of golden hair made a natural 
 pillow in which lay a face unsurpassed in balance of 
 proportion and delicacy of detail by any sculptor's art. 
 Her forehead was high and full, but apparently dimin- 
 ished by the wealth of curling locks that nestled upon
 
 48 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 brow and temples ; her nose straight and thin, typi- 
 cally Greek ; her lips firm, but arched, as with some 
 abiding and happy dream ; her skin, purest white, 
 tinged with the glow of youthful health, as the snow 
 on the Balkans under the first roseate gleam of the 
 morning sun. 
 
 " A peasant's child ? " asked the general. But with- 
 out waiting for reply, continued, " No, by the cheek of 
 Venus ! It took more than one generation of noble 
 culture, high thoughts and purest blood, to mould 
 such a face as that. She was not born in your neigh- 
 bor's cot on the mountains ? Will you swear that she 
 was ? No ? Then I will swear that she was not. 
 And the boy ? Ah ! " said he, scanning Constantine's 
 face. " I know his stock. He is a sprig of the same 
 rough thorn-tree that came near to tearing me to 
 pieces just now. But his face is gentler than yours. 
 Yet, it is a strong one ; very bold ; broad-thoughted ; 
 deep-souled ; a sprig that may bear even better fruit 
 than the old one." 
 
 " Heaven grant it may ! " said Milosch, fervently. 
 
 " Yes, if you will let me transplant it from these 
 barren mountains to the gardens of Buda and the 
 banks of the Drave, it will get better shelter than you 
 can give it. The boy shall be my protege for to-night's 
 adventure, if his father will enter my personal service. 
 You see, you gave me so warm a welcome that I am 
 loath to part company with you, my good fellow." 
 
 " Heaven bless you, Sire ! " replied Milosch ; " but 
 my heart will cling to these cliffs until I know that my 
 faithful wife and other boy are no longer among them." 
 
 " I shall give orders that the camp be searched,"
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 49 
 
 promised Hunyades. " If they live, and have not 
 been carried away by the Turks, they must have 
 sought refuge somewhere in the host. Farewell ! 
 When you will, Hunyades shall stand the friend of 
 Milosch." 
 
 The apparent old herdsman .returned through the 
 heart of the camp to headquarters. 
 
 " Methinks, comrade, that you bandied words with 
 a greater than you knew, when you teased the old 
 goatherd awhile ago," said a sentinel, thrusting his 
 thumb into the side of the spearman at the entrance to 
 the general's hut. Do you note his mien as he comes 
 yonder ? That crumpled old bear skin cannot hide 
 his straight back ; nor those shoes, as big as Spanish 
 galleons, break the firmness of his tread. If the gust 
 of wind should lift his cape you would see at least a 
 golden cross on his shoulders. You cannot hide a 
 true soldier." 
 
 The bear-skin passed between the fluttering canvas 
 without challenge. Hunyades made a playful salute 
 to Kabilovitsch, who rose to meet him. 
 
 " I found your camp. I have looked into the face 
 of your little daughter." 
 
 " Mary save her ! "said the old man with gratified look. 
 
 " I say I saw your daughter, your daughter, you 
 know," said the general again, quizzing Kabilovitsch 
 with his eyes. 
 
 " Ay, my daughter ! and the Virgin Mother never 
 sent a fairer child, save Jesu himself, to prince or 
 peasant." 
 
 " Come, now," said the general, " tell me, did the 
 Holy Virgin send this child to prince or peasant ? " 
 4
 
 50 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 " Why ? " said Kabilovitsch, " these horny hands 
 should tell thee, Sire, that I was not royal 
 born." 
 
 " But the girl may be, if you were not. Is she your 
 child ? " 
 
 " Yes, my child, if heaven ever sent one to man." 
 
 " But, tell me," probed the general, " how did 
 heaven send you the maiden ? Did the mother bring 
 her, or did the angels drop her at your door ? For, 
 if that girl be your child, heaven did not know you 
 even by sight ; since it put not a freckle of your dark 
 skin upon her fair face, nor one of your bristles into 
 her hair. The stars are not begotten of storm-clouds ; 
 nor do I think she is your daughter." 
 
 To this the old man replied, more to himself than 
 to his interrogator, " If she is not mine by gift of 
 nature, she is mine by gift of Him who is above 
 nature." 
 
 " I will not steal your secret," said Hunyades. 
 " Her name has excited my interest in her and her 
 heaven-given or heaven-lent father. She needs better 
 protection than you can give her in the camp. I will 
 send her to headquarters." 
 
 " I would gratefully put her under your protection 
 for a few days," said Kabilovitsch. " My duty takes 
 me away from her for a while ; dangerous duty, Sire, 
 and if I should fall " 
 
 " If Kabilovitsch falls, Hunyades will be as true 
 father to the lass. Have you any special desire re- 
 garding her or yourself, my brave man ? You have 
 but to name it." 
 
 " But one, Sire," replied Kabilovitsch. " That I may
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 51 
 
 see her safely conditioned at once. For it may be that 
 before the day dawns I shall be summoned. I serve a 
 cause as mysterious as the Providence which watches 
 over it." 
 
 " An Albanian mystery ? They are generally as 
 inscrutable as a thunder cloud ; but are revealed when 
 its lightning strikes ! " replied Hunyades, dismissing 
 the old man, accompanied by two guards, who were 
 commissioned to obey implicitly any orders the herds- 
 man might give regarding the party of refugees by his 
 camp-fire. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE Christian host prolonged the festival of the 
 Nativity from day to day, until the mustering 
 forces of the Ottomans summoned them from danger- 
 ous inactivity again to the march and the battle. The 
 latter they found at Mount Cunobizza, where the 
 enemy had massed an enormous force. The Chris- 
 tain army, with its splendid corps of Hungary, Poland, 
 Bosnia, Servia, Wallachia, Italy and Germany, was 
 not a more magnificent array than that of their Mos- 
 lem opponents. For the most part of the day the 
 field was equally held, but in the afternoon the 
 Turkish left seemed to have become inspired with a 
 strange fury. The Janizaries, at the time renowned 
 as the best disciplined and most desperate foot- 
 soldiers in the world, were rivalled in celerity and 
 intrepidity, in skilful manoeuvring and the tremendous
 
 52 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 momentum with which they struck the foe, by other 
 Moslem corps ; such as the squadrons of cavalry col- 
 lected from distant military provinces, each under its 
 Spahi or fief-holder ; and the irregular Bashi-Baz- 
 ouks, who seemed to have sprung from the ground in 
 orderly array. Their diverse accoutrements, complex- 
 ions, and movements suggested the hundred arms of 
 some martial Briareus, all animated by a single brain. 
 The war cry of " The Prophet ! " was mingled with 
 that of " Iscanderbeg ! " In the thickest of the fight 
 appeared the gigantic form of the circumcised Alban- 
 ian, his gaudy armor flashing with jewels,* his right 
 arm bared to the shoulder, his cimeter glancing as 
 the lightning. The Italian legions opposite him, upon 
 the Christian left, were hurled back again and again 
 from their onslaught, and were pressed mile after mile 
 from the original battle site. Hunyades inflicted a 
 compensatory punishment upon the Moslem left, 
 shattering its depleted ranks as a battering ram 
 crashes through the tottering walls of a citadel. The 
 chief of the Christians saw clearly Scanderbeg's planf 
 to leave the victory in his hands, and at the opportune 
 moment he wheeled his squadrons to the assistance 
 of King Vladislaus, thus combining in overwhelming 
 odds against the enemy's centre, which Scanderbeg had 
 effectually drained of its proper strength. As soon, 
 however, as it was evident that the Christians were 
 the victors, Scanderbeg, by superb generalship, inter- 
 
 * The old chronicles admit, as one weakness of Scanderbeg, a 
 fondness for personal decoration. 
 
 f The author adds these lines to the meagre details of this battle 
 as known, for the purpose of accounting for its immediate issue, 
 and for the subsequent events.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 53 
 
 posed the Janizaries between the enemy and the tur- 
 baned heads that, but for this, were being whirled 
 in full flight from the field. The rout was changed 
 into orderly retreat. Hunyades found it impossible to 
 press the pursuit, and muttered, 
 
 " Scanderbeg commands both our armies to-day. 
 We can only take what he is minded to give." 
 
 At length night looked down upon the camps. Few 
 tents were erected. Hunyades sat for hours beneath 
 a tree, waiting for he knew not what developments. 
 On the Turkish side even the Beyler Beys, the highest 
 commanders, were content to stretch their limbs with 
 no other canopy than the three horse-tails at the 
 spear-head, the symbol of their rank and authority. 
 Far in the rear were the few pavilions of the suite of 
 the Grand Vizier, who represented the absent Sultan 
 Amurath. Late into the night the Vizier sat in 
 counsel with the Sultan's Reis Effendi or chief secre- 
 tary, to whom was entrusted the seal of the empire. 
 He was enstamping the many despatches which fleetest 
 horsemen carried to distant Spahis, summoning them 
 with their reserves to rally for the defence of Adrianople. 
 
 Just before the dawn the secretary was left alone. 
 Even he, and, in his person, the empire, must catch 
 an hour's sleep before the exciting and exacting 
 duties of the new day. He reclined among his papers. 
 But a summons awakened him : the messenger 
 announcing Scanderbeg. The guards withdrew to a 
 respectful distance from the outside of the tent. 
 
 " Do not rise," said the general, gently pressing the 
 secretary back to his reclining posture. " I only need 
 the imperial seal to this order."
 
 5 4 THE CA P TA IN OF THE JA NIZA RIES. 
 
 The secretary scanned the paper with incredulous 
 eyes. It was a firman, or decree of the Sultan, pass- 
 ing the government of Albania from General Sebaly to 
 Scanderbeg, with absolute powers, and ordering the 
 commandant of the strong fortress of Croia to place 
 all its armament and that of adjacent strongholds in 
 Scanderbeg's hand as the viceroy of the Sultan. As 
 the secretary lifted his face to utter an inquiry for 
 the relief of his amazement, knowing that the Sultan, 
 then absent in Asia, could not have ordered such a 
 document, the strong hand of Scanderbeg gripped his 
 throat, and his poaiard threatened his heart. 
 
 " The mark ! " whispered the assailant. 
 
 The terrified man tremblingly reached the seal, and 
 pressed it against the wax. The weapon then did its 
 work, and so suddenly that the secretary had no time 
 for even an outcry. Then silently, so that the guards, 
 who were but a few paces distant, heard no commo- 
 tion, he laid the lifeless form on the divan, and cov- 
 ered it with the embroidered cloak it had worn when 
 living.* 
 
 Passing out, Scanderbeg gave orders that the tent 
 should not be entered by the guards until morning, that 
 the secretary might rest. He gave the password, " The 
 Kaaba," as sharply as if his lips would take vengeance 
 on the once sacred, but now hated sound. His mili- 
 tary staff joined him at a little distance. Vaulting 
 into the saddle he led the way toward the north. At 
 the edge of the camp by a rude bridge he halted, and 
 said to his attendants, 
 
 * Some historians represent Scanderbeg as having had Albanian 
 accomplices in this murder.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 55 
 
 " I meet at this point the Beyler Bey of Anatolia, 
 whose staff will be my escort to his camp. The 
 Padishah's cause needs closest conference of all the 
 commanders ; for treason is abroad. Ah ! I hear the 
 escort. Return to quarters, gentlemen ! " 
 
 Riding forward alone in the direction of the noise, 
 he cried, " Who comes ? " 
 
 " The Kaaba at Mecca," was the response. 
 
 " Well, if the Kaaba takes the trouble to come to 
 me it is a good omen, by the beard of Moses ! " 
 
 " By the beard of Moses ! " murmured a group of 
 horsemen, bowing their turbaned heads in the first 
 gray light of the approaching day. The cavalcade 
 closed around the fugitive chieftain, and moved along 
 in silence, except to respond to the sentinels. As they 
 passed the extreme picket of the Turks they halted. 
 A wardrobe had been secreted in a cave beyond a 
 copse near the road. Dismounting, the men 
 exchanged their turbans for caps of wolf or 
 beaver skin. Their gaily trimmed jackets, such as 
 were worn by the Turkish foot-soldiers, gave place to 
 short fur sacks. Their flowing, bag-bottomed trous- 
 ers were kicked off, leaving abbreviated breeches of 
 leather. In a few moments the splendidly uniformed 
 suite of a Moslem bey was transformed into a rough, 
 but exceedingly unique-looking, band of Albanian 
 guerillas. Scanderbeg assumed a helmet, the summit 
 of which carried as a device the head and shoulders 
 of a goat since the times of Alexander the Great the 
 symbol of the powers in, or bordering upon, Macedo- 
 nia. The Turkish uniforms were bundled upon the 
 cruppers for future use.
 
 56 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 The men stood for a moment, each by the side of 
 his horse. At a motion of the officer in charge they 
 gave the salute ; touching their bared foreheads, and 
 bowing to the ground. The officer then approached 
 Scanderbeg, and, presenting his sword, said : 
 
 " Sire ! to thee, as the son of our Duke John, we 
 give our swords together with our hearts and our 
 lives." Instantly every sword was laid upon the 
 ground ; and the crisp air rattled with the cry, " Long 
 live Duke George ! A Castriot forever ! " 
 
 Scanderbeg gazed silently for a moment upon the 
 faithful group. There was no doubt of their loyalty : 
 for they had proved it by an adventure of rare daring 
 in penetrating the Turkish camp. The face of the 
 great general, usually masking so completely his 
 strongest feelings, lost now its rigidity. His eyes were 
 moist ; his lips trembled ; every lineament was elo- 
 quent with the emotion he could neither conceal nor 
 tell in words. After a few moments' impressive 
 silence, he returned the sword to the officer, and, point- 
 ing westward, cried, 
 
 " Forward to Albania ! " 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " n^HANK Heaven ! the plan did not fail," said the 
 1 chief officer, riding by the side of the fugitive 
 
 general. 
 
 " In no particular has it failed, Colonel," replied
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 57 
 
 Scanderbeg. " And for this every praise is due your 
 wise precautions. I have never known better work of 
 brain or nerve. With such grand soldiers as you and 
 your men, I fear nothing for Albania. But your name, 
 Colonel ? " 
 
 " Moses Goleme," replied the officer courteously. 
 
 Scanderbeg reined his horse, and gave him his 
 hand heartily. " A man as grand as he is brave ! 
 And do I really look into the face of him whom I was 
 to have sought out in Dibria, that I might tell him his 
 words had been to me like a voice from heaven ? 
 Heaven reward you,, good Moses ! But you must vow 
 to stand by me yet as patiently as you have done 
 hitherto during my apostasy. I shall need your 
 charity still ; for I am but a returning prodigal ; a 
 half-Christian ; a man of strange ways ; of a temper 
 which I understand not myself, and which will disap- 
 point you. Pledge me that you will be my good 
 angel. Counsel me frankly, fearlessly, as a man 
 should always counsel a man. Rebuke me freely : 
 but bear with me in your heart, as you would with a 
 child." 
 
 " I may not advise the most capable general in the 
 world," replied Moses Goleme. " I vow to obey. 
 Let that be my part. As I have already imperilled 
 my estates by open opposition to the Turkish rule, 
 and given my life to the liberty of my country, so I 
 offer all to thee, Sire, the sovereign of my heart, until 
 you shall be acknowledged the sovereign of Albania, 
 and a new empire be founded on the east of the 
 Adriatic which shall take the place of the decaying 
 powers of Italy on the west."
 
 58 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 "The task your patriotism proposes is vast," replied 
 Scanderbeg ; " too vast for one man and one life- 
 time." 
 
 " Too great for any but the great Castriot ! " 
 was the answer, evidently as honest as it was rever- 
 ent. " But you do me too much honor, General, in 
 praising my plan of meeting you. I was ably seconded 
 by my men, and especially by two of them. One of 
 them was wounded." 
 
 " I trust you speak not of a brave fellow who 
 brought me the time and place of the rendezvous : 
 for I never saw such strength and daring in my 
 life." 
 
 " The same, I fear," said Moses. " A Servian, whom 
 I had not known before yesterday. But he was boil- 
 ing over with rage for the slaughter of his family, and 
 commended to me by our most trusted scout." 
 
 " Did he tell you how he found me out, and com- 
 municated your plan to me ? " 
 
 " No, for he was too severely hurt to speak 
 much." 
 
 " I will tell that part for him, then," said Scander- 
 beg. " It was in the hottest of the fight. My own 
 body-guard was thrown into confusion. A fellow, 
 clad like one of my own staff, crowded close to my 
 side. His horse actually rested against my own, and 
 I would have severed his head from his shoulders for 
 his impudent valor, had not his oath at his beast been 
 ' by the beard of Moses ! ' Seeing that I observed it he 
 grunted, ' At the brook to the north ! ' as he dodged 
 the circles of the cimeters ; and ' Near the Roman 
 road ! ' he hissed as he pared the cap from a
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 59 
 
 Christian's head with his sword ; and ' At the ninth 
 hour to-night ! ' he shouted as he parried a thrust. 
 Before I had breathing space for I was closely beset 
 at the time he had gone ; borne back by a Spahi,* 
 who envied him his place and emulated his valor. 
 But he was not skilful in using his weapon or 
 managing his horse. I am grieved, but not surprised, 
 at his receiving hurt. I thought he must have fallen. 
 But who was the other? " 
 
 " Yonder old fellow with a huge green turban on 
 the saddle before him. If his brain were as big as his 
 head-piece, he could not have planned better. He 
 has dwelt about here lately." 
 
 " I must thank him in person," said Scanderbeg, 
 riding back toward him. 
 
 " What ! " he exclaimed as the full daylight fell 
 upon the man's features, " Kabilovitsch ? " 
 
 The old man diverted Scanderbeg's compliments by 
 an expression of solicitude for Milosch, whom he had 
 permitted to undertake the desperate venture already 
 narrated, although until a few days before he, being a 
 Servian, had no knowledge of the project of the 
 Albanians. 
 
 " We must haste, Sire," said Moses. " It is advised 
 that you cross to the north of the pass in the Balkans, 
 and take thence the valley way between Caratova and 
 the Egrisu. A message from General Hunyades 
 informs me that relays can be provided along the 
 road, and that every facility shall be given us." 
 
 " Kabilovitsch will accompany us ? " asked Scan- 
 derbeg. 
 
 * Spahi ; master of cavalry.
 
 60 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 " On one condition, Sire," replied the old man. 
 " My little daughter must go with me : a lass of ten 
 spring tides " 
 
 " Impossible ! for our 1 ride must be night and 
 day." 
 
 " Then I may follow, but cannot accompany you," 
 said Kabilovitsch. 
 
 " I need such men as you with me. No true 
 Albanian will delay for a child. Country must be 
 child and mother to us all," said the general. 
 
 The cheeks of Kabilovitsch whitened ; his eyes 
 flashed. Looking Scanderbeg squarely in the face, he 
 said quietly, but putting intention into every 
 word, 
 
 " George Castriot may lead, but may not rebuke 
 the patriots who have watched for Albania with sacri- 
 fices he knows not of, while he has been among our 
 country's enemies. An old man, thy father's friend 
 before thou wast born, may say that, Sire." 
 
 Scanderbeg grew pale in turn. He had been unac- 
 customed to brook insubordination, however right- 
 eous. Who had dared to question him ? Who to fling 
 the taunt into his face ? The hot words were upon 
 his lips. But he paused, at first from the 
 mere habit of self-restraint. Then, because he was 
 a wise man, and realized that he was no longer the 
 tyrant, with power of life and death over his soldiers 
 men who had been hired, stolen, impressed into the 
 service, and transformed into mere machinery of flesh 
 and blood but was to be the public liberator of a people 
 every man of whom was already as free as he. Then, 
 he had become a just man. Strange and sanguinary
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 6 1 
 
 as had been the events accompanying his desertion of 
 the Turks, he had taken this step only after a deep 
 moral struggle. He had revolted from his own past 
 life ; and felt an inward disgrace for what had been 
 his outward glory the service of the Moslem ; he 
 despised himself more than any other person could. 
 It was this sense of the justice of Kabilovitsch's 
 rebuke that checked the rage which had blanched his 
 face, and sent the flush to his temples, as he slowly, 
 replied, " I bow to the merited chastisement of your 
 words. Your years and your better life give you 
 license to utter them. My future shall atone for the 
 past. But cannot your child be left safely where she 
 is?" 
 
 " She is safe where she is ; but I may not leave her 
 without providing for her future. Milosch is lying in 
 a cottage but a little before us. If his wounds are 
 not fatal as I believe they are not, though the leech 
 thought otherwise I may bring the girl to him, and 
 still overtake you before you come in sight of the 
 Black Mountains. I can cross this country by paths 
 through which I could not direct you. During many 
 years, for justice's sake and our country's, I have 
 wandered over these mountains where only the eagle's 
 shadow has fallen." 
 
 " I will stop with you at the cottage," said Scander- 
 beg, " for, though the moments are precious, I would 
 bless the brave fellow for his work yesterday." 
 
 There were several wounded Christian soldiers at 
 the little hovel. A Greek monk was administering 
 both spiritual and physical comfort ; for Rilo Monas- 
 tir had sent its inmates along the track of the
 
 62 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 Christian army in spite of the insults of the Latin 
 soldiers, who, though in sight of the common enemy 
 of their faith, could not repress the meanness of their 
 sectarian jealousy and hatred. Milosch was doing 
 well. His wounds were, one in the fleshy part of the 
 shoulder, the other a contusion on the head, from a 
 blow which had stunned him. A few weeks would 
 put him again upon his feet, though perhaps his fight- 
 ing days were over ; for the flesh wound lay across 
 an important muscle, and would permanently destroy 
 the strength of the right arm. 
 
 Milosch fell in with the proposition of Kabilovitsch 
 regarding Morsinia. Though a Servian, he had lost 
 interest in his own country because of the vacillating 
 course of the Despot, George Brankovitch, who was 
 half Christian and half Moslem, according to the policy 
 of the moment. Milosch would identify himself with 
 the cause of Albania, for which he had already done 
 and suffered so much. 
 
 The two men entered into what is known among 
 the Servians and Albanians as " Brotherhood in God," 
 covenanting in the name of God and St. John to 
 devote their lives, each to the other, and both to their 
 common cause. The compact was sealed by each 
 putting the left hand upon the other's heart, and 
 holding up the right hand in invocation of the Divine 
 witness. Kabilovitsch said : 
 
 " My brother, I commit to thy keeping our daughter, 
 Morsinia, thine and mine, from henceforth. She is 
 all I have but life to share with thee, which also I 
 freely give." 
 
 To this Milosch replied :
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 63 
 
 " My brother, I commit to thy keeping our boy, 
 Constantine, thine and mine from henceforth. He is 
 all I have that I wot of to share with thee, but my life 
 which God spare it I freely give." 
 
 " Bismallah ! " * said Scanderbeg. " And if the 
 girl and the boy were the ones I saw asleep in each 
 other's arms by the fire the other night, the compact 
 is good for two generations at least." 
 
 It was agreed that, upon his sufficient recovery, 
 Milosch should bring the children from the camp of 
 Hunyades to Albania. 
 
 The ride by the Vitosh and Rilo Mountains where 
 the mighty ranges of the Balkans, the Upper Mcesian, 
 and the Rhodope are thrown close together, was 
 sufficiently grand to engross the eye and mind of the 
 dashing riders. Thus most of the day was passed in 
 silence, broken only by the clatter of the horses' hoofs 
 against the rocks ; the roar of cascades making their 
 awful plunge hundreds of feet from the precipices ; 
 the complaint of rivers far down at the bottom of 
 ravines, fretting beneath the prison roof of ice and 
 snow ; and glorious pines, pluming the brow of crag 
 and ledge, through which the everlasting winds 
 breathed the dirge over fallen empires of men. 
 
 As they forced their way up a long and tedious 
 ascent, Scanderbeg joined Kabilovitsch and said : 
 
 " To relieve the tedium of this slow part of the jour- 
 ney you must tell me about that lass you would not 
 leave for the love of Albania. A sweet face as I saw 
 it. I could have run off with it myself, had I not 
 other business on hand. And I can pardon a father's 
 * Bismallah; " Please God," a Turkish common exclamation.
 
 64 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 heart for clinging very closely to such a child. You 
 will forget my rude speech a while ago. I played with 
 a little lass like that when I was a boy. The face of 
 your child, that night I watched for you, carried me 
 back to those happy days. I could see my little 
 sweet-heart in her ; though thirty years have thrown 
 their shadows of dark events across my memory." 
 
 Kabilovitsch turned familiarly to Scanderbeg with 
 the query, 
 
 " May I read your thoughts, Sire ? " 
 
 " Yes, he is welcome to do so who can find my soul 
 beneath this battered face." 
 
 " That child was the fair Mara, the daughter of the 
 noble George Cernoviche, whose castle ruins lie now 
 by the shore of Ochrida. Am I not right ? " 
 
 " Right ! but I knew not of the fall of her father's 
 house. Can you tell me aught of the history of my 
 little maiden. If she lives, she must be a goodly 
 matron now." 
 
 " Yes, I can tell her story and more. She married 
 the noble Musache de Streeses, whose castle once 
 stood near the Skadar."* 
 
 " Ah ! I have heard of his sad fate," replied the 
 general. " Oh, for vengeance on these villains who have 
 despoiled the land ! Musache de Streeses was the 
 richest of all the land-owners on the coast of Adria, 
 the soul of honor, a genuine patriot, with whom my 
 father held confidential intercourse. His purse and 
 sword were freely offered for service against the Turk. 
 It was a favorite scheme of my father to some day 
 unite our families. I hear that my nephew, 
 
 * Lake Scutari.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 65 
 
 Amesa, has become possessed of those estates, being 
 also nephew to De Streeses, who was slain by the 
 Turks. But my fairy, Mara, you said was married to 
 De Streeses. It was she, then, who, with her infant 
 child, was killed by the Turks during the raid ? " 
 
 " Noble Castriot ! De Streeses and the Lady Mara 
 were murdered, foully, treacherously," said the old 
 man, reining his horse, and speaking with terrible 
 passion. 
 
 " Oh, to take vengeance ! " exclaimed Scanderbeg. 
 " By the fair face of Mara ! this, with the thousand 
 other murders of these years, shall be washed out, if 
 my sword drains a myriad veins of Turkish blood to 
 make sure of his who struck so brutal a blow ! " 
 
 " Your sword need not search so wide as that," 
 said Kabilovitsch. " The family of De Streeses were 
 murdered by hands we both know but too well." 
 
 " How know you, Kabilovitsch ? " 
 
 The man removed his cap as if inviting the inspec- 
 tion of his face, and, lowering his voice, replied, 
 
 " I am not Kabilovitsch, I am Arnaud." 
 
 " Arnaud, the forester of De Streeses ? Arnaud, 
 whose shoulders I bestrode before I ever mounted a 
 steed ? " exclaimed Scanderbeg, turning his horse and 
 stopping, but at his companion's motion indicating 
 caution, lowering his tone, and moving close beside 
 him. 
 
 " The same, Sire. And the Turks who murdered the 
 nobleman and his beautiful wife were not such Turks 
 as you have been accustomed to command. Too 
 white of skin and too black of heart were they. I 
 would not say this, but that I give you also my reasons 
 5
 
 66 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 for so grave an accusation. Turks in raiding do not 
 discriminate in their depredations ; but these harmed 
 not a leaf beyond the castle of De Streeses. Nor do 
 Turks swear by St. John, as I heard one of them do 
 as he cursed a fellow villain for some slip in the plan. 
 Nor again would Turks, seeking only for plunder, 
 have shown as much eagerness to kill the little babe 
 as they did to slay its father ; and this they did, search- 
 ing even among the ashes for evidence that the tiny 
 bones had been sufficiently charred to prevent their 
 recognition. But the child was not in the castle at the 
 time. My good wife was suckling it the Lady Mara 
 being of delicate condition and that night the babe 
 was at the lodge. As soon as the commotion was 
 heard at the castle the child was hidden in the copse." 
 
 " But where is this child now ? " asked Scanderbeg 
 eagerly. 
 
 " You have gazed upon her by my camp-fire, sire ; 
 and your soul saw in her face that of the sainted 
 Mara, though your eyes detected her not." 
 
 " And you know the perpetrator of this damnable 
 deed ? " asked Scanderberg. 
 
 " I may not say I know, since your noble father 
 refused to believe that any other than Turkish hands 
 did it. But he who possesses the estate now knows 
 too much of this affair to thank God in his prayers 
 for his inheritance. I saved the child ; yet Lord 
 Amesa has sworn that once a Turk who fell beneath 
 his sword in a private brawl confessed to him that his 
 hands had strangled the infant on the night of the 
 raid. Some one interested had suspicion of where the 
 truth lay, for my own cot was raided, and my wife
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 67 
 
 slain one night during my absence. But the child 
 was safe elsewhere. Since then, knowing that her life 
 was secure only through her being secreted, I have 
 been a wanderer. A price was secretly set upon my 
 head by Amesa. In the mountains of Macedonia, in 
 the pass of the Balkans, have I kept watch over my 
 sacred charge. I want not to see Albania, but as I 
 can see justice done in Albania. Therefore I said I 
 would go only if the lass might go with me, and under 
 the strong protection of a Castriot who knows the 
 truth, whose very soul recognized the child of Mara." 
 
 " The child's life shall be as sacred to me as if 
 Mara had become my wife as she vowed in her play, 
 and the child were my own," said J3canderbeg. " But 
 this perplexes our cause. Amesa is one of our 
 bravest, wiliest voivodes. To antagonize him with 
 this old charge would imperil my reception with the 
 people and the liberty of our land. But I pledge you, 
 my good Arnaud, that though vengeance waits, it 
 shall not sleep. In the time when it shall be most 
 severe upon the offender, and most honorable to the 
 name of Albanian justice, the bolt shall fall." 
 
 It was readily foreseen by both that only at the peril 
 of her life could Morsinia be allowed to accompany her 
 foster father, Arnaud or Kabilovitsch, to the camp of 
 Castriot. The former forester would be recognized and 
 suspicion at once excited as to the person of his ward. 
 It was, therefore, determined that she should be 
 domiciled safely in a little hamlet on the borders of 
 Albania, where her history was unknown ; and that, to 
 elude suspicion, Milosch and the boy, Constantine, 
 should accompany her, as her father and brother,
 
 68 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 neither of whom knew her true history. The 
 " Brotherhood in God " between Kabilovitsch and his 
 old neighbor gave sufficient warrant for Milosch's 
 claim to paternity. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BUT while these refugees from the little hamlet on 
 the mountainswereso favored of good Providence, 
 what of the others ? Our story must return to the day 
 of the battle in the Pass of Slatiza. MotherHelenafell 
 beneath the sword of a Turk while defending herself 
 from his insults. The boy, Michael, with arms bound 
 above the elbows and drawn back so that, while 
 retaining the use of his hands, he could not free him- 
 self, was driven along with others under guard of sev- 
 eral soldiers. As they descended the mountains the 
 band of captives was steadily increased by contributions 
 from the cottages and hiding places along the way. 
 They were mostly boys and girls, the old men and 
 women having been slain or left to perish in the utter 
 desolation which marked the track of the army. 
 Some of the captives were children too young to 
 endure the tramp, and were carried upon the horses 
 of the mounted soldiers. No one was treated unkindly. 
 After the first day their bands were untied so that 
 they moved without weariness. They shared the best 
 of the soldiers' rations sometimes feasting while 
 their captors fasted and were snugly wrapped in the
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 69 
 
 blankets by the camp-fires at night. The daily march, 
 after the Christian army had abandoned the pursuit, 
 was of but a few miles, with long intervals for rest. 
 Indeed, Michael thought that the troopers ^were more 
 anxious about his being kept in good condition, even 
 in fresh and comely appearance, than Mother Helena 
 would have been. As they approached Philippopolis 
 they were all made to wash at a stream. Their matted 
 locks were combed : a hard job with the mass of 
 rebellious red bristles which stood about Michael's 
 head, like a nimbus on the wooden image of some 
 Romish saint. In some instances the captors went 
 into the city and returned with pretty skirts of bright 
 colored wool or silk, and caps made of shells and 
 beads for the girls. Fantastic enough were the cos- 
 tumes and toilets which the rough old troopers forced 
 upon the little maidens ; but if they were pleasing to 
 the captors they would prove, perhaps, as pleasing to 
 the rough slave buyers in the market square of 
 Philippopolis, who purchased the girls for disposal 
 again at the harems of the capital. An officer of 
 excise presided over these sales, and, before the prop- 
 erty was delivered to the purchaser, retained one- 
 fifth the price as the share of the Sultan. If any of 
 the girls were, in the judgment of the officer, of pecu- 
 liar beauty or promise, they were reserved for the 
 royal harem ; the value of them being paid to their cap- 
 tors out of the tax levied upon the others. This gave 
 occasion for the extravagant and often ludicrous cos- 
 tumes in which the diverse tastes of the soldiers 
 arrayed their captives for the contest of beauty. 
 
 The boys, however, were not sold. They were the
 
 70 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 special property of the Sultan, to be trained as Jani- 
 zaries for military service, or employed in menial 
 positions about the royal seraglio. The captors received 
 rewards according to the number and goodly condi- 
 tion of the lads they brought in. 
 
 The band of boys to which Michael was attached 
 was marched at once to Adrianople. Several hundreds 
 were gathered in a great square court, which was 
 surrounded by barracks on three sides, and on the 
 fourth faced the river Marissa. A great soup kettle, 
 the emblem of the Janizary corps, was mounted 
 upon a pole in the centre of the square, and 
 seemed to challenge the honors of the gilt star and 
 crescent, the emblem of royalty, that gleamed from 
 the tall staff in an adjacent court of the seraglio. 
 There were scattered about utensils for domestic use ; 
 the tools of carpenters, blacksmiths, armorers, harness- 
 makers and horse-shoers ; old swords, battered helmets, 
 broken wagons, bow-guns, the figure heads of veteran 
 battering rams ; indeed all the used and disused evi- 
 dences that within these walls lived a self-sustaining 
 community, able to provide for themselves in war or 
 in peace. 
 
 For several days the new boys were fed with delic- 
 ious milk and meats, prepared by skilful hands of old 
 soldiers, who knew the art of nursing the sick almost 
 as well as they knew that of making wounds. For a 
 few nights the lads slept upon soft divans, until every 
 trace of weariness from the journey had disappeared. 
 They were then stripped naked and examined care- 
 fully by the surgeons. If one were deformed, or ill- 
 proportioned, or failed to give promise of a strong
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 71 
 
 constitution, he was taken away to be trained as a 
 woinak or drudge of the camps. Perhaps three-fourths 
 of the entire number in Michael's company were thus 
 branded for life with an adverse destiny. 
 
 The more favored lads were graded into ojaks, or 
 messes ; and among them were daily contests in run- 
 ning and wrestling, according to the results of which 
 the ojaks were constantly changing their members ; 
 the strongest and most agile living together in honorary 
 distinction from their fellows. 
 
 The officers in charge of these Janizary schools were 
 old or crippled men, whom years or wounds had 
 rendered unfit for service in the field, and who were 
 assigned to the easier task in compensation for past 
 fidelity. The spirit of the veterans wasthus infused into 
 the young recruits by constant contact and familiarity 
 with them ; and the rigid habits of the after service 
 were acquired almost insensibly through the daily drill 
 and discipline. 
 
 Michael's rugged health and mountain training 
 enabled him to advance rapidly through the various 
 grades. Though almost the youngest in his company, 
 he was the first in the race, and no one could take him 
 from his feet in the wrestling match. 
 
 " A sturdy little Giaour," said old Selim, a fat and 
 gouty Janizary, the creases of whose double chin were 
 good companions to the sabre-scar across his cheek. 
 
 " Ay, tough and handy ! " responded Mustapha, 
 an old captain of the corps, ogling Michael with his 
 widowed eye, and stroking his beard with his equally 
 bereaved hand, as he watched the boy wriggling from 
 beneath to the top of a companion nearly double his
 
 72 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 size. " If the little fellow is as agile in wit as he is in 
 limb he will not long be among the Agiamoglans.* A 
 splendid build ! broad in the shoulders ; deep-chested, 
 but not flat ; narrow loins ; compact hips just the 
 make of a lion. As lithe a lad as you were once, my 
 now elephantine Selim, when Bajazet stole you from 
 your Hungarian home. Ah ! you have changed some- 
 what since the old Padishah had you for his page. I 
 remember when your waist was as trim as a squirrel's 
 but now from the look of your paunch I would 
 think you were the soldier who drank up the poor 
 woman's supper of goat's milk, and had his belly 
 ripped open by the Padishah to discover his guilt, f 
 Only goat's milk swells like that. Let us see if some 
 of the butter sticks not yet to your ribs," said the old 
 soldier, making a pass at his comrade's middle. 
 
 " That's not a true soldier's pass, to strike so low," 
 said Selim, laughing. " But you, Mustapha, were once 
 a better runner than yon lad will ever be." 
 
 " I was as good with my legs as with my arms," 
 replied the veteran, pleased with the compliment, and 
 fondling his bare calves with his hand. " But at what 
 match did you see me run ? " 
 
 " I only saw you run once," said Selim, " and that 
 was at Angora, when Timour the LameJ was after you 
 to get your ugly head for the pyramid of skulls he left 
 there as a monument. But see the lad ! He tosses 
 the big one as a panther topples an ox. We have not 
 had his match in the school since Scanderbeg was a boy.'' 
 
 * The Inexpert, or lower grade of Janizaries. 
 
 f An incident narrated in Turkish history. 
 
 \ Timour- lenk or Timourlane; Timour the Lame.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 73 
 
 " Poor Scanderbeg ! " said Mustapha. 
 
 " How now ! " inquired Selim, " is there any news 
 from him ? " 
 
 " Yes. He has met his first defeat. He was in 
 command at the last battle under the Balkans. Caram- 
 bey got fast in a bog, in the first battle, and Scander- 
 beg was unable to redeem the defeat in the second. 
 But he lived not to know it. He sent a host of gib- 
 bering Giaour ghosts to hell while on his way to heaven. 
 ' In the crossing of the cimeters there is the gate of 
 paradise,' says the Koran ; and, though his body 
 could not be found, he went through the gate, beyond 
 a doubt." 
 
 " That is a loss, comrade, the Padishah can never 
 make good with any man in the service. But have 
 you not noted, Mustapha, that Scanderbeg never 
 fought so well against Christians as against the Cara- 
 manians, the Kermians and rebellious Turks. In 
 Anatolia I have seen his lips burst with blood,* through 
 sheer rage of fight ; but in Servia he seemed listless 
 and without heart for the fray. The Grand Vizier 
 has noted it, and twitted him with remembering too 
 well that he was Christian born." 
 
 " And how did he take that ? " 
 
 <l Why, the color came to his face ; his lips swelled ; 
 his whole body shook ; just as I have seen him when 
 compelled to restrain himself from heading a charge, 
 because the best moment for it had not arrived." 
 
 " Did the Vizier take note of his manner ? " 
 
 " Yes, and spoke of it to the Padishah. Amurath 
 looked troubled, and I overheard him say, ' I must 
 * See old annals.
 
 74 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES, 
 
 not believe it, for I need him. No other general can 
 match Hunyades." And the Padishah said well ; and 
 he had done well if he had taken the Vizier's head 
 from his shoulders for such an insinuation. For Scan- 
 derbeg only half loyal were better than all the rest of 
 the generals licking the Padishah's feet. But, Mus- 
 tapha, we must train the little devil yonder to forget 
 that he ever heard the name of Jesu, Son of Mary, 
 except from the Koran." 
 
 " Let us see if he has as much courage as he has 
 cartilage," said Mustapha. " The day is one fit for the 
 water test. Let us have the squad on the river's bank. 
 If you will bring them, I will go and arrange the test." 
 
 " It is too cold, and besides I do not like it," said 
 Selim. " I have known some of the best and hottest 
 blood that ever boiled in a child's veins to be chilled 
 forever by it. It is too severe, except for trout." 
 
 " But it is commanded. And to-day is as mild as 
 we shall have for a whole moon yet," was the reply, as 
 Mustapha moved toward the water. 
 
 The river Marissa was covered with thin ice, not 
 strong enough to bear the weight of a person. A young 
 woinak had attached a small red flag to a block of 
 wood, and whirled it out over the slippery surface 
 some three rods from the shore. The boys gathered 
 naked and shivering at the barrack doors, and, at a 
 signal were to dash after the flag. All hesitated at the 
 strange and cruel command, until a whip, snapping 
 close to their bare backs, started them. Some slipped 
 and fell upon the rough and icy stones of the paving 
 in the court. Others halted at the river's edge. Only 
 a few ventured upon the brittle ice ; and they, as it
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 75 
 
 broke beneath them, scrambled back to the shore. One 
 or two fainted in the shock of the cold plunge, and 
 were drawn in by the woinaks. But three pressed on, 
 breaking the ice before them with their arms, or with 
 the whole weight of their bodies, as they climbed upon 
 its brittle edge. Soon they were beyond their depth ; 
 one dared to go no further, and, blue and bleeding, 
 gave up the chase. The prize lay between Michael 
 and his companion. This boy was larger and older 
 than he ; and finding that the ice would sustain his 
 weight, stretched himself on it, and crawled forward 
 until he grasped the flag. But the momentary pause, 
 as he detached it from the wooden block and put it 
 between his teeth, was sufficient to allow the crackling 
 bridge to break beneath him ; and he sunk out of 
 sight. At the same instant Michael disappeared. 
 Though several yards from his companion, he 
 plunged beneath the ice, and reappeared carrying the 
 flag in his teeth and holding his comrade's head above 
 the water until the woinaks could reach and rescue 
 them both. 
 
 " Bravo ! " shouted the attendants. The boys were 
 hurried into the barracks, and given a hot drink made 
 from a decoction of strong mints ; while the woinaks 
 smeared their bodies with the same, and rubbed them 
 until the shock of their exposure was counteracted by 
 the generous return of the natural heat. 
 
 " I thought," said old Mustapha, " that we would 
 have drowned some to-day. It is a cruel custom ; but 
 it is worth months of other practices to find out a lad's 
 clear grit and power of endurance. The two boys 
 who got the flag will some day become as valiant as
 
 76 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES, 
 
 ourselves, eh, Selim ? " and the living eye of the vet- 
 eran nodded to the empty socket across his nose 
 the nearest approach to a wink he was capable of. 
 
 " As the boys were floundering in the water," said 
 Selim, " I thought of a scene which I saw about at the 
 same spot now three score years have gone since it 
 for it was just after I was brought into the Janizary's 
 school. Our Padishah's great grandfather, the first 
 Amurath, had erected a high seat or throne on the 
 river's bank yonder. You know that Saoudji, the 
 Padishah's son, had joined the Greeks ; but the young 
 traitor was captured. Well ! old Amurath bade the 
 executioner pass the red hot iron before his son's eyes 
 until the sight was dried up in them. Then, while the 
 blind prince was groping about and begging for mercy, 
 the Padishah, his father, commanded a circle of 
 swordsmen to be formed about him, swinging their 
 cimeters, so that his head would fall by the hand of 
 him whom he chanced to approach. Thus it might 
 be said, that since he was a king's son, he had used 
 the princely privilege of selecting his own executioner. 
 And having thus set them an example of paternal duty, 
 Amurath commanded the fathers of the Greek youths, 
 whom he had captured, to cut off the heads each 
 of his own son. Those whose fathers were not 
 known or could not be found, were tied together in 
 groups and thrown into the stream ; the Padishah bet- 
 ting heavily with the Grand Vizier upon those who 
 should float the longest. So, cruel though our cus- 
 toms are, you see, Mustapha, we are not so barbaric 
 as our ancestors." 
 
 " Nor so abominably vicious as the Greeks," said
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 77 
 
 Mustapha. " With them the loving mothers put out the 
 eyes of their children.* No, we are quite gentle nur- 
 ses of the lads committed to our charge, though some- 
 times our tiger claws will prick through the velvet." 
 
 " Come, help me up ! good Mustapha," said Selim, 
 trying to rise from a bench in the sunshine of the 
 court where they were sitting. " The cold stiffens 
 my bones." 
 
 " Bah ! comrade, you have no bones, only flesh and 
 belly. How will you balance your fat hulk on the 
 bridge that is finer than a hair and sharper than the 
 edge of a sword that takes you over hell into para- 
 dise ? I fear me, Selim, that I shall have to content 
 myself with the company of the Prophet and the 
 houris in heaven, for you will never get there, unless 
 I give you a lift across Al Sirat,"f said Mustapha, 
 giving his comrade a jerk which sent him far out into 
 the court, where with difficulty he kept his feet upon 
 the slippery stones. 
 
 The old fellow took the rough play good-naturedly, 
 and replied, 
 
 " You will never see paradise, Mustapha. The 
 houris will have nought to do with so ugly a face as 
 yours. It will turn them all squint-eyed to look at 
 you." 
 
 " Do you think I know not the art of love-making?" 
 said Mustapha, striking the attitude of a fashionable 
 young man of the day. 
 
 Selim roared with laughter. " Mustapha making 
 love ? The thing is impossible ; since, if the houri 
 
 * Vide, the Greek Empress Irene and her son Constantino 
 f The bridge over hell mentioned above.
 
 78 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 be in the sunshine of your good eye, you have no arm 
 on that side to embrace her ; and if you embrace her 
 with the arm you have got, you have no eye on that 
 side to look upon her beauty. Trust me, you old 
 moulted peacock, that I shall get over Al Sirat before 
 Mustapha has found a houri " 
 
 " Hist ! " said Mustapha, pointing to the entrance 
 of the square from the seraglio court adjoining, and 
 assuming an attitude of the gravest dignity. In a 
 moment more the two officers knelt, and resting their 
 foreheads on the ground, remained in that position 
 until a lad of some twelve years approached them and 
 touched the head of each with his foot, bidding them 
 rise. 
 
 " I have come, good Selim, to see what new hounds 
 you have for me," said the young Prince Mahomet.* 
 
 " Ah ! my little Hoonkeawr ! f the Prophet, your 
 namesake, has sent you a fine one ; as lithe as a grey- 
 hound and as strong as a mastiff ; and, if I mistake 
 not, already trained for the game ; for he came from 
 the Balkans, where foxes run wild when and where 
 they will." 
 
 " That is capital. I shall like him," cried the prince, 
 with delight. " I must see him." 
 
 " Not to-day, your highness ; for the boys are 
 under the leech's charge. They have been put to the 
 water-test, and are all packed snugly in their beds." 
 
 " The water-test, Selim, and you called me not ? " 
 said the boy, looking furious in his rage. " You 
 knew I wanted to see it ; and you told me not for 
 
 * Afterward Sultan Mahomet II. 
 
 f Literally, Man of Blood, a title of the Sultan.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 79 
 
 spite. You will pay for this one day, you fat villain ! 
 And I want the hunt now. I came for it ; did I not, 
 Yusef ? " addressing a eunuch, an old man with ashen 
 face and decrepit body, but gorgeously arrayed, who 
 accompanied the prince as his constant attendant. 
 
 " We must wait, I suppose," said the man, with a 
 supercilious tone and toss of his head, as if to even 
 speak in the presence of the soldiers were a degrada- 
 tion to his dignity. 
 
 " To-morrow we will have the hunt in better style 
 than we could arrange it now were the boys able," said 
 Selim, endeavoring to appease the young tyrant. 
 
 The prince and his escort moved away without 
 deigning a reply 
 
 " It is best not to insist," said the eunuch. " A 
 wise maxim I will give thee, my prince : Beware of 
 demanding the impossible check back even the desire 
 of it. The rule of the Janizary school is that the boys 
 have rest after the water-test, and the Padishah would 
 not allow even his own son to break it. I would train 
 thee to self-command ; for the time may come when 
 thou shalt command the empire. Your brother, 
 Aladdin, is mortal." 
 
 " So you always interfere with me. You hate me, 
 Yusef ; I know you do. I wish the boys had all 
 been drowned in the river, and old Selim, and you 
 too," cried the royal lad, giving way to an outburst of 
 childish rage. 
 
 " Wait until thou canst get the bit between thy 
 teeth before attempting to run thine own gait," coolly 
 replied the old eunuch.
 
 8o THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 "OEYOND the walls of the seraglio lay the royal 
 13 hunting grounds. Many acres of the city were 
 enclosed within high walls of clayey earth, packed 
 into huge square blocks and dried in the sun ; on the 
 top and outside of which bristled a miniature abattis 
 of prickly vines. Some parts of this park were adorned 
 with every elegance that the art of landscape garden- 
 ing could devise. In the summer season these por- 
 tions were covered with floral beauties, interspersed 
 with water-jets, which tossed the light silver balls like 
 fairy jugglers ; broad basins sparkling with gold fish ; 
 and walks leading to little kiosks and arbors. Even 
 its winter shroud could not conceal from the imagina- 
 tion what must have been its living beauty in summer. 
 
 The greater part of this reserve was, however, left 
 in its natural state. Gnarled old olive trees twisted 
 themselves like huge serpents above the dense copses 
 of elder and hazel bushes. Dusky balsams rose in 
 pyramids, overtopped by the pines, which spread their 
 branches like umbrellas. Here and there were open 
 fields, encumbered with stinted underbrush, and either 
 broken with out-cropping rocks, or smooth with strips 
 of meadow land now white and glistening under the 
 snow. 
 
 This section of the park presented a fascinating 
 appearance on the day of the fox-hunt. Scores of 
 lads from the Janizary school were there, dressed in all 
 shades of bright-colored jackets, and short trousers 
 bagged at the knees ; the lower part of the limbs being
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 8 1 
 
 protected with close-fitting stockings of leather, termi- 
 nating in light, but strong, sandals. Each wore a 
 skull cap or fez of red flannel, from the top of which 
 and down the back hung a tassel, that, by its length 
 and richness, indicated some prize won by its wearer 
 in previous games. Old soldiers gathered here and 
 there in groups ; some, the Janizaries, wearing tall 
 sugar-loaf-shaped hats of gray ; others, white turbans, 
 or green ones, indicating that their possessors had made 
 a holy pilgrimage to Mecca. Elegant burnooses, or 
 sleeveless cloaks, of white, black, orange and yellow 
 silks, fluttered in the wind or were gathered at the 
 waist by rich sashes, from which hung great cimeters. 
 
 Near an open spot was a stand, or running gallery, 
 enclosed in lattice-work, from behind which the ladies 
 of the harem could witness the sports, themselves 
 unseen. The presence of these invisible beauties was 
 indicated by the stiff, straight forms of the black 
 eunuchs, whose faces appeared above their white 
 cloaks like heads of ebony on statues of alabaster. 
 
 Prince Mahomet rode a horse, small but com- 
 pactly built, with head and mane suggestive of the 
 power of his well-rounded muscles ; slim ankles, seem- 
 ingly better adapted to carry the lighter form of a deer ; 
 jet black, in strongest contrast with the white tunic 
 and gaily embroidered jacket of the little prince, as 
 well as with the saddle-cloth of purple silk, in which 
 the star and crescent were wrought with threads of gold. 
 With merry shout the young tyrant chased the boys, 
 who, carrying wands decorated with ribbons, ran ahead 
 of him to clear the way. 
 
 " So it will be if he ever comes to the throne," said 
 6
 
 82 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 Selim to a comrade. " Mahomet II. would follow no 
 one. There would be no use of viziers and generals, 
 and he would even attempt to drive the Janizaries like 
 his sheep. It is well that Aladdin is the elder." 
 
 " But woe to Aladdin if Mahomet lives after his 
 brother comes to the throne," said the man addressed. 
 " With such fire-boxes about him one could justify the 
 practice of a sovereign inaugurating his reign by the 
 slaughter of his next of kin." * 
 
 The woinaks brought in several crates, with latticed 
 sides, containing the foxes, which, one by one, were to 
 be let loose for the chase ; the boys to act the part of 
 hounds, and drive the game from the thickets, in which 
 they would naturally take refuge, out into the open 
 space, and within arrow range of the prince. Mahomet, 
 by constant practice, had acquired great dexterity in 
 managing his steed, and almost unerring aim in using 
 the bow from the horse's back. 
 
 A splendid red fox was thrust out of the crate. For 
 a moment he remained crouching and trembling in his 
 fright at the crowd ; then darted suddenly for the 
 underbrush. The boys, imitating the sharp cry or pro- 
 longed baying of a pack of hounds, scattered in differ- 
 ent directions ; some disappearing in the copse ; 
 others stationing themselves at the openings or run- 
 ways where they thought the animal would appear. 
 The bugle of the white eunuch, who was constantly 
 near the prince, kept all informed of his position, so 
 that reynard might be driven toward him. In a few 
 moments the arrow of Mahomet laid him low. 
 
 A second fox was liberated like many of the Sul- 
 
 * The custom also in other Oriental nations than the Turkish.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 83 
 
 tan's nobler creatures only to fly to his speedy execu- 
 tion. The third animal was an old one, who persisted 
 in taking the direction opposite to that in which the 
 chasers would drive him. Again and again, as the boys 
 closed about him, he dashed through the thickest of their 
 legs, leaving them tumbled together in a heap. At one 
 time he sprang through the opening at which Michael, 
 studying the tricks of the quick-witted brute, had sta- 
 tioned himself. Sudden as were his movements, the 
 young mountaineer's were not less so ; for, like a ver- 
 itable hound, he threw himself bodily upon the prey. 
 Passing his right hand beneath the entire length of 
 the animal's body from the rear, he grasped his front 
 leg and bent it back beneath him ; at the same time 
 using his whole weight to keep the animal's head close 
 to the ground, so as to escape his fangs. He had 
 taken more than One beast in a similar way from the 
 holes in the old mountain pass. In the excitement of 
 the sport he now forgot that he was merely to enable 
 another to get the game without effort or danger. 
 
 Prince Mahomet rode to the spot toward which the 
 fox had turned, and, in a sudden outburst of anger at 
 this interference with his shot, drove the arrow at the 
 two as they were struggling on the ground. The whir- 
 ring barb cut the arm of Michael before it entered the 
 heart of the prey. The sharp cry of pain uttered by 
 the lad recalled Mahomet from his insane rage. The 
 rushing attendants showed pity for Michael, but no 
 one ventured a remonstrance against this act of impe- 
 rial cowardice and cruelty. A moment's examination 
 showed that the lad's wound was not serious, being 
 only a cut through the flesh. But as the pallor of his
 
 84 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 fright died away from his face, it was followed by a 
 deep flush of anger. Tears of vexation filled his eyes. 
 His glance of scorn was hardly swifter than his leap : 
 for, with a bound, his arms were around the prince's 
 body, while his weight dragged him from the saddle to 
 the ground. Mahomet, rising, drew a jeweled dagger, 
 and made several hasty passes at his assailant, who, 
 however, dextrously avoided them. The posing of 
 the lads would have done justice to the fame of pro- 
 fessional gladiators. The prince pressed upon his 
 antagonist with incessant thrusts, which, by skilful 
 retreating and parries with his bare arm, Michael 
 avoided ; until, with a ringing blow upon Mahomet's 
 wrist, he sent the weapon from his hand, and closed 
 with him ; the prince falling to the ground beneath the 
 greater strength of Michael. 
 
 The spectators at this point interfered. As they 
 rose the eunuch grasped the little victor, and shaking 
 him, cried : " I will cut the throat of the Giaour cub of 
 hell." 
 
 But the one hand of old Mustapha was upon the 
 eunuch's throat, and his one eye flashed like a discharg- 
 ing culverin, as he cried, " Had I another hand to do 
 it with, I would cut yours, you white-faced imbecile ! 
 Don't you know that the boy belongs to the Janiza- 
 ries ? and woe to him who is not a Janizary that lays 
 a hand on him! " 
 
 " The prince's honor must be avenged," wheezed 
 
 out the eunuch between the finger grips of the old 
 
 soldier. " I care not for the Janizary, though you 
 
 were the Aga* himself, instead of a mutilated slave." 
 
 * Aga ; commander.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 85 
 
 The eunuch had drawn his dagger, and was work- 
 ing his hand into a position whence he could strike, 
 when old Selim's hand grasped his. 
 
 " None of that treachery, or we will let out of your 
 leprous skin what manhood is left in you, you blotch 
 on your race ! Touch one hair of Black Khalil's* 
 children and you die like the dog you are. Let him 
 go, Mustapha ! His coward throat is no place for you 
 to soil a brave hand. We will get a snake to strangle 
 him ; a buzzard to pick his grain of a soul out of his 
 vile carcass ; f an ass to kick him to death. We must 
 observe the proprieties." 
 
 " Pardon my heat ! " said the eunuch. " My zeal for 
 my prince has led me too far." 
 
 " Not at all ! " said Selim. " It is pleasant to see that 
 you have some heat in your cold blooded toad nature." 
 
 " It is better for us to retire," said the eunuch to 
 Mahomet. " I shall sound the signal for the close of 
 the games." 
 
 Mahomet stood stubbornly for awhile ; then turning 
 to Michael said in a tone which was strangely without 
 a shade of anger or petulance in it : 
 
 " Say, young Giaour, you and I must have this out 
 some day." 
 
 Michael could not help a half-smiling recognition 
 of the boyish challenge, and replied : 
 
 " I have seen more foxes than you have, and know 
 some tricks I didn't show you to-day." 
 
 * Kara Khalil Tschendereli, the founder of the Janizaries in 
 the time of Sultan Orchan. 
 
 f According to a Moslem tradition the beautiful birds of para- 
 dise hold in their crops the souls of holy martys until the resurrec- 
 tion.
 
 86 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 As they moved out of the park, Yusef delivered a 
 brief lecture to his princely pupil. " Hark thee, my 
 master. I warn thee, that thou have an eye always 
 open and a hand always closed to the Janizaries. 
 They have grown from being the heel to think that 
 they are the head of the state. They dictate to thy 
 father, the Padishah, and snub the very Vizier. I 
 would have killed both those old imbeciles, but that 
 it would not have been politic. I am glad, too, that 
 thou didst not let thy dagger find the heart of the 
 Balkan boy. That would not have been politic. 
 For, Allah grant ! thou mayest one day be Padishah. 
 Then this day would be remembered against us." 
 
 " But, Yusef, I did not spare the boy. I think he 
 spared me ; and if I ever get to be Padishah, I will 
 make him my vizier, for his cleverness. It would be a 
 pity that so brave a man were elsewhere than at my 
 right hand. Though he angered me awfully at the 
 moment, I shall like that fellow. Did you see how he 
 gripped the fox with his bare arms ? He must teach 
 me how to do that. Was it between the hind legs he 
 thrust his hand, or across the beast's body ? I could 
 not see for my being so mad because he spoiled for me 
 a fine running shot." 
 
 " Thou art a strange child, Mahomet. Thou seem- 
 est to have forgotten that the boy leaped at thy throat, 
 and would have torn out thine eyes, but that thou 
 wast more valiant than he." 
 
 " Well, I should despise him as white-livered and 
 milk-galled if he had not sprung at me," said Maho- 
 met. " Has not every noble fellow quick blood, 
 as well as a prince, Yusef ? That boy shall be mine.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 87 
 
 He shall teach me his tricks, and I shall give him all 
 my sweetmeats ; for they get none of such things in 
 the school." 
 
 " Ah ! my little prince, thy head is as full of wit as 
 a fig is of seeds. Thou art gifted to know and use 
 men. One that is born to rule must make his passion 
 bend to policy. He must not allow himself the pleas- 
 ure of hating those whom he can use. But take heed 
 of this : whom he cannot use he must not love." 
 
 " But I was not born to rule, Yusef. If so, I would 
 have been born earlier, before my brother Aladdin 
 cried in his nurse's arms, and would not be comforted 
 until they had covered the soft spot on his bare head 
 with a paper crown. Do you believe in omens, Yusef ? " 
 
 " Not in such ; only in dreams," said the eunuch. 
 
 "Well ; I dreamed that our two heads yours and 
 mine, Yusef were together on a pike-staff, grinning 
 at Aladdin's coronation." 
 
 " Nonsense, child ! " said the eunuch, his white face 
 bleaching a shade whiter under the thought, as they 
 passed through the gateway into the seraglio grounds. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE physical training of the young Janizaries con- 
 sisted in such daily exercises as would develop 
 strength and tirelessness of muscle, steadiness of nerve, 
 keenness and accuracy of eye, as well as grace of mien. 
 They were also taught by expert workmen all the arts
 
 88 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 of daily need ; to make as well as to use the bow ; to 
 trim and balance the arrow ; to forge, temper, and 
 sharpen the sword ; to shoe the horse; to make and 
 mend their clothing and the entire trappings of their 
 steeds ; to build and manage the keelless kaiks* which 
 darted like fishes through the surface of the river ; 
 to bind rafts into pontoons for the crossing of streams ; 
 to reap and grind the grain, and cook their food. 
 Any special talent or adaptability was noted by the 
 instructors, and the Janizaries encouraged to attain to 
 rare expertness in single arts. 
 
 The training in arms was especially severe, and 
 under masters in fencing, archery, riding, swimming, 
 marching, deploying the ablest tacticians, whose 
 wounds or age permitted their absence from active 
 campaigns, being found always at the head of the 
 various departments. The Janizary, while a mere lad 
 in years, was often more than a match in single com- 
 bat for the most stalwart men in other corps, such as 
 the Piade and Azabs among footmen, the Ouloufedji 
 and Akindji among troopers. 
 
 But, notwithstanding this individual prowess and 
 ambition were stimulated to the highest degree, they 
 were disciplined to abject obedience within the corps. 
 Each one was as a part of some intricate mechanism, all 
 moved by one spring, which was the will of the chief 
 Aga. At a moment's notice they must start, in com- 
 panies or alone ; on military expeditions, or secret 
 service as spies and scouts ; it might be to the re- 
 cesses of Asia or the upper Danube ; to assail forts 
 or to conduct intrigues ; having always but one incen- 
 * Kaiks or caiques ; light row-boats.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 89 
 
 tive, that of the common service and the common 
 glory. 
 
 To develop in the same person these two seemingly 
 antagonistic qualities of intensest individuality and 
 abject subserviency to their order required the 
 shrewdest manipulation of the mind and will of the 
 cadet from his earliest enrollment in childhood. As 
 certain expert horse-trainers control the spirit of 
 noble steeds, without extinguishing any of their fiery 
 ardor, and tell the secret of their power to those who 
 come after them in the guild, so from the days of 
 Black Khalil this marvellous system of discipline had 
 been perpetuated among the corps, producing but 
 rarely a weakling and as rarely a rebel. 
 
 Michael learned his first lesson in subordination 
 upon the return from the hunt. While the Janizary 
 officers were not displeased with the prowess the little 
 fellow had shown, even against the prince, it was fore- 
 seen that such an impetuous nature needed the curb. 
 For three days he was confined to a room in solitude 
 and silence. No one spoke or listened to him. His 
 only attendant was an old man, both deaf and dumb, 
 who evidently knew nothing and cared nothing for 
 Michael's offence or its punishment. 
 
 During this time the lad's suspense was terrible. 
 Was he to be killed for having assaulted the prince ? 
 Would they take him to the torture ? Perhaps this 
 old man had been guilty of some such offence, and 
 they had cut his tongue and bored out his ears ! He 
 had heard of the searing iron passed before the eyes, 
 and then the life-long darkness. When he slept his 
 overwrought imagination fabricated horrid dreams in
 
 90 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 which he was the victim of every species of cruelty. He 
 fancied that he was being eaten by a kennel of foxes, to 
 whom he is given every day until their hunger shall be 
 satisfied ; then taken away and reserved for their next 
 meal. He tried to compute how many days he would 
 last. Sometimes he imagined that he was exposed 
 naked in the cold, and made to stand day and night 
 on the ice of the Marissa, until he should be frozen : 
 but his heart is so hot with his rebel spirit that it will 
 not freeze. Once he thought that Prince Mahomet 
 came each day and stabbed him with that pearl-set 
 dagger he drew on him at the hunt. 
 
 His dreams were too frightful to allow him to sleep 
 long at a time ; yet, when awake, his fears were such 
 that he longed to get back again among the terrible 
 creatures of his fancy. Oh, that some one would 
 speak to him, and tell him his fate ! He would wel- 
 come the worst torture, if only he could be allowed to 
 talk to the torturer. 
 
 After a while rage took the place of, or at least 
 began to alternate with, fear. He regretted that he 
 had not killed the impudent prince. 
 
 " There stands his horse," he would say to himself 
 marking a line on the wall " now I leap ; seize his 
 dagger ; strike him to the heart ; and, before they can 
 stop me, plunge it into my own heart, so ! Ah ! when 
 I am out of this place I will kill him ! I will ! and go 
 down to hell with him ! " And the little frame would 
 swell, and the eyes gleam with demoniacal light 
 through the dusky chamber. 
 
 There are deep places even in a child's soul ay, 
 bottomless depths which, when unfretted by tempta-
 
 THE CA P TAIN OF THE JA NIZ ARIES. 9 1 
 
 tion, are so tranquil and clear that the kindliness and 
 joy of heaven are reflected in them, warranting the 
 saying of the old Jewish Rabbis, " Every child is a 
 prophet of the pure and loving God." But when 
 disturbed by a sense of wrong and injury, these depths 
 in a child's heart may rage as a caldron hot with the 
 fires of hell ; as a geyser pouring out the wrath and 
 hatred which we conceive to be born only in the 
 nether world. 
 
 After a time Michael's fury died away. Another 
 feeling took its place the crushing sense of his 
 impotence. His will seemed to be broken by the 
 violence of its own spasm. He was stunned by his 
 realization of weakness. He fell with his face to the 
 cold stones of the floor, moaning at first, but soon 
 passing into a waking stupor in which only conscious- 
 ness remained : hopeless, purposeless, without energy 
 to strive, and without strength to cry a perfectly 
 passive spirit. The centipede that crawled from the 
 dusty crevice of the walls, and raised half his body to 
 look at the strange figure lying there, might have com- 
 manded him. The spider might have captured him, 
 and spun about his soul a web of destiny, if only he 
 could have conveyed a thought of it from his tiny eyes. 
 For, as the body faints, so also does the spirit under 
 the pressure of woe. 
 
 The old mute brought in the meal on the third day, 
 placed it beside him, and retired. An hour later he 
 returned and found the bread untasted ; the child in 
 the same attitude, but not asleep. He touched him 
 with his foot, but evoked no sign that his presence 
 was recognized. He gazed for a few moments ; then
 
 92 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 shook his head like an artisan who, upon inspecting 
 some piece of work he has been making, is not satisfied 
 with it. 
 
 He summoned Selim. The old soldier, finding that 
 his entrance did not arouse the lad, crossed his legs 
 upon the floor beside him, and waited. The light from 
 the high window of the room fell upon Selim's 
 wrinkled face. But it seemed as if another light, one 
 from within, blended with it. His harsh features 
 were permeated by a glow and softness, as he gazed 
 upon the exhausted child. His eyes filled with tears ; 
 but they were speedily dried by the stare with which 
 he turned and looked first at the blank walls, and then, 
 following back the ray of light, to the window and 
 beyond ; his soul transported far away over lands, 
 through years, to a cottage on the banks of the Grau. 
 He saw there a face so beautiful ! was it really of one 
 he once called " Mother ? " or a dim and hazy recol- 
 lection of a painting of the Christian Madonna he had 
 seen in his childhood ? Happy groups of village chil- 
 dren were playing down among the lilies by the 
 water's edge, and over the hills gently sloping back 
 from the river's bank. Their faces were as clear cut 
 there against the blue sky beyond the window, as once 
 sixty years ago they were against the green grass 
 of the meadow. He heard again the sweet ring of the 
 chapel bell echoing back from the ragged rocks of the 
 opposite shore. And now the midnight alarm ! 
 A fight with strange looking turbaned men ! Flames 
 bursting from the houses of the hamlet ! Men shriek- 
 ing with wounds, and women struggling in the arms of 
 captors ! And a little child, ah, so lonely and tired
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 93 
 
 with a long march ! and that child himself ! His 
 eyes rested as fondly upon Michael as did ever a 
 father's upon his boy. 
 
 But as the wind extinguishes a candle, a movement 
 of Michael sent all the gleams gathered out of former 
 days from old Selim's features. Severity, almost 
 savageness, took the place of kindliness among the 
 wrinkles of his countenance, as naturally as the waters 
 of a rivulet, held back for a moment by a child's hand, 
 fill again their channels. 
 
 The boy raised his head. His face was pale ; the 
 eyes sunken ; their natural brilliance deepened, but as 
 that of the flashing waters is deepened when it is 
 frozen into the glistening icicle. Or shall we say that 
 the dancing flames of the child's eyes had become the 
 steady glow of embered coals ; their life gone out, 
 but the hot core left there, not to cheer, only to 
 burn. Those three days of silence, with their succes- 
 sive dramas of mystery, terror, rage and depression, 
 had wrought more changes in him than many years of 
 merely external discipline would have done. 
 
 The close searching glance of Selim detected all 
 this ; and also that the child was in a critical condi- 
 tion. The will was broken, but it was not certain that 
 this had not been accomplished by the breaking of the 
 entire spirit ; instead of curbing, destroying it : not 
 taming the tiger's daring, but converting it into the 
 sluggishness and timidity of the cat. 
 
 " Michael ! " cried he. 
 
 There was no response except the slight inclination 
 of the head indicating that the word had been heard. 
 
 " Follow me ! "
 
 94 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 The lad rose mechanically, showing no interest or 
 attention beyond that required for bodily obedience. 
 
 Pausing at the door-way the old man put his hand 
 upon the boy's shoulder and said sternly, yet with a 
 caution ready to change his tone 
 
 " Do you know that we have power to more severely 
 punish you ? " 
 
 The words made no impression upon the child. 
 
 " The bastinado ? The cage ? " The boy raised 
 his face, but upon it was no evidence of fear ; perhaps 
 of scorn. He had suffered so much that threats had 
 no power over him. 
 
 Selim was alarmed at these symptoms. His expe- 
 rience with such cases taught him that this lethargic 
 spell must be broken at whatever cost. Feeling must 
 be excited ; and if an appeal to the child's imagina- 
 tion failed, physical pain must be inflicted. Some- 
 thing must rouse him, or insanity might ensue. 
 
 A peculiar instrument of torture was a frame set 
 with needles pointing inwards. Into this sometimes a 
 culprit was placed, and the frame screwed so close 
 about the person that he could not move from a fixed 
 position without forcing the needles into his flesh. 
 This frame was put about the boy. He stared 
 stupidly at the approaching points, but did not shrink. 
 Selim pressed one of the needles quickly. Instantly 
 the boy uttered a cry of pain. His face blanched with 
 fright. The tears sprang to his eyes, and through 
 them came an agonizing look of entreaty. 
 
 Selim's whole manner changed as suddenly. 
 Schooled as he was to harshness ; to strike one's head 
 from his shoulders at the command of the Aga with-
 
 THE CAPTAIN' OF THE JANIZARIES. 95 
 
 out an instant's hesitation ; to superintend the slow 
 process of a " discipline " by torture, without a 
 remorseful thought ; yet this was not his nature. 
 And now that better, deeper, truer nature, hitherto 
 unexercised for years, asserted itself. -His heart went 
 out to Michael the instant there was no further neces- 
 sity for its restraint. 
 
 " Bravo ! my little, hero, ""cried he, catching him to 
 his arms. " You are of the metal of the invincibles, 
 and henceforth only valiant deeds, bright honors and 
 endless pleasures are to be yours. You shall lodge 
 with me to-night." 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 OELIM'S apartment was off from the common 
 O barracks of the Janizaries. It was luxuriantly fur- 
 nished in its way. Elegant rugs lay upon the marble 
 floor. A divan, with silken covering, filled one end of 
 the room. The walls were hung with a variety of 
 richly wrought weapons and armor : short swords, 
 long crescent-shaped cimeters, spears of polished wood 
 headed with glistening steel, helmets, breastplates, 
 greaves. Badges and honorary decorations .shone 
 among costly robes which had accumulated since the 
 days when he had been a page to the Sultan Amu- 
 rath I. 
 
 Upon a low table, reaching to the edge of the 
 divan, had been placed salvers holding cups and open
 
 g6 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 dishes of silver. A woinak entered with basins of 
 scented water in which to wash the hands and bathe 
 the face. 
 
 Selim placed his little guest by his side upon the 
 divan. Mustapha also appeared, and, removing his 
 shoes, made a profound and dignified salam quite in 
 contrast with his usual rough and badgering manner 
 when with Selim then placed himself beside his com- 
 rade upon the cushions. An excellent repast was 
 served. There was hare's flesh chopped and rolled 
 with rice into balls, made more savory with curry 
 sauce. Sweet cakes, pastry of figs and candied 
 orange blossoms excited a thirst for the sweetened 
 water, which was so strongly flavored with the juices 
 of fruits that the more scrupulous Moslems refused to 
 drink it, lest they should disobey the command of the 
 Koran prohibiting the use of wine. 
 
 The two old men vied with each other in telling 
 thrilling stories of adventure in battle and on secret 
 service ; of the romance of castles and courts ; of how 
 they won their honors and got their scars ; of the 
 favors of princes and princesses ; and of exploits in 
 which, though the rules of their order forbade their 
 marrying, they retaliated the captivity of the maiden's 
 eye by capturing her person. The burden of every 
 story was the praise of the Janizary organization, 
 which alone enabled them to attain such glories and 
 joys. The close brotherhood, which gave to each the 
 help of all the ten thousand, was commended by inci- 
 dents illustrating it. They told of their Aga or chief, 
 who was more powerful than the Grand Vizier for 
 sultans made these latter by a word, and unmade
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. g^ 
 
 them with equal caprice, often with the stroke of the 
 sword ; but to touch a hair of the Aga would be for 
 the Sultan to lose the favor of the entire band, whom 
 he regarded as the main support of his throne, as 
 their hands had won it for his fathers. Did not the 
 word of Mustapha and Selim, at the fox-hunt, cow 
 the pride of Yusef, who was next to the Capee Aga 
 or chief of the white eunuchs ? Yet Selim and 
 Mustapha were but captains in the Janizaries. No 
 general in any other arm of the service would have 
 dared to antagonize the eunuch as they did. 
 
 As Michael listened, his cheeks flushed and chilled 
 by turns with the excitement of his martial ambition. 
 The dreams he used to have in his mountain home, of 
 being a soldier and coming back covered with badges 
 of honor to claim Morsinia as his bride, seemed to be 
 dissolving into the reality. Nor was his ardor damped 
 when he learned from Selim that the first step toward 
 all this was the total surrender of himself to the service 
 of the brotherhood, in pledging and keeping obedience 
 to its rules ; as a part of the body, like the hand, must 
 never be severed from 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 body 
 can give to it. Selim explained to him how wrong it 
 had been for him to seize the fox, no matter how 
 excited he was, or how much daring it showed to do 
 so, since he had not been ordered to seize, but only 
 to turn the beast toward the Prince. Besides, to raise 
 a hand against the prince was treason unless it were 
 ordered by the chief of the Janizaries. Therefore he 
 had been punished according to the Janizary disci- 
 7
 
 98 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 pline ; though they would not have allowed any one 
 else to touch him no not even the Padishah him- 
 self. 
 
 Michael's spirit was fully healed with such words. 
 His depression gave way to a hotter ambition and 
 pride of expectation than he had ever felt before, 
 when Selim put upon his head the whitish gray cap, 
 like that worn by the dervishes, and differing from it 
 only in having upon the back a strip of wool which 
 the old man thus explained, as he told the story of the 
 organization of the Janizary corps. 
 
 " The death angel, Azrael, has reaped the earth 
 more than five times since the mighty Othman,* who 
 founded our empire, entered paradise. His queen, 
 Malkhatoon, the most beautiful of women, had given 
 him two sons. Never since Khalif Omar followed the 
 Prophet was nobler successor than would have been 
 either Alaeddin or Orchan to Othman. The stars 
 shone not with deeper lustre than did the wisdom of 
 Alaeddin. The storm never burst more resistlessly on 
 your Balkan mountains than did the bravery and 
 strength of Orchan beat down the foe. To Orchan 
 the empire came by will of Allah and Othman. But 
 to Alaeddin 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 Alaeddin was the 
 great minister of the mighty Orchan. To Prince 
 Alaeddin we owe our best laws, our system of drilling 
 and marching in all the Ottoman armies. 
 
 " But two lights are better known than one. And 
 
 * Whence the word Ottoman, Also written Osman, whence the 
 Osmanlis.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 99 
 
 in a dream the Angel Gabriel, who knows the secrets 
 of Allah regarding men, said to Alaeddin, ' Go look 
 into the eyes of Kara Khalil Tschendereli. We have 
 given him a thought for thee and thy people,' And 
 Kara Khalil said, ' Know, O wise and virtuous Prince 
 Alaeddin, I have been permitted in my dreams to 
 stand upon the wall Al Araf, that runs between para- 
 dise and hell. In the third story of the seven which 
 divide perdition I saw the ghosts of the Giaours. 
 But while I watched their torments the spirit of 
 Othman, the Blessed, came to me, and, pointing to a 
 gate in the wall, said, in a voice so sweet that all the 
 birds in paradise echoed it, but so strong that it shook 
 the mighty wall Al Araf as if it 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, may escape into paradise." 
 
 " ' " What power have I for such a miracle, O Oth- 
 man," I cried. But Othman said : 
 
 " ' " Thou shalt save the souls of the boys among the 
 captives Allah gives thee in battle. Is it not written 
 in the Koran that all the children are at their birth 
 gifted with the true faith. Believe this, and teach the 
 captive boys to trust the Prophet, to breathe the 
 holy Islam of Father Abraham, and to draw the sword 
 for Allah. So shalt thou be a saviour of many souls. 
 And such valor will Allah send these rescued ones, and 
 such blessings shall follow them, that the Giaour 
 children shall conquer for thee the Giaour 
 nations." ' 
 
 " And so, Michael," added Selim, " the wisdom of 
 earth and heaven appointed our order. We are still
 
 100 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 the Yeni Tscheri,* though a century has gone by since 
 we were founded; for the vigor of perpetual youth is 
 ours. 
 
 " When Orchan, at such advice of Alaeddin and 
 Kara Khalil enrolled the first of the new troop bright 
 Christian boys like yourself, Michael they were led 
 to the old dervish, Hadji Beytarch, whose sanctity 
 was as the fragrance of paradise itself. The face of 
 the holy man caught the lustre of the prophecy from 
 heaven. As he drew the sleeve of his mantle over 
 each bowed head and the strip of wool on our cap is 
 the sign of his sleeve he uttered this benediction: 
 ' Thy face shall be white and shining ; thy right arm 
 shall be strong ; thy sabre shall be keen ; and thine 
 arrows sharp. Thou shalt be fortunate in fight, and 
 thou shalt never leave the battle-field save as a con- 
 queror.' " 
 
 " And have they never been conquered ? " asked 
 Michael with incredulity. 
 
 " Never ! " cried Selim. 
 
 " Except," added Mustapha, " that they might pre- 
 pare themselves for some greater victory. Allah some- 
 times makes known to us his will that we should 
 retreat ; then we take up our kismet as joyfully as we 
 would shout the advance. That we may make sure of 
 Allah's will, before retreating we always assault the 
 enemy thrice. If at that sacred number 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 Janizaries lying dead in the snows of the 
 * Yeni Tscheri; new troop ; corrupted in Janizary.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. IOI 
 
 Balkans the day of the fight. Are they not conquered ? " 
 asked the boy. 
 
 " Nay, more than conquerors," said Mustapha. 
 " If one falls in battle paradise flings wide its gates, 
 and troops of angels and houris come to lead his soul 
 in a triumphal procession into that beautiful land 
 where the earth is like purest musk, and where the 
 great Tuba tree grows a branch of which shades the 
 kiosk of every believer, and bends down to place its 
 luscious fruit into his hand, if he so much as desires 
 it ; where are grapes and pomegranates, and such as 
 for spicy sweetness have never been tasted on earth ; 
 where are streams of water and milk and wine and 
 honey, whose bottoms are pebbled with pearls and 
 emeralds and rubies ; where the houris, the fairest of 
 maidens, dwell close beside the believer in pavilions of 
 hollow pearls, and serve every wish of the faithful even 
 before he can utter it." * 
 
 But Michael's eyes were heavy ; and as the old vet- 
 erans diverted the convers'ation to some matter of 
 business between them, his excited imagination repro- 
 duced the description of paradise in his dreams. Only, 
 the pavilion of pearl was shaped like good Uncle Ka- 
 bilovitsch's cot on the mountains, and the houris were 
 all fair-haired Morsinias. 
 
 * Vide Koran.
 
 102 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 WEEKS and months passed away, during which 
 the physical exercises of the lads in the Jani- 
 zary school were varied with lessons in the Turkish 
 language ; and, in the case of a select number, in the 
 Arabic, mastering it at least sufficiently to read the 
 Koran, large sections of which they were compelled to 
 commit to memory. 
 
 The teachers in the Janizary schools were far from 
 ordinary men. They were highly learned, and, like 
 most Orientals of education, gifted with great elo- 
 quence. After the daily tasks had been accomplished 
 the boys were gathered in a semicircle upon the floor 
 about the instructor, who sat cross-legged among them, 
 and narrated in glowing language the history of the 
 Prophet and his successors in the khalifate ; inflaming 
 their young minds with the most heroic and romantic 
 legends of Arabia and Egypt, Algiers and Granada, 
 where the Koran had conquered the faith of the peo- 
 ple whom the swords of the true Moslems had subdued. 
 Wild stories of the early days of the Turks, before 
 Ertoghral,* " The Right-hearted Man," led the tribes 
 from the banks of the Euphrates ; and earlier still 
 when Seljuk f led his people from north of the Cas- 
 pian ; of the settlement of their remote ancestors in 
 Afghanistan, where the great chief was first called 
 Sultan ; \ of how they had once held the religious faith 
 
 * About 1280 A. D. 
 
 f About the end of the tenth century. 
 
 \ Between 997 and 1030 A. D.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 103 
 
 of Zoroaster. Indeed, myths from the very dawn of 
 known history, when the Turkius did all sorts of vali- 
 ant deeds in far-off China.* 
 
 The Christian books were made to appear to the 
 young proselyte as but imperfect suggestions of the 
 completed teaching of the book of Mahomet ; while 
 the peculiar dogmas of the Christians were restated 
 with such shrewd perversion that to the child's judg- 
 ment they seemed puerile or untrue. 
 
 " Behold the sky ! " one would exclaim. " Is it not 
 one dome, like the canopy of one mighty throne ? Be- 
 hold the light ! Does it not pour from one sun and fill 
 all space with one flood ? Breathe the air ! Is it not the 
 same over all lands and in all lungs ? Do not all birds 
 fly with one mechanism of wings ? and all men live by the 
 same beating of the heart ? How then can there be 
 three Gods, Allah, and Jesuand Mary, as the Christians 
 teach ? f What does reason say ? What does the universe 
 testify ? What says the true and wise believer ? " 
 
 " There is one God and Mahomet is His Prophet," 
 would be the response of the pupils, bowing their 
 heads to the floor. 
 
 " Can the less contain or give out the greater ? Can 
 a stone bring forth the orange tree ? Can a stick give 
 birth to the eagle ? A worm be the father of a man ? 
 How, then, can we say with the Christians, that Mary 
 of Bethlehem is the mother of God ? What says the 
 faithful and wise believer ? " 
 
 * Tribes of Turkius were mentioned by Pliny. 
 
 f This perversion of the Christian dogma of the Trinity was 
 taught by heretical sects in the time of the Prophet Mahomet, and 
 is embodied in the Koran.
 
 104 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 " There is one God, and Mahomet is His prophet," 
 would be the choral response. 
 
 " Is God weak ? Can men thwart His plans ? Shall 
 we then believe that the infidel Jews crucified the Son 
 of God ? " 
 
 " God is great, and Mahomet is His Prophet," 
 would roll up from the lips of the scholars. 
 
 " Shall we, then, kiss the toe of the pope because 
 he calls himself the grand vizier of Allah, when our 
 Janizaries can cut the throats of his soldiers, as our 
 brethren of Arabia destroyed the crusaders ? Or shall 
 we kiss the hand of the patriarch of the Greeks, wjho 
 claims supremacy in the name of Allah, when already 
 our arms have shut up the whole Greek empire within 
 the walls of Constantinople ? What says the faithful 
 and wise believer? " 
 
 " God is great, and Mahomet is His Prophet," is 
 the reply. 
 
 " Who would cringe and beg forgiveness at the feet 
 of a dirty priest, when the sword of every Janizary may 
 open for him who holds it the gate of paradise ? " 
 
 Not only such arguments, but every event of the 
 day that could emphasize or illustrate the superiority 
 of the Moslem faith, was skilfully brought to bear 
 upon the susceptible minds of the youths. And 
 within the first year of Michael's cadetship one such 
 significant event occurred. 
 
 In the year of the Hegira 822,* six months after 
 
 the flight of Scanderbeg, it was solemnly agreed between 
 
 Christian and Moslem that the sword should have rest 
 
 for ten years. A stately ceremony was made to seal 
 
 * A. D., 1444.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 105 
 
 the compact. Vladislaus of Hungary represented in 
 his person the pledge of kingly honor. Hunyades 
 gave the sanction of a soldier's word. And Cardinal 
 Julian was supposed to have added to the treaty the 
 confirmation of all that was sacred in the religion of 
 which he was so exalted a representative. On behalf 
 of the Christians, the concord was signalized by an 
 oath upon the Gospels. On the other side, Sultan 
 Amurath, in the presence of his generals and the 
 holiest of the Moslem dervishes, swore upon the 
 Koran. This compact, guarded by all that men hold 
 to be honorable on earth and sacred in heaven, lulled 
 the suspicions of the Turks. The rigid drill, the alert 
 espionage, the raids along the border gave way to the 
 indolence of the barracks and the pastimes of the 
 camp. Thousands of horses and their riders were 
 returned to till the fields in the Timars, Ziamets and 
 Beyliks* scattered throughout distant provinces. 
 The Sultan retired to meditate religion, or devise the 
 things belonging to permanent peace, in his secluded 
 palace at Magnesia in Asia Minor. The death of his 
 eldest son, Prince Aladdin, led him to put the crown 
 of associate Padishah upon the brow of the young 
 Mahomet that in these quiet times the prince might 
 learn the minor lessons of the art of ruling. 
 
 But this sense of security among the Turks offered 
 too strong a temptation to the cupidity of the Christian 
 leaders. King Vladislaus opposed conscientious 
 objections to any breach of the compact. Hunyades 
 maintained his personal honor by at first refusing to 
 draw his sword. But Cardinal Julian stood sponsor to 
 * Fiefs or portions of conquered lands given to soldiers.
 
 106 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 a breach of faith, and announced that principle which 
 has, in the estimate of history, made his scarlet robe 
 the symbol of his scarlet sin that no faith need be 
 kept with infidels ; and, in the name of the Holy 
 Father, granted absolution to the chief actors for what 
 they were about to do. 
 
 Without warning, the tide of Christian conquest 
 poured from Servia eastward until it was checked in 
 that direction by the Black Sea. The hordes of Europe 
 then turned southward, seized upon Varna, and pitched 
 their camps amid the pennants of their ill-gotten vic- 
 tory near to its walls. To human sight no power could 
 avert irrevocable disaster to the arms, if not the sub- 
 version of the entire empire of the Ottomans in Europe. 
 
 In their extremity the lands of the Moslem made 
 their solemn appeal to Allah. Every mosque resounded 
 with reiterated prayers. The camps echoed the 
 pious invocations with loud curses and the rattle of the 
 preparation of armor. Scurrying messengers flew 
 from the centre to the circumference of the Ottoman 
 domain, and hastily gathered legions concentrated for 
 one supreme blow in retaliation for the grossness of 
 the insult, and in vindication of what they believed to 
 be the cause of honor and truth, which, in their minds, 
 was one with that of Allah and the Prophet. 
 
 The Sultan hurried from his retreat, and with mar- 
 vellous celerity marshalled the faithful against the 
 invaders at Varna. Riding at the head of the Jani- 
 zaries, he caused the document of the violated treaty 
 to be held aloft on a lance-head in the gaze of the two 
 armies, and with a loud voice uttered this prayer a 
 strange one for a Moslem's lips
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 107 
 
 " O, Thou insulted Jesu, revenge the wrong done 
 unto Thy good name, and show Thy power upon Thy 
 perjured people ! " 
 
 Victory hovered long between the contending hosts, 
 but at last rested with the Moslems. To make the 
 intervention of Allah more apparent, it was told every- 
 where, how, when Amurath believed that he was 
 defeated, and had given the order for retreat, a sol- 
 dier seized the bridle of the Sultan's horse and turned 
 him back again toward the enemy. The very beast 
 felt the inspiration of heaven, and led the assault upon 
 the breaking columns of the Christians, until the 
 victors returned, bearing upon spear-points the 
 heads of Cardinal Julian and King Vladislaus ; while 
 Hunyades fled in disgrace from the field. 
 
 It is not to be wondered at that such an event, 
 which led many whole communities to renounce their 
 alliance with the Christian powers, and many of the 
 chiefs of Bosnia and Servia to accept the Moslem 
 faith, should have rooted that faith more deeply in 
 the hearts of those who already held it. A flame of 
 fanaticism ran throughout the Mohammedan world. 
 The most rabid sects increased in the number and 
 fury of their devotees. Many who were engaged in 
 useful occupations left them to became Moslem monks, 
 spending their lives in meditation, if perchance they 
 might receive more fully the blessings which heaven 
 seemed ready to pour upon every true believer ; or to 
 become preachers of the jehad the holy war against 
 the infidels. 
 
 In the schools of the Janizaries the fanaticism was 
 fed and fanned to a flame of utmost intensity. The
 
 108 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 square court within their barracks was transformed 
 into a great prayer place of the dervishes. Here the 
 Howlers formed their circles, and swaying backward 
 and forward with flying hair and glaring eyes, grunted 
 their talismanic words from the Koran, until they fell 
 in convulsions on the pavement. And the Wheelers 
 spun round and round in their mystic motions until, 
 full of the spirit they sought, they dropped in the 
 dizzying dance. Learned sheiks preached the gospel 
 of the sword, and the imams watered the seed thus 
 sown with fervent prayers, until the ardent souls of the 
 youth seemed to have lost their human identity, and 
 to be transformed into sparks and flashes of some 
 celestial fire which was to destroy the lands of the 
 Christians. 
 
 Michael's mind was not altogether unimpressed by 
 the religious fanaticism that raged around him. While 
 in quiet moments he was troubled with what he heard 
 against the Christian faith which he had been taught 
 in his mountain home, at other times he was caught 
 in the tide of the general enthusiasm and felt himself 
 borne along with it, swirled around in the rings of the 
 mad maelstrom ; not unwilling to yield himself to the 
 excitement, and yet by no definite purpose committing 
 himself to it. If it requires all the strength of an 
 adult mind, with convictions long held and character 
 well formed, to maintain its faith and principles 
 against the attrition of daily temptation in a Christian 
 land, we must not be surprised if the child gave way 
 to the incessant appeal of the Moslem belief, accompan- 
 ied as it was by extravagant promises of secular pleas- 
 ure, and counteracted by no word of Christian counsel.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 109 
 
 But the spiritual impulse in Michael was less active 
 than the martial instinct ; and this later was stimu- 
 lated to the utmost by the associations of every day 
 and hour. The battles which were fought on the 
 great fields were all refought in the vivid descriptions 
 of the Janizary teachers, and sometimes in the mimic 
 rencounters of the playground. Michael rebelled 
 against his childish years which prevented his joining 
 some of the great expeditions that were fitted out ; 
 against the Greeks of the Peloponnesus, the Giaour 
 lands to the north, and the Albanians on the west, 
 who, under Scanderbeg, had become the chief menace 
 against the Ottoman power. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE career of Scanderbeg, or Castriot, as the Al- 
 banians love to call their great national hero, 
 makes one of the most illustrious pages in history, 
 whether we look for the display of personal courage, 
 astute generalship, or loftiest patriotism. His military 
 renown, already so wide-spread as the commander of 
 the Turks, became universal through the almost in- 
 credible skill with which, for many years, his handful 
 of patriots held the mountains of Albania against the 
 countless armies of the Sultan. His superlative de- 
 votion to his country, was maintained with such sacri- 
 fices as few men have ever rendered to the holiest 
 cause. He resisted the bribes of riches, power and
 
 HO THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 splendor with which the Sultan, baffled by his arms, at- 
 tempted to seduce his honor. These things went far to 
 atone for the treachery of his defection from the Turk- 
 ish service. 
 
 Upon his arrival in Albania, the citadel of Croia 
 was given into his hands by the commandant, who was 
 either unsuspicious of the false order that was sealed 
 by the now dead hand of the Sultan's secretary, or who 
 had found that the wily Albanians had already access to 
 its gates. Sfetigrade and other prominent fortresses 
 fell rapidly, won by strategy or by the valorous assault 
 of the patriots. The Albanians had been almost in- 
 stantaneously transformed into an invincible army 
 by the electric thrill which the coming of Castriot 
 had sent everywhere, from the borders of Macedonia to 
 the western sea ; and by the skill with which that 
 great captain organized his bands of Epirots and Dib- 
 rians. An army of forty thousand Turks was at one 
 time divided by his masterly movements, and slain in 
 detail. A second army met a similar fate. The great 
 Sultan himself attempted the capture of this Arnaout 
 " wild beast, " as he had learned to call him. One hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand men, supplied from the far- 
 reaches of Asia where the Ottoman made most of his 
 levies, swarmed like a plague of locusts through the 
 valleys of Epirus. By sheer momentum of numbers 
 they pressed their way up to the fortress of Sfetigrade. 
 
 The defence of this place is one of the most heroic 
 in the annals of war or patriotism. As the glacier 
 melts at the touch of the warm earth in the Alpine val- 
 leys so the mighty army of Amurath dissolved in blood 
 as it touched the beleaguered walls. At the same time
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. ill 
 
 Scanderbeg, adopting some new expedient in every at- 
 tack, made his almost nightly raids through the centre 
 of the Turkish host, like a panther through the folds of 
 the sheep, until Amurath cried in sheer vexation among 
 the generals, " Will none of you save us from the fury 
 of that wild beast ? " The incessant slaughter that 
 broke the bewildered silence of the generals was the 
 only response. 
 
 Thus passed some six years since the time when 
 our story opens ; years which, had they stood by them- 
 selves, and not been followed by fifteen years more of 
 equal prowess, would have won for Scanderbeg the un- 
 stinted praise of that distinguished writer who enrolls 
 him among the seven greatest uncrowned men of the 
 world's history.* 
 
 During these years Castriot had studied with closest 
 scrutiny the character of his nephew, Amesa. His 
 natural discernment, aided by his long observation of 
 human duplicity while among the Turks and, indeed 
 by his own experience, as for many years he had 
 masked his own discontent and ultimate purpose gave 
 him a power of estimating men which may be called a 
 moral clairvoyance, He discovered that in his 
 nephew which led him to credit the story of Kabilo- 
 vitsch as the forester Arnaud was still called, although 
 some more than suspected his identity. The chief 
 saw clearly that Amesa's loyalty would be limited by 
 his selfish interests. Those interests now led him to 
 most faithful and apparently patriotic devotion. Be- 
 sides, the loss or alienation of so influential a young 
 voivode, involving a schism in the house of the Cas- 
 * Sir William Temple.
 
 112 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 triots, might be fatal to the Albanian cause. The gen- 
 eral, therefore, fed the ambition of his relative, giving 
 him honorable command, for which he was well fitted 
 by reason of both courage and genius. Nor did 
 Amesa disappoint this confidence. His sword was 
 among the sharpest and his deeds most daring. The 
 peasant soldiers often said that Amesa was not un- 
 worthy the blood of the Castriots. To Sultan Amu- 
 rath's proposal of peace on condition of Scanderbeg's 
 simple recognition of the Ottoman's nominal suzerain- 
 ty, allowing him to retain the full actual possession of 
 all his ancestral holdings, Amesa's voice joined with 
 that of Moses Goleme and the other allied nobles in 
 commending the refusal of their chief. 
 
 Amesa's courage and zeal seemed at times to pass 
 the control of his judgment. Thus, in a sharp battle 
 with the Turks, during the temporary absence of 
 Castriot, who was resisting an encroachment of the 
 Venetians on the neighboring country of Montenegro, 
 the fiery young voivode was seized with such blind 
 ferocity that he knew not where he was. He had 
 engaged a group of his own countrymen, apparently 
 not discerning his mistake until he had unhorsed one 
 of them, whom he was on the point of sabering, when 
 his arm was caught by a comrade. The endangered 
 man was Kabilovitsch, who saw that there was a 
 method in Amesa's madness which it behoved him to 
 note. 
 
 It was evident to Kabilovitsch not only that he was 
 recognized by Amesa, but also that the young voivode 
 was more than suspicious of the former forester's 
 knowledge of the affair by which the magnificent
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 113 
 
 estate of De Streeses had passed into his hands. The 
 good man's solicitude was intense through fear that 
 Amesa had become aware of the escape of the child 
 heir, and might discover some clue to her whereabouts. 
 Several times Milosch had visited the camp inquiring 
 for Kabilovitsch ; and Constantine had made frequent 
 journeys carrying tidings of Morsinia's welfare. Had 
 neither of these been spied upon ? Did no one ever 
 pass the little hamlet where she was in covert who 
 recognized in the now daily developing womanly feat- 
 ures the likeness of her mother, Mara De Streeses ? 
 
 A little after this assault of Amesa upon Kabilo- 
 vitsch, came news which startled the latter. To under- 
 stand this the reader must penetrate a wild moun- 
 tainous district a double score of miles from the camp 
 of Castriot. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 OUT of a broad valley, through which lies the chief 
 highway leading to the north-west of Albania, 
 there opens a narrow ravine which seems to end 
 abruptly against the precipitous front of a mountain 
 range. But, turning into this ravine, one is surprised 
 to find that it winds sharply, following a swift 
 stream, and climbing for many miles through the 
 mountain, until it suddenly debouches into a pictur- 
 esque valley, which affords grazing space for sheep
 
 114 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 and enough arable land to sustain the peasants who 
 once dwelt there. 
 
 A hamlet nestled in this secluded vale. No road 
 led beyond it, and it was approached only by the nar- 
 row and tortuous path we have described. A rude 
 mill sentineled a line of three houses. These dwell- 
 ings, though simple in their construction, were quite 
 commodious. A room of ample dimensions was 
 enclosed with walls of stone and loam, supporting a 
 conical roof of thatch. On three sides of this room 
 and opening into it were smaller chambers, having 
 detached roofs of their own. The central apartment 
 was the common gathering place for quite an exten- 
 sive community, consisting of a family in three or four 
 generations ; for each son upon marrying brought his 
 wife to the paternal homestead, and built a new cham- 
 ber connecting with the central one. The three houses 
 contained altogether nearly a hundred souls. The 
 last of these dwellings was of ampler proportions than 
 the others, and was occupied by a branch of an ancient 
 family to which the inhabitants of the other houses 
 were all of kin. By reason of its antiquity as well as 
 the comparative wealth of its occupants, it was 
 regarded as the konak, or village mansion ; and the 
 senior member of its little community was recognized 
 as the stargeshina, or chief of the village. 
 
 It was the latter part of April ; the day before that 
 upon which from time immemorial the peasants among 
 these mountains had observed the festival of Saint 
 George, which they devoted to ceremonies commemo- 
 rative of the awakening summer-life of the world. 
 
 It was still early in the afternoon, though the high
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES, 11$ 
 
 mountain wall on the west had shut out the sun, whose 
 bright rays, however, still burning far overhead, 
 dropped their benediction of roseate shadows into the 
 valley they were not permitted to enter ; loading the 
 atmosphere with as many tints as there were in 
 Buddha's bowl when the poor man threw in the bud of 
 genuine charity, and it burst into a thousand flowers. 
 
 A group of maidens gathered at the little mill, each 
 holding an earthen bowl to catch the glistening spray 
 drops which danced from the edge of the clumsy water- 
 wheel. When these were filled they cast into the 
 " witching waters " the early spring flowers, anemones 
 and violets and white coral arbutus, which they had 
 picked during the day. It was a pleasing superstition 
 that the water, having been beaten into spray, received 
 life from the flowers which the renewed vitality of the 
 awakening spring spirit had pressed up through the 
 earth ; and that, if one should bathe in this on St. 
 George's day, health and happiness would attend him 
 during the year. 
 
 " What is it ? " cried one as a crackling in the bushes 
 far above their heads on a steep crag was followed in 
 a moment by the beat of a pebble, as it glanced from 
 ledge to ledge almost to their feet. 
 
 " The sheep are not up there ! "said another. 
 
 " Perhaps the Vili ! " * suggested a third, " for I am 
 sure that I have seen one this very day." 
 
 " What was he like ? " exclaimed several at once, 
 while all kept their eyes upon the cliff above. 
 
 " There ! there ! Did you see it ? " Several avowed 
 that they saw it stealing along the very brow of the 
 * Still a Servian and Albanian superstition.
 
 1 1 6 THE CA P TA IN OF THE JA NIZA RIES. 
 
 hill ; but all agreed that it passed so swiftly that they 
 could not tell just what they saw. 
 
 " It was just so with the one I saw to-day," said the 
 former speaker. " I was on the ledge by the old 
 eagle's nest, gathering my flowers. A tall being passed 
 below me on the path, dressed so beautifully that I 
 know it was none of us, and had dealings with none of 
 us. It seemed anxious not to be seen ; for my little 
 cry of surprise caused it to vanish as if it melted into 
 the foam of the stream as it plunges into the pool." 
 
 "That was just like the Vili," interposed one. 
 " They live under the river's bank. They talk in the 
 murmur of the streams. Old Mirko, who used to work 
 much in the mill, learned to understand what they said. 
 Did this one you saw have long hair ? The Vili, Mirko 
 said, always did." 
 
 " I cannot say," replied the girl, " for its head was 
 hidden in a blossoming laurel bush between it and 
 me." 
 
 " It was one," cried another, " for there are no 
 blossoming laurels yet. It was its long white hair 
 waving in the wind, that you saw." 
 
 " Let us go down to the pool ! " proposed one, 
 " maybe we can see it again." 
 
 " No ! No ! " cried the others, in a chorus of trem- 
 ulous voices. 
 
 " No, indeed," said one of the larger girls, " for it 
 might be they are eating, or they are dancing the 
 Kolo which they always do as the sun goes down, 
 and if any body sees them then they get angry, and 
 will come to your house and look at you with the evil 
 eye."
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 117 
 
 Hasting home with their bowls of water crowned 
 with flowers, they told their story to the stargeshina. 
 
 The old man laughed at their credulity : 
 
 " Girls always see strange things on the eve of 
 Saint George." 
 
 At the evening meal in the great room of the first 
 house, the patriarch, taking his cue from the story the 
 girls belonging to that household had told of their 
 imagined vision, repeated legend after legend about 
 those strange beings that people the unknown caverns 
 in the mountains, and rise from the brooks, leaving 
 the water-spiders to mark the spot where they emerged 
 so that they may find their way back again, and of the 
 wjeshtiges, who throw off their bodies as easily as 
 others lay aside their clothes, flit through the fire, ride 
 upon the sparks as horses, float on the threads of white 
 smoke all the time watching the persons gathered 
 about the blazing logs, that they may mark the one 
 who is first to die. " This doomed person," the old man 
 said, " they visit when he has gone to sleep, and, with 
 a magic rod, open his breast ; utter in mystic words 
 the day of his death ; take out his heart and feast 
 upon it. Then they carefully close up the side, and, 
 though the victim lives on, having no heart, no spring 
 of life in him, sickens and droops until the fatal day ; 
 as the streams vanish when cut off from the fountains 
 whence they start." 
 
 These stories were followed by songs, the music of 
 which was within a narrow range of notes, and sung to 
 the accompaniment of the gusle a rude sort of guitar 
 with a single string. The subjects of these songs and 
 the ideas they contained were as limited in their
 
 Il8 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 range as the notes by which they were rendered ; such 
 as the impossible exploits of heroes, and improbable 
 romances of love. The merit of the singing generally 
 consisted in the additions or variations with which 
 the genius of the performer enabled him to adorn the 
 hackneyed music or original narrative. 
 
 " Let Constantine take the gusle, and sing us the 
 song about the peasant maid who conquered the heart 
 of the king," said the stargeshina. 
 
 "Constantine is not here," replied a clear and 
 sweet, but commanding sort of voice. " He went out 
 as it began to darken, and has not returned." 
 
 The speaker rose as she said it, and went toward 
 the large door of the room to look out. She was a 
 young woman of slender, but superb form, which the 
 costume of the country did not altogether conceal. 
 She was tall and straight, but moved with the grace- 
 ful freedom of a child, for her straightness was not 
 that of an arrow rather of the unstrung bow, whose 
 beauty is revealed by its flexibility. Her limbs 
 were rounded perfectly to the feminine model, but 
 were evidently possessed of muscular strength devel- 
 oped by daily exercise incident to her mountain life. 
 A glance at her would disprove that western theory 
 which associates the ideal of female beauty only with 
 softness of fleshly texture and lack of sinew. Her face 
 was commanding, brow high, eyes rather deep-set and 
 blue, mouth small perhaps too straight for the best 
 expression of amiability chin full, and suggestive of 
 firmness and courage. As she gazed through the 
 doorway into the night a troubled look knit her feat- 
 ures just enough, however, to make one notice rather
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 119 
 
 the strong, steady and heroic purpose which con- 
 quered it. When she turned again to the company 
 the firelight revealed only a girlish sweetness and gen- 
 tleness of face and manner. She took the gusle and 
 sang a pretty song about the dancing of the witches ; 
 her merry voice starting a score of other voices in the 
 simple chorus. Then followed a war song, in which 
 the daughter of a murdered chieftain calls upon the 
 clan to avenge her father, and save their land from an 
 insulting foe. It was largely recitative, and rendered 
 with so much of the realistic in her tones and manner 
 as to draw even the old men to their feet, while, with 
 waving hands and marching stamp, they started the 
 company in the refrain. 
 
 Milosch set the example of retiring when the even- 
 ing was well advanced. Though Constantine was 
 still absent, it gave his father no anxiety, for the boy 
 was accustomed to have his own private business with 
 coons in the forest, and the eels in the pool, and, in- 
 deed, with the stars too for often he would lie for 
 hours looking at them, only Morsinia being allowed 
 to interrupt his conference with the bright-eyed 
 watchers above.
 
 120 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 pONSTANTINE, who was now a manly fellow of 
 \j nearly eighteen years, had left the house when 
 it grew dark. The night was thick, for heavy clouds 
 had spread their pall over the sky. A little space 
 from the house was the kennel. A deep growl 
 greeted his approach to it. 
 
 " Still, Balk ! " muttered he, as he loosed an enor- 
 mous mastiff, and led the brute toward the side of 
 the house on which the clijet, or chamber, occupied 
 by Morsinia was located. 
 
 " Down, Balk ! " he said, as again and again the 
 huge beast rose and placed his paws upon his mas- 
 ter's shoulders. Balk was tied within a clump of 
 elder-bushes a little way from the house, and at the 
 opening of a foot-path ascending the mountain. The 
 young man lay down with his head upon the mastiff. 
 Nearly an hour passed ; the silence unbroken except 
 by a querulous whine of the dog as his comrade 
 refused to indulge his playful spirit. Suddenly Balk 
 threw up his head and sniffed the air nervously. Yet 
 no sound was heard, but the soughing of the winds 
 through the budding trees, and the murmur of the 
 brook. The animal became restless and would not 
 lie down except at the sternly whispered command. 
 
 Leaving him, Constantine opened the shutter of the 
 clijet occupied by his father and himself, and quietly 
 entered. Though in the dark, he strung a strong bow, 
 balanced several arrows in his hand to determine the 
 best, saying to himself as he did so, " I can send these
 
 THE CAP TAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 1 2 1 
 
 straight in the direction of a sound, thanks to my night 
 hunting ! " A dagger was thrust into the top of his 
 leather hose. He wound his head in the strooka the 
 cloth which answers for both cap and pillow to those 
 who are journeying among those mountains and liable 
 to exposure without bed or roof at night. 
 
 The noise though slight awakened Milosch, who had 
 fallen into a light sleep. 
 
 " Where now, my boy ? No coon will come to you 
 such a night as this." 
 
 " Father, I did not tell you, because you laugh at 
 my fears," said Constantine in a low tone. " But 
 the anxiety of Uncle Kabilovitsch and the great cap- 
 tain, too, when I went to camp last week, makes me 
 more cautious about Morsinia. The Vili are about, 
 as the girls said." 
 
 " Nonsense, you child ! It's a shame that a boy of 
 your years should believe such stuff. Besides what 
 have the Vili to do with our daughter ? " 
 
 " Look here, father ; when I was searching for a 
 rabbit's burrow this afternoon I saw the footprint of 
 one of them, and it wore a soldier's shoe too. That 
 is the sort of Vili I believe in." 
 
 " Why, boy ! " said Milosch, " your head is so full 
 of soldiering that rabbits' burrows look like soldiers' 
 feet. Or your head is so turned with love for our 
 girl, that you must imitate the Latin knights, and go 
 watch beneath the shutter of your lady's castle. Go, 
 along, then, and let the night dews take the folly out 
 of you. Foolish boy ! " added he, as he turned toward 
 the wall. 
 
 Constantine went back to the dog. The huge beast
 
 122 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 had thrust himself as far as the cord would allow him 
 in the direction away from the house, and stood tremb- 
 ling with excitement as he peered into the black 
 shadows which lay against the mountain. Constan- 
 tine could detect no unusual sound save the creaking 
 of the gigantic limbs of the trees as they rubbed 
 against each other in the rising wind, the sharpening 
 whistle of the breeze, and the crackle of the dead brush- 
 wood. Yet the mastiff's excitement increased. He 
 strained the rope with his utmost strength, but the 
 hand of his master upon his neck checked the whin- 
 ing growl. 
 
 A branch snapped on the hillside in the direction of 
 the path. 
 
 " No wind did that," muttered he. A stone rolled 
 down the declivity. 
 
 " No foot familiar with that path did that. You 
 are right, Balk ! " and by main strength he pressed the 
 mastiff's head to the ground, and, with his arm about 
 his neck, kept him crouching and silent. 
 
 Stealthy steps were heard. 
 
 " One ! Two ! " counted the boy. " You and I are 
 enough for them, eh, Balk ? " 
 
 The dog licked the face of his master in token that 
 he understood, and would take his man if Constantine 
 would do equally well. 
 
 " Three ! Four ! Five ! A large band ! Too many 
 for us, Balk ! We must rouse the village " 
 
 But at the moment he would have started, his atten- 
 tion was arrested by low voices almost at his side. 
 
 " The clijet nearest. When she is taken I will 
 sound the bugle call the Turkish call, so that your
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 123 
 
 dash through the village will be thought to be one of 
 their dashes. Do as little real damage as you can, 
 keeping the appearance of a genuine raid ; but no 
 matter if you have to cut the throats of a half-dozen 
 or more ; especially the red-headed fellow you have 
 seen in camp, and the old devil with the paralyzed 
 arm. I and Waldy will carry the girl, and wait for 
 you by the horses on the open road. Let's inspect ! " 
 
 Two dusky outlines moved toward the house. 
 Constantine cut the rope, and, at a push of his hand 
 the dog crawled a few feet until he was clear of the 
 copse ; then sprang into the air. There was a hardly 
 audible exclamation of surprise and terror ; a low 
 growl of satisfied rage, as when a tiger seizes the food 
 thrown to him in his cage. One man is down in 
 death grapple with his strange assailant whose teeth 
 are at his throat. A sharp whiz and a cry of pain tell 
 that the arrow of Constantine has not missed its mark. 
 
 A second whiz, and the form topples ! 
 
 The boy stood stupefied with the reaction of the 
 moment. But the multiplying footfalls along the 
 ledge aroused him. He darted into the house, swing- 
 ing the great bar that turned on a peg in the door 
 post across the entrance, and thus securing it behind 
 him. To arouse the household was the work of a 
 moment. A word explained all. Arms were seized^ 
 not only by the men, but also by the women : for evefl 
 to this day a marauder will meet no more skilful and 
 brave defenders of the villages of Albania than the 
 wives and daughters who encourage the men by their 
 example as well as by their words. Their hands are 
 trained to use the sword, the axe, the dagger ; and
 
 124 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 the cry of danger transforms the most domestic scene 
 into an exhibition of Amazons. 
 
 The expected attack was delayed. Fears were 
 excited lest the raiders were about to set fire to the 
 house. If such were the case, the policy of the 
 inmates was to sally forth and cut their way through 
 the assailants, at whatever cost. Some one must go 
 out. It might be to meet death at the door. Stand- 
 ing in a circle they hastily repeated the Pater Noster, 
 each one giving a word in turn ; the one to whom the 
 " Amen " came accepting the appointment as directly 
 from God. With drawn weapons they gathered at 
 the door, which was opened suddenly. No enemy 
 appearing, it was closed, leaving the new sentinel 
 without. 
 
 After going a few paces the guard stumbled over 
 the dead body of the dog, by the side of which a man 
 was vainly struggling to rise. Drawing his dagger he 
 would have completed the work of the mastiff's fangs, 
 when he checked the impulse by better judgment 
 
 " No, it's better to have him along with us. He'll 
 come handy before we get through this job ! " 
 
 So, grasping the two arms of the wounded man in 
 such a way as to prevent his using a weapon, if 
 strength enough should remain, he swung the helpless 
 hulk upon his back, as he had often carried the car- 
 ffass of a wolf down the mountain ; and, giving the 
 preconcerted signal at the door, was instantly re- 
 admitted. 
 
 The wounded man wore the Turkish uniform, and 
 was evidently the officer in charge of the raiding 
 party. This fact sufficiently explained the delay in
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 125 
 
 following up the attack, for doubtless his men were 
 still waiting for the order which he would never 
 give. 
 
 " We must rouse our neighbors," said the old man, 
 who was recognized as the commandant of the dwell- 
 ing, and obeyed as such with that reverence for 
 seniority which is to this day a beautiful characteristic 
 of the Albanian people. 
 
 Constantine held a hurried, but confidential talk 
 with Milosch, who proposed that Constantine and 
 his sister should undertake the hazardous venture of 
 alarming the next house. All remonstrated against 
 Morsinia's venturing, the patriarch refusing to allow 
 it. Milosch persuaded him with these words, which 
 were not overheard by the others 
 
 " She is the chief object of attack ; this I have dis- 
 covered. If she remains in the house she will be cap- 
 tured. Her only safety is to leave it, and disappear 
 in the darkness. Once out there she can hide near 
 by, or can thread her way up among the crags, where 
 no stranger's foot will ever come. She knows every 
 stone and tree in the dark as well as a mole knows the 
 twists and turns of his burrow." 
 
 Morsinia caught at once the spirit of the adventure, 
 and in her eagerness preceded Constantine to the 
 doorway. The thrill of fear on her account gave way 
 to a thrill of applause for her as she stood in readi- 
 ness. She had donned a helmet of thick half -tanned 
 hides, and a corsage of light iron links, looped together 
 and tied with leathern thongs, about her person. 
 Her arms were left free for the use of the bow and 
 stock which swung from her shoulder, and the klapti-
 
 126 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 gan, or short dagger, which hung in the plaits of her 
 kilt. 
 
 " The Holy Virgin protect her ! " was the prayer 
 which came from all sides as she flung her arms about 
 the neck of Milosch, and as she afterward bowed her 
 head to receive the kiss of the patriarch upon her 
 forehead. The light in the room was extinguished 
 that their exit might not be noted by any without 
 when the door should open. 
 
 For a moment Constantine and Morsinia stood close 
 to the door which had closed behind them. Their 
 keen hearing detected the fact that the house was 
 surrounded, though by persons stationed at a distance, 
 chiefly upon the higher slopes of the hills. The road 
 to the next house was evidently guarded. 
 
 Constantine insisted upon Morsinia's concealing 
 herself rather than attempting to go with him to the 
 neighbors ; but only after remonstrance with him did 
 she consent to his plan. Silently crossing the road, 
 and without so much as breaking a stick or rustling a 
 dead leaf beneath her feet a dexterity acquired in 
 approaching the timid game with which the moun- 
 tains abounded, and which she had often hunted 
 she disappeared in the dense copse. 
 
 Constantine moved cautiously by the wayside, easily 
 eluding the notice of the men whose dark outlines 
 were discerned by him as they stood on guard at 
 intervals along the road. He had nearly approached 
 the neighboring house when the still night air was rent 
 with the shrill note of a Turkish bugle call from the 
 direction of the dwelling they had left. 
 
 " Could it be that the captured officer had recovered
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 127 
 
 sufficient reason and strength to break from his cap- 
 tors and give the signal ? " thought Constantine. The 
 call sounded again it was evidently from a distance, 
 beyond the village. A score or more dim forms at 
 the sound gathered in the road ; some emerging from 
 the bushes near, others descending from points high 
 up the slopes on either side their hurried but 
 muffled conversation showed that they were about 
 to make the appointed dash upon the doomed dwell- 
 ing. But a second blare of trumpets sounded far 
 down toward the entrance of the valley, followed by a 
 clanging of armor and clatter of horses' feet. Torches 
 glared far away. A party was evidently just winding 
 out of the defile into the open space where the hamlet 
 stood. Rescuers doubtless ! for the first party of 
 raiders scattered to right and left, and were heard 
 climbing again up the wooded slopes. Morsinia 
 hastened to Constantine, and together they hurried to 
 meet the new comers. But they were not rescuers. 
 They attacked the house with shouts of " Allah ! 
 Allah ! " They fired it with their torches. Some 
 poured along the road toward the next house. 
 
 They were genuine Turks. Unable to conquer 
 Scanderbeg in battle, the great army had spread 
 everywhere to lay waste the country. In fertile 
 meadows, along every stream, wherever a castle or 
 chalet was known to be, raged the numberless soldiers, 
 who, beaten in nobler fight, sought vengeance by 
 becoming murderers of the more helpless, and kid- 
 nappers of women and children to fill their harems. 
 
 With flying feet Constantine and Morsinia out- 
 stripped the riders, alarmed the second house, and
 
 128 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 ran to the third. Behind them the crackling flames 
 told that it was too late to return. All who could 
 escape gathered at the great konak. Since a similar 
 raid, some years before, this building had been con- 
 verted into a rude fortification. The wall which sur- 
 rounded it, as an enclosure for sheep and cattle, had 
 been built up high and strong enough to prevent any 
 approach to the main structure by an anticipated foe, 
 except as the sealers of the wall should be exposed to 
 the missiles of those within. The konak proper was 
 pierced with loop-holes, through which a shower of 
 arrows could be poured by unseen archers. 
 
 The court was already filled with the fugitives, 
 while some had entered the building, when it was sur- 
 rounded by the Turks. Constantine had gained from 
 Morsinia a promise to avoid exposure ; and had 
 agreed upon a place of meeting on the mountain, in 
 the event of their both surviving the conflict. But the 
 eagerness of Constantine overcame his discretion, and, 
 heading a group of peasants who had not been able to 
 enter the konak, he mingled in a hand-to-hand fight 
 with the assailants. Morsinia's interest led her to 
 closely watch the fray from the bordering thicket, 
 changing her position from time to time that she might 
 not lose sight of the well-known form of her foster- 
 brother. Seeing him endangered, she could not resist 
 the vain impulse to fly to his assistance ; as if her 
 arms could stay those of the stout troopers who sur- 
 rounded him ; or as if a Turk could have respect for 
 a woman's presence. Scarcely had she moved from 
 her covert when strong hands seized her, and, by a 
 quick movement, pinioned her arms behind her back.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 129 
 
 " Ho ! man, guard this girl ! If my houri escapes, 
 your head shall be forfeit," cried her captor, an officer, 
 to a common soldier who was holding his horse. In a 
 moment he was lost to sight in the struggling throng. 
 
 The wall was carried, and, though many a turban 
 had rolled from the lifeless head of its wearer, the 
 building was finally fired life being promised to the 
 women who should surrender. Some of these, who 
 were young, were thrust from the door by their kin- 
 dred, who preferred for them the chances of miserable 
 existence as Turkish prey, to seeing them perish with 
 themselves. Most, however, fought to the last by the 
 side of their husbands and fathers, and were slain in 
 the desperate attempt to make their way from the 
 flames which drove them out. 
 
 Constantine, by strange strength and skill, extri- 
 cated himself from the mele'e. A sharp flesh wound 
 cooled his blind rage ; and, realizing that another's 
 life, as dear to him as his own, was involved in his 
 safety, he withdrew from the danger, and sought 
 Morsinia. 
 
 Not finding her during the night, he returned in 
 the earliest dawn to the konak. The building was in 
 ruins ; the ground strewn with dead and wounded. 
 With broken hearts the few who had escaped were 
 bewailing their loved ones killed or missing. But 
 there was no tidings of Morsinia. In vain the woods 
 were searched ; every old trysting place sacred to 
 some happy memory of the years they had spent 
 together the eagle's crag, the cave in the ravine, 
 the dense copse. But only memories were there. 
 Imagination supplied the rest a horrid imagination .' 
 9
 
 130 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 The poor boy was maddened and crushed ; at one 
 moment a fiend ; at the next almost lifeless with grief. 
 
 An examination at the lower house discovered the 
 body of his father, Milosch. He had been killed out- 
 side the house ; for his body, though terribly gashed, 
 was not burned, as were those found within the walls 
 of the building. 
 
 Constantine had, up to this time, regarded himself 
 as a boy ; now he felt that he was a man, with more 
 of life in its desirableness behind than ahead of him : 
 a desperate man, with but a single object to live for, 
 vengeance upon the Turk, and upon those who, worse 
 than Turks, of Albanian blood, had first attempted 
 Morsinia's capture. 
 
 Yet there was another thing to live for. Perhaps 
 she might be recaptured. Improbable, but not impos- 
 sible ! That, then, should be his waking dream. Such 
 a hope hope against hope was all that could make 
 life endurable, except it were to drain the blood of 
 her captors. 
 
 He was driven by the poignancy of his grief and 
 the hot fury of his rage, to make this double object 
 an immediate pursuit. He felt that he could not 
 sleep again until he had tasted some of the vengeance 
 for which he thirsted. 
 
 But how could he accomplish it ? He must lay his 
 plan, for it were worse than useless to start single- 
 handed without one. He must plot his tragedy before 
 he began to execute it. 
 
 He sat down amid the ruins of the hamlet amid 
 the ruins of his happiness and hopes to plot. But 
 he could devise nothing. His attempts were like
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 131 
 
 writing on the air. He sat in half stupor ; his power 
 to think crushed by the dead weight of mingled grief 
 and the sense of impotency. 
 
 But suddenly he started 
 
 " Fool ! fool, that I am, to waste the moments ! 
 This very night it may be done." 
 
 He hastily stripped the body of a dead Turkish sol- 
 dier, and, rolling the uniform into a compact bundle, 
 plunged with it through the thicket and up the steep 
 mountain side. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE valley in which the little hamlet lay, as well as 
 the ravine by which it was approached, was ex- 
 ceedingly tortuous. The stream which seemed to 
 have made these in its ceaseless windings, sometimes 
 almost doubled upon itself, as if the spirit of the 
 waters were the prey of the spirit of the hills that 
 closed in upon its path, and thus it sought to elude 
 its pursuer. Though it was fully twenty miles from 
 the demolished konak to where the narrow valley 
 debouched into the open plain, it was not more than 
 a quarter of this distance in a straight line between 
 those points. The interjacent space was, however, 
 impassable to any except those familiar with its track- 
 less rocks. From a distance the mountain lying 
 between seemed a sheer precipice. But Constantine 
 knew every crevice up which a man could climb ; the
 
 132 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 various ledges that were connected, if not by balcon- 
 ies broad enough for the foot, at least by contiguous 
 trunks of trees, balustrades of tough mountain laurel, 
 or ropes of wild vine. He could cross this wall of 
 rock in an hour or two, but the Turkish raiders would 
 occupy the bulk of the day in making the circuit of 
 the road. Indeed they would in all probability not 
 leave the security of the great ravine, and strike the 
 highway, until night-fall ; for the terror of Scander- 
 beg's ubiquity was always before the Turks. It was 
 this thought that had prompted Constantine's sudden 
 action when he started up from his despairing reverie 
 amid the embers of his home. 
 
 It was still early in the afternoon when, having 
 passed with the celerity of a goat among the crags, 
 he looked down from the further side of the great bar- 
 rier upon the Turkish company. He stood upon a 
 ledge almost above their heads ; and never did an 
 eagle's eye take in a brood upon which he was about 
 to swoop, more sharply than did Constantine's ob- 
 serve the details of the camp below him. 
 
 There were the horses tethered. Yonder was a 
 group of officers playing at dice. In a circle of 
 guards beyond, a few women and children ; and 
 among them could he mistake that form ? 
 
 The soldiers were preparing their mess. Some were 
 picking the feathers from fowls ; others building fires. 
 Then his surmise had been correct, that they would 
 not leave the valley until night. 
 
 Constantine donned the Turkish uniform he had 
 brought with him, and climbed down the mountain. 
 Sentinels were posted here and there upon bold points
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 133 
 
 from which they might get a view of the great plain 
 beyond. Toward this they kept a constant watch, as 
 one of them remarked to his comrade upon a neigh- 
 boring pinnacle of rock : " Lest some of Scanderbeg's 
 lightning might be lying about loose." Posing like a 
 sentinel whenever he was likely to be observed, Con- 
 stantine passed through their lines, the guards being 
 too far apart to detect one another's faces. Hailed by 
 a sentinel, he gave back the playful salute with a wave 
 of his hand. 
 
 Emboldened by the success of his disguise, he de- 
 scended to a ledge so near the group of officers that 
 he could easily hear their conversation. They did not 
 use the pure Turkish speech, but sometimes inter- 
 spersed it with Servian, for many of the officers, as 
 well as the men, in the Sultan's armies were from the 
 provinces where the Turkish tongue was hardly 
 known. The common soldiers in this group Constan- 
 tine observed used the Servian altogether. 
 
 " Good ! " said he to himself, " point number one in 
 my plot." 
 
 " The highest throw wins the choice of the captives," 
 cried one of the officers. " What say you, Oski ? " 
 
 " Agreed," replied the one addressed, " but she will 
 never be your houri in paradise, Lovitsch ? " 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 " Because the Koran forbids casting lots ? " 
 
 " Well," replied his comrade. " I will take my beauty 
 now, in this world, rather than wait for the next. So 
 here goes ! " 
 
 " By Khalif Omar's big toe ! You have won, Oski. 
 Which will you take ? "
 
 134 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 " The little one with the bright black eyes," replied 
 Oski ; " unless you can prevail upon Captain Balla- 
 ban to give me his. The man who owns that girl will 
 never have any houris in paradise. They would all 
 die for jealousy." 
 
 " Captain Ballaban is his name," murmured Con- 
 stantine to himself. " Good ! Point number two in my 
 plot. " 
 
 " I would not have her for a gift," said Lovitsch, 
 " for she has a strange eye the evil eye perhaps at 
 least there is something in it I cannot fathom. She 
 looks straight through a man. I touched her under 
 the chin, when those gentle blue orbs burst with fire. 
 There was as much of a change in her as there is in 
 one of our new-fashioned cannon when it is touched 
 off ; quiet one moment, and sending a bullet through 
 you the next. She's the daughter of the devil, sure.' 
 
 " You are a bold soldier, Lovitsch, to be afraid of a 
 girl," laughed his comrade. " I would like the chance 
 of owning that beauty. If I could not manage her I 
 could sell her. She would bring a bag of gold at 
 Adrianople. Captain Ballaban will probably give her 
 as a present to Prince Mahomet. He can afford to do 
 so, for the prince has shown him wonderful favors. 
 Think of a young Janizary, who has not seen nineteen 
 summers, with a captain's rank, and commanding such 
 greybeards as we ! " 
 
 " No doubt the prince favors him," replied Lovitsch, 
 " but that will not account for his advance in the Jani- 
 zary's corps. Nothing but real grit and genius gets 
 ahead among those fellows. The prince can give his 
 jewels and gold, but he could not secure a Janizary's
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 13$ 
 
 promotion to a soldier any more than he could bring 
 him to disgrace without the consent of the Aga. No, 
 comrade, Ballaban was born a soldier, and has won 
 every thread in his captain's badge by some exploit or 
 sage counsel. But I wish he was back with us. I like 
 not being left in charge of such a motley troop as this. 
 If Scanderbeg should close up the mouth of this ravine 
 with a few score of his spavined cavalry, we would be 
 like so many eggs in a bag, to be smashed together, 
 without Ballaban's wit to get us out." 
 
 " I think the captain has returned, for, if I mistake 
 not, I saw his red head a little while ago glowing like 
 a sunset on the crag yonder," replied Oski, looking up 
 toward the spot where Constantine was sitting. 
 
 " Good ! said Constantine, holding his council 
 
 of war with his own thoughts. " The captain looks 
 like me before sunset. Perhaps I can look like him 
 after sunset. One advantage of having a head tiled 
 in red ! But I will not show it again. Point number 
 three in my plot." 
 
 " Quite likely the captain has returned, and is 
 prowling about, inspecting everything, from the 
 horses'-tails to our very faces, that he may read our 
 thoughts. That is his way," said Lovitsch, glancing 
 around. 
 
 " Which way did he go ? " 
 
 " You might as well ask which track the Prophet's 
 horse took through the air when he carried his rider 
 on the night journey to heaven. A messenger from the 
 chief Aga met him just as we were finishing the fight 
 last night, and, with a word turning over the com- 
 mand to me, he mounted his horse and was off.
 
 I3 6 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 Perhaps he heads some other raid to-night ; or, for 
 aught I know, may be conferring with Scanderbeg in 
 the disguise of a Prankish general ; for that Ballaban's 
 brain is as prolific of schemes and tricks as this ant's 
 nest is full of eggs" turning over a stone as he 
 spoke. 
 
 The afternoon waned, and, as the night fell, prep- 
 arations were made for the march. When it was 
 dark a light bugle note called in the sentinels, and the 
 company moved forward. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 IN the gathering gloom Constantine approached the 
 extreme edge of the camp, where those who were 
 to bring up the rear had just mounted. A soldier, 
 somewhat separated from the others, was leading 
 several horses ; either a relay in case of accident to 
 the others, or those animals whose saddles had been 
 emptied during the fight at the konak. Constantine's 
 appearance was evidently a surprise to the soldier, who 
 eyed him closely, but made no movement indicating 
 suspicion beyond that of a rather pleased curiosity. 
 The man made a low salam, bowing his turban to the 
 saddle bow, and addressed him 
 
 " Will you not mount, Sire ?" Without responding 
 Constantine leaped into a saddle. 
 
 " You will pardon me, Captain," continued the
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 137 
 
 soldier. " You are welcome back, for we are in better 
 heart when you are with us." 
 
 " Thanks, good fellow," said Constantine, " but I 
 have not returned yet at least my return must not be 
 known to the troops until the morning. We will take 
 your tongue out if you tell any one I am back 
 without bidding." 
 
 The man gave a quick glance as if perplexed. 
 Constantine's hand was upon his dagger. But the 
 soldier's doubt was relieved as he seemed to be con- 
 fident of the familiar form of his captain ; and he 
 explained his apparent suspicion by quickly adding 
 
 " You speak the Servian excellent well, Captain." 
 
 " One must get used to it, and every other tongue, 
 in commanding such a mixed crew as the Sultan 
 gathers into his army," said Constantine. 
 
 " You Janizaries are wonderful men," replied the 
 soldier. " You know all languages. There was the 
 little Aga I once " 
 
 " No matter about that now," said Constantine, 
 interrupting him. " I want you for a special duty. 
 Can I trust you to do me an errand ? If you do it 
 well you will be glad of it hereafter." 
 
 " Ay, ay, Sire ! with my life ; and my lips as 
 mute as the horse's." 
 
 " I captured a girl last night. She knows something 
 I would find out by close questioning. I must have 
 her brought to the rear." 
 
 " Ay ! the girl Koremi holds ? " 
 
 " Yes, tell Koremi to loiter a little with her until 
 I come up. We must not go far from this defile before 
 I find out what she knows, if I have to discover it
 
 I3 8 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 with my dagger in her heart ; for there are traitors 
 among us. Last night there were Arnaouts dressed 
 as Moslems in the fight." 
 
 " That I know," said the soldier, " for I tripped 
 over a fellow myself, hiding in the bushes, who swore 
 at me in as good round Arnaout tongue as they speak 
 in hell. I ran him through and found a Giaour cor- 
 slet under his jacket. If there are traitors among us 
 we will broil them over our first camp-fire, that they 
 may scent hell before they get there." 
 
 " You see then why I must find out what I can at 
 once," said the assumed captain. " Some of our men 
 are in league with the Arnaouts. I can find out from 
 that girl every one of them. Impress this upon 
 Koremi ; and if he hesitates to let the girl drift to the 
 rear, you can tell him that he will be suspected of 
 being in league with the rascals." 
 
 Constantine took the ropes which held the horses 
 the man was leading ; and, bidding him to haste, but 
 be cautious that no one but Koremi should know the 
 message, followed slowly behind. 
 
 It was nearly an hour later when the form of the 
 soldier appeared in the road just before him. 
 
 " Right ! " said Constantine. 
 
 " Right ! " was the response, first to the assumed 
 captain, then repeated to some one behind him. Two 
 other forms appeared ; one of them a woman. 
 
 Anticipating his orders, the second trooper untied 
 a rope from about his own waist, and handed it, 
 together with the rein of the horse the woman rode, to 
 Constantine. Then, making a low obeisance, the two 
 troopers withdrew a little distance to the rear.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 139 
 
 The other end of the rope which Constantine held 
 was about the waist of the captive. Drawing the led 
 horse close to his own, and dropping his turban more 
 over his face, Constantine closely scrutinized the 
 features of the woman. She was Morsinia. It was 
 difficult for him to repress the excitement and delay 
 the revelation of his true person, but the hazard of the 
 least cry of surprise or recognition on her part nerved 
 him to coolness. 
 
 " Where are you taking me ? If you have the cour- 
 age, kill me," said the girl. 
 
 Constantine replied only by whistling a snatch of 
 an Albanian air. 
 
 " Are you an Albanian renegade ? " continued the 
 girl. " Could you not be content to sell yourself to 
 fight for the Turk against other enemies, but must be 
 a double traitor, and kill and kidnap your own 
 kind ? " 
 
 The whistling continued. But as the soldiers were 
 a little removed, he said in a low voice, disguising his 
 natural tones : 
 
 " I am an Albanian, and if you will not speak, but 
 only obey, I can save you." 
 
 " Jesu grant you are true ! " was the tremulous 
 response. 
 
 " This will prove it," muttered he, reaching toward 
 her, and with his knife cutting a broad strap which 
 bound her limbs to the saddle. " If tied elsewhere, 
 here is the knife." 
 
 The way, which had been narrowed by the pro- 
 jection of the mountains on either side, now widened 
 a little. Constantine knew the spot well. There had
 
 14 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 once been a mill and peasant's hut there, and now 
 quite a plat of grass was growing from the soft soil. 
 The eye could not discern it, for the darkness was 
 rayless. But Constantine remembered the grassy 
 stretch was just round the point of rock they were 
 passing. The horses were walking slowly, being 
 allowed by their riders to pick their way along the 
 stony road. As they turned the rock a strong wind 
 rushed through the ravine, wailing a requiem over the 
 now deserted settlement and the dead leaves of last 
 year, which it whirled in eddies ; and singing a lullaby 
 through the trees to the new-born leaves of the spring 
 time, which were rocked on the cradling branches. 
 This, together with the clatter of the horses' feet before 
 and behind them, enabled Constantine to draw the 
 captive's horse and his own upon the soft turf without 
 being heard. Halting them at a few yards' distance, 
 they allowed the men who had followed them to pass 
 by, and sat in silence until the lessening sound told 
 them that the soldiers had made another turn in the 
 road. Then, wheeling the horses, Constantine gave 
 loose rein back over the track they had come. After 
 a short ride he dismounted, and closely examining the 
 way, led the horses to one side, up a path, and down 
 again to a little plateau, perhaps a furlong from the 
 main road, where a grazing patch would keep them 
 from being betrayed by the neighing. He dreaded 
 the fatigue of further journey to his comrade ; for 
 even his own ordinarily tireless frame was beginning 
 to feel the drain of the terrible night and day they 
 had passed through. 
 
 Constantine threw off his turban and stretched his
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 141 
 
 strong arms to lift the captive from her horse, exclaim- 
 ing with delight in his own familiar tones, 
 
 " I am no Albanian, dear Morsinia, but " 
 
 " Constantine ! " she cried. 
 
 He laid an almost lifeless form upon the turf, for 
 the shock of the revelation had been too much for her 
 jaded nerves and excited brain. Unrolling the cloth 
 of his turban he spread it over her person, while his 
 own breast was her pillow. Slowly she recovered 
 strength and self-command. 
 
 In a few words the mutual stories of the hours of 
 their separation were told. Morsinia had been treated 
 with exceeding kindness and respect, as the captive of 
 the chief officer of the expedition, who seemed to be 
 a person of some distinction, though she had not seen 
 him. Constantine insisted upon his companion's seek- 
 ing sleep, but by his inquiries, did as much as her own 
 thoughts to keep her awake ; so that at the dawn they 
 confessed that the eyes of neither had been closed. 
 The necessity of procuring food led them to start at 
 daybreak for the nearest settlement. They descended 
 to the road and retraced the course of the preceding 
 night ; for it was useless to return to the wrecked 
 hamlet. They had gone but a short distance when 
 they heard the sound of a body of cavalry directly in 
 front of them, riding rapidly up the valley. There 
 was no time to avoid the approaching riders either by 
 flight or concealment. Constantine said hastily, 
 
 " Remember, if they are Turks, I too am a Turk, 
 and you are my captive. If they are friends, all is 
 well. Stay where you are, and I will ride forward to 
 meet them."
 
 142 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 r PHE newcomers proved to be a detachment of 
 1 Albanians. Constantine was instantly captured 
 notwithstanding his declaration that his dress was 
 only assumed. 
 
 " Aha ! you are a Christian now in a Turk's skin, 
 are you ? But yesterday you were a Turk in a Chris- 
 tian's feathers," was the taunt with which he was 
 greeted by one of the foremost riders, who continued 
 his bantering. " Your face is honest, if your heart is 
 not, you Moslem devil ; for your ugly features will not 
 lie though your tongue does. I would know that 
 square jaw and red head equally well now, were it 
 under the tiara of the pope instead of under the tur- 
 ban ; and I would cut your throat if you carried St. 
 Peter's key in your girdle ; you change-skinned 
 lizard ! " 
 
 " Who is he ? " cried the horsemen, gathering 
 about. 
 
 " Why ! the very knave who escaped us about sun- 
 down yesterday, after spying our camp ; and he has 
 the impudence to ask us to take him prisoner that he 
 may spy us again." 
 
 " Let us hamstring him ! " cried another, " and, 
 unless St. Christopher has turned Moslem in para- 
 dise and helps the rascal, he will find no legs to run 
 away with again." 
 
 " Set him up for a mark when we halt," proposed a 
 third. " A ducat to him whose arrow can split his ear 
 without tearing the cheek at forty paces ! "
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 143 
 
 Constantine was helpless as they adjusted a halter 
 about his neck, with which to lead him at the side of 
 a horseman, the butt of tne scurrilous wit and sharper 
 spear-points of his half mad and half merry captors. 
 
 They had gone but a few paces when the colonel 
 commanding the detachment made his way through 
 the troopers to the front. He was a venerable man 
 with long flowing white beard. His bodily strength 
 seemed to come solely from the vitality of 
 nerve and the dominance of his spirit ; for he was well 
 worn with years. 
 
 "What is this noise about ?" he asked sternly. 
 
 Before any could reply he stared with a moment's 
 incredulity and wonder at Constantine, who relieved his 
 doubts by recognizing him. 
 
 " Colonel Kabilovitsch ! " cried he, doffing his tur- 
 ban as if it had been a Christian cap.* " Your men are 
 playful fellows, as frolicksome as a cat with a mole." 
 
 "But why are you here, my boy? and why this 
 disguise ? " interrupted Kabilovitsch. 
 
 The explanation was given in a few words ; on 
 the one side the story of the slaughter at the village, 
 and the adventures of Morsinia and Constantine ; on 
 the other of how the news of the Turkish raid reached 
 the camp at Sfetigrade about noon, and the rescuing 
 party had started at once under Kabilovitsch's com- 
 mand, and ridden at breakneck speed during the 
 entire night in the hope of meeting the Turks before 
 they emerged from the narrow valley. 
 
 Learning now that they were too late for this, 
 Kabilovitsch halted his command, and with Constan- 
 * Moslems do not remove the hat in making salutation.
 
 144 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 tine sought the place where Morsinia was in waiting. 
 When the old man heard that the first assailants of the 
 hamlet had been Albanians in disguise his rage was 
 furious ; and through his incautious words Morsinia 
 learned more of her relation to the voivode Amesa 
 than her reputed father had ever told her ; for the 
 mystery of her family had never been fully explained in 
 her hearing. It had heretofore been deemed best that 
 the girl should not be made the custodian of her own 
 secret, lest her childish prattle might reveal it to 
 others. Yet she had guessed the greater part of the 
 problem of her identity. But Kabilovitsch was now 
 led by the new curiosity which his inadvertent expres- 
 sions had awakened in her, as well as by the remark- 
 ably discreet and cautious judgment she had displayed, 
 to tell her the entire story of her own life. This was 
 not, however, until orders had been passed through 
 the troop for rest, and the fires hastily kindled along 
 the roadside had prepared their refreshing breakfasts. 
 
 Removed from the hearing of all others, Kabilo- 
 vitsch rehearsed to Morsinia and Constantine what 
 the reader already knows of her extraction and early 
 residence in Albania. He advised her to extreme 
 caution against the slightest reference to herself as 
 the young Mara de Streeses, and that she should 
 insist upon her identity as the daughter of the Servian 
 peasant Milosch and the sister of Constantine. 
 
 Morsinia buried her fair face in the gray beard of 
 the old man, as years ago she had done when they 
 sat upon the door-stone of their Balkan home, and 
 sobbed as if his words had orphaned her. In a few 
 moments she looked up into his fine but wrinkled
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 145 
 
 face, and drawing it down to hers, kissed him as she 
 used to do, and said lovingly, 
 
 " I must believe your words ; but my heart holds 
 you as my father : for father you have been to me, 
 and child I shall be to you so long as God gives us to 
 one another." 
 
 The old man pressed her temples between his 
 rough hands, and looked long into her deep blue eyes, 
 as he said slowly, 
 
 " Ay, father and mother both was I to thee, my 
 child, from that terrible night, sixteen years ago. My 
 rough arms have often cradled thee. But now you 
 have a nobler and stronger protector in our country's 
 father, the great Castriot. To him you must go ; for 
 it is no longer safe in these lonely valleys. Under his 
 strong arm and all-watchful eye you will be amply pro- 
 tected. There are nameless enemies of the old house 
 of De Streeses whom we must avoid as vigilantly as 
 we avoid the Turks." 
 
 It was determined that Constantine should make a 
 detour with her, and approach Sfetigrade from the 
 south, giving out that they were fugitives from the 
 lower country, which the enemy had also been 
 raiding. 
 
 The colonel stated to his under officers, in hearing 
 of the men, that the young Turk was really one of 
 Castriot's scouts, and that the young woman was an 
 accomplice. Borrowing from one and another suffi- 
 cient Albanian costumes to substitute for Constantine's 
 disguise, Kabilovitsch dismissed the couple. 
 
 There was no end to the badgering the officious 
 soldier who had first arrested the scout received at the 
 10
 
 146 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 hands of his comrades. They jeered at his double 
 mistake in taking the fellow yesterday as a Turkish spy 
 in Albanian uniform, because he had slipped away so 
 shrewdly, and now again being duped by him a real 
 Albanian in Turkish disguise. Some threw the halter 
 over the fellow's neck; others made mimic" prepara- 
 tion for hamstringing him ; while one presented him 
 with an immense scroll of bark purporting to be his 
 commission as chief of the department of secret ser- 
 vice, finishing the mock presentation by shivering the 
 bark over the fellow's head. The unhappy man con- 
 tented himself philosophically : 
 
 " No wonder General Castriot baffles the enemy 
 when his own men cannot understand him. You were 
 all as badly twisted by that fellow's tricks as I was. But 
 I will never interfere with that red head again, though 
 he wears a turban and is cutting the throat of the 
 general himself." 
 
 Two days later a beautiful girl accompanied by her 
 brother who was as unlike her as the thorn bush is 
 unlike the graceful flowering clematis that festoons its 
 limbs, both of them in apparent destitution, refugees 
 from near the Greek border entered the town of 
 Sfetigrade. By order of the general, to whom their 
 piteous story was told by Kabilovitsch for he had 
 chanced, so he said, to come upon them as they were 
 inquiring their way to the town they were quartered 
 with a family whose house was not far from the citadel. 
 For some weeks the girl was an invalid. A raging 
 fever had been induced by over excitement and the 
 subsequent fatigue of the long journey. Colonel 
 Kabilovitsch could not refrain from expressing his
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 147 
 
 interest in the young woman by almost daily calls at 
 the cottage where she lay. One day, when it was 
 supposed by the surgeon that she might not live, the 
 old man was observed to stand long at the cot upon 
 which the sick girl was lying. A look of agony over- 
 spread his features when the surgeon, who had been 
 feeling her pulse, laid her almost nerveless hand 
 beneath the blanket. 
 
 " Dear, good old man," said the housewife. " I 
 warrant he has laid some pretty one of his own in the 
 ground. Maybe a child, or a lover, sometime back in 
 the years. These things do come to us over and over 
 again." 
 
 The brother of the sick girl scarcely noticed the 
 visits of Colonel Kabilovitsch, except to respond to 
 his questions when no one but himself could give the 
 exact information about the patient's condition ; for 
 none watched with her so incessantly. 
 
 But her marvellous natural vitality enabled the 
 sufferer to outlive the fever ; and, as she became con- 
 valescent, the old colonel seemed to forget her. His 
 interest was apparently in her suffering rather than in 
 herself.
 
 148 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE battlements of Sfetigrade lay, like a ruffled 
 collar, upon enormous shoulders of rock rising 
 high above the surrounding country. Over them rose, 
 like a massive head, the citadel with its bartizans pro- 
 jecting as a crown about the brow. The rock upon 
 which the fortification stood was scarped toward the 
 valley, so that it could be climbed only with the help 
 of ladders, even though the assailants were unresisted 
 by its defenders. The few spots which nature had 
 left unguarded were now choked with abattis, or 
 overlooked by bastions so skilfully constructed as to 
 need far less courage and strength for their defence 
 than were possessed by the bands of Dibrian and 
 Epirot patriots who fought from behind them. 
 
 The assaults which Sultan Amurath launched 
 against the place had been as frequent as the early 
 summer showers, and his armies were beaten to pieces 
 as the rain rebounded in spray and ran in streams 
 from the rocks. The chagrin of the baffled Sultan 
 reflected itself in the discouragement of his generals 
 and the demoralization of their men. The presence of 
 his majesty could not silence the mutual recrimina- 
 tions, the loud and rancorous strife with which brave 
 officers sought to lay upon one another the responsi- 
 bility for their defeat, rather than confess that the 
 daily disasters were due to the superior genius com- 
 manding among their foes. Especially was the envy 
 of the leaders of the other corps and branches of the 
 service excited against the Janizaries, to whose unri-
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 149 
 
 vailed training and daring were due whatever minor 
 victories had been won, and whatever exploits worthy 
 of mention had been performed. 
 
 A lofty tent, whose projecting centre-pole bore the 
 glittering brass crescent and star, and before the 
 entrance to which a single horse-tail hung from the 
 long spear, denoted the headquarters of a Sanjak Bey. 
 In front of the tent walked two men in eager, and not 
 altogether amiable, conversation. The one was the 
 Bey, whose huge turban of white, inwound with green, 
 indicated that his martial zeal was supplemented by 
 equal enthusiasm for his faith ; and that he had added 
 to the fatigue of many campaigns against the infidels 
 the toil of a more monotonous, though more satisfac- 
 tory, pilgrimage to Mecca. His companion was an 
 Aga of the Janizaries, second only in rank to the chief 
 Aga. 
 
 The latter was speaking with a wrath which his 
 courteous words but ill concealed 
 
 " I do not impugn your honor or the sincerity of 
 your motives, Caraza-Bey, in making your accusation 
 against our Captain Baliaban ; but the well known 
 jealousy which is everywhere manifested against our 
 corps compels me to believe not a single word to the 
 discredit of him or any of the Yeni-Tscheri without in- 
 dubitable proof. I would allow the word of Captain 
 Baliaban knowing him so well as I do to outweigh 
 the oaths on the Koran of a score of those who, like 
 yourself, have reason to be jealous of his superior 
 courage." 
 
 " But your upstart captain's guilt can be proved, if 
 not to your personal satisfaction, at least before those
 
 150 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 who will not care to ask your assent to their judg- 
 ment," replied the other, not attempting to veil his 
 hatred of the Aga, any more than his purpose of 
 crushing the one of whom they were speaking. 
 
 " What will the lies of a whole sanjak of your hire- 
 lings avail against the honor of a Janizary ? " replied 
 the Aga. " If two horse-tails* hung from the standard 
 yonder, I would not publicly disgrace Captain Balla- 
 ban by so much as ordering an inquiry at your 
 demand. The Janizaries will take no suggestion from 
 any but the Padishah." 
 
 " A curse on the brag of the Janizaries ! The arro- 
 gancy of the Christian renegades needs better warrant 
 than Ballaban can give it," sneered the Bey. " If you 
 like, let the matter rest as it is. The whole army 
 believes that one of your dervish-capped heroes the 
 best of the brood, I imagine deserted his comrades 
 in battle, and all for the sake of a captive girl." 
 
 " It is a lie ! " shouted the Aga, drawing his sword 
 upon him. 
 
 The attitude of the two officers drew a crowd, who 
 rushed from all sides to witness the duel. Both were 
 masters of sword play, so that neither obtained any 
 sanguinary advantage before they were separated by 
 the arrival of the chief Aga, who forbade his subaltern 
 to continue the conflict. Upon hearing the occasion 
 of the affray, the chief said : 
 
 " The trial of Captain Ballaban shall be had, with 
 the publication of the fact that Caraza-Bey has 
 assumed the position of his accuser ; and, in the event 
 
 * Two horse-tails ; the symbol of a Beyler Bey, a chief bey of 
 Europe or Asia.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 151 
 
 of his charge proving false, he shall atone for his 
 malice by submitting to any punishment the captain 
 may indicate ; and the force of the Janizaries shall 
 execute it, though they cut the throats of his entire 
 command in order to do it. We must first vindicate 
 the honor of the corps, and then take vengeance upon 
 its detractors. I demand that Caraza-Bey make good 
 his charge to-morrow at the sixth hour, or accept the 
 judgment of coward and vilifier, which our court shall 
 then proclaim to the army." 
 
 At the appointed time on the day following, the tent 
 of the chief Aga was the gathering place of the nota- 
 ble officers of the corps. Without, it differed from 
 hundreds of other tents only in its size, and in the 
 pennant indicating the rank of its occupant. Within, 
 it was lined with a canopy of finest silk and woollen 
 tapestries, on the blue background of which crescents 
 and stars, cimeters and lance-heads, battle-axes, 
 shields, turbans and dervish caps were artistically 
 grouped with texts from the Koran, and skilfully 
 wrought in braids and threads of gold. The canvas 
 sides of the tent were now removed, making it an open 
 pavilion, and inviting inspection and audience from 
 any who desired to approach. A divan was at one 
 side, and made a semicircle of about half the tent. 
 Upon this sat the chief Aga, his cushion slightly raised 
 above those at his side, which were occupied by the 
 agas of lower rank. A group of officers filled the 
 space beneath the tent ; and soldiers of all grades 
 made a dense crowd for several rods beyond into the 
 open air. 
 
 The chief Aga waved his hand to an attendant, and
 
 152 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 the military court was formally opened. Several cases 
 were disposed of before that of Captain Ballaban was 
 called. 
 
 There was led in a stalwart soldier of middle age. 
 Two witnesses deposed that, in a recent assault upon 
 the enemy's works at Sfetigrade, when there was 
 poured upon the assailants a shower of arrows and 
 stones from the battlements above, this man, without 
 orders from his officer, had cried, " Give way ! Give 
 way ! " and that to this cry and his example were due 
 the confusion of ranks and the retreat which followed- 
 
 The chief Aga turned and looked silently upon the 
 man, awaiting his reply to the accusation. The 
 accused was speechless. The chief then turned to 
 the Aga to whose division the culprit belonged, that he 
 might hear any plea that he should be pleased to offer 
 for the soldier ; but the Aga's face was stolid with 
 indifference. The chief, without raising his head, sat 
 in silence for a moment, as in solemn act of weighing 
 the case. He then muttered an invocation of Allah 
 as the Supreme Judge. He paused. A gleam of 
 light circled above the man ; a hissing sound of the 
 cimeter and a thud were heard. The culprit's head 
 rolled to the ground. His trunk swayed for an instant 
 and fell. 
 
 This scene was apparently of little interest to the 
 spectators. A second case only tested their patience. 
 One was charged with having failed to deliver an order 
 from the colonel of his orta, or regiment, to a captain 
 of one of the odas, or companies. Both these officers 
 testified, the one to having sent the order, the other 
 to not having received it, and on this account to
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 153 
 
 have failed to occupy a certain position with his 
 men in a recent engagement with the enemy. The 
 culprit alleged that it was impossible to deliver the 
 order because of the enemy's movements at the time. 
 The Aga of the division, being appealed to by the silent 
 gaze of the judge, simply said : 
 
 " The man is brave ; " when, by a motion of the 
 hand, the judge dismissed the soldier together with 
 the case. 
 
 The expectation not only of common soldiers, but 
 also of officials, led them to crane their necks to look 
 at the next comer. Even the ordinarily immobile 
 features of the chief relaxed into an expression of 
 anxiety as a young man walked down the aisle made 
 by the reverent receding of the crowd to either side. 
 He was not graceful in form. His body was beyond 
 the proportion of his legs ; though his arms compen- 
 sated for any lack in the length of his lower limbs. 
 His neck was thick, the head round, with full devel- 
 opment of forehead, though that portion of his 
 face was somewhat concealed by the short, bushy 
 masses of red hair which protruded beneath his rimless 
 Janizary cap. His face was homely, but strongly 
 marked, evincing force of character as clearly as the 
 convolutions of his muscles evinced animal strength 
 and endurance. The brightness of his eye atoned for 
 any lack of beauty in his features ; as did his free and 
 manly bearing make ample amends for deficiency in 
 grace of form. Altogether he was a man to attract 
 one's attention and hold it pleasantly. 
 
 Though he bent low to the earth in his obeisance 
 to the chief officer of his troop, it was without the sug-
 
 1 54 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 gestion of obsequiousness, with that dignity which be- 
 tokens real reverence and crowns itself with the honor 
 it would give to another. 
 
 The chief Aga announced that, although the wit- 
 nesses in this case were not of the order of the Yeni- 
 Tscheri, and, therefore, had no claim to the considera- 
 tion of the court, yet it pleased him in this peculiar case 
 to waive the right to try the matter exclusively among 
 themselves, that the good name of the Yeni-Tscheri 
 might suffer no reproach. " Caraza-Bey," added the 
 chief, " for some reason best known to himself does 
 not accept the privilege we have extended him, to 
 speak in our official presence what he has freely spoken 
 elsewhere. We shall, therefore, hear any witnesses he 
 may have sent. " 
 
 One Lovitsch, belonging to the irregular auxiliary 
 troops, testified that Captain Ballaban had organized 
 a raid upon an Albanian village, and engaged himself 
 and company for the venture ; but had left them in 
 the heat of the fight, not rejoining them until the sec- 
 ond day. A common soldier deposed that the captain 
 returned to the company early in the second evening, 
 and induced him, the witness, and Koremi, to whom 
 the captain had entrusted a beautiful captive, to bring 
 the girl to the rear, under plea of getting from her in- 
 formation regarding the enemy ; and had then myster- 
 iously disappeared with her. Koremi corroborated 
 this testimony. 
 
 Captain Ballaban gave a look of puzzled curiosity as 
 he heard this ; but otherwise evinced not the slightest 
 emotion. 
 
 The crowd gazed upon the young captain with disap-
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 155 
 
 pointment while testimony was being given. The 
 agas present being unable to conceal the deep anx- 
 iety depicted upon their countenances, as they leaned 
 forward with impatience to hear from his lips some 
 exonerating statement, which, however, they feared 
 could not be given. A few faces wore a look of con- 
 temptuous triumph. But two persons maintained com- 
 posure. It might be expected that the chief Aga, 
 from his familiarity with such scenes, if not from the 
 propriety of his being the formal embodiment of the 
 rigid and remorseless court of the Janizaries, whose 
 decrees he was to announce, would show no emo- 
 tion, however strong his sympathy with the pris- 
 oner. 
 
 The endangered man answered his gaze with equal 
 stolidity when the judge turned to him for his de- 
 fence ; but he remained speechless. A shudder of 
 horror ran through the crowd. The executioner 
 stepped forward to the side of the apparently convicted 
 person. A slight ringing sound, as the long curve of 
 the well-tempered blade grazed the ground, sent to 
 every heart the chilling announcement of his readiness. 
 The chief Aga turned to the others, but sought in vain 
 any palliatory suggestion or appeal for mercy, except 
 in the mute agony of their looks. The chief then 
 raised his eyes as if for the invocation of Allah's con- 
 firmation of the sentence as just. But his prayer was 
 a strange one : " Oh, Allah ! thou hast given a 
 wondrous spirit to this man ; a courage worthy 
 of the soul of Othman himself ! " Then rising with 
 excitement he addressed the throng in rapid 
 speech.
 
 I5 6 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 " Look upon this man, my brothers of the shining 
 face ! * 
 
 " Did he quail at the ring of the executioner's sword ? 
 Did he even change color when he heard the damning 
 testimony ? A true son of Kara Khalif is he. A word 
 from his lips would have exonerated him, yet he 
 would not speak it lest it should reveal the secrets of 
 our service, which he would keep with dead lips rather 
 than live to tell them. But I shall be his witness ; and 
 you, my brothers, shall be his judges. Captain Balla- 
 ban was recalled from the raid by our brother Sinam, 
 aga of the division to which the captain belongs. But, 
 alas ! the sword of Scanderbeg has loosed Sinam's 
 soul for flight to paradise, and he could not testify to 
 this man's fidelity. But I know the order of Sinam; 
 in this very tent it was written. And though the 
 faithful messenger who carried it was slain in after 
 conflict, the order was executed by Captain Ballaban 
 to every letter : every moment of his absence from the 
 raid is accounted for on my tablets " tapping his fore- 
 head as he spoke. 
 
 A loud shout burst from the crowd which made the 
 tent shake as if filled with a rising wind. 
 
 " Ballaban ! Ballaban ! " cried the multitude, lifting 
 the brave fellow upon their shoulders. 
 
 " Take that for your grin when you thought he was 
 guilty ! " shouted one, as he delivered a tremendous 
 blow upon the face of another. 
 
 " Death to Caraza-Bey ! Down with the lying vil- 
 lain ! " rose the cry, the crowd beginning to move, 
 
 * A title of Janizaries given them by the dervish who blessed 
 the order at its institution in the days of Orchan.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 15? 
 
 as if animated by a common spirit, to seek the 
 envious commandant of the neighboring corps. But 
 they halted at the tent side waiting for the sign of 
 permission from their chief, who, by the motion of 
 his hand forbade the assault which would have brought 
 on a terrific battle between the Janizaries and their 
 rivals throughout the army. 
 
 " We shall deal with Caraza-Bey hereafter, if his 
 shame does not send him skulking from the camps," 
 said the chief, resuming his sitting posture, and 
 restoring order about him. 
 
 " Summon the witnesses again," he proceeded. 
 
 " You Lovitsch testified truly as to Captain Ballaban's 
 absence, and may go. But you twin rascals who swore 
 to his escape with the girl, your heads shall go to 
 Caraza-Bey, and your black souls to the seventh hell.* 
 Executioner, do your office ! " 
 
 " Hold ! " cried Ballaban, as the man drew his 
 cimeter. " Upon my return to the company I found 
 my fair captive gone, and under such strange circum- 
 stances that I can see that these good fellows may be 
 honest in what they have stated. I bespeak thy 
 mercy, Sire, for them." 
 
 " Captain Ballaban's will shall be ours," replied the 
 chief, with a wave of his hand dismissing the assem- 
 blage. As the crowd withdrew, he said, " My brothers, 
 the agas, will remain, and Captain Ballaban." 
 
 The sides of the tent were put up. The guard 
 patrolled without at a distance of sixty paces, that no 
 one might overhear the conversation in the council. 
 
 * According to the Moslems, hell is divided into seven stories 
 or cellars, the lowest being reserved for hypocrites.
 
 158 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 " T T AS Captain Ballaban any explanation of this con- 
 1 1 spiracy against him ? " asked one. 
 " None ! " was the laconic reply. But after a 
 moment's pause he added : " Perhaps there was no 
 conspiracy, except as our jealous neighbors are willing 
 to take advantage of every unseemly circumstance 
 that can be twisted to point against any of the Yeni- 
 Tscheri. This may explain something. The girl 
 that I captured at the Giaour village was no common 
 peasant, by the cheek of Ayisha ! Her face, as lit by 
 the blazing konak, was of such beauty as I have never 
 seen except in some dreams of my childhood. Her 
 voice and manner in commanding me to liberate her 
 were those of one well-born or used to authority. It 
 was well that I bethought me to give her into the 
 keeping of that dull-headed Koremi, or she might 
 have bewitched me into obeying her and letting her 
 go. My belief is that the girl was rescued. It may 
 be that our men were heavily bribed to give her up, 
 or that some one personated myself and demanded 
 her, and that the story of my return may be thus 
 accounted for, but I cannot see any treachery in 
 Koremi's manner. If she was of any special value to 
 Scanderbeg he would find some way of running her 
 off, though he had to made a league with the devil 
 and assume my shape to do it. The Arnaouts, you 
 know, believe that the Vili are in collusion with Scan- 
 derbeg, and that one of them, a he-vili, Radisha, or 
 some such sprite, is his body servant. That will
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 159 
 
 account for it all," added he, laughing at the con- 
 ceit. 
 
 " But," said the second Aga, " Caraza-Bey's insult 
 was none the less, if your surmise be true. We must 
 wash it out in the blood of a hundred or so of his 
 hirelings to-morrow." 
 
 The chief shook his head. 
 
 " But," continued the second Aga, "the jealousy of 
 our corps must be punished. You see how near it 
 came to losing for us the life of one of our bravest. 
 Caraza-Bey must fight me to-morrow." 
 
 " Bravo ! " cried all ; while one added, " And let 
 the challenge be public, that the entire force of the 
 Yeni-Tscheri be on hand and all the troops of the 
 Beyler Bey of Anatolia, and " lowering his voice 
 " we can manage it so that the fight become general, 
 and teach these reptiles of Asiatics that the Yeni- 
 Tscheri are the right hand and the brain of the 
 empire." 
 
 " Ay, are the empire ! " said another. " Let us 
 have a scrimmage that will be interesting. The war 
 with Scanderbeg is getting monotonous. One day he 
 comes into our camp, like a butcher into a slaughter 
 pen, and the next day we are marched out to him, to 
 be slaughtered elsewhere. It requires one to be full 
 of Islam, the Holy Resignation, to stand this sort of 
 life. Yes ! let's do a little fighting in our own way 
 and get rid of some of this soldier spawn which the 
 Padishah has brought with him from across the 
 Bosphorus ! " 
 
 " But you forget, my brothers," said Ballaban, 
 " that this fight with the Sanjak Bey does not belong
 
 160 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 to any one beside myself. His lie was about me. I 
 then am the man to take off his head ; and I think I 
 can do it with as good grace as the executioner was 
 nigh to taking off mine just now." 
 
 " No, Captain ! " said the chief. " Your rank is as 
 yet below the Bey's, and he would make that an 
 excuse for declining the gage. Besides," said he, 
 lowering his voice, " I have special service for you 
 elsewhere, which cannot be delayed." 
 
 When the agas, making the low courtesy, retired, the 
 chief walked with Ballaban. 
 
 " Captain, I have heard no report of the errand upon 
 which you were sent." 
 
 " No, Sire, I was arrested the moment I returned to 
 camp." 
 
 " You succeeded, I know, from the movements of the 
 enemy : although the slowness of the Padishah in order- 
 ing an advance, when Scanderbeg was diverted by your 
 ruse, prevented our taking advantage of it." 
 
 " Yes," said Ballaban, " I succeeded as well as any 
 one could, not being seconded from headquarters. 
 But I did some service incidentally, and picked up 
 some helpful information. The night after leaving the 
 hamlet we fired, I fell in with a company of Arnaouts 
 who were coming to the rescue. They would have got 
 into the narrow valley before our men got out, had I not 
 managed to trick them. I was in disguise and readily 
 passed for an Arnaout lout, giving them false informa- 
 tion about the direction our party had taken, and so 
 lost them an hour or two, and saved the throats of 
 Lovitsch's fellows, a mere rabble, good enough for a 
 raid, but not to be depended upon for a square fight.
 
 THE CAP TAIH OF THE JANIZARIES. 1 6 1 
 
 But we must have no more raids. Scanderbeg has 
 means of communication as quick and subtle as if 
 the clouds were his signals and the stars were his 
 beacons. 
 
 " I then came upon a Dibrian settlement, pretend- 
 ing to be a fugitive from the valleys to the north ; 
 and entertained the villagers with bug-a-boo stories 
 about the hosts of men with turbans on their heads 
 and little devils on their shoulders who had destroyed 
 all that country, and were now pouring down toward 
 the south. 
 
 " By the way," continued Ballaban laughing, "there 
 was an old fellow there, very lame, with a patch over 
 one eye, who could hardly stand leaning on his staff, 
 he was so palsied with age. But the one eye that was 
 open was altogether too bright for his years ; and his 
 legs didn't shake enough for one who rattled his staff 
 so much. So I put him down as one of Scanderbeg's 
 lynxes they are everywhere. I described to him the 
 Moslem movements in such a way as to let a trained 
 soldier believe that we had entirely changed front, 
 with the prospective raising of the siege of Sfetigrade 
 and alliance with the Venetians for carrying the 
 war farther to the north. The old codger took the 
 bait, and asked fifty questions in the tone of a fellow 
 whose head had been used for a mush-pot instead of 
 a brain-holder ; but every question was in its meaning 
 as keen as a dagger-thrust into the very ribs of the 
 military situation. Well ! I helped him to all the 
 information he wanted ; when with a twinkle in his 
 eye, he hobbled away, as wise as an owl when a fresh 
 
 streak of day-light has struck him : and before night 
 n
 
 1 62 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 the whole country to the borders of Sternogovia was 
 alive with Scanderbeg's scouts ; and every cross- 
 path was a rendezvous of his broken-winded cav- 
 alry. 
 
 " I saw one thing which gave me a hint I may use 
 some day. At a village the women were carrying 
 water from a spring far down in a ravine, though 
 there was a fine flowing fountain quite near them. It 
 seems that a dog had got into the fountain about a 
 month before, and was drowned. These Dibrians 
 believe that, if any one should drink the water of 
 such a spring before as many days have passed as 
 the dog has hairs on his tail, the water will make his 
 bowels rot, and his soul go into a dog's body when 
 he dies. 
 
 " The next night I spent inside the walls of Sfeti- 
 grade." 
 
 " No ! " cried the chief. " Why, man, you must fly 
 the air with the witches ! " 
 
 " Not at all, I have some acquaintances in that snug 
 little place ; and when they go to bed they hang the 
 key of the town on a moonbeam for me. If it is not 
 there, I have only to vault over the walls, or sail over 
 them on the clouds, or burrow under them with the 
 moles, or hold my breath until I turn into a sprite, 
 like the wizards on the Ganges, and lo ! I am in. 
 Well ! that night I lodged with a worthy family of Sfeti- 
 grade, pretending that I was a poor fugitive from the 
 very town we had raided a few nights before. And, 
 by the hair of the beautiful Malkhatoon ! * I saw 
 there the very captive I had taken. She lay asleep on 
 * Bride of Othman.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 163 
 
 a cot just within a doorway unless I was asleep 
 myself and dreaming, as I half believe I was." 
 
 " Yes, it was a dream of yours, no doubt, Captain," 
 said the chief, " for when a young fellow like you once 
 gets a fair woman in his arms, as you say you had her 
 in yours the night of the raid, she never gets out of 
 the embrace of his imagination. He will see her every- 
 where, and go about trying to hug her shadow. 
 Beware illusions, Captain ! They use up a fellow's 
 thoughts, make him too meek-eyed to see things as a 
 soldier should. The love passion will take the energy 
 out of the best of us, as quickly as the fire takes the 
 temper out of the best Damascene blade." 
 
 "I thank you for your counsel, Aga," replied Balla- 
 ban, his face coloring as deep as his hair. " But there 
 was one thing I saw with a waking eye." 
 
 " And what was that ? " 
 
 " That there was but one well of water in the town 
 of Sfetigrade ; the one in the citadel court. But another 
 thing I didn't see, though I searched the place for it ; 
 and that was a dog to throw into the well ; or I 
 would have thirsted the superstitious garrison out. 
 They have eaten up the last cur." 
 
 " Then the surrender must come soon," said the 
 Aga. 
 
 " No," replied Ballaban, " for the voivode Moses 
 Goleme came into the town as I was leaving, driving 
 a flock of sheep which he had stolen from us ; for he 
 had cut off an entire train of provisions which had 
 been sent to our camp from Adrianople." 
 
 " Then I must have you off at once on another errand, 
 Captain. You see yonder line of mountains off to the
 
 64 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 northwest. It may be necessary to shift the war to 
 that region for a while. Ivan Beg,* the brother-in- 
 law of Scanderbeg, has raised a pack of wild fiends 
 among those hills of his, and is driving out all our 
 friends. Nothing can stand against him unless it be 
 the breasts of the Yeni-Tscheri. Scanderbeg may 
 compel us to raise the siege of Sfetigrade, for he 
 bleeds' us daily like a leech. A diversion after Ivan 
 Beg will at least be more honorable than a return to 
 Adrianople. Now I would know exactly the passes 
 and best places for fortification in Ivan's country ; 
 and you, Captain, are the man to find them out. You 
 should be off at once. Take your time and spy 
 thoroughly, making a map and transmitting to me 
 your notes. And while there feel the people. It is 
 rumored that the young voivode, Amesa, is restless 
 under the leadership of Scanderbeg. If a dissension 
 could be created among these Arnaouts, it would be 
 well. Amesa has a large personal following in that 
 north country ; for his castle is just on the border 
 of it." 
 
 " But," replied Ballaban, " I must first pluck the 
 beard of that cowardly Caraza-Bey ! " 
 
 " No ! I forbid it. Your blood is worth more in 
 your own veins than anywhere else. I should not 
 consent to your risking a drop of it in personal com- 
 bat with any one except Scanderbeg himself." 
 
 The fight between the second Aga and Caraza-Bey 
 did not take place. That worthy was conveniently sent 
 
 f Ivo, the Black, or Tsernoi, from whom the mountain country 
 to the north of Albania was called Tsernogorki, or, in its Latinized 
 form, Montenegro.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 165 
 
 by Sultan Amurath, who had learned of the feud, to 
 look after certain turbulent Caramanians ; and leaving 
 behind him a wake of curses upon all Janizaries from 
 the chief to the pot-scourers, he took his departure for 
 the Asiatic provinces. 
 
 Had he remained, the Turks would have had enough 
 to occupy them without this gratuitous melee. For 
 during the night scouts brought word that Scanderbeg 
 had massed all his forces, that were not behind the 
 walls of Sfetigrade, at a point to the right of the 
 Turkish lines. Hardly had the army been faced to 
 meet this attack, when scouts came from the left, 
 reporting serious depredations on that flank. 
 Amurath, in the uncertainty of the enemy's movement, 
 divided his host. The Asiatics were given the northern 
 and the Janizaries the southern defence ; either 
 of them outnumbering any force Scanderbeg could 
 send against them. But, as a tornado cuts its broad 
 swath through a forest, uprooting or snapping the 
 gigantic trees, showing its direction only by the after 
 track of desolation, which it cuts in almost unvarying 
 width, while beyond its well defined lines scarcely a 
 branch is broken or a nest overturned among the 
 swaying foliage so Scanderbeg swooped from east 
 to west through the very centre of the Turkish encamp- 
 ment, gathering up arms and provisions, and strewing 
 his track with the bodies of the slain. By the time 
 that the Moslems were sufficiently concentrated to offer 
 effective resistance the assailants were gone. 
 
 At the head of the victorious band Scanderbeg rode 
 a small and ungainly, but tough and tireless animal 
 like most of the Albanian horses, which were better
 
 !66 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 adapted to threading their way down the pathless 
 mountain sides, than to curveting in military parade 
 their lack of natural ballast being made up by the 
 enormous burdens they were trained to carry. 
 
 The figure and bearing of Scanderbeg, however, 
 amply compensated the lack of martial picturesque- 
 ness in his steed. He was in full armor, except that 
 his sword arm was bared. His beard of commingled 
 yellow and gray fell far down upon the steel plates of 
 his corselet. A helmet stuck far back upon his head, 
 showed the massive brow which seemed of ampler 
 height, from the Albanian custom of clipping short, or 
 shaving the hair off from the upper forehead. 
 
 Wheeling his horse, he engaged in conversation with 
 a stout, but awkward soldier. 
 
 " You and your beast are well matched, Constantine. 
 You both need better training before you are fit to 
 parade as prisoners of Amurath. You sit your horse 
 as a cat rides a dog, though you do hold on as well 
 with your heel as she with her claws. Your short legs 
 would do better to clamp the belly of a crocodile." 
 
 " Yes, we are both accustomed to marching and 
 fighting in our own way, rather than in company," 
 replied Constantine. " But the beast has not failed 
 me by a false step ; not when we leaped the fallen oak 
 and landed in the gulch back yonder. The beast 
 came down as safely and softly as on the training 
 lawn." 
 
 " And you have done as well yourself," replied the 
 general. " That was a bad play though you had with 
 the Turk as we cut our way through the last knot of 
 them. But for a side thrust which I had time to give
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 167 
 
 at your antagonist, while waiting for the slow motions 
 of my own, I fear that your animal would be lighter 
 now by just your weight. You strike powerfully, but 
 you do not recoveryourself skilfully. A good swordsman 
 would get a response into your ribs before you could 
 deal him a second. Here, I will show you ! Now 
 thrust ! Strike ! No, not so ; but hard, villainously, at 
 me, as if I were the Turk who stole your girl ! So ! 
 Again ! Again ! Now learn this movement " press- 
 ing his own sword steadily against his companion's, and 
 bending him back until he was almost off his horse. 
 " And this," dealing so tremendous a slash with the 
 back of the sword that Constantine's arm was almost 
 numbed by the effort to resist it. " And this ! " trans- 
 mitting a twisting motion from his own to his oppo- 
 nent's weapon, so that for one instant they seemed like 
 two serpents writhing together ; but at the next 
 Constantine's sword was twirled out his hand. 
 
 " You will make a capital swordsman with practice, 
 my boy. And the girl ? Keep a sharpened eye for 
 her ; and tell me if so much as a new spider's web be 
 woven at her door." 
 
 A peasant woman stood by the path as they pro- 
 ceeded, holding out her hand for alms, as she ran 
 beside the general's horse. He leaned toward her to 
 give something ; but, as his hand touched hers, she 
 slipped a bit of white rag into it : 
 
 " The map of the roads, Sire, twixt this and 
 Monastir ! " 
 
 " And your son, my good woman ? " inquired the 
 general kindly. 
 
 " Ah ! the Virgin pity me, Sire, for he died. We
 
 168 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 could not stop the bleeding, for the lance's point had 
 cut a vein. But I have a daughter who can take his 
 place. She knows the signals for he taught them to 
 her and can make the beacon as well as he ; and is as 
 nimble of foot to climb the crag. But please, Sire, the 
 child did not remember if the enemy going west was 
 to be signalled by lighting the beacon before or after 
 the bright star's setting." 
 
 " Just after, good mother. If they go to the east 
 and cross the mountain, fire the beacon just before the 
 star sets. And the brightest of all stars be for your 
 own hope and comfort ! " 
 
 " And for dear Albania's and thine own ! " replied 
 the woman, disappearing in the crowd, as a man 
 dashed close to Scanderbeg on a well-jaded steed. 
 
 " The Turkish auxiliaries will be at the entrance to 
 the defile in thirty hours." 
 
 " Your estimate of their number, neighbor Stephen ?" 
 
 " From three to five thousand." 
 
 " Not more ? " 
 
 " Not more in the first detachment. A second of 
 equal size follows, but a day in the rear." 
 
 " Good ! Take with you our nephew, Musache de 
 Angeline, and five hundred Epirots each. This will 
 be sufficient to prevent the first detachment getting 
 out of the pass. I will strike the second from the rear 
 as soon as they enter the pass. They can not 
 manoeuvre in that crooked and narrow defile, and we 
 will destroy them at our leisure. Strike promptly. 
 Farewell ! " 
 
 " Miserable sheep ! " he muttered, " why will these 
 Turks so tempt me to slaughter them ? "
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 169 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 UPON the southern slope of the Black Mountain 
 that is, on the rising uplands which lead from 
 Albania to Montenegro lay the ancient and princely 
 estates of the De Streeses. A dense forest of pines 
 spread for miles, like a myriad gigantic pillars in some 
 vast temple. They seemed to support, as it were, 
 some Titanic dome surrounded with pinnacles and 
 turrets, a huge cluster of jagged rocks, which was 
 called by those who gazed upon it from leagues away 
 " The Eyrie." In the midst of these great monoliths, 
 and hardly distinguishable from them, rose the walls 
 of the new castle which the voivode Amesa had built 
 upon the ruins of that destroyed at the time of the 
 massacre of its former possessor. 
 
 The horse of the voivode stood within the court, his 
 head drooping, and the white sweat-foam drying upon 
 his heated flanks. His master paced up and down the 
 enclosure, engaged in low but excited conversation 
 with a soldier. 
 
 The voivode was of princely mien ; tall, but com- 
 pactly built ; face full in its lower development, and 
 somewhat sensual ; eyes gray and restless, which gave 
 one at first a sharp, penetrating glance, and then 
 seemed to hide behind the half-closed lids, like some 
 wild animal that inspects the hunter hastily, then takes 
 to covert. 
 
 " You are sure, Drakul, that the party which drove 
 you from the hamlet were Turks, and not Arnaouts in 
 disguise, like yourselves ? "
 
 1 70 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 " I could not mistake," said Drakul, a hard-faced 
 man, one of whose eyebrows was arched higher than 
 the other, and whose entire countenance was distorted 
 from the symmetrical balance of its two sides, giving 
 an expression of duplicity and cruelty. " I could not 
 mistake, noble Amesa, for I have too often eyed those 
 rascals over the point of my sword not to know a Turk 
 in the dark. But all the fiends combined against us 
 that night. We left our two best men dead, and the 
 two we wanted, the boy and the girl, escaped us. The 
 she-witch did not come back to the village the next day; 
 but the red-headed imp did, and raved like a hyena 
 when he found the girl missing. I watched him as he 
 suddenly went off, doubtless, to some spot they both 
 knew of. The young thief stole the clothes off a dead 
 Turk. The next day we spied him again ; this time 
 with that Arnaud-Kabilovitsch, Albanian-Servian, 
 forester-colonel, or whatever he may be, who came 
 back when Castriot did. The fellow escaped us a 
 second time." 
 
 " Track him ! track him ! " cried Amesa spitefully. 
 " I will make you rich, Drakul, the day you bring me 
 that fox's brush of red hair from his head." 
 
 " I have tracked him and could take you to the very 
 spot where he and the girl are to-day," said the man. 
 " Come this way, my noble Amesa," leading him to 
 the side of the court commanding a far stretch of 
 country to the north-west. " Now let your eye follow 
 Skadar* along the left shore : then up the great river. f 
 
 * Lake Scadar or Scutari. 
 
 f The Tsernoyevitcha, the great river of Montenegro which emp- 
 ties into Lake Scutari.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 171 
 
 Not two leagues from the mountain spur that bends 
 the stream out of your sight, at the hamlet just off the 
 road into your Uncle Ivan's country " 
 
 " The stargeshina has a red goitre like a turkey 
 cock ? I know every hut in the hamlet," interrupted 
 Amesa. " But why think you she is there ? " 
 
 " Why ? I have seen her, and him with her. I fol- 
 lowed the fellow day after day. Once I saw him yon- 
 der on the spur. He clipped the bark of a tree, and 
 in the smoothed spot cut a line. A little beyond he 
 did the same thing again. He spied this way and that 
 way with all the pains one would take to pick a way 
 for an army. Then he took a roll of paper from his 
 bosom, and marked down something for every mark 
 he had made upon the trees. And when he was out 
 of sight I took the range of his marks, and by St. 
 Theckla ! they pointed straight to a path which led 
 down the mountain to the ford in the great river that 
 is opposite the old turkey cock's konak." 
 
 " But you may have mistaken the man," suggested 
 Amesa. 
 
 " Not I, Sire. I know his head as well as a bull 
 knows a red rag ; and his duck legs, and his walk like 
 an ambling horse." 
 
 " It is he," submitted Amesa. " But how know you 
 that the girl was there in the hamlet ? " 
 
 " Did I not see her, my noble Amesa ? And could 
 I not know her from the look of her father ? If I 
 could forget him living, I have never passed a night 
 without seeing his face as it was dead, when we 
 dragged him to the burning beams of the old house 
 that stood on this "
 
 172 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 " Silence ! " cried Amesa in a sudden burst of rage. 
 " How dare you allude to my uncle's death without my 
 bidding ?" 
 
 There was a pause for a few moments, during which 
 Amesa stamped heavily upon the stone pavement of 
 the court as he walked, like one endeavoring to shake 
 off from his person some noisome thing that troubled 
 him. The man resumed 
 
 " Besides, the children of the village said she was a 
 stray kid there, and not of kin to anybody. And while 
 I was there the same stump-headed fellow who marked 
 the direction came to the hamlet." 
 
 " Be ready to accompany me to-morrow, Drakul. 
 You can say that we are scouting." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE lake of Skadar lay like an immense lapis lazuli 
 within its setting of mountains, which, on the east, 
 were golden with the rays of the declining sun, and on 
 the west, enameled in emerald with the dense shad- 
 ows their summits dropped upon them. The surface 
 of the water was unbroken, save here and there by 
 black spots where a pair of loons shrieked their 
 marital unhappiness, or a flock of wild ducks floated, 
 like a miniature fleet, about the reed-fringed shores of 
 some little island. Had there been watchers on the 
 fortress of Obod, which lay on the cliff just above 
 where the Tsernoyevitcha enters Skadar, they would
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 173 
 
 have espied a light shallop gliding along the eastern 
 bank of the lake. This contained the voivode Amesa 
 and his attendant. Just at night-fall they reached the 
 cavern, whose hidden recesses begot a hundred legends 
 which the weird shadows of the cave clothed in forms 
 as fantastic as their own, and which still flit among 
 the hamlets of Montenegro. It was said that whoever 
 should sleep within the cave would rest his head on 
 the bosoms of the nymphs : only let him take care 
 that their love does not prevent his ever waking. 
 Amesa and his companion were courageous, but dis- 
 cretion led them to wind the strooka about their heads, 
 and seek without a couch of pine needles between the 
 enormous roots of the trees which had dropped them. 
 The dawn had just silvered the east, and the com- 
 ing sun transformed the cold blue tints of Skadar into 
 amber, when they entered the river. The great stream 
 wound through the broad lowlands of Tsetinie, gird- 
 led with rocky hills. Then it dashed in impetuous 
 floods between more straightened banks, or lingered, 
 as if the river spirit would bathe himself in the deep 
 pools that were cooled by the springs at their bot- 
 toms. Though familiar with the phenomenon, they 
 loitered that they might watch the schools of fish 
 which were so dense in places as to impede the stroke 
 of the oar blade, and tint the entire stream with their 
 dull silvery gleam.* Emerging from a tortuous chan- 
 nel, through which the river twisted itself like a vast 
 shining serpent, they came to a cluster of houses that 
 nestled in a gorge. These houses were made of stone, 
 and so covered with vines as to be hardly distinguish- 
 * Still noted by travellers on this river.
 
 174 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 able from the dense shrubbery that clambered over 
 the rocks about them. 
 
 Amesa was warmly greeted by the stargeshina who 
 occupied the konak, or principal house. The older 
 people remembered the visitor as the comely lad who, 
 before the return of George Castriot, was almost the 
 only male representative of that noble family left in 
 the land. The voivode was honored with every evi- 
 dence that the villagers felt themselves complimented 
 by the visit of their guest, whatever business or caprice 
 might have brought him thither. 
 
 A simple repast was provided, in which the court- 
 esy of the service on the part of the stargeshina more 
 than compensated any poverty in the display of viands ; 
 though there were set forth meats dried in strips in 
 the smoke of an open fire ; eggs ; sweet, though 
 black bread ; and wine pressed from various moun- 
 tain berries, and allowed to ferment in skins. As they 
 sat beside a low table at the doorway of the konak, 
 the stargeshina offered a formal salam, the zdravitsa, 
 which was half a toast and half a prayer, and extended 
 his hand to Amesa in the protestation of personal 
 friendship. At the meal the glories of Castriot and 
 Ivan Beg or Ivo, as the peasants called him were 
 duly recited. 
 
 " But why," said the old man, rising to his feet with the 
 enthusiasm of the sentiment " Why should the coun- 
 try sing the praises of George Castriot, who for thirty 
 years was willing to be a Turk and fight for an alien 
 faith ? Your shoulders, noble Amesa Prince Amesa, 
 my loyal heart would call you could as well have 
 borne the burden of the people's defence. Your arm
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 175 
 
 could strike as good a blow as his for Albania. Your 
 blood is that of the Castriots, and untainted by Mos- 
 lem touch. Your estates, since you have become heir 
 to the lands of De Streeses, make you our richest and 
 most influential voivode." 
 
 These words made the eyes of Amesa flash, not 
 with any novel pleasure, rather with an ambition to 
 which he was no stranger. But the flash was smoth- 
 ered at once by the half-closed eyelids, and he re- 
 sponded 
 
 " I ought not to hear such words, my good friend. 
 My Uncle George is the hero of the hour. The peo- 
 ple need a hero in whom they believe ; and the very 
 mystery of his life for the thirty years among the 
 Turks, and the romance of his return, make him a con- 
 venient hero." 
 
 " But Sire, my noble my Prince Amesa do you 
 not daily hear such words as I speak ? The thought 
 is as common as the Pater Noster, and echoes from 
 Skadar to Ochrida. It was but a week since a young 
 Albanian passed through this border country, whis- 
 pering everywhere that the land was ready to cry 
 Amesa's name rather than the reformed renegade, 
 George Castriot's ; that Scanderbeg, the Lord Alex- 
 ander, the strutting title the Turks gave him, was an 
 offence to the free hearts of the people." 
 
 " Ah ! and what sort of a man for look was this 
 Albanian ? " asked Amesa in surprise. 
 
 "A sturdy youth of, say, twenty summers, with hair 
 like a turban which had been worn by a dozen slaugh- 
 tered Turks, so blood red is it." 
 
 Amesa gave a puzzled look toward Drakul, who
 
 1 76 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 was eating his meal at a little distance, but whose 
 ears seemed to prick up like those of a horse at this 
 description. 
 
 " It is likely that he may be again in the village this 
 very night. Our neighbor next lodged him. I will 
 ask him if he will return," said the stargeshina, leav- 
 ing the konak for a little. 
 
 " It is he ; it's that Constantine," said Drakul, 
 coming nearer to Amesa. " The wily young devil is 
 ready to betray your Uncle George. That will make 
 the matter easier." 
 
 " The way is clear, then," replied Amesa. " I am 
 glad that the raid was not successful. It might have 
 led to further blood. With this fellow in league with 
 us, it is straight work and honorable." 
 
 The stargeshina reported the man would probably 
 be in again that very night, and added: 
 
 " I would you could see him ; for though he is fair 
 spoken, there is some mystery in his going day after 
 day among these mountains, like a hound who is look- 
 ing for a lost scent." 
 
 "Perhaps he is attracted here by some of the fair 
 maidens of the hamlets," suggested Amesa, looking at 
 Drakul, who was tearing a bit of jerked meat in his 
 teeth, apparently intent only upon that selfish occu- 
 pation. 
 
 " It may well be, for our neighbor here has harbored 
 a bit of stray womanhood which might tempt a monk 
 to lodge there rather than in his cell," said the old 
 man. 
 
 A shout from above them attracted their attention 
 to a merry company which was coming down the
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 177 
 
 mountain. It was the procession of the Dodola. 
 Drought threatened to destroy the scanty grain grow- 
 ing in the narrow valleys, and the vines on the terraces 
 cut out of the steep hills. According to an ancient 
 custom, a young maiden had been taken by her com- 
 panions into the woods, stripped of her usual garments, 
 and reclothed in the leaves and flowers of the endan- 
 gered vegetation. Long grasses and stalks of grain 
 were matted in many folds about her person, and 
 served as a base for artistic decoration with every 
 variety of floral beauty. Her feet were buskined in 
 clover blossoms. A kilt of broad-leaved ferns hung 
 from her waist, which was belted with a broad zone of 
 wild roses. White and pink laurel blossoms made 
 her bodice. An ivy wreath upon her brows was starred 
 with white daisies, and plumed with the stems and 
 hanging bells of the columbine. 
 
 The Dodola thus appeared as the impersonation of 
 floral nature athirst for the vivifying rains. Her 
 attendants, who led her in a leash of roses, chanted a 
 hymn, the refrain of which was a prayer to Elijah, 
 who, since he brought the rain at Carmel, is supposed 
 by the peasants of Albania to be that saint to whom 
 Providence has committed the shepherding of the 
 clouds. As the procession wound down the terraced 
 paths between the houses, the Dodola was welcomed 
 by the matrons of the hamlet, who stood each in her 
 own doorway, with hair gathered beneath a cap of 
 coins, teeth enameled in black, fingers tipped brownish- 
 red with henna. The maidens sung a verse of their 
 hymn at each cottage ; and, at the refrain, the house- 
 wife poured upon the head of the leaf -clad Dodola a
 
 178 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 cup of water ; repeating the last line of the chorus, 
 " Good Saint Elias, so send the rain ! " 
 
 As the Dodola paused before the konak, Amesa 
 said, quite enthusiastically, and designing to be over- 
 heard by the fair girl who took the part of thirsting 
 nature, " If Elias can refuse the prayer of so much 
 womanly beauty, I swear, by Jezebel, that I shall here- 
 after believe, with the Turks, that the austere old 
 prophet has become bewitched with the houris in 
 paradise, and so does not care to look into the faces of 
 earthly damsels." 
 
 " You may still keep your Christian faith, for the Do- 
 dola has won the favor of the Thunderer,"* replied the 
 stargeshina. " Listen to his love-making in response 
 to the witchery of that wild dove ! Do you hear it ? " 
 
 The distant murmur of a coming shower confirmed 
 the credulity of the peasants. 
 
 " Yes, soon the Holy Virgin will turn her bright 
 glances upon us,"f said he looking at the sky. 
 
 " Who is that wild dove who acts the Dodola ? " 
 inquired Amesa. 
 
 " The one I told you of, who has come into our 
 neighbor's cot," replied the old man. " But only the 
 sharp eyes of the crows saw where she came from. 
 Did she not speak our tongue and know our ways as 
 well as any of us, I should say she was one of the 
 Tsigani who were driven out of the morning land by 
 Timour.J Yet it may be that her own story is true. 
 
 * An Albanian title of Elijah. 
 
 f The Albanians regard Mary as the sender of lightning. 
 
 \ Tsigani ; a word by which Slavic people designate the gypsies, 
 who are supposed by them to have come from India in the time of 
 Tamerlane.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 179 
 
 She says she had two lovers in her village ; and these 
 two were brothers in God, who had taken the vow 
 before heaven and St. John to help and never to hin- 
 der each other in whatever adventure of love or brig- 
 andage, at cost of limb or life. But as the hot blood 
 of neither of these lovers could endure to see this 
 nymph in the arms of the other, it was determined that 
 she should be slain by the hand of both, rather than 
 that the sacred brotherhood should be broken. By 
 her own father's hearth the two daggers were struck 
 together at her heart. But the strong arms of the 
 slayers collided, and both blows glanced. She escaped 
 and fled, and came hither." 
 
 " And you believe this story ? " asked Amesa, with 
 a look of incredulity mingled with triumph, as of one 
 who knew more than the narrator. 
 
 " I believe her story, noble Amesa, because because 
 no one has told me any other. But " He shook 
 his head. 
 
 " Does not the young stranger you spoke of know 
 something of her, that he prowls about this neighbor- 
 hood ? " asked the guest. 
 
 " It may be. I had not thought it, but it may well 
 be ! Hist ! " 
 
 The Dodola passed by, returning to her own cot- 
 tage. As she did so her bright black eyes glanced 
 coquettishly at the stranger from beneath her disar- 
 ranged chaplet of flowers and dishevelled hair. She 
 soon returned, having assumed her garments as a 
 peasant maid, but with evident effort to make this 
 simple attire set off the great natural beauty of face 
 and form, of which she was fully conscious. Her fore-
 
 I8o THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 head was too low ; but Pygmalion could not have 
 chiselled a brow and temples upon which glossy black 
 ringlets clustered more bewitchingly. Her eyes flashed 
 too cold a fire light to give one the impression of great 
 amiability in their possessor ; but the long lashes 
 which drooped before them, partially veiled their stare 
 so as to give the illusion of coyness, if not of maid- 
 enly modesty. Her mouth was perhaps sensuously 
 curved ; but was one of those marvellously plastic ones 
 which can tell by the slightest arching or compressing of 
 the lips as much of purpose or feeling as most people can 
 tell in words : dangerous lips to the possessor, if she 
 be guileless and unsuspicious, for they reveal too much 
 of her soul to others who have no right to know its 
 secrets ; dangerous lips to others if she would deceive, 
 for they can lie, consummately, wickedly, without utter- 
 ing a word. Her complexion was scarcely brunette ; 
 rather that indescribable fairness in which the whiteness 
 of alabaster is tinged with the blood of perfect health, 
 slightly bronzed by constant exposure to the sunshine 
 and air a complexion seldom seen except in Syria, 
 the Greek Islands, or Wales. Her form was faultless, 
 just at that stage of development when the grace 
 and litheness of childhood are beginning to be lost in 
 the statelier mysteries of womanly beauty ; that transi- 
 tion state between two ideals of loveliness, which, from 
 the days of Phidias, has lured, but always eluded, the 
 artist's skill to reproduce. 
 
 The girl's face flushed with the consciousness of 
 being gazed at approvingly by the courtly stranger. 
 But the pretty toss of her head showed that the blush 
 was due as much to the conceit of her beauty as to
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 181 
 
 bashfulness. As she talked with the other maidens, 
 she glanced furtively toward the door of the konak, 
 where Amesa sat. The young voivode foresaw that it 
 would not be difficult to entice the girl herself to be 
 the chief agent in any plan he might have for her abduc- 
 tion. 
 
 He needed, however, to make more certain of her 
 identity with the object of his search. He could dis- 
 cern no trace of Mara De Streeses in her face ; much 
 less in her manner. Since Drakul had suggested it, 
 he imagined a resemblance to De Streeses himself, 
 whose bearing was haughty and his temperament fiery. 
 
 The evening brought the young man of whom the 
 stargeshina had spoken. His resemblance to the 
 description given him of Constantine left no doubt in 
 Amesa's mind of his being the mysterious custodian 
 of the heiress to his estates. The young Servian he 
 supposed would at once recognize him as Amesa ; for, 
 as a prominent officer in the army, his face would be 
 well known to all who had been in Castriot's camps, 
 even if the gossip of the villagers did not at once 
 inform him of his presence. It were best then, thought 
 Amesa, to boldly confront him ; win him, if possible, 
 to his service ; if not, destroy him. 
 
 The young stranger was at once on frolicksome 
 terms with the village girls and lads ; and Amesa 
 thought he observed that through it all the fellow kept 
 a sharp, if not a suspicious, eye upon him. Lest he 
 should escape, the voivode invited him to walk beyond 
 the houses of the village. When out of sight and 
 hearing he suddenly turned upon the young man, and, 
 laying a hand upon his shoulder, exclaimed,
 
 1 82 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 " You are known, man ! " 
 
 " Upon the instant the stranger was transformed 
 from the sauntering peasant into a gladiator, with feet 
 firmly planted, the left hand raised as a shield, and the 
 right grasping a yataghan which had been concealed 
 upon his person. Amesa, though the aggressor, was 
 thrown upon the defensive, and was compelled to re- 
 treat in order to gain time for the grip of his weapon. 
 
 The two men stood glaring into each other's eyes 
 as there each to read his antagonist's movement before 
 his hand began to execute it. 
 
 " I did not know that a Servian peasant was so 
 trained," said Amesa, still retreating before the ad- 
 vance of his opponent, who gave him no opportunity 
 to assume the offensive. 
 
 " For whom do you take me that you dare to lay a 
 rough hand on me ? " said the man, half in menace, 
 and yet apparently willing to discover if his assailant 
 were right in his surmise. 
 
 " Arnaud's man and I need not be enemies," said 
 Amesa, seeing no chance of relieving himself from the 
 advantage the other had gained in the sword play. " I 
 can reward you better than he or Castriot." 
 
 A smile passed over the man's face, which Amesa 
 might have detected the meaning of had his mind 
 been less occupied with thoughts about his personal 
 safety from the yataghan, whose point was seeking his 
 throat according to the most approved rules of single 
 combat. 
 
 " And what if I am Arnaud's man ? " 
 
 As he said this the yataghan made a thorough re- 
 connoissance of all the vulnerable parts of Amesa's
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 183 
 
 body from the fifth rib upwards, followed by Amesa's 
 dagger in ward. 
 
 " You do not deny it ? " said the Albanian between 
 breaths. 
 
 " I deny nothing. Nor need I confess anything, 
 since you say I am known." 
 
 " Shall we be friends ? " asked Amesa, cautiously 
 lowering his arm. 
 
 " You made war, and can withdraw its declaration, 
 or take the consequences," was the reply. 
 
 The two men put up their weapons. 
 
 " So good a soldier as you are should not be here 
 guarding a girl," said Amesa. 
 
 "Guarding a girl ?" said the man in amazement, 
 but, recollecting himself, added, " And why not guard 
 a girl ? " 
 
 " Come," replied Amesa, "you and I can serve each 
 other. You can do that for me which no other man 
 can ; and I can give to you more gold than any other 
 Albanian can." 
 
 " And when you are king of Albania, Prince Amesa, 
 you can reward me with high appointment," said the 
 stranger with a slight sneer, which, however, Amesa 
 did not notice, at the moment thinking of what the 
 stargeshina had said of the man's interest in the move- 
 ment against his uncle's leadership. 
 
 " You have but to ask your reward when that event 
 comes," he replied. 
 
 " I will swear to serve Amesa against Scanderbeg 
 to the death," said the man offering his hand. 
 
 " You know the girl's true story ? " asked Amesa. 
 
 " Of course," was the cautious reply. " But of that I
 
 184 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 may not speak a word. I can leave his service whose 
 man you say I am, but I cannot betray anything he 
 may have told me. As you know the girl's story it is 
 needless to tempt me to divulge it," added he, with 
 shrewd non-committal of himself to any information 
 that the other might recognize as erroneous. 
 
 " You speak nobly for a Servian," said the voivode. 
 
 " How do you know I am a Servian ? " asked the 
 stranger. 
 
 " Partly from your accent. You have not got our 
 pure Albanian tongue, though it is now six years you 
 have been talking it. And then Arnaud Colonel 
 Kabilovitsch came back as a Servian. Is it not so ? " 
 asked Amesa, noticing the surprised look which the 
 mention of Kabilovitsch's name brought to the man's 
 face. 
 
 For a while the stranger was lost in thought ; but 
 with an effort throwing off a sort of reverie, he said : 
 
 " Pardon my silence. I have been thinking of your 
 proposal. May I follow you to the village after a little? 
 I would think over how best I can meet your proposi- 
 tion, my Prince Amesa." 
 
 " I will await you at the konak. But first let us 
 swear friendship ! " said the voivode. 
 
 " Heartily ! " was the response. " With Amesa as 
 against Scanderbeg." 
 
 " You will induce the girl to go with me to my castle. 
 She will fare better there than here, playing Dodola to 
 these ignorant peasants." 
 
 " It is agreed." 
 
 As Amesa disappeared, the man sat down upon a 
 huge root of a tree, which for lack of earth had twined
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 185 
 
 itself over the rock. He buried his face in his 
 hands 
 
 " Strange ! strange ! is all this. Kabilovitsch ? the 
 girl ? Not my little playmate on the Balkans sweet 
 faced Morsinia. The Dodola here is not she. If 
 Uncle Kabilovitsch is Colonel Kabilovitsch, or this 
 Arnaud he speaks of, then this treacherous Amesa is 
 on the wrong track. Can it be that Constantine dear 
 little Constantine is in Albania, and that I am mis- 
 taken for him ? No, this is impossible. But still I 
 must be wary, and not do that which would harm a 
 golden hair of Morsinia's head, if she be living, or 
 Constantine's, or Uncle Kabilovitsch's. There's some 
 mystery here. Only one thing is certain Amesa 
 mistakes this pretty impudent Dodola girl for some- 
 body else. To get her off with him may serve that 
 somebody else : for the voivode is a villain : that 
 much is sure. The cursed Giaour serpent ! I will 
 help him to get this saucy belle of the hamlet, and so 
 save somebody else, whoever she may be who is the 
 game for which he lays his snares." 
 
 An hour later the Dodola, whose name was Elissa, 
 passed Amesa and blushed deeply. 
 
 The family at whose house the girl was living made 
 no objection to Amesa's request that she should be 
 transferred to the protection of the voivode. The 
 elders of the village acquiesced ; for, said one, 
 
 " We do not know who she is, and may get into 
 difficulty through harboring her." 
 
 Another averred his belief that she was possessed of 
 the evil eye* for he had observed her staring at the 
 olive tree the day before it was struck by lightning ;
 
 186 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 and he declared that half the young men of the ham- 
 let were bewitched with her. 
 
 A sharp-tongued dame remarked that some of the 
 older men would rather listen to the merry tattle of 
 the sprite than to the most serious and wholesome 
 counsel of their own wives. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 you know the mind of Gauton who commands 
 at the citadel in Sfetigrade ? " asked Amesa of 
 his new confederate, as they parted. 
 
 " I have talked with him," replied the man. " He is 
 very cautious." 
 
 " Discover his opinion on the matter of my advance- 
 ment," said Amesa. 
 
 " Send him some gift," suggested the man, " I will 
 take it to him. He is very fond of dogs, and I learn 
 that he has just lost a valuable mastiff. Could you 
 replace it from your kennels at the castle ? " 
 
 " No, but I have a greyhound, of straight breed 
 since his ancestors came out of the ark. His jaws 
 are as slender as a heron's beak : chest deep as a 
 lion's : belly thin as a weasel's : a double span of my 
 arms from tip to tail. To-morrow night meet me at 
 the castle. Should I not have arrived, this will give 
 you admission," presenting him with a small knife, on 
 the bone handle of which was a rude carving of the
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 187 
 
 crest of Amesa. " Give it to the warden. He will 
 recognize it." 
 
 Long before the arrival of Amesa and Drakul at the 
 castle in company with Elissa, the stranger, whom the 
 reader will recognize as Captain Ballaban dressed as 
 an Albanian peasant, had been admitted. He had 
 wandered about the court, mounted the parapet, 
 inspected the draw-bridge and portcullis, clambered 
 down and up again the almost precipitous scarp of the 
 rock, and asked a hundred questions of the servants 
 regarding the paths by which the'castle was approached. 
 The old warden entertained him with stories of 
 Amesa's early life, his acquisition of the estate, and 
 his prowess in battle ; in all of which, while the 
 warden intended only the praise of his master, he dis- 
 covered to the attentive listener all the weaknesses of 
 the voivode's character. 
 
 Upon Amesa's arrival late in the day, Ballaban 
 avoided much intercourse with him, except in relation 
 to the selection of the dog. To Elissa he gave a few 
 words of advice, to the effect that she was now the 
 object of the young lord's adoration ; and that, in 
 order to secure her advantage, she should make as 
 much as possible a mystery of her previous life. 
 With this council which was as much as he dared to 
 venture upon in his own ignorance of the exact part he 
 was playing Ballaban departed, leading a magnifi- 
 cent hound in leash. A little way from the castle he 
 sat down, and drawing from his breast a roll of paper, 
 added certain lines and comments, as he muttered to 
 himself, 
 
 " I have made neater drawings than this for old
 
 1 88 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 Bestorf in the school of the Yeni-Tscheri,but none that 
 will please the Aga more. There is not a goat path 
 on the borders that I have not got. A sudden move- 
 ment of our armies, occupying ground here and here 
 and here, where I have blazed the trees, would hold 
 this country against Ivan Beg and Scanderbeg. And 
 with this black-hearted traitor, Amesa, in my fin- 
 gers ! Well ! Let's see ! I will force him into open 
 rebellion against Scanderbeg, unless he is deeper 
 witted than he seems. But which plan would be best 
 in the long run ? to stir up a feud between him and 
 Scanderbeg, and let them cut each other's throats ? 
 Or, inveigle him to open alliance with our side, under 
 promise of being made king of Albania ? That last 
 would settle all the Moslem trouble with these Giaours. 
 And it could be done. The Padishah offered Scan- 
 derbeg the country on condition of paying a nominal 
 tribute, and would offer the same to Amesa. And 
 Amesa would take it, though he had to become Mos- 
 lem. I will leave these propositions with the Aga," 
 said he, folding up the papers, and putting them back 
 into his bosom. " In either case I shall keep my vow 
 with Amesa to help him against Scanderbeg. But 
 the devil help them both ! " 
 
 Whistling a snatch of a rude tune, part of which 
 belonged to an Albanian religious hymn he had heard 
 in his rambles, and part to a Turkish love song 
 swinging his long arms, and striding as far at each 
 step as his short legs would allow him, he went down 
 the mountain.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 189 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 "1T7HO comes here?" cried the sentinel at the 
 
 VV bottom of the steep road which led up to the 
 gate at the rear of the town of Sfetigrade. 
 
 The man thus challenged made no reply except to 
 speak sharply to a large hound he was leading, and 
 which was struggling to break away from him. In his 
 engrossment with the brute he did not seem to have 
 heard the challenge. As he came nearer the sentinel 
 eyed him with a puzzled, but half -comical look, as he 
 soliloquized, 
 
 " Ah, by the devil in the serpent's skin, I know him 
 this time. He is the Albanian Turk we were nigh to 
 hamstringing. If I mistake that red head again it 
 will be when my own head has less brain in it than 
 will balance it on a pike-staff, where Colonel Kabilo- 
 vitsch would put it if I molested this fellow again. I'll 
 give him the pass word, instead of taking it from him ; 
 that will make up for past mistakes." 
 
 The sentinel saluted the new comer with a most 
 profound courtesy, and, shouldering his spear, 
 marched hastily past him, ogling him with a sidelong 
 knowing look. 
 
 " Tako mi Marie ! " * 
 
 " Tako mi Marie ! " responded the man, adding to 
 himself, "but this is fortunate ; the fellow must be 
 crazy. I thought I should have had to brain him at 
 least." 
 
 * Help me, Maiy !
 
 1 90 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 As he passed by, the sentinel stood still, watching 
 him, and muttered, 
 
 " How should I know but Castriot himself is in that 
 dog's hide." 
 
 The dog turned and, attracted by the soldier's atti- 
 tude, uttered a low growl. 
 
 " Tako mi Marie ! and all the other saints in heaven 
 too, but I believe it is the general in disguise," said 
 the sentinel. 
 
 " Tako mi Marie ! " said the stranger saluting the 
 various guards, whom he passed without further 
 challenge, through the town gates and up to the main 
 street. 
 
 The great well, from which the beleaguered inhabi- 
 tants of Sfetigrade drew the only water now access- 
 ible, since the Turks had so closely invested the town, 
 was not far from the citadel. It was very deep, 
 having been cut through the great layers of rock upon 
 which the upper town stood. Above it was a great 
 wheel, over the outer edge of which ran an endless 
 band of leather ; the lower end dipping into the water 
 that gleamed faintly far below. Leathern sockets 
 attached to this belt answered for buckets, which, as 
 the wheel was turned, lifted the water to the top, 
 whence it ran into a great stone trough. The well 
 was guarded by a curb of stones which had originally 
 been laid compactly together ; but many of them had 
 been removed, and used to hurl down from the walls 
 of the citadel upon the heads of the Turks when they 
 tried to scale them. 
 
 The dog, panting with the heat, mounted one of the 
 remaining stones, and stretched his long neck far
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 191 
 
 down to sniff the cool water which glistened a 
 hundred feet below him. The man shouted angrily 
 to the beast, and so clumsily attempted to drag him 
 away that both dog and stone were precipitated 
 together into the well. 
 
 " A grapple ! a rope ! " shouted the man to a crowd 
 who had seen the accident from a distance. " Will no 
 one bring one ? " he cried with apparent anger at their 
 slow movements " Then I must get one myself." 
 
 The crowd rushed toward the well. The man dis- 
 appeared in the opposite direction. 
 
 It was several hours before the dead dog was taken 
 from the polluted water. The Dibrian soldiers refused 
 to drink from it. The superstition communicated 
 itself like an epidemic, to the other inhabitants. For 
 a day or two bands sallied from Sfetigrade, and brought 
 water from the plain : but it was paid for in blood, 
 for the Turkish armies, aware of the incident almost 
 as soon as it occurred, drew closer their lines, and 
 stationed heavy detachments of Janizaries at the 
 springs and streams for miles around. The horrors 
 of a water-famine were upon the garrison. In vain 
 did the officers rebuke the insane delusion. The 
 common soldiers, not only would not touch the water, 
 but regarded the accident as a direct admonition from 
 heaven that the town must be surrendered. Appeals 
 to heroism, patriotism, honor, were less potent than a 
 silly notion which had grown about the minds of an 
 otherwise noble people as certain tropical vines 
 grow so tough and in such gradually lessening spirals 
 about a stalwart tree that they choke the ascending sap 
 and kill it. They who would have drunk were pre-
 
 ip 2 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 vented by the others who covered the well with heavy 
 pieces of timber, and stood guard about it. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 IN vain did Castriot assault the Turks who were 
 intrenched about the wells and springs in the 
 neighborhood. Now and then a victory over them 
 would be followed by a long procession from the town, 
 rolling casks, carrying buckets, pitchers, leather bottles 
 and dug-out troughs. The amount of water thus pro- 
 cured but scarcely sufficed to keep life in the veins of 
 the defenders : it did not suffice to nourish heart and 
 courage. It was foreseen that Sfetigrade must fall. 
 
 Constantine was in the madness of despair about 
 Morsinia. Her fate in the event of capture was 
 simply horrible to contemplate. Yet she could hardly 
 hope to make her way through the Turkish lines. 
 Constantine was at the camp with Castriot when it 
 was announced that the enemy had at length got pos- 
 session of every approach to the town, so that there 
 was no communication between the Albanians within 
 and those without, except by signaling over the heads 
 'of the Turks. Castriot determined upon a final 
 attack, during which, if he should succeed in uncover- 
 ing any of the gates of the town, the people might find 
 egress. 
 
 Constantine begged to be allowed the hazardous 
 duty of entering, by passing in disguise through the
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 193 
 
 Turkish army, and giving the endangered people the 
 exact information of Castriot's purpose. Taking 
 advantage of his former experience, he donned the 
 uniform of a Janizary, easily learned the enemy's pass- 
 word, and at the moment designated to the besieged 
 by Castriot's signal just as the lower star of the 
 Great Dipper disappeared behind the cliff he emerged 
 from the dense shadows of an angle of the wall. He 
 was scarcely opposite the gate when the drawbridge 
 lowered and rose quickly. The portcullis was raised 
 and dropped an instant later, and he was within the 
 town. 
 
 Throwing off his disguise, he went at once toward 
 the commandant's quarters to deliver despatches from 
 Castriot. But a shout preceded him 
 
 " The destroyer ! The destroyer ! Death to the 
 destroyer ! " 
 
 Multitudes, awakened by the shouting, came from 
 the houses and soldiers' quarters. Constantine was 
 seized by the crowd, who yelled : 
 
 " To the well with him ! Let the dog's soul come 
 into him ! " 
 
 He was borne along as helplessly as a leaf in the 
 foaming cataract. 
 
 " To the well ! To the well with the poisoner ! " 
 
 The cry grew louder and shriller ; the multitude 
 maddening under the intense fury of their mutual 
 rage, as each coal is hotter when many glow with it in 
 the fire. Women mingled with soldiers, shrieking 
 their insane vengeance, until the crowd surged with 
 the victim around the well. The planks were torn off 
 by strong hands. The horror of the deed they were 
 '3
 
 194 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 about to commit made them pause. Each waited for 
 his neighbor to assume the desperate office of actually 
 perpetrating what was in all their hearts to do. 
 
 At length three of the more resolute stepped forward 
 as executioners of the popular will. The struggling 
 form of Constantine was held erect that all might see 
 him. Torches waved above his head. One stood 
 upon the well curb, and, dropping a torch into the 
 dark abyss, cried with a loud voice 
 
 " So let his life be put out who destroys us all ! " 
 
 " So let it be ! " moaned the crowd ; the wildness 
 of their wrath somewhat subdued by the impressive- 
 ness of the tragedy they were enacting. 
 
 The well hissed back its curse as the burning brand 
 sunk into the water. 
 
 But a new apparition burst upon the scene. Sud- 
 denly, as if it had risen from the well, a form draped in 
 white stood upon the curb. Her long golden hair 
 floated in the strong wind. Her face, from sickness 
 white as her robe, had an unearthly pallor from the 
 excitement, and seemed to be lit with the white heat of 
 her soul. Her sunken eyes gave back the flare of the 
 torches, as if they gleamed with celestial reprobation. 
 
 " The Holy Virgin ! " cried some. 
 
 " One of the Vili ! " cried others. 
 
 The crowd surged back in ghostly fear. 
 
 "Neither saint nor sprite am I," cried Morsinia. 
 " Your own wicked hearts make you fear me. It is 
 your consciences that make you imagine a simple girl 
 to be a vengeful spirit, and shrink from this horrid 
 murder, to the very brink of which your ignorance and 
 wretched superstition have led you. Blessed Mary
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 195 
 
 need not come from Heaven to tell you that a man 
 a man for whom her Son Jesu died should not be 
 made to die for the sake of a dead dog. I, a child, 
 can tell you that." 
 
 " But the well is accursed and the people die," said 
 a monk, throwing back his cowl, and reaching out his 
 hand to seize her. 
 
 " And such words from you, a priest of Jesu ! " 
 answered the woman, warding him off by the scathing 
 scorn of her tones. " Did not Jesu say, 'Come unto 
 Me and drink, drink out of My veins as ye do in Holy 
 Sacrament ? ' Will He curse and kill, then, for drink- 
 ing the water which you need, because a dog has 
 fallen into it ? " 
 
 These words, following the awe awakened by her 
 unexpected appearance, stayed the rage of the crowd 
 for a moment. But soon the murmur rose again 
 
 " To the well ! " 
 
 " He is' a murderer ! " 
 
 " It is just to take vengeance on a murderer ! " 
 
 The woman raised her hand as if invoking the wit- 
 ness of Heaven to her cause, and exclaimed 
 
 " But / am not a murderer. A curse on him who 
 slays the innocent. I will be the sacrifice. I fear not 
 to drink of this well with my dying gasp. Unhand 
 the man, or, as sure as Heaven sees me, I shall die for 
 him ! " 
 
 A shudder of horror ran through the crowd as the 
 light form of the young woman raised itself to the very 
 brink of the well. It seemed as if a movement, or a 
 cry, would precipitate her into the black abyss. The 
 crowd was paralyzed. The silence of the dead fell
 
 196 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 upon them, as she leaned forward for the awful 
 plunge. 
 
 Those holding Constantine let go their grip. 
 
 At this moment the commandant appeared. He 
 had, indeed, been a silent witness of the scene, and 
 was not unwilling that the superstition of the soldiers 
 should thus have a vent, thinking that with the sacri- 
 fice of the supposed offender they might be satisfied, 
 and led to believe that the spirit of the well was 
 appeased. He hoped that thus they might be induced 
 to drink the water. But he recoiled from permitting 
 the sacrifice of this innocent person, lest it should 
 blacken the curse already impending. 
 
 " I will judge this case," he cried. " Man, who are 
 you ? " 
 
 " I bear you orders from General Castriot," replied 
 Constantine, handing him a document. 
 
 By the light of a torch the officer read, 
 
 " In the event of being unable to hold out, signal 
 and make a sally according to directions to be given 
 verbally by the bearer. CASTRIOT." 
 
 Turning to the crowd, the commandant addressed 
 them. 
 
 " Brave men ! Epirots and Dibrians ! We are being 
 led into some mistake. My message makes it evident 
 that on this man's life depends the life of every one of 
 us " 
 
 His voice was drowned by wild cries that came 
 from a distant part of the town. The cries were 
 familiar enough to all their ears ; but they had 
 heretofore heard them only from beneath the walls 
 without. They were the Turkish cries of assault.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 197 
 
 Allah ! Allah ! Allah ! Allah ! " rolled like a hurri- 
 cane along the streets of Sfetigrade. The gates had 
 been thrown open by some Dibrian, whom supersti- 
 tion and a thirst-fevered brain had transformed into a 
 traitor. 
 
 " Quick ! " cried Constantine. " Fire three powder 
 flashes from the bastion, and follow me." 
 
 " Brave girl ! " said he to Morsinia, grasping her 
 hand and drawing her toward the citadel. 
 
 " It is too late ! " replied the commandant. " All 
 the ports are occupied by the enemy. We can but 
 die in the streets." 
 
 " To the north gate, then ! Burst it open, and cut 
 your way to the east. Castriot will meet you there. 
 I will to the bastion." 
 
 " We must go with them," said Morsinia. " Better 
 die in the streets than be taken here." 
 
 " No, you shall not die, my good angel. I have 
 prepared for this. First, I will fire the signal." In a 
 few seconds three flashes illumined the old battle- 
 ments. 
 
 Returning to Morsinia, he said quietly, " I have 
 prepared for this," and unwound from about his 
 body a strong cord, looped at intervals so that it 
 could be used for a ladder. Fastening this securely, 
 he dropped the end over the wall. Descending part 
 way himself, he opened the loops one by one for the 
 feet of his companion ; and thus they reached a 
 narrow ledge some twenty feet below the parapet. 
 From this to the next projection broad enough to 
 stand upon, the rock was steep but slanting ; so that, 
 while one could not rest upon it, it would largely
 
 198 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES, 
 
 overcome the momentum of the descent. Fastening 
 a cord securely beneath the arms of Morsinia, he let 
 her down the slope to the lower ledge. Then, tying 
 the rope to that above, he descended himself to her 
 side. From this point the path was not dangerous to 
 one possessed of perfect presence of mind, and accus- 
 tomed to balance the body on one foot at a time. 
 Thanks to her mountain life, and the strong stimu- 
 lus to brain and nerve acquired by her familiarity 
 with danger, Morsinia was undizzied by the elevation. 
 Thus they wound their way toward the east side of 
 the wall ; and, as they neared the base of the cliff, 
 sat down to reconnoitre. 
 
 Above them frowned the walls of the citadel. Just 
 beneath them were many forms, moving like spectres 
 in the darkness which was fast dissolving into the 
 gray morning twilight. The voices which came up 
 to their ears proved that they were Turks. For 
 Morsinia to pass through them without detection 
 would be impossible. To remain long where they 
 were would be equally fatal. 
 
 But their anxiety was relieved by a well known 
 bugle-call. At first it sounded far away to the north. 
 
 " Iscanderbeg ! Iscanderbeg ! " cried the Turks, as 
 they were deployed to face the threatening assault. 
 But scarcely had they formed in their new lines when 
 the sound, as of a storm bursting through a forest, 
 indicated that the attack was from the south. 
 
 Taking the Turks who were still outside the walls 
 at a disadvantage, Castriot's force made terrible havoc 
 among them, sweeping them back pell-mell past the 
 eastern front and around the northern, so as to leave
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 199 
 
 the north gate clear for the escape of any who might 
 emerge from it. 
 
 But, alas, for the valor of the commandant and the 
 noble men who followed him ! few succeeded in cutting 
 their way through the swarm of enemies that had 
 already occupied the streets of Sfetigrade. 
 
 This movement, however, enabled Constantine and 
 Morsinia to descend from their dangerous eyrie. The 
 apparition of their approach from that direction was a 
 surprise to the general. 
 
 " Why, man, do you ride upon bats and night-hawks, 
 that you have flown from yonder crag ? I shall hence- 
 forth believe in Radisha and his beautiful demon. 
 And may I pray thy care for myself in battle, my fair 
 lady ? " 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE fall of Sfetigrade, while a material loss to the 
 Albanian cause, served rather to exalt than to 
 diminish the prestige of their great general. The fame 
 of Scanderbeg brightened as the gloomy tidings of the 
 fate of the stronghold spread ; for that event, due to 
 a circumstance which no human being could control, 
 gave his enemies their first success, after nearly seven 
 years of incessant effort, with measureless armaments, 
 innumerable soldiery and exhaustless treasure. 
 
 The adversity also developed in Scanderbeg new 
 qualities of greatness, both military and moral. As
 
 200 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 the effort to drain a natural spring only evokes its 
 fuller and freer flow, so disappointment augmented his 
 courage, impoverishment in resources enlarged the 
 scheme of his projects, and the defeat of one plan by 
 circumstances suggested other plans more novel and 
 shrewd. The sight of the Turkish ensign floating 
 from the citadel of Sfetigrade disheartened the patriots. 
 The tramp of fresh legions from almost all parts of the 
 Moslem world was not so ominous of further disaster 
 as were the whispers of discontent from more than 
 one who, like Amesa, had ambitions of their own, or, 
 like brave Moses Goleme, were discouraged regarding 
 ultimate success. But the great heart of Castriot 
 sustained the courage of his people, and his genius 
 devised plans for the defence of his land which, for 
 sixteen years yet, were to baffle the skill and weary the 
 energies of the foe. 
 
 The chief gave orders that Morsinia, having eluded 
 capture, should occupy for the day his own tent ; for 
 the Albanian soldiers, as a rule, were destitute of the 
 luxury of a canvas covering. Returning toward the 
 middle of the morning, and having need to enter, he 
 bade Constantine call her. No response being given, 
 Castriot raised the curtain of the tent. Upon a rude 
 matting, which was raised by rough boards a few 
 inches from the earth, her limbs covered with an 
 exquisitely embroidered Turkish saddle cloth, Morsinia 
 lay asleep. Her neck and shoulders were veiled with 
 her hair, which, rich and abundant, fell in cascades of 
 golden beauty upon the ground. 
 
 The great man stood for a moment gazing upon the 
 sleeping girl. His ordinarily immobile features relaxed.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES, 2OI 
 
 His face, generally passionless, unreadable as that of 
 the sphinx, and impressive only for the mystery of the 
 thoughts it concealed, now became suffused with kindly 
 interest. His smile, as if he had been surprised by 
 the fairness of the vision, was followed by a look of 
 fatherly tenderness. The tears shot into his eyes ; but 
 with a deep breath he dropped the curtain, and turned 
 away. Of what was he thinking? Of little Mara Cer- 
 noviche, his playmate far back in the years ? or of 
 himself during those years? Strange that career 
 among the Turks ! and equally strange all the years 
 since he had looked upon the little child asleep by the 
 camp fire at the foot of the Balkans ! One who gazed 
 into his face at that moment would have discovered 
 that the rough warrior spirit was an outer environment 
 about a gentle and loving nature. 
 
 He was interrupted by officers crowding about him, 
 bringing intelligence of the enemy, or asking questions 
 relative to the immediate movements of their own com- 
 mands. These were answered in laconic sentences, 
 each one a flash of strategic wisdom. 
 
 In the first leisure he put his hand fondly upon Con- 
 stantine's head, and said quietly as he seated himself 
 upon a rock near the tent door 
 
 " Tell me of last night." 
 
 As Constantine narrated what the reader is already 
 familiar with, dwelling especially upon Morsinia's part 
 in the scene at the well, and her courage in the descent 
 from the wall, Scanderbeg exclaimed eagerly 
 
 "A true daughter of Musache De Streeses and 
 Mara Cernoviche ! The very impersonation of our 
 Albania ! Her spirit is that of our heroic people, fair
 
 202 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 as our lakes and as noble as our mountains ! But 
 these scenes are too rough for her. Her soul is 
 strong enough to endure ; but so is the diamond 
 strong enough to keep its shape and lustre amid the 
 stones which the freshet washes together. But it is 
 not well that it should be left to do so. Besides, the 
 diamond's strength and inviolable purity will not pre- 
 vent a robber from stealing it. There are envious 
 eyes upon our treasure. We had better have our dia- 
 mond cut and set and put away in a casket for a while. 
 We will send her to Constantinople. There she will 
 have opportunity to gain in knowledge of the world, 
 and in the courtly graces which fit her princely nature.'' 
 
 " Would not Italy be better ? " suggested Constan- 
 tine. 
 
 " No," said Scanderbeg. " The Italians are uncer- 
 tain allies. I know not whom to trust across the Adri- 
 atic. But Phranza, the chamberlain at Constantino- 
 ple, is a noble man. I knew him years ago when I 
 was stationed across the Bosphorus, and had com- 
 mitted to me nearly all the Ottoman affairs, so far as 
 they affected the Greek capital. He is one of the few 
 Greeks we may implicitly trust. And, moreover, he 
 agrees with me in seeking a closer alliance between 
 our two peoples. If the Christian power at Constan- 
 tinople could be roused against the Turk on the east, 
 while we are striking him on the west, we could make 
 the Moslem wish he were well out of Europe. But 
 Italy will do nothing." 
 
 " The Holy Father can help, can he not ? " asked 
 Constantine. 
 
 " The Holy Father does not to-day own himself. He
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 203 
 
 is the mere foot-ball of the secular powers, who kick him 
 against one another in their strife. No, our hope is in 
 putting some life into the old Greek empire at Con- 
 stantinople. The dolt of an emperor, John, is dead, 
 thanks to Azrael * ! In Constantine, who has come to 
 the throne, Christendom has hope of something bet- 
 ter than to see the heir of the empire of the Caesars 
 dancing attendance upon Italian dukes ; seeking 
 agreement with the Pope upon words of a creed which 
 no one can understand ; and demoralizing, with his 
 uncurtained harem, the very Turk. If the new empe- 
 ror has the sense of a flea he will see that the 
 Moslem power will have Constantinople within a 
 decade, unless the nations can be united in its defence. 
 I would send letters to Phranza, and you must be my 
 envoy. With Morsinia there, we shall be free from 
 anxiety regarding her ; for no danger threatens her 
 except here in her own land to our shame I say it. 
 A Venetian galley touches weekly at Durazzo, and sails 
 through the Corinthian gulf. You will embark upon 
 that to-morrow night." 
 
 " But Colonel Kabilovitsch ? " inquired Constan- 
 tine. 
 
 " He has already started for Durazzo, and will make 
 all arrangements. Nothing is needed here but a 
 comely garment for Morsinia, who left Sfetigrade with 
 a briefer toilet than most handsome women are will- 
 ing to make. Colonel Kabilovitsch will see that you 
 are provided with money and detailed instructions for 
 the journey." 
 
 A soldier appeared with a bundle. " A rough lady's 
 * The death angel.
 
 204 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 maid ! " said the general, " but a useful one I will 
 warrant." 
 
 Unrolling the bundle, it proved to be a rich, but 
 plain, dress, donated from a neighboring castle. 
 
 An hour later Scanderbeg held Morsinia by both 
 hands, looking down into her eyes. It was a picture 
 which should have become historic. The giant form 
 of the grim old warrior contrasted fully with that of 
 the maiden, as some gnarled oak with the flower that 
 grows at its base. 
 
 " Keep good heart, my daughter," said the general, 
 imprinting a kiss upon her fair brow. 
 
 She replied with loving reverence in her tone and 
 look, " I thank you, Sire, for that title ; for the 
 father of his country has the keeping of the hearts of 
 all the daughters of Albania." 
 
 It were difficult to say whether the sweet loveliness 
 in the lines of her face, or the majesty of character 
 and superb heroism that shone through them, gave 
 her the greater fascination as she added, 
 
 " If Jesu wills that among strangers I can best 
 serve my country, there shall be my home." 
 
 " But you will not long be among strangers. Your 
 goodness will make them all friends. Beside, God 
 will keep such as you, for he loves the pure and beau- 
 tiful." 
 
 Morsinia blushed as she answered, 
 
 " And does God not love the true and the noble ? 
 So he will keep thee and Albania. Does not the sun 
 send down her* beams as straight over Constantino- 
 ple as over Croia ? and does she not draw the mists by as 
 * In Albanian speech the sun is feminine.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 205 
 
 short a cord of her twisted rays from the Marmora as 
 from the Adriatic ? Then God can be as near us 
 there as here ; and our prayers for thee and our land 
 will go as speedily to the Great Heart over all. The 
 Blessed Mary keep you, Sire ! " 
 
 " Ay, the Blessed Mary spake the blessing through 
 your lips, my child," responded Scanderbeg as he lifted 
 her to her horse. 
 
 Constantine released himself from the general's 
 hearty embrace, and sprang into the saddle at her side. 
 Preceded and followed by a score of troopers they dis- 
 appeared in the deep shadows of a mountain path. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 DURAZZO lies upon a promontory stretching out 
 into the Adriatic. The walls which surrounded it 
 at the time of our story, told, by the weather-wear of 
 their stones, the different ages during which they had 
 guarded the little bay that lies at the promontory's 
 base. A young monk,* Barletius, to whom Colonel 
 Kabilovitsch introduced the vogagers, as a travelling 
 companion for a part of their journey, pointed out the 
 great and rudely squared boulders in the lower course 
 of masonry, as the work of the ancient Corcyreans, 
 centuries before the coming of Christ. The upper 
 courses, he said, were stained with the blood of the 
 
 * Marinus Barletius, a Latin monk of the time, has given us in 
 his chronicles, the most extended account of Scanderbeg.
 
 206 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 Greek soldiers of Alexius, when the Norman Robert 
 Guiscard assaulted the place, hundreds and hundreds 
 of years ago. 
 
 Indeed, to the monk's historic imagination, the world 
 seemed still wrapped in the mists of the older ages ; and, 
 just as the low lying haze, with its mirage effect, con- 
 torted the rocks along the shore into domes and pin- 
 nacles, so did his fancy invest every object with the 
 greatness of the history with which the old manu- 
 scripts had made him familiar. 
 
 While Morsinia listened with a strange entertain- 
 ment to his rhapsodic narrations, Constantine was 
 busy studying the graceful lines of the Venetian half- 
 galley that lay at the base of the cliff, and upon which 
 they were to embark ; her low deck, cut down in the 
 centre nearly to the water's edge ; her sharp, swan- 
 necked prow raised high in air, and balanced by the 
 broad elevation at the stern ; the lateen sail that, 
 furled on its boom, hung diagonally against the slen- 
 der mast ; the rows of holes at the side, through which 
 in calm weather the oars were worked ; the gay pen- 
 nant from the mast-head, and the broad banner at the 
 stern, which spread to the light breeze the Lion of St. 
 Mark. 
 
 They were soon gliding out of the harbor of Dur- 
 azzo, at first under the regularly timed stroke of a 
 score of oarsmen. Rounding the promontory, the west 
 wind filled the sail ; and, careening to the leeward, the 
 galley danced toward the south through the light spray 
 of the billows which sung beneath the prow like the 
 strings of a zither. 
 
 Perhaps it was this music of the waves or it may
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 207 
 
 have been that the wind was blowing straight across 
 from Italy ; or, possibly, it was the beauty of the 
 maiden reclining upon the cushioned dais of the stern 
 deck that led the weather-beaten sailing master to 
 take the zither, and sing one after another of Pe- 
 trarch's love songs to Laura. Though his voice was as 
 hoarse as the wind that crooned through the cordage, 
 and his language scarcely intelligible, the flow of the 
 melody told the sentiment. Constantine's eyes sought 
 the face of his companion, as if for the first time he had 
 detected that she was beautiful. And perhaps for the 
 first time in her life Morsinia felt conscious that Con- 
 stantine was looking at her ; for she generally with- 
 stood his gaze with as little thought of it as she did 
 that of the sky, or of Kabilovitsch. Even the monk 
 turned his eyes from the magnificent shores of Albania, 
 with their beetling headlands and receding bays, to 
 cast furtive glances upon the maiden. 
 
 The monk's face was a striking one. He was pale, 
 if not from holy vigil, from pouring over musty secu- 
 lar tomes. He had caught the spirit of the revival of 
 learning which, notwithstanding all the superstition of 
 ecclesiastics, was first felt in the cloisters of the 
 church. His forehead was high, but narrow ; his 
 eyes mild, yet lustrous ; his lower features almost 
 feminine. One familiar with men would have said, 
 " Here is a man of patient enthusiasm for things intel- 
 lectual, a devotee to the ideal. He may be a philoso- 
 pher, a poet, an artist ; but he could never make a 
 soldier, a diplomat, or even a lover, except of the 
 most Platonic sort. Just the man for a monk. If all 
 monks were like him, the church would be enriched
 
 208 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 indeed ; but, if all like him were monks, the world 
 would be the poorer." 
 
 Among other passengers was a Greek monk, Gen- 
 nadius. This man's full beard and long curly fore- 
 locks hanging in front of his ears, were in odd con- 
 trast with the smooth face and shaven head of the 
 Latin monk. Though strangers, they courteously 
 saluted each other. However sharp might be the 
 differences in their religious notions, they soon felt 
 the fraternity such as cultured minds and great souls 
 realize in the presence of the sublimities of nature. 
 They studied each other's faces with agreeable sur- 
 prise as the glories about them drew from their lips 
 vivid outbursts of descriptive eloquence, in which, 
 speaking the Latin or Greek with almost equal facility, 
 they quoted from the classic poets with which they 
 were equally familiar. 
 
 As the galley turned eastward into the Corinthian 
 gulf there burst upon them a panorama of natural 
 splendor combined with classic enchantment, such as 
 no other spot on the earth presents. The mountainous 
 shores lay about the long and narrow sea, like sleeping 
 giants guarding the outflow of some sacred fountain. 
 Back of the northern coast rose, like waking sentinels, 
 the Helicon and Parnassus, towering thousands of 
 feet into the air ; their tops helmeted in ice and plumed 
 with fleecy clouds. The western sun poured upon the 
 track of the voyagers floods of golden lustre which 
 lingered on the still waters, flashed in rainbows from 
 the splashing oars, gilded with glory the hither slope 
 of every projection on either shore, and filled the 
 great gorges beyond with dark purple shadows.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 209 
 
 As Morsinia reclined with her head resting on Con- 
 stantine's shoulder, and drank in the gorgeous, yet 
 quieting, scene, the two monks stood with uncovered 
 heads and, half embracing, chanted together in Greek 
 one of the oldest known evening hymns of the Chris- 
 tian church. In free translation, it ran thus : 
 
 " O Jesu, the Christ ! glad light of the holy ! 
 
 The brightness of God, the Father in heaven ! 
 At setting of sun, with hearts that are lowly, 
 
 We praise Thee for life this day Thou hast'given." 
 
 " I love that hymn," said Gennadius, " because it 
 was written long before the schism which rent the 
 Holy Church into Latin and Greek." 
 
 " We will rejoice, then, that by the inspiration of the 
 Holy Father, Eugenius, and the assent of your patri- 
 arch, the wound in the body of Christ has, after six 
 centuries, at last been healed," replied Barletius. 
 
 " I fear that the healing is but seeming," said the 
 Greek. " I was a member of the council of Florence, 
 and know the motives of the men who composed it, and 
 the exact meaning of the agreement which means 
 nothing. Your Pope cares not a scrap of tinsel from 
 his back for the true Christian dogma ; and while his 
 ambition led him to desire to become the uniter of 
 Christendom, his own bishops, who know him well, 
 were gathered in synod at Basil, and pronounced him 
 heretic, perjurer and debauchee." 
 
 " But you Greeks were doubtless more honest," said 
 Barletius, with a tone and look of sarcasm. 
 
 " Humph ! " grunted Gennadius, walking away ; but 
 turning about quickly he added, 
 
 " How could we be honest when, for the sake of the
 
 210 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 union, we assented to a denial of our most sacred dog- 
 mas by allowing the Filioque ?* It is not in the power 
 of men living to change the truth as expressed 
 through all past ages in the creed of the true 
 church. Our emperor yielded the points to the 
 Latins ; but holy Mark of Ephesus and Prince 
 Demetrius, our emperor's brother, did not. They re- 
 tired in disgust from Italy. Why, the very dog of 
 the emperor, that lay on his foot-cloth, scented the 
 heresy to which his master was about to subscribe, and 
 protested against the sacrilege by baying throughout 
 the reading of the act of union. And I learn that 
 the clergy and populace at Byzantium are foaming 
 with rage at this impiety of our Latinizing emperor. 
 I am hasting thither that I may utter my voice, too, 
 in my cell in prayer, and from the pulpit of St. Sophia, 
 against the unholy alliance." 
 
 " Yet," said Barletius, with scorn, " your emperor 
 and church authorities subscribed. What sort of a 
 divine spirit do you Greeks possess, that prompts you 
 to confess what you do not believe ? " 
 
 " I feel your taunt," replied Gennadius. " It is 
 both just and unjust. Have not some of your own 
 prelates lately taught that the end justifies the means ? 
 The union, though wrong in itself, was justified 
 according to Latin ethics by the result to be secured, 
 the safety of both Greek and Latin churches from 
 being conquered by the Turks. Our Eastern empire, 
 the glory of the later Caesars, has already become 
 
 * Filioque ; "and the Son." The Latin Church holds that the 
 Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Greeks 
 deny the latter part of the proposition.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 211 
 
 reduced to the suburbs of Byzantium. The empire 
 of Justinian and Theodosius has not to-day ten thou- 
 sand soldiers to withstand the myriads of the Sultan. 
 There must be union. We must have soldiers, even if 
 we buy them with the price of an article of the creed 
 nay the loan of the article for the union will not 
 stand when danger has passed. Conscience alone is 
 one thing : conscience under necessity I speak the 
 ethics of you Latins is another thing. But I abhor 
 the deceit. Your bishop, whom you call Pope, has no 
 reverence from our hearts, though we were to kiss his 
 toe. You are idolaters with your images of Mary and 
 the saints. Filioque is a lie ! " cried the Greek, giving 
 vent to his prejudice and spite. 
 
 Barletius in the meantime had felt other emotions 
 than the holiest being kindled within him by these hot 
 words of his companion ; and when the Greek had 
 flashed his unseemly denunciation at Filioque, the 
 Latin's soul burst in responsive rage. But he was not 
 accustomed to harsh debate. Words were consumed 
 upon his hot lips, or choked in his fury-dried throat. 
 His frame trembled with the pent wrath. His hands 
 clenched until the nails cut into the flesh. But alas 
 for the best saintship, if temptation comes before can- 
 onization ! The thin hand was raised, and it fell upon 
 the holy brother's face. The blow was returned. 
 But neither of them had been trained to carnal strife, 
 nor had they the skill and strength to do justice 
 to their noble rage. Constantine, who leaped forward 
 to act as peace-maker, stopped to laugh at the strange 
 pose of the antagonists ; for the Greek had valiantly 
 seized the cowl of the Latin, and drawn it down over
 
 212 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 his face ; while Barletius' thin fingers were wrig- 
 gling through Gennadius' beard, and both were pranc- 
 ing as awkwardly as one-day-old calves about the nar- 
 row deck, with the imminent prospect of cooling their 
 spirits by immersion in the water. 
 
 The presence of this danger led Constantine to 
 separate the scufflers ; although his laughter at the con- 
 testants had made his limbs almost as limp as theirs. 
 The ecclesiastical champions stood glaring their celes- 
 tial resentment, the one white, the other red, like two 
 statues of burlesque gladiators carved respectively in 
 marble and prophyry. 
 
 The conflict might have been renewed had not 
 Morsinia risen from her cushion, and approached 
 them. But no sooner did Gennadius realize the dan- 
 ger of having so much as his gown touched by a 
 woman, than he bolted to the other end of the galley, 
 and sat down, with fright and shame, upon a coil of 
 ropes. The Greek had been trained at the monastery 
 on Mount Athos. From that masculine paradise the 
 fair daughters of Eve were as carefully excluded as if 
 they were still the agents of Satan, and sent by the 
 devil to work the ruin of those who, by lofty medita- 
 tion and unnatural asceticism, would return to the 
 pre-marital Adamic state of innocence. During 
 the long twilight, and when the night left only the 
 outlines of the mountains sharply defined high up 
 against the star-lit sky, Gennadius still sat motionless; 
 his legs crossed beneath him ; his head dropped upon 
 his bosom. He gave no response to the salutation of 
 the attendant who brought him the evening meal : nor 
 would he touch it. When the sailors sung the songs
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 213 
 
 whose melody floated over the sea, keeping time to 
 the cadences of the light waves which bent but did 
 not break the surface, the monk put his fingers into 
 his ears. He tried to drive out worldly thoughts by 
 recalling those precepts of an ancient saint which, for 
 four hundred years, had been prescribed at Mount 
 Athos for those who would quiet their perturbed souls 
 and rise into the upper light of God. They were 
 such as these. " Seat thyself in a corner ; raise thy 
 mind above all things vain and transitory ; recline thy 
 beard and chin upon thy breast ; turn thy eyes and 
 thoughts toward the middle of thy belly, the region of 
 the navel ; and search the place of the heart, the seat 
 of the soul, which when discovered will be involved 
 in a mystic and ethereal light." 
 
 Barletius, equally chagrined by his display of temper 
 before the laity, sought relief by inflicting upon him- 
 self a task of Pater Nosters, which he tallied off on 
 his beads, made of olive-wood and sent him by a 
 learned monk at Bethlehem. 
 
 When his punishment seemed accomplished, Morsi- 
 nia asked him, 
 
 " Good father, why did you quarrel with the 
 stranger ? " 
 
 Barletius entered into a long explanation of the 
 faith of the Roman Church at the point challenged by 
 the Greek. 
 
 " I understand your words," said Morsinia, " but I 
 do not understand their meaning." 
 
 " It is not necessary that you should, my child. If 
 Holy Church understands, it is enough. A child may 
 not understand all that the mother knows; yet believes
 
 214 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 the mother's word. So should you believe what 
 Mother Church says." 
 
 " I would believe every word that Mother Church 
 speaks, even though I do not understand why she 
 speaks it," said Morsinia reverently. " But how can 
 one believe another's words when one does not know 
 what they mean ; when they give no thought ? Now 
 what you say about the ' procession of the spirit,' and 
 the ' begetting of the Son,' I do not get any clear 
 thought about ; and how then can I believe it in my 
 heart." 
 
 The monk cast a troubled look upon the fair 
 inquirer, and replied 
 
 " Then you must simply believe in Holy Church 
 which believes the truth." 
 
 " And say I believe the creed, when I only believe 
 that the Church believes the creed ? " queried the girl. 
 
 " It is enough. Happy are you if you seek to know 
 no more. Beware of an inquisitive mind. It leads one 
 astray from truth, as a wayward disposition soon 
 departs from virtue. Credo ! Credo ! Credo ! Help 
 thou mine unbelief ! should be your prayer. Restrain 
 your thoughts as the helmsman yonder keeps our prow 
 on the narrow way we are going. How soon you 
 would perish if you should attempt to find your way 
 alone out there on the deep ! Woe to those who, like 
 these wretched Greeks, depart from truth, and teach 
 men so. Anathema, Maranatha ! " 
 
 " But, tell me, good father, can that be necessary to 
 be believed, about which whole nations, like the 
 Greeks, differ from other nations, like the Latins ? I 
 have seen Greeks at their worship, and bowed with
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 215 
 
 them, and felt that God was near and blessing us all. 
 And I have heard them say, when they were dying, 
 that they saw heaven open ; and they reached out 
 their arms to be taken by the angels. Does not Jesu 
 save them, though they may err about that which we 
 trust to be the truth ? " 
 
 " My child, you must not think of these things," 
 said Barletius kindly. " It is better that you sleep 
 now. The air is growing chill. Wrap your cloak 
 closely even beneath the deck." 
 
 He walked away, repeating a line from Virgil as he 
 scanned the star-gemmed heavens. 
 
 " Suadentque cadentia sidera somnos." 
 
 Wrapping his hood close over his face, he lay down 
 upon the deck. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 TWO new comers joined the party at Corinth, where, 
 crossing the isthmus on horses, they re-embarked. 
 One was Giustiniani, a Genoese, of commanding form 
 and noble features, the very type of chivalric gentil- 
 ity, bronzed by journeyings under various skies, and 
 scarred with the memorials of heroic soldiership on 
 many fields. The other was a Dacian, short of stat- 
 ure, with broad and square forehead, and a crooked 
 neck which added to the sinister effect of his squint- 
 ing eyes. 
 " Well, Urban," said the Genoese, " you still have
 
 2l6 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 confidence in your new ordnance, and think that salt- 
 petre and charcoal are to take the place of the sword, 
 and that every lout who can strike a fire will soon be 
 a match for a band of archers : Eh ! " 
 
 " Yes, Sire, and if the emperor would only allow me 
 a few hundred ducats, I would cast him a gun which, 
 from yonder knoll, would heave a stone of five talents'* 
 weight, and crash through any galley ever floated 
 from the docks of Genoa or Venice. Four such guns 
 on either side would protect this isthmus from a fleet. 
 But, I tell you, noble Giustiniani, that without taking 
 advantage of our new science, the emperor cannot 
 hold out long against the Turk. The Turk is using 
 gunpowder. He is willing to learn, and has already 
 learned, what the emperor will find out to his cost, 
 that the walls of Constantinople itself cannot long 
 endure the battering of heavy cannon." 
 
 "You are right, Urban," replied the Genoese. 
 " The Turk is also ahead of us in the art of approach- 
 ing citadels. I have no doubt that his zigzag trenchesf 
 give the assailant almost equality with the besieged in 
 point of safety. I will gladly use my influence at the 
 court of Byzantium in behalf of your scheme for 
 founding large cannon, Urban ; if, perchance, the 
 defence of the empire may receive a tithe of the treas- 
 ure now squandered in princely parades and useless 
 embassages." 
 
 The galley glided smoothly through the little gulf 
 of ^Egina, with its historic bays of Eleusis and Sala- 
 
 * A modern Greek talent weighs 125 English pounds. 
 f The present art of " slow approach " was an invention of the 
 Turks.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 217 
 
 mis. Giustiniani and Urban discussed the disposition 
 of the Greek and Persian fleets during the ancient 
 fight at Salamis, as they moved under the steep rocky 
 hill on which Xerxes sat to witness the battle. They 
 soon rounded the headland, opposite the tomb of 
 Themistocles, and anchored in the harbor of the 
 Piraeus. 
 
 This port of Athens was crowded with shipping. 
 There were Spanish galleasses like floating castles, 
 with huge turrets at stem and stern, rowed by hun- 
 dreds of galley slaves. Other vessels of smaller size 
 floated the standard of France. Those of the mari- 
 time cities of Italy vied with one another in the exquis- 
 ite carving of their prows and the gaiety of their ban- 
 ners. 
 
 The chief attention was centred upon a splendid 
 galley of Byzantium, whose deck was covered with 
 silken awnings, beneath which a band of music floated 
 sweet strains over the waters. This was the vessel of 
 the imperial chamberlain, Phranza, who, having been 
 entertained in Athens with honors befitting his dig- 
 nity, was now about to return to Constantinople. 
 
 Giustiniani ordered his galley alongside of that of 
 the chamberlain, by whom he was received with distin- 
 guishing favors. Constantine took this opportunity to 
 deliver, through the Genoese, Scanderbeg's letters to 
 Phranza. They were read with evident gratifica- 
 tion by the chamberlain. With a hearty welcome, not 
 devoid of some curiosity on his part, as he scrutinized 
 the appearance of the strangers, he invited Constan- 
 tine and his companion to complete their journey in 
 his galley.
 
 2 1 8 THE CA P TA IN OF THE JA N CARIES. 
 
 Morsinia was at first as much dazed by the splendor, 
 as she was mortified by her ignorance of the formali- 
 ties, with which she was received. But the natural 
 dignity of her bearing stood her in good stead of more 
 courtly graces : for these modern Greeks emulated 
 those of ancient times in the reverence they paid to 
 womanly beauty. The chamberlain was somewhat 
 past middle life. He was a man whose studious habits, 
 as the great historian of his times, did not dull his 
 brilliancy as the master of etiquette. Nor had his 
 astuteness as a statesman been acquired by any sacri- 
 fice of his taste for social intrigues. The diversions 
 from the cares of state, which other great men have 
 found at the gaming-table or in their cups, Phranza 
 sought in studying the mysteries of female character ; 
 admiring its virtues, and yet not averse to finding en- 
 tertainment in its foibles. A true Greek, he believed 
 that physical beauty was the index of the rarer qualities 
 of mind and heart. He would have been a consenting 
 judge at the trial of that beautiful woman in the classic 
 story, the perfection of whose unrobed form dis- 
 proved the charge of her crime. He was such an 
 ardent advocate of the absolute authority of the 
 emperor that, though of decided aristocratic tend- 
 encies, he held that no marriage alliance, however 
 high the rank of the bride, could add to the dignity 
 of the throne : indeed, that beauty alone could 
 grace the couch of a king ; that the first of men should 
 wed the fairest of women, and thus combine the aris- 
 tocracy of rank with the aristocracy of nature. He 
 had frequent opportunities to express his peculiar 
 views on this subject ; for, among the problems which
 
 THE CAP TAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 2 1 9 
 
 then perplexed his statecraft, was that of the marriage 
 of the emperor that the succession might not be left 
 to the hazard of strife among the families of the blood 
 of the Palseologi. Had the choice of the royal spouse 
 been left entirely in his hands, he would have made the 
 selection on no other principle than that adopted by 
 the purveyor of plumage for the court, who seeks the 
 rarest colors without regard to the nesting-place of 
 the bird. 
 
 The genuine politeness of the courtier, together with 
 Morsinia's womanly tact in adapting herself to her new 
 environment, soon relieved her from the feeling of re- 
 straint, and the hours of the voyage passed pleasantly. 
 Her conversation, which was free from the convention- 
 alities of the day, was, for this very reason, as refreshing 
 to Phranza as the simple forms of nature the mountain 
 stream, the tangles of vines and wild flowers are to the 
 habitues of cities. There was a native poetry in her 
 diction, an artlessness in her questions, and a trans- 
 parent honesty in her responses. Indeed, her very 
 manner unveiled the features of so exalted and healthy 
 a mind, of a disposition so frank and ingenuous, of a 
 character so delicately pure and exquisitely beautiful, 
 that they compensated many fold any lack of artificial 
 culture. The great critic of woman forgot to study 
 her face : he only gazed upon it. He ceased to analyze 
 her character : he simply felt her worth. 
 
 But no fairness of a maiden, be she Albanian or 
 Greek, can long monopolize the attention of an elderly 
 man whose swift vessel bears him through the cluster- 
 ing glories of the ^Egean. Nor could any awe for his 
 rank, or interest in his learned conversation, absorb
 
 220 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 Morsinia from these splendors which glowed around 
 her. They gazed in silence upon the smooth and 
 scarcely bending sea, which, like a celestial mirror, 
 reflected all the hues of the sky steely blue dissolv- 
 ing into softest purple ; white mists transfused by 
 sunset's glow into billows of fire ; monolithic islands 
 flashing with the colors of mighty agates in the pris- 
 matic air ; clouds white as snow and clear cut as 
 diamonds, lifting themselves from the horizon like the 
 " great white throne" that St. John saw from the cliffs 
 of Patmos yonder. 
 
 Crossing the ^Egean, the voyagers hugged the old 
 Trojan coast until off the straits of the Hellespont. 
 They lay during a day under the lee of Yeni Sheyr 
 shoals, and at night ran the gauntlet of the new Turkish 
 forts, Khanak-Kalesi and Khalid-Bahar, at the 
 entrance to the Sea of Marmora. Two days later there 
 broke upon the view that most queenly of cities, 
 Byzantium, reclining upon the tufted couch of her 
 seven hills, by the most lovely of seas, like a nymph 
 beside her favorite fountain. The galley glided swiftly 
 by the " Seven Towers," which guard on Marmora 
 the southern end of the enormous triple wall. The 
 bastions and towers of this famous line of defenses cut 
 their bold profile against the sky for a distance of five 
 or six miles in a straight line, until the wall met the 
 extremity of the Golden Horn on the north ; thus 
 making the city in shape like a triangle the base of 
 gigantic masonry ; the sides of protecting seas. 
 
 Gay barges and kaiks shot out from the shore to 
 form a welcoming pageant to the returning chamber- 
 lain. With easy oars they drifted almost in the
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 221 
 
 shadows of the cypress trees which lined the bank and 
 hid the residences of wealthy Greek merchants and 
 the pavilions of princes. The lofty dome of St. Sophia 
 flashed its benediction upon the travelers, and its 
 challenge of a better faith far across the Bosphorus to 
 the Asiatic Moslem, whose minarets gleamed like 
 spear-heads from beside their mosques. From the 
 point where the Golden Horn meets the strait of the 
 Bosphorus and the sea of Marmora, rose the palace of 
 the emperor, embowered in trees, and surrounded 
 with gardens which loaded the air with the perfume 
 of rarest flowers and the song of birds. Rounding 
 the point into the Golden Horn, the grim old Genoese 
 tower of Galata, on the opposite bank, saluted them 
 with its drooping banner. They dropped anchor in 
 the lovely harbor. Strong arms with a few strokes 
 sent the tipsy kaiks from the galley through the 
 rippling water to the landing. An elegant palanquin 
 brought the wife of Phranza to meet her lord. 
 Another, which was designed for the chamberlain, he 
 courteously assigned to Morsinia ; while Constantine 
 and the gentlemen of the suite mounted the gaily 
 caparisoned horses that were in readiness. The cham- 
 berlain insisted upon Morsinia and Constantine 
 becoming his guests, at least until their familiarity 
 with the city should make it convenient for them to 
 reside elsewhere.
 
 222 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE house of Phranza was rather a series of houses 
 built about a square court, in which were par- 
 terres of rarest plants, divided from each other by 
 walks of variegated marble, and moistened by the 
 spray of fountains. 
 
 Morsinia's palanquin was let down just within the 
 gateway. A young woman assisted her to alight, and 
 conducted her to apartments elegantly furnished with 
 all that could please a woman's eye, though she were 
 the reigning beauty of a court, instead of one brought 
 up as a peasant in a distant province, and largely 
 ignorant of the arts of the toilet. She was bewildered 
 with the strangeness of her surroundings, and sat down 
 speechless upon the cushion to gaze about her. Was 
 she herself ? It required the remembrance that Con- 
 stantine was somewhere near her to enable her to 
 realize her own identity, and that she had not been 
 changed by some fairy's wand into a real princess. 
 
 " Will my lady rest ? " said the attendant, in softest 
 Greek. 
 
 Morsinia was familiar with this language, which was 
 used more of less everywhere in Servia and Albania ; 
 but she had never heard it spoken with such sweetness. 
 The words would have been restful to hear, though 
 she had not understood their meaning. Without 
 hesitation she resigned herself to the hands of the 
 servant, who relieved her of her outer apparel. 
 Another maiden brought a tray of delicate wafers of 
 wheat, and flasks of light wine, with figs and dates.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 223 
 
 A curtain in the wall, being drawn, exposed the bath ; 
 a great basin of mottled marble, and a little fountain 
 scattering a spray scented with roses. 
 
 Morsinia began to fear that she had been mistaken 
 for some great lady, whose wardrobe was expected to 
 be brought in massive chests, and whose personal orna- 
 ments would rival the toilet treasures of the Queen of 
 Sheba. There entered opportunely several tire-women, 
 laden with silks and linens, laces and shawls, every 
 portion of female attire, in every variety of color and 
 shape from the strong buskin to the gauze veil so 
 light that it will hide from the eye less than it reveals 
 to the imagination. 
 
 The guest was about to question her attendants, 
 when one gave her a note, hastily written by Constan- 
 tine, and simply saying 
 
 " Be surprised at nothing." Phranza had expressed 
 to Constantine the deep interest of the emperor in 
 the career of Scanderbeg, and his plans for Morsinia. 
 
 " Scanderbeg," said he, " is the one hero of our 
 degenerate age ; the only arm not beaten nerveless by 
 the blows of the Turk. I have asked nothing concern- 
 ing yourself, my young man ; nor need I know more 
 than that such a chieftain is interested in you and your 
 charge. Your great captain informs me (reading from 
 a letter), that any service we may render you here will 
 be counted as service to Albania ; and that any favor 
 we may bestow upon the lady will be as if shown to his 
 own child. Is she of any kin to him ? " 
 
 " I may not speak of that," replied the youth, " except 
 to tell that her blood is noble, and that General 
 Castriot has made her safety his care. An Albanian
 
 224 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 needs but to know that this is the will of our loving 
 and wise chieftain, to defend Morsinia with his 
 life." 
 
 " You speak her name with familiarity," said 
 Phranza. 
 
 " It is the custom of our people," replied Constan- 
 tine, coloring. " The trials of our country have thrown 
 nobles and peasants into more intimate relations than 
 would perhaps be allowed in a settled condition. 
 This, too, may have influenced General Castriot in 
 sending her here, where her life may be more suitable 
 to her gentle blood." 
 
 " It is enough! " exclaimed Phranza. " If our distance 
 from Albania, and our own pressing difficulties and 
 dangers do not allow us to send aid to your hero, we 
 can show him our respect and gratitude by treating 
 her, whom he would have as his child, as if she were 
 our own. And now for yourself well! you shall have 
 what, if I mistake you not, your discreet mind and 
 lusty muscles most crave an opportunity ' to win your 
 spurs,' as the western knights would say. Events are 
 thickening into a crash, the out-come of which no one 
 can foresee, except that the Moslem or the Christian shall 
 hold all from the Euxine to the Adriatic. This double 
 empire cannot long exist. Scanderbeg's arms alone 
 are keeping the Sultan from trying again the strength 
 of our walls. A disaster there ; an assault here ! 
 You serve the one cause whether here or there." 
 
 " I give my fealty to the emperor as I would to my 
 general," replied the young man warmly. 
 
 Constantine found himself arrayed before night in 
 the costume of a subaltern officer of the imperial guard,
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 225 
 
 and assigned to quarters at the barracks in the section 
 of the city near to the house of the chamberlain. His 
 brief training under the eye of Castriot, and his 
 hazardous service, had developed his great natural 
 talent for soldiership into marvellous acquirements for 
 one of his years. With the foils, in the saddle, in 
 mastery of tactics, in engineering ability displayed at 
 the walls which were being constantly strengthened 
 he soon took rank with the most promising. By 
 courtesy of the chamberlain he was allowed the freest 
 communication with Morsinia, and was often the guest 
 of her host ; especially upon excursions of pleasure up 
 the Golden Horn to the " Sweet Waters," along the 
 western shore of the Bosphorus, to the Princess 
 Island, and such other spots on the sea of Marmora as 
 were uninfested by piratical Turks. 
 
 Morsinia became the favorite not only of the wife of 
 Phranza, but of the ladies of the court, and 
 the object of especial devotion on the part of the 
 nobles and officers of the emperor's suite. 
 
 But it would have required more saintliness of 
 female disposition than was ever found in the court 
 of a Byzantine emperor, to have smothered the fires of 
 jealousy, when, at a banquet given at the palace, 
 Morsinia was placed at the emperor's right hand. It 
 might not be just to Phranza to say that to his sugges- 
 tion was due the praise of Morsinia's beauty and 
 queenly bearing, which the emperor overheard from 
 many of the courtiers' lips. Perhaps the charms of 
 her person forced this spontaneous commendation 
 from them : as it was asserted by some of the more 
 elderly of the ladies whom long study had made
 
 226 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 proficient in the art of reading kings' hearts from 
 their faces, that the monarch found an Esther in the 
 Albanian. 
 
 The reigning beauty at the court of Constantine 
 Palaelogus at this time was the daughter of a Genoese 
 admiral. Though not reputed for amiability, she won 
 the friendship of Morsiniaby many delicate attentions. 
 Gifts of articles of dress, ornaments and such 
 souvenirs as only one woman can select for another, 
 seemed to mark her increasing attachment. A box of 
 ebony, richly inlaid with mother of pearl, and rilled 
 with delicious confections, was one day the offering 
 upon the shrine of her sisterly regard. The wife of 
 Phranza, in whose presence the box was opened, on 
 learning the name of the donor, besought Morsinia 
 not to taste the contents ; and giving a candied fig to 
 a pet ape, the brute sickened and died before the 
 night. 
 
 An event contributed to the rumors which associated 
 the name of the fair Albanian with the special favors 
 of the emperor. An embassage from the Doge of 
 Venice had brightened the harbor with their galleys. 
 A gondola sheathed in silver, floated upon the waters 
 of the Golden Horn, like a white swan, and was 
 moored at the foot of the palace garden the gift of 
 the Doge. Another, its counterpart, was in the har- 
 bor of Venice the possession of the daughter of the 
 Doge ; but waiting to join its companion, if the 
 imperial heart could be persuaded to accept with it 
 the person of its princely owner. Better than the 
 ideal marriage of Venice with the sea the ceremony 
 of which was annually observed would be the mar-
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 227 
 
 riage of the two seas, the Adriatic and the 
 and the reunion of their families of confluent waters 
 under the double banner of St. Mark and Byzantium. 
 But the Grand Duke Lucas Notaris, who was also 
 grand admiral of the empire, declared openly that he 
 would sooner hold alliance with the Turk than with a 
 power representing that schismatic Latin Church. 
 The hereditary nobles protested against such a men' 
 ace to social order as, in their estimate, a recognition 
 of a republic like Venice would be. But it was 
 believed that more potent in its influence over the 
 emperor than these outcries, was the whisper of 
 Phranza that the silver gondola of Venice was fairer 
 than its possessor ; and that queenly beauty awaited 
 elsewhere the imperial embrace. 
 
 No habitue of the court knew less of this gossip 
 than Morsinia herself ; nor did she suspect any 
 unusual attention paid her by the emperor to be 
 other than an expression of regard for Castriot, 
 whose ward she was known to be. Or if, when they 
 were alone, his manner betrayed a fondness, she 
 attributed it to his natural kindliness of disposition, or 
 to that desire for recreation which persons in middle 
 life, burdened with cares, find in the society of the 
 young and beautiful ; for no purpose of modesty 
 could hide from Morsinia the knowledge which her 
 mirror revealed. She had, too, the highest respect 
 for the piety of the emperor ; the deepest sympathy 
 with him in his distress for the evils which were 
 swarming about his realm ; and a true admiration for 
 the courage of heart with which he bore up against 
 them. It was therefore with a commingling of
 
 228 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 religious, patriotic, and personal interest that she gave 
 herself up to his entertainment whenever he sought 
 her society. That she might understand him the bet- 
 ter, and be able to converse with him, she learned 
 from Phranza much of the history of recent move- 
 ments, both without and within the empire. So 
 expert had she become in these matters that the 
 chamberlain playfully called her his prime minister. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 ONE evening the lower Bosphorus and the Golden 
 Horn were alive with barges and skiffs, which 
 cut the glowing water with their spray-plumed prows 
 and flashing blades. Thus the tired day toilers 
 were accustomed to seek rest, and the idlers of 
 fashion endeavored to quicken their blood in the 
 cool wind which, from the heights of the Phrygian 
 Olympus, poured across the sea of Marmora. The 
 Emperor, attended by one of his favorite pages, 
 appeared upon the rocky slope which is now known as 
 Seraglio Point. A number of boats, containing the 
 ladies and gentlemen of the court, drew near to the 
 shore. It was the custom of his majesty to accept 
 the brief hospitality of one and another of these 
 parties, and for the others to keep company with 
 him ; so that the evening sail was not unlike a saloon 
 reception upon the water. The dais of Phranza's
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 229 
 
 boat was, on the evening to which we refer, occupied 
 by Morsinia alone ; and, as the rowers raised the oars 
 in salute of his majesty, he waved his hand playfully 
 to the others, saying : 
 
 "The chamberlain is so occupied to-day that he 
 has no time to attend to his own household. I will 
 take his place, with the permission of the dove of 
 Albania." 
 
 " Your Majesty needs rest," said Morsinia, making 
 place for him at her side on the dais, which filled the 
 stern of the barge, and over which hung a silken 
 awning. " Your face, Sire, betokens too much thought 
 to-day." 
 
 Throwing himself down, he replied lazily : " I 
 would that our boat were seized by some sea sprite, 
 and borne swift as the lightnings to where the sun 
 yonder is making his rest, beyond the Hellespont, 
 beyond the pillars of Hercules, beyond the world ! 
 But you shall be my sprite for the hour. Your con- 
 versation, so different to that of the court, your 
 charming Arnaout accent, and thoughts as natural as 
 your mountain flowers, always lead me away from 
 myself." 
 
 " I thank heaven, Sire, if Jesu gives to me that holy 
 ministry," replied she blushing deeply and diverting 
 the conversation. " But why are you so sad when 
 everything is so beautiful about us ? Is it right to 
 carry always the burden of empire upon your heart ? " 
 
 " Alas ! " replied he, " I must carry the burden 
 while I can, for the time may not be far distant when 
 I shall have no empire to burden me. Events are 
 untoward. While Sultan Amurath lives our treaty
 
 230 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 will prevent any attack upon the city. But if another 
 should direct the Moslem affairs, our walls yonder 
 would soon shake with the assault of the enemy of 
 Christendom. Nothing but the union of the Christian 
 powers can save us." 
 
 " And you have the union with Rome ? " suggested 
 Morsinia. 
 
 " A union of shadows to withstand an avalanche," 
 replied the Emperor. The Pope is impotent. He 
 can only promise a score of galleys and his good 
 offices with the powers. At the same time our monks 
 have almost raised an insurrection against the throne 
 for listening to the proposition of alliance to which 
 my lamented brother subscribed during the last days 
 of his reign." 
 
 " But God," replied Morsinia, " is wiser than we, 
 and will not allow the throne of the righteous to be 
 shaken.. I have looked to-day at the marvellous dome 
 of St. Sophia. As I gazed into its mighty vault, and 
 thought of the great weight of the stones which made 
 it, I looked about to see upon what it rested. The 
 light columns and walls, far spread, seemed all 
 insufficient to support it. As I stood looking, I 
 was at first so filled with fear that I dared not 
 linger. But then I remembered that a great archi- 
 tect had made it ; and that so it had stood for 
 many centuries, and had trembled with songs of praise 
 from millions upon millions of worshippers who in all 
 these generations have gathered under it. Then I 
 stood as quietly beneath it as I am now under the 
 great vault of the sky. And surely, Sire, this Christian 
 empire was founded in deeper wisdom than that of the
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 231 
 
 architect. Are not the pillars of God's promises its 
 sure support ? Have not holy men said that so long 
 as the face of Jesu* looks down from above the great 
 altar, the sceptre shall not depart from him who 
 worships before it ? " 
 
 " But, " said Palaelogus, " God rejects His people 
 for their sins. The empire's misfortunes have not 
 been greater than its crimes. As the rising mists 
 return in rain, so the sins of Constantinople, rising 
 for centuries, will return with storms of righteous retri- 
 bution. And I fear it will be in our day ; for the 
 clouds hang low, and mutter ominously, and jthere is 
 no bright spot within the horizon." 
 
 " Say not so, my Emperor ! " cried Morsinia ear- 
 nestly. " A breath of wind is now scattering yonder 
 cloud over Olympus ; and the lightest moving of God's 
 will can do more. Do you not remember the words 
 of a holy father, which I have often heard one of our 
 Latin priests repeat to those fearful because of their 
 past lives ; ' Beware lest thou carry compunctions for 
 the past after thou hast repented and prayed. That 
 is to doubt God's grace.' But I am a child, Sire, 
 and should not speak thus to the Emperor." 
 
 " A child ? " said his majesty, gazing upon her 
 superb form and strong womanly features. " Well ! a 
 child can see as far into the sky as the most learned and 
 venerable ; and your faith, my child, rests me more 
 
 * A face of Christ was wrought in mosaic in the wall above the 
 chancel of St. Sophia. The Turks still have a traditional saying 
 that the Christian shall not again possess Constantinople until the 
 face of Jesus appears visibly in St. Sophia. At the time of its 
 capture by the Moslems this picture of Christ was painted over. 
 It is now again dimly discerned through the fading and scaling 
 paint.
 
 232 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 than all the earth-drawn assurances of my counsellors. 
 Where have you learned so to trust ? I would will- 
 ingly spend my days in the convent of Athos or 
 Monastir to learn it ! But I fear me the holy monks 
 have it not of so strong and serene a sort as yours." 
 
 " I have learned it, Sire, as my heart has read it 
 from my own life. My years are scarcely more num- 
 erous than my rescues have been, when to human 
 sight there was no escape from death, or what I dreaded 
 worse than death. I have learned to hold a hand that 
 I see not ; and it has never failed. Nor will it fail 
 the ancunted of the Lord ; for such thou art. But 
 see ! yonder comes my brother Constantine. I know 
 him from his rowing. They who learn the oars on 
 mountain lakes never get the stroke they have who 
 learn it at the sea." 
 
 The Emperor turning in the direction indicated, 
 frowned, and said angrily, 
 
 " Your brother has forgotten the regulations, and is 
 in danger of discipline for rowing within the lines 
 allowed only to the court." 
 
 The boat came nearer ; not steadily, but turning to 
 right and left, stopping and starting as if directed by 
 something at a distance which the rower was watch- 
 ing. 
 
 The Emperor's attention was turned almost at the 
 same instant to a light boat shooting toward them 
 from an opposite direction. The occupant of this 
 was a monk. His black locks, mingled with his 
 black beard, gave a wildness to his appearance, which 
 was increased by the excited and rapid manner of his 
 propelling the craft.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 233 
 
 " Something unusual has occurred, or they would 
 wait the finding of another messenger than he," said 
 the Emperor. 
 
 The monk's boat glided swiftly. When within a 
 few yards of the barge in which the Emperor was the 
 man stood up, his eyes flashing, and his whole attitude 
 that of some vengeful fiend. " Hold ! " shouted the 
 rowers of the royal barge, endeavoring to turn the 
 craft so as to avoid a collision. 
 
 " The man is crazed ! " said Morsinia. 
 
 But at the instant when the two boats would have 
 come together, another, that of Constantine, shot 
 between them and received the blow. Its thin sides 
 were broken by the shock. 
 
 The monk who had come to the very prow, and 
 drawn a knife from his bosom, cried out, " To the 
 devil with the Prince of the Azymites."* 
 
 He leaped upon Constantine's boat in order to reach 
 that containing the Emperor : but was caught in the 
 strong arms of Constantine who fell with him into 
 the water. The monk gripped with his antagonist so 
 that they sank together. In a few seconds, however, 
 Constantine emerged. A thin streamer of blood 
 floated from him. He was drawn upon the barge. 
 Morsinia's hand tore off the loose gold-laced jacket, 
 and found the wound to be a deep, but not dangerous 
 flesh cut across the shoulder. It was several moments 
 before the monk appeared. He gasped and sank 
 again forever. 
 
 *The "Azymites" were those who used unleavened bread in 
 the sacrament, and at the time of which we are writing the 
 word was used among the Greeks as a term of reproach to the Latin- 
 izers, that is, those who favored union with the Latin Church.
 
 234 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 Constantine stated that the day before, while aid- 
 ing in the erection of a platform for some small 
 culverin that Urban had cast, the latter spoke to him 
 of the marvellous mosaic ornamentation in the vesti- 
 bule of the little church just beyond the walls, and 
 took him thither. The monk was there, and passed 
 in and out, evidently demented, and muttering to him- 
 self curses upon the Latinizers. Constantine thought 
 little of this at the time ; for a mad monk was not 
 an uncommon sight in the city. But observing the 
 same man at the quay hiring a boat, he determined to 
 watch him. Hence the sequel. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 npHE members of Phranza's family were dining, as was 
 1 their custom on pleasant days, under the great 
 fig tree in the garden ; a favorite spot with the cham- 
 berlain when allowed that privacy of life and domestic 
 retirement which were seldom enjoyed by one whose 
 duty it was to show the courtesies of the empire to 
 embassadors and distinguished visitors from the ends 
 of the earth. 
 
 " I would willingly exchange conditions with old 
 Guerko, the gate keeper, to-day," said Phranza, push- 
 ing from him the untasted viands. " The gate-keeper 
 of an empire has less liberty and rest." 
 
 " What new burden has the council put upon you, 
 my lord ? " said his wife.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 235 
 
 " Remember that your little prime minister will 
 help you," interposed Morsinia playfully. 
 
 Phranza glanced with a kindly but troubled look at 
 her 
 
 " The wheels of the public good grind up the 
 hearts of individuals remorselessly," continued the 
 good man. " Here am I with a spouse as fair as 
 Juno ; yet I must leave her for months, and maybe 
 years, that I may seek a spouse for the Emperor. I 
 am to make a tour of all Christian courts ; sampling 
 delicate bits of female loveliness, and weighing pater- 
 nal purses. But sacred policy takes the place of holy 
 matrimony among the great. An emperor and empress 
 are not to be man and wife, but only the welding 
 points of two kingdoms, though their hearts are burned 
 and crushed in the nuptials. I had hoped that his 
 majesty would assert his sovereignty sufficiently to 
 declare that, in this matter, he would exercise the 
 liberty which the commonest boor possesses, and 
 choose who should share his couch, and be the mother 
 of his children. But the very day after his escape 
 from the mad monk, he put the keeping of his royal 
 heart into the hands of his ministers. The shock of the 
 attempt upon his life, or something else (glancing at 
 Morsinia), seems to have turned his head with fear 
 for the succession. So, to-morrow I sail to the 
 Euxine to inspect the Circassian beauties, who are 
 said to bloom along its eastern shore. But my dear 
 wife will be consoled for my absence by the return of 
 our nephew Alexis, who, I learn from my letters, is 
 already at Athens, having wearied of his sojourn 
 among the Italians, and will be with you before many
 
 236 \THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 days. Heaven grant that he has not become tainted 
 with the vices of the Italians, which are even worse 
 than those of the Byzantines. I trust he will find his 
 aunt's care, and the sisterly offices of our Albanian 
 daughter, more potently helpful than my counsel 
 would have been." 
 
 The magnificent retinue, the splendid galleys, the 
 untold treasures scraped from the bottom of the 
 imperial coffers, with which, on the following day, the 
 chamberlain sailed away through the Bosphorus to the 
 Euxine, were but poor compensation to his loving 
 household for his prolonged absence. Nor was his place 
 adequately filled by Alexis with his fine form and 
 western elegance of manners. In one respect Phranza's 
 wish was met ; for if the care of his aunt was not 
 appreciated by the young man, the sisterly offices 
 of the fair Albanian were. 
 
 Morsinia's respect for the absent Phranza led her to 
 allow more attention from Alexis than her heart, or 
 even her judgment, would have suggested. The 
 young nobleman soon entangled himself in the web of 
 her unconscious fascination. It was not until with 
 passionate ardor he told his love, that Morsinia realized 
 her fatal power over him. But with a true woman's 
 frankness and firmness, she endeavored to dispel the 
 illusion his ardent fancy had created. 
 
 " If I have not yet won you," cried the impetuous 
 youth, " do not tell me that my suit is hopeless. It 
 was folly in me to dream that you would see in me 
 anything worthy of your love, so soon as your trans- 
 cendent beauty of face and soul made me feel that 
 you were all worthy of mine. Let me prove myself
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 237 
 
 by months or years of devotion, if you will. If I do 
 not now merit your esteem, surely the charm of daily 
 looking upon you will make me better ; the sweetness 
 of your spirit will change mine; then as you see in me 
 some impression of your own goodness, you will not 
 scorn and repel me. I beg that you will make of me 
 what you will, and love me as you can. I am not 
 harder than the marble of which Pygmalion made the 
 statue he loved. Mould me, Morsinia ! " 
 
 " It is not that you are not worthy of me, Alexis. 
 The nephew of Phranza need not humiliate himself 
 at the feet of any king's daughter. But but it may 
 not be ! It cannot be ! " and, gently releasing the 
 hand she had allowed him to seize, she withdrew to 
 her own chamber. 
 
 Alexis stood for a moment as if stupefied with his 
 disappointment. This feeling was followed by a 
 chagrin, which showed itself in the deep color mount- 
 ing his haughty face. Then rage ensued, and he 
 stamped upon the ground as if crushing some helpless 
 thing beneath his feet, and muttered to himself : 
 
 " If not I, no man shall have her and live. Can it 
 be that Albanian Constantine ? Who is that vagrant ? 
 that menial ? that hell -headed hireling who follows 
 her ? Angels and toads do not brood together ; and 
 he is of no kin to her."
 
 238 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 '"PH ROUGH a narrow street, lighted by the lanterns 
 1 which hung before the doors of the few wine shops 
 that were still open for the hour was late a man, 
 wrapped in a hooded cloak, went stumbling over the 
 dogs that were asleep in the middle of the way, and 
 not unfrequently over the watchmen lying upon the 
 mats before the closed entrances to the bazaars they 
 were guarding. He entered one wine shop after 
 another, muttering an oath of disappointment as he 
 withdrew from each. At length he turned into an 
 alley, which seemed like a mere crevice in the compact 
 mass of houses, and threaded his way between 
 windowless and doorless walls, until the passage 
 widened into a small and filthy court. At the extreme 
 rear of this a lamp was just flickering with its exhaust- 
 ed oil, and only sufficed to show him a doorway. 
 Rapping gently he called in Italian : 
 
 " Pedro ! Giovan ! " 
 
 The door was opened by a short, stout man with 
 bullet head, who spread himself across the entrance 
 and peered into the face of the late comer. Two 
 villainous looking men stared through the lurid glare 
 of a rush light on a low table, at which, squatted on 
 the ground, they were playing dice. A purse or 
 pouch of gold thread, decorated with some device 
 wrought with pearls and various precious stones, lay 
 beside them. 
 
 " Ah, the gentleman from Genoa ! ' : exclaimed one. 
 " You are quite welcome to our castle. Ricardo,
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 239 
 
 where is the stool ? Well ! if you can't find it, lie down, 
 and let the gentleman sit on your head." 
 
 " You appear to be in luck, Pedro, if I am to judge 
 from the purse yonder," said the visitor. " Your 
 lady has taken you back to her affection, and given 
 you this as a love token, I suppose." 
 
 " I'll tell you the secrets of my lady's chamber, Sig- 
 nior, when you tell me those of yours," replied Pedro. 
 
 " Perhaps," interposed Giovan, " the gentleman would 
 have us help him in to the secrets of his lady's chamber. 
 How now, Signior Alexis, have you trapped a new 
 beauty so soon in Byzantium ? " 
 
 " Let's throw for this before we talk," interposed 
 Ricardo, holding the purse in one hand and a dice 
 cup in the other. " One business at a time." 
 
 The three men threw. The stake fell to Ricardo, 
 who thrust the rich prize into his dirty pocket, where 
 a third of the contents of the purse 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 the rudeness of his comrade, 
 " You see it was a trust from from a dead man, who 
 was afraid to take it with him to purgatory, lest the 
 fire might tarnish it. So we keep it for him until he 
 comes back. And we are still in the trust business, 
 Signior ! Our credit is without a stain. You know it 
 was just a suspicion of our integrity we would not 
 have our honor even suspected by the police that led 
 us to leave Genoa. Will you trust us with any little 
 business ? "
 
 240 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 " Do you know the Albanian officer in the emperor's 
 guards ? " asked Alexis. 
 
 " No, and want to know nothing about officers of 
 any sort," growled Giovan. 
 
 " Ay ! " interposed Ricardo, " the red-topped 
 fellow, with a body like Giovan'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 he disturb you ? " 
 
 "Yes !" 
 
 " It will be worth a hundred ducats," said Giovan. 
 
 " A hundred and fifty," said Ricardo ; and, lowering 
 his voice to the others, added, " I need fifty, and I 
 would take only my even share." 
 
 " You shall have it," said Alexis, counting out the 
 gold. " If you deceive me, you know that one word 
 from me here in Byzantium will cost you 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 his finger across 
 his throat. " Of course we should have to leave 
 Byzantium. But Ricardo and I have concluded that 
 it were best to be gone anyhow ; for the people here 
 are so poor that our business does not thrive. This 
 purse once held ducats, but when we took it, it had 
 only silver bits. We pocket-bankers need better con- 
 stituency."
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 241 
 
 " Yes, we had better get out of this," said Pedro. 
 " General Giustiniani has come to live in Galata.* 
 He got his weasel-eyes on me yesterday as I was doing 
 a little business by the old wharf. That man knows 
 too much, he does. But he'll never get me on the 
 galley benches again. I'd crawl like a mud turtle on 
 the bottom of Marmora before I'd go under the 
 hatches a second time. I like freedom and fresh air, 
 I do " blowing out of his face the thick smoke 
 emitted by the wick floating on the surface of a saucer 
 of oil. 
 
 " Right ! " said Giovan. " Let's get out of this if 
 we can do so with enough gold to pay our royal travel- 
 ling expenses. But if we spare the neck of that fellow 
 who is in Signior Alexis' way, where will we keep him 
 that Alexis will not know it ? " 
 
 " Our mansion here is hardly commodious enough 
 for so distinguished and lively a guest as the young 
 officer will be likely to be," said Ricardo, scraping the 
 spiders' webs from the low ceiling of the room with his 
 cap. 
 
 " Try the old water vault," suggested Pedro. 
 
 "Good! "said Ricardo, "when the Albanian goes to 
 the walls, as he does every day, he will pass near to 
 the opening." 
 
 * A suburb of Constantinople, occupied by the Genoese. 
 16
 
 242 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 n^HE day following the three ruffians lingered about 
 1 the site of the old Hippodrome through the open 
 space of which the citizens passed in going from one 
 part of the city to another. Toward evening a stone 
 was thrown against the bronze-sheathed column, or 
 walled pyramid, which still held some of the great 
 plates that in the palmy days of Byzantium made it one 
 of the wonders of the city. It was the signal for 
 alertness. A short-bodied, long-armed, red-haired 
 man, dressed in the white kilt and gold -embroidered 
 jacket of a citizen, sauntered leisurely through the 
 Hippodrome. He measured with his eye the space 
 which once blazed with the splendor of fashion, when, 
 beneath the imperial eye of a Justinian or Theodosius, 
 the horses of Araby and Thracia ran, and the factions 
 of " the Blues " and " the Greens " shouted, and the 
 whirling wheels of the golden chariots sprinkled the 
 dust upon the multitudes. 
 
 The man paused to gaze at the bronze column of 
 three intertwined serpents, with silver-crested heads, 
 which was believed to have been brought from the 
 temple at Delphi to his new city by the great Constan- 
 tine. He stood reverently before the tall Egyptian 
 obelisk of rose-granite, whose light red glowed with 
 deeper hue in the eastern flush of the twilight sky ; 
 puzzled over its vertical lines of hieroglyphs which 
 thirty centuries had not obliterated, and studied the 
 figures on its marble base, representing the machines 
 used by the engineers of Theodosius in hoisting the
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 243 
 
 great monolith to its place, a thousand years ago. 
 Broken statues the spoil of conquered cities in gen- 
 erations of Greek prowess which shamed the supine- 
 ness of the present, stood or lay about the grand 
 pillar of porphyry, which was once surmounted by the 
 statue of Apollo wrought by Phidias. 
 
 " Shame for such neglect ! " muttered the man. " A 
 people that cannot keep its art from cracking to pieces 
 with age, cannot long keep the old empire of the 
 Caesars." 
 
 The narrow street to the north of the Hippodrome 
 square shut out the remnant of daylight as the man 
 turned into it. His attention was drawn by the groan- 
 ing of some poor outcast crouching in the dark shadow 
 of an angle in the wall. As he stooped to inspect this 
 object a stunning blow fell upon his head. Two 
 stalwart men instantly pinioned his arms. They 
 rolled his helpless body a few yards, and carried or 
 slid it down a flight of steps into a dark cavern, whose 
 sides echoed their footfalls and whispers, as if it were 
 the place of the last Judgment where the secrets of 
 life are all to be proclaimed. Reaching the bottom, 
 one of the men produced a light. The glare seemed 
 to excavate a hollow sphere out of the thick darkness, 
 but revealed nothing, except the spectral flash of the 
 bats flitting around the heads of the intruders, and 
 the damp earthen floor upon which the men had 
 thrown their victim. At length great forms rose 
 through the gloom, like the trunks of a forest. The 
 water of a subterranean lake gleamed from near their 
 feet, but its smooth black sheen was soon lost in the 
 darkness. A small boat, or raft, was near, into which
 
 244 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 the man was lifted ; one of the ruffians sitting on his 
 feet, the other by his head, while the third propelled 
 the craft by pushing against great granite pillars 
 between which they passed. After going some dis- 
 tance the boat ground its bottom against a mass of 
 fallen masonry and dirt, which made a sort of island, 
 perhaps twenty feet across. Here they landed, and 
 dragged their victim. 
 
 " What would you have with me ? " said the pros- 
 trate man. 
 
 " It is enough that we have you," said Pedro, in 
 broken Greek. " We want nothing more ; not even to 
 keep your miserable carcass, since we have already got 
 our pay for burying it. I'll be your father-confessor 
 and shrive you. If you like the Latin Absolve te ! 
 and away go your sins as easily as I can strip this 
 gold-laced jacket off your back. Or if you prefer the 
 Greek By the horns of Nebuchadnezzar, I've for- 
 gotten the priestly words ! But I'll shrive you all the 
 same without the holy mumble. And if you want to 
 pray a bit yourself, why fold your feet in front of 
 your nose and kneel on your back." 
 
 " Why do you kill me ? " said the man. " I am 
 nothing to you." 
 
 " Nothing to us, but something to him who has hired 
 us. As honest men we must do what we were paid to 
 do." 
 
 " Unless I can pay you more," said the man, 
 instantly taking a hopeful hint. 
 
 " Do you wear the belt of Phranza, that you think 
 you can pay so much ? " replied one of the ruffians, 
 feeling about the person of the helpless man.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 245 
 
 "What I have I give a hundred ducats." 
 
 " A hundred ! Are you love-crossed that you value 
 life so little ? You'll skin well, my gentle lambkin ; 
 and as you are half tanned already, we will sell your 
 hide to the buskin maker for almost that sum; and 
 your fat (feeling his ribs) will grease a hundred galley 
 masts. A thousand ducats is your value, you Albanian 
 imp ! " 
 
 " I do not possess so much," said the victim. 
 
 " But your sister does," said the ruffian ; and not 
 noting the surprised look of the man, continued: 
 " We have arranged for that. Your life is worth to 
 us just one thousand ducats of gold. Sign this ! " 
 producing a bit of paper on which .was something 
 written. 
 
 " I cannot read it in this light. You read it. I may 
 trust such honest fellows as you are." 
 
 The man read " To my sister, the Albanian, at the 
 house of Phranza. I am in danger from which I can 
 escape only if you will give the bearer one thousand 
 ducats. Speak not to any one of it, or my life is for- 
 feit. That you may know this is genuine the bearer 
 will show you my ring and a clip of my hair." 
 
 " Give me your ring ; and, comrade, warm the wax 
 to seal the letter," said Giovan. 
 
 " But I am not the man you seek," said the victim. 
 
 " And who in the devil's name are you then ? " 
 
 " A mere stranger." 
 
 " Prove it ! " 
 
 " Take the ring, and the lady will not recognize 
 it." 
 
 " We shall see," said the ruffian, " but we will take
 
 246 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 the hundred ducats now to pay for any trouble you 
 have put us to." 
 
 His belt was stripped off, and its golden contents 
 ripped out. The victim was untied, first having been 
 completely disarmed. The three men entering the 
 boat, pushed off in the direction from which they had 
 entered. 
 
 The island prisoner watched the receding light as it 
 flashed its long rays on the water, illumined the arches 
 of the roof, and lit the crouching figures in the boat. 
 The multiplying pillars became like a solid wall as the 
 light receded, until at length the darkness was com- 
 plete. The sound of the boat as it scratched against 
 the stone at the landing, gave place to the most 
 oppressive silence. 
 
 To attempt escape in the direction of the entrance 
 would be folly. If he could find his way his captors 
 would doubtless be on guard and easily overpower 
 him, as he would have to wade or swim. But to 
 remain where he was would be as hazardous, for the 
 wretches would not risk exposure for the sake of the 
 hundred ducats they had secured ; but would proba- 
 bly return and put him out of the way of witnessing 
 against them. 
 
 As he meditated, a low rumble like distant thunder, 
 ran along the arches. " Some passing vehicle in the 
 city above," he concluded. 
 
 A light drip, as of a bat's wing touching the water ! 
 Another ! and another ! " Strange that they should 
 be so regular ! " thought the man. " There must be 
 some inlet : I will explore." 
 
 He walked cautiously into the water in the direction
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 247 
 
 of the sound. Soon he was beyond his depth ; but, 
 being an expert swimmer, kept on ; his outstretched 
 arms answering as antennae of some huge water- 
 spider, and guarding him from collision with the 
 pillars. 
 
 The dripping sound became louder. No\v it was 
 just above his head. He felt his way with his hands 
 until it became evident that he was at the end or side 
 of the subterranean lake. But the shore was steep ; 
 indeed, a wall. Fixing his fingers into the crevices 
 between the stones, he was able to raise himself half 
 out of the water. Reaching up with one hand he felt 
 the curved edge of a viaduct, by which the dark lake 
 was evidently fed, or had been in earlier days. But, 
 bah ! The water now trickling through it was foul. 
 The spring had been stopped, and the viaduct become 
 a sewer ; fed doubtless through its rents with the 
 soakage of the city. 
 
 But might there not be an opening into the upper 
 air ? If not, a great human mole especially if, to 
 blind scratching power, he adds the skill of one trained 
 in the art of engineering can possibly make an open- 
 ing. 
 
 The prisoner climbed into the viaduct. It was large 
 enough to allow him to crawl a short distance. A 
 faint glimmer of light proved the correctness of his 
 surmise that it was connected with the surface. Bui 
 fallen stones blocked his way. As he lay planning with 
 fingers and brain for his further progress, voices sound- 
 ed from the reservoir. They were those of two of the 
 cut-throats returning. He pushed himself back to the 
 opening. His captors had missed him at the island.
 
 248 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 If they knew of this sluice, or chanced to come upon 
 it in their search, he was lost in his present position ; 
 for a pair of bare heels was the only weapon he could 
 show against their sharp daggers. He let himself 
 down into the water, and swam silently away. The 
 light, however, from his captors' lamp came nearer. 
 
 " Hist ! " said one. " He is yonder ; perhaps by the 
 devil's window." 
 
 The boat pushed directly toward the viaduct he had 
 left. 
 
 While they explored the opening, which might well 
 be called the window into the blackness of darkness 
 of the nether world, their victim swam rapidly, keep- 
 ing always in the shadow of the great pillars. But 
 the boat was upon his track again. 
 
 The fugitive now made a fortunate discovery. Sev- 
 eral feet below the surface of the water the base of 
 each pillar projected far enough for standing room. 
 This base had probably marked the height to which 
 the water was originally allowed to rise. By standing 
 upon one of these projections, he was able to move 
 round the pillar, so as to keep its huge block between 
 himself and his pursuers. Thus they passed him. By 
 the light in the boat he could discern the ground or 
 shore near which was the entrance. 
 
 Returning to coast the other side of the cavern, they 
 had passed close by him, when, his foot slipping, he 
 was projected into the water. The wretches hailed 
 with grim joy the splash, and turned the boat in the 
 direction of the noise. But, dropping beneath the 
 surface, the man swam to a pillar near by, from which 
 he watched their baffled circuit of his former retreat.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 249 
 
 This chase could not be kept up endlessly. Plung- 
 ing again under the water, he swam directly to the 
 boat. Rising suddenly, he grasped its side with main 
 weight and overturned it. The cries of the men and 
 the splashing of the boat echoed a hundred times 
 among the arches ; while the hissing oil of the open 
 lamp, which, poured on the surface of the water, blazed 
 for a moment, made as near a representation of pan- 
 demonium as this world ever affords, except in the 
 brain of the demented. 
 
 Though the captive had endeavored to keep his 
 bearings, and had not lost for an instant his presence 
 of mind, the swirling of the boat had destroyed all 
 impression of the direction he should take. He remem- 
 bered that on one of the pillars the projecting base 
 was broken. It was that on which he had stood when 
 he caught a glimpse of the ground near the entrance. 
 If he could find that pillar again he could take his 
 bearings as readily as if a star guided him. Several 
 pillars were tried before the talismanic one was dis- 
 covered. Feeling the broken place, and recalling the 
 way in which he stood upon the narrow ledge when 
 he saw the entrance, he took his course accordingly, 
 and swam on. 
 
 One of his pursuers had evidently found a lodgment 
 somewhere, and was calling lustily to his comrade for 
 help. But there came back no answer to his call. 
 
 On went the swimmer until the light of the outer 
 world gleamed through the crevice of the door, twenty 
 or thirty feet above him, and he crawled upon the 
 ground. 
 
 Squeezing the water from his garments, he climbed
 
 250 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 the stairway, and, opening the heavy and worm-eaten 
 doors, peered out. The street was crowded with 
 passers ; for another day had come since his entrance 
 to the old reservoir. In his half naked and bedrab- 
 bled condition he hesitated to make his exit, and 
 returned to the bottom of the stairs. A hand on the 
 door above made him leap to one side. 
 
 Giovan entered. Peering intensely into the shadows, 
 he descended the steps. Pausing a moment he whistled 
 through his teeth. There was no response. He whis- 
 tled louder on his fingers. A shout came back. 
 
 " Help ! Giovan help ! " 
 
 Giovan's dagger protruded from his belt. Another's 
 hand suddenly drew it, and, before he had recovered 
 from his surprise, it entered his neck to the haft. The 
 Italian's short breeches, velveteen jacket and skull cap 
 were made to take the place of the remnant of the pris- 
 oner's once most reputable wardrobe, and he sallied 
 forth. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 T ATER in the day the gate keeper at Phranza's 
 .L/ mansion put into Morsinia's hand a letter left 
 with him by an Italian laboring man. It was ad- 
 dressed " To the Albanian lady," and read thus : 
 
 " Your brother's life is threatened by some secret 
 enemy. Let him exercise an Albanian's caution ! 
 This is the advice of a stranger."
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 251 
 
 A little before this, as the " poor Italian " was 
 moving away from the gate of Phranza, a gorgeous 
 palanquin, with silken canopy and sides latticed with 
 silver rods, was borne in by four stout and well-formed 
 men, with bare legs and arms, purple short trousers, 
 embroidered jackets, and jaunty red caps, whose long 
 tassels hung far down their backs. 
 
 The " Italian " stepped into an angle that the palan- 
 quin might pass ; and stood gazing a long time after 
 it had disappeared. At length, turning away, he said 
 to himself : 
 
 " Strange ! It must be that my imagination has been 
 disturbed by the scenes of last night. But the lady 
 in yonder palanquin is my dream made real. The 
 pretty face of the child with whom I once played on 
 the mountains must have cut its outlines somewhere 
 on my brain, for I seem to see it everywhere. My 
 captive in the mountains of Albania had the same 
 features though I saw them only under the flash of a 
 torch. Imagination that, surely ! The girl at Sfeti- 
 grade was similar. And now this one ! The aga's 
 advice to beware female illusions was good. But she 
 may be the Albanian lady after all. Impossible ! 
 Stupidity ! Perhaps my chosen houri in paradise is 
 only flashing her beauty upon my soul from these fair 
 earthly faces, and so training me first to love her as an 
 ideal, that the joy of the realization may be perfect. 
 But, tut ! tut ! silly boy that I am ! " 
 
 Whistling monotonously he turned down a 
 street. 
 
 A short, crooked-necked officer passed along. His 
 face at the moment was the picture of dissatisfaction.
 
 252 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 The " Italian " stopped him, and, with a courtesy which 
 belied his common apparel, addressed him : 
 
 " Captain Urban of the engineers, is it not ? " 
 
 "And who*are you?" was the surly, yet half 
 respectful, reply, as the one addressed glanced into 
 the other's face. 
 
 " One who knows that the cannon you are casting 
 are not heavy enough to lodge a ball against the old 
 tower of Galata yonder across the Golden Horn, much 
 less breach a fortification ; and further, that all you 
 can cast at this rate from now until the Turks take 
 Byzantium would not enable you to throw ten shot an 
 hour." 
 
 " By the brass toe of St. Peter ! man, I was just 
 saying the same thing to myself," replied Urban. 
 
 " And the Emperor's treasury, when he has bought 
 himself a wife, will not have enough left to buy salt- 
 petre with which to fire the guns, if he should allow 
 you brass enough for the casting," added the stranger. 
 
 " True again, my man ; and the Emperor's service 
 in the meantime does not yield stipend enough for an 
 officer to live upon decently. If you were better 
 dressed, my prince of lazaroni, I couldn't afford to 
 ask you to drink with me ; but this cheap shop will 
 shame neither your looks nor my purse. Come in." 
 
 "Who are you, my good fellow ?" asked Urban, as 
 he drained a cup of mastic-flavored wine. " Were not 
 your voice different, and your pronunciation of Greek 
 rather provincial, with a slight Servian brogue, I 
 would take you for one of our young engineers. You 
 are not an Italian, spite of your garb." 
 
 " No," was the reply, " I was once in the employ of
 
 THE CAP7'AIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 253 
 
 the Despot of Servia, engineer and artillery-man ; but 
 I think of entering the service of the Sultan. He pays 
 finely, and gives one who loves the science of war a 
 chance to use his genius." 
 
 " For such a chance and good pay I would serve 
 the devil," said Urban. " The Greek emperor here 
 is no saint, and yet I have served him for a crust. I 
 am not bound to him by any tie. If you find good 
 quarters with the Turks, give me a hint, and I will join 
 you." 
 
 The stranger eyed him closely as he said this, and 
 replied in low tones " Captain Urban, I am a Mos- 
 lem ; Captain Ballaban of the Janizary corps. And 
 I bear you a commission from the Padishah. To seek 
 you is a part of my business in Constantinople. I do 
 not ask you to take my word for this, but if you will 
 accompany me, I will give you proof of my authority. 
 A thousand ducats I will put into your hand within an 
 hour, with which you may taste the Padishah's liberal- 
 ity and imagine what it shall be when you accompany 
 me to Adrianople." 
 
 The two men left the wine shop together and entered 
 a bazaar. The stranger whispered to the merchant who 
 was nearly buried amid huge piles of goods of every 
 antique description ; strange patterned tapestries, rugs 
 of all hues and sizes, ebony boxes inlaid with silver 
 and ivory, shields bossed and graven, spear-heads, 
 cimeters and daggers. The salesman made as low a 
 salam as his crowding wares would permit, and, open- 
 ing a way through the heaps of merchandise, con- 
 ducted the visitors into an inner room.
 
 254 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 TO better understand the events just recited, we 
 must trace some scenes which had been enacted 
 elsewhere. 
 
 During the sojourn of Constantine and Morsinia in 
 Constantinople, the Turks had made no progress 
 toward the conquest of Albania. The walls of Croia, 
 upon which they turned their thousands of men, and 
 exhaustless resources of siege apparatus, served only to 
 display the valor and skill of the assailants, the super- 
 ior genius of Castriot, and the endurance of his bands 
 of patriots. 
 
 The haughty Sultan Amurath, broken in health, 
 more by the chagrin of his ill success than by expos- 
 ures or casual disease, retired to Adrianople, in com- 
 pany with his son, Prince Mahomet, who was satisfied 
 with a few lessons in the science of military manceuver- 
 ing as taught by the dripping sword of Castriot ; and 
 preferred to practice his acquirements upon other and 
 less dangerous antagonists. Prince Mahomet had 
 scarcely withdrawn to Magnesia in Asia Minor, and 
 celebrated his nuptials with the daughter of the Turko- 
 man Emir, when news was brought of the death of his 
 father. 
 
 The prince was hardly twenty-one years of age ; but 
 his first act was ominous of the promptitude, self-asser- 
 tion and diligence of the whole subsequent career of 
 this man, whose success on the field and in the divan 
 made him the foremost monarch of his age.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 255 
 
 On hearing the news he turned to Captain Ballaban, 
 for whom the young Padishah entertained the fondest 
 affection, and who had accompanied him to Magnesia 
 in the capacity of kavass. 
 
 " I shall leave to you, Captain, the duty of represent- 
 ing me at the burial of my royal father at Brusa, after 
 which meet me at Adrianople." 
 
 Leaping into the saddle, he cried to the company 
 about him, " Let those who love me, follow me ! " 
 and spurred his Arab steed to the Hellespont. 
 
 The magnificent cortege of the dead Sultan moved 
 rapidly from the European capital of the Turks to 
 their ancient one in Asia Minor. The thoughts of the 
 attendants were more toward the new hand which 
 would distribute the favors or terrors of empire, than 
 toward the hand which was now cold. 
 
 Captain Ballaban was in time to join the reverent 
 circle which committed the royal body to its ancestral 
 resting place. They buried it with simple sepulchral 
 rites, in the open field, unshadowed by minaret or costly 
 mosque or memorial column ; that, as the dying Pad- 
 ishah had said, " the mercy and blessing of God might 
 come unto him by the shining of the sun and moon, 
 and the falling of the rain and dew of heaven upon his 
 grave." 
 
 Sultan Mahomet II. was scarcely within the seraglio 
 at Adrianople when Captain Ballaban reported for 
 duty. Passing through the outer or common court, 
 he entered by the second gate into the square sur- 
 rounded by the barracks of the Janizaries, who, as the 
 body guard of the monarch, occupied quarters abutting 
 on those of the Sultan.
 
 256 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES, 
 
 Near the third gate was gathered a crowd of Janizar- 
 ies, in angry debate ; for as soon as they realized that 
 the firm and experienced hand of Amurath was no 
 longer on the helm, the pride and audacity of this 
 corps inaugurated rebellion. 
 
 " The Janizaries have saved the empire, let them 
 enjoy it," cried one. 
 
 " Our swords extended the Moslem power, so will 
 we have extension of privilege," cried another. 
 
 " Why should Kalil Pasha be Grand Vizier instead 
 of our chief Aga ? Kalil is one of the Giaour Orta- 
 chi.* 
 
 " Down with the Vizier ! " rang among the barracks. 
 
 "A mere child is Padishah ! one of no judgment 
 the Hunkiar ! " 
 
 " My brothers," said Captain Ballaban. " You 
 know not the new Padishah. Well might Amurath 
 have said to him what Othman said to Orchan: ' My 
 son, I am dying : and I die without regret, because I 
 leave such a successor as thou art.' Believe me, my 
 brothers, if Mahomet is young, he is strong. If he is 
 inexperienced in the methods of government, it is 
 because heaven wills that he shall invent better ones." 
 
 " Your head is turned by the Padishah's favors," 
 muttered an old guardsman. 
 
 " But am I not a Janizary ? " cried the captain, 
 " and it is as a Janizary that the Padishah loves me, 
 as he loves us all. I once heard him say that the 
 white wool on a Janizary's cap was more honorable 
 than the horse tail on the tent spear of another. 
 Old Selim here can tell you that, as a child, Ma- 
 *Brothers of the infidels.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 257 
 
 hornet was fonder of the Janizary's mess than of the 
 feast in the harem." 
 
 " Yes," said old Selim, with voice trembling through 
 age, but loud with the enthusiasm excited by the 
 captain's appeal. " My hands taught Mahomet his 
 first parries and thrusts ; and he would sit by our fire 
 to listen to the stories of the valor of our corps, and 
 clap his hands, and cry ' good Selim, I would rather 
 be a Janizary than be a prince.' " The old man's eyes 
 filled with tears as he added, " And all the four thou- 
 sand prophets bless the Padishah ! " 
 
 While this scene was being enacted without, the 
 young Sultan was reclining, with the full sense of his 
 new dignity, upon the sofa which had never been 
 pressed except by the person of royalty. It was 
 covered with a cloth of gold and crimson velvet, 
 relieved by fringes of pearls. Before it was spread 
 a carpet of silk, an inch thick, whose softness, both of 
 texture and tints, made a luxuriant contrast with its 
 border, which was crocheted with cords of silver and 
 gold. The walls of his chamber were enriched with 
 tiles of alabaster, agate, and turquoise. The ceiling 
 was plated with beaten silver, hatched at intervals with 
 mouldings of gold ; near to which were windows of 
 stained glass made of hundreds of pieces closely joined 
 to form transparent mosaic pictures, through which the 
 variegated light flooded the apartment. 
 
 Mahomet was himself in striking contrast with his 
 surroundings. He was dressed in neglige, with loose 
 gown, large slippers, and white skull cap. 
 
 Before the Sultan stood the Grand Vizier, Kalil, 
 bedizened in the costume of his office : an enor- 
 17
 
 258 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 mous turban in whose twisted folds was a band of 
 gold ; a bournous of brocade, enlivened by flowers 
 wrought upon it in green and red ; and a cashmere 
 sash gleaming with the jewelled handle of his yataghan. 
 
 " They are even now in revolt, your Majesty," said 
 the Vizier. " Your safety will be best served by severe 
 measures. They say the iron has not grown into your 
 nerves yet." 
 
 The Sultan colored. After a moment's pause he 
 replied. "When Captain Ballaban comes we will 
 think of that matter." 
 
 " The captain had just arrived as I entered, Sire." 
 
 " Then announce to the Janizaries that the seven 
 thousand falconers and game keepers which my father 
 allowed to eat up our revenue, as the bugs infest the 
 trees, are abolished ; and their income appropriated 
 to the better equipment of the Janizaries." 
 
 " But, Sire, would you sharpen the fangs of " 
 
 " Silence ! I have said it," said Mahomet, striking 
 his hand on his knee. " But what is this demand 
 from Constantinople ? " 
 
 " That the pay for the detention of your Cousin 
 Orkran at Constantinople shall be doubled, or the 
 Greeks will let him loose to contest the throne with 
 your Majesty." 
 
 " Assent to the demand," said the Sultan. " The 
 time will the sooner come to avenge the insult, if we 
 seem not to see it." 
 
 The Vizier continued looking at his tablets. " Maria 
 Sultana* asks, through the Kislar Aga, that she may 
 
 * One of the sultanas of Amurath II. and daughter of George 
 Brankovitch, Despot of Servia.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 259 
 
 be allowed, since the death of her lord, to return to 
 her kindred." 
 
 " Let her go ! She is a Giaour whose cursed blood 
 was not bettered by six and twenty years' habitation 
 with my father. She is fair enough in her wrinkles 
 for some Christian prince, and George Brankovitch 
 needs to make new alliances." 
 
 " Hunyades " said the Vizier. 
 
 " Ay, make peace with him, and with Scanderbeg, 
 too, if that wild beast can be tamed, which I much 
 doubt." 
 
 The Sultan rose from his cushion, his form animated 
 with strong excitement, and, putting his hand upon 
 the shoulders of the Vizier who drew back at the 
 strange familiarity and looking him fixedly in the 
 face, he whispered : " Everything must wait," 
 and the words hissed in the hot eagerness with which 
 he said them " until I have Constantinople." 
 
 Turning upon his heel, he withdrew toward his 
 private chamber. 
 
 The Sultan threw himself upon his bed. The Capee 
 Aga, or chief of the white eunuchs, whose duty it was 
 to act as valet-de-chambre, as well as to stand at the 
 right hand of the Sultan on state occasions, began to 
 draw the curtains around the silver posts upon which 
 the bed rested. 
 
 " You may leave me," said his majesty. " Nay, 
 hold ! Send Captain Ballaban of the Janizaries." 
 
 As the young officer entered, the face of the Sultan 
 relaxed. 
 
 " You make me a man again-, comrade," said he, 
 grasping his hand. " These few days playing Sultan
 
 260 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 make me feel as old as the empire. I hate this par- 
 ade of boring viziers and mincing eunuchs ; and to 
 be shut up here with these palace proprieties is as irk- 
 some to me as Timour's iron cage was to my grand- 
 father Bajazet. I think I shall put my harem on horse- 
 back, and take to the fields. Scudding out of Albania 
 with Scanderbeg at one's heels were preferable to 
 this busy idleness. You have had a rapid ride to get 
 from Brusa so soon, and look winded. Roll yourself 
 on that wolf's skin. I killed that fellow in 
 Caramania. By the turban of Abraham ! your red 
 head looks well against the black hide. But why 
 don't you laugh ? Have they made a Padishah of you, 
 too, that you must mask your face with care ? " 
 
 " I have a care, Sire," said the soldier. 
 
 " Tell me it," said the Sultan, " and I'll make it fly 
 away as fast as the Prophet's horse took him to the 
 seventh heaven." 
 
 " The Janizaries are restless, Sire." 
 
 " Does not the donative I have announced pacify 
 them ? " 
 
 " I have not heard of it," said the officer. 
 
 " Listen ! Is not that their shout ? " Shout after 
 shout rent the air from the court without. 
 
 The Janizary turned pale ; but in a moment said, 
 " Your donative has been announced. They are 
 cheering your Majesty." 
 
 " Long live the Padishah I " " Long life to Maho- 
 met ! " rang again and again. 
 
 " I thank you, Sire," eagerly cried the young man, 
 kissing the hand of the Sultan. 
 
 " What, else would they have ? " asked he.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 261 
 
 " Nothing but chance to show their gratitude by vali- 
 ant service," was the reply. 
 
 " This they shall have, with you to lead them," 
 putting his hand on the young officer's shoulder. 
 
 " Nay, Sire, I may not supplant those who are my 
 superiors by virtue of service already rendered." 
 
 " But I command it. The corps shall to-morrow 
 be put under your orders as their chief Aga." 
 
 " I beg your Majesty to desist from this purpose," 
 said Ballaban. " The spirit of the corps, its efficiency, 
 depends upon the strictest observance of the ancient 
 rules of Orchan and Aladdin. By them we have been 
 made what we are." , 
 
 " But," cried Mahomet angrily, " there shall be 
 no other will than mine throughout the army." 
 
 " I would have no other will than thine, Sire," was 
 the response ; " but it were well if your will should be 
 to leave the Janizaries' rule untouched." 
 
 " You young rebel ! cried Mahomet, half vexed yet 
 half pleased as, bursting into a laugh, he dashed over 
 the face of his friend a jar of iced sherbet which was 
 upon a lacquered stand at his side. 
 
 " You may thank the devil that it wasn't the arrow 
 I once shot you with," said the playful tyrant, as Bal- 
 laban jumped to his feet. 
 
 " If you were not the Sultan now, I would pull 
 you from the bed, as I pulled you from your horse 
 that day," replied the good-natured favorite, making a 
 motion as if to execute the threat. 
 
 "You are right," said Mahomet rising. " I am Sul- 
 tan ! Sultan ? pshaw ! Yet Sultan, surely." He paced 
 the floor in deep agitation, and at length said, " I
 
 262 THE CAPTAIN OF THE 'JANIZARIES. 
 
 have a duty to perform, than which I woulcf-rather cut 
 off my arms." 
 
 " Let me do the deed, though it takes my arm and 
 my life," said Ballaban eagerly. 
 
 " You know not what it is, my old comrade." 
 
 " But I pledge before I know," was the response 
 which came from stiffened lips and bowed head, as 
 the captain made his obeisance. 
 
 The Sultan looked him in the face long and earnestly, 
 and then, turning away, said : 
 
 " No ! no ! there are hands less noble than yours." 
 
 " But try me, Sire." 
 
 " You know the custom of our ancestors, approved 
 by the wisdom of divans, as an expedient essential to 
 the peace and safety of the empire, that But I can not 
 speak it: nor will I ask it of you. Leave me, Captain. 
 Come to-morrow at this hour. I shall need the relief 
 of your company then, even more than to-day." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 AN hour later the Kislar Aga, chief of the black 
 eunuchs in charge of the royal harem, was 
 announced. 
 
 " Well, Sinam, have any of your herd of gazelles 
 escaped ?" asked the Sultan. 
 
 " None. But Mira Sultana would pay her homage 
 at your Majesty's feet."
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 263 
 
 " Mira, the Greek ? " said Mahomet, the deep color 
 rising to his temples. 
 
 Lowering his tone to a whisper, he conversed for a 
 few moments with the eunuch, who prostrated himself 
 upon the ground, and with harsh, yet thin voice, said: 
 
 " Your Majesty is wise, very wise. Your will is that 
 of Allah, the Great Hunkiar. It shall be done." 
 
 Mira was a beautiful woman. The light texture of 
 her robe revealed a perfect form ; and the thin veil 
 lent a charm to her face, such as shadows send across 
 the landscape. 
 
 Mahomet shuddered, as the kneeling woman 
 embraced his feet. The words of her congratulation 
 to the young monarch, her protestation of devotion to 
 him as to his father, though uttered with the sweetest 
 voice he had ever heard, and with evident honesty, 
 sent a visible tremor through the frame of her listener. 
 And when she added, " My child, Ahmed, the image 
 of his noble father and thine, will serve thee with his 
 life, and" 
 
 " It is well ! It is well," interrupted the Sultan. 
 " Be gone now ! " 
 
 The morning following was one in which the hearts 
 of the citizens of Adrianople stood almost throbless 
 with horror. Mothers clasped their babes with a shud- 
 der to their breasts ; and fathers stroked the fair hair 
 of their boys, and thanked Allah that no tide of royal 
 blood ran in their veins. A story afterward floated 
 over the lands of Moslem and Christian, as terrible as 
 a cloud of blood, dropping its shadow into palace and 
 cottage, and dyeing that page of history on which 
 Mahomet's name is written with a damning blot.
 
 264 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 While Mira Sultana was bowing at the feet of the 
 new monarch, congratulating him upon his accession 
 to the throne, her infant son, Ahmed, half brother to 
 Mahomet, was being strangled in the bath by his 
 orders. Another son of Amurath, Calapin, had, 
 through his mother's timely suspicion, escaped to the 
 land of the Christians. 
 
 It was late in the day when Captain Ballaban 
 appeared for audience with the Sultan. His Majesty 
 was apparently in the gayest of moods. 
 
 " Come, toss me the dice ! We have not played 
 since I laid aside my manhood and put on the Padi- 
 shah's cloak. Come ! What ? Have you no stake to 
 put up ? Then I will stake for both. A Turkoman, 
 the father of my own bride, has sent me a bevy of 
 women, Georgians, with faces as fair as the shell of an 
 ostrich's egg,* and voices as sweet as of the birds which 
 sang to the harp of David. f The choice to him who 
 wins ! What ! does not that tempt the cloud to 
 drift off your face ? Then have your choice without 
 the toss. What ! still brooding ?" added he, growing 
 angry. " By the holy house at Mecca ! I'll make 
 you laugh if I tickle your ribs with my dagger's point." 
 
 " You made me promise that I would be true to 
 you, my Padishah, and if I should laugh to-day I 
 would not be true," replied Ballaban quietly. " My 
 face wears the shadows which the people have thrown 
 into it." 
 
 " The people ?" said Mahomet growing pale. 
 
 * The type of a beautiful complexion according to the Koran, 
 Chap. XXXVII. 
 
 f Koran, Chap. XXXIV.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 265 
 
 " Ay, the people have heard the wailing of the 
 Sultana." 
 
 " For what ? Tell me for what ? " asked the Sultan 
 with feigned surprise. 
 
 Ballaban narrated the story which was on every 
 one's lips. 
 
 " It is treason against me," cried the monarch. 
 Summoning the Capee Aga he bade him call the 
 divan. 
 
 The great personages of the empire were speedily 
 gathered in the audience room. At the right of the 
 Sultan stood the Grand Vizier and three subordinate 
 viziers. On his left was the Kadiasker, the chief of 
 the judges, with other members of the ulema or guild 
 of lawyers, constituting the high court. The Reis- 
 Effendi, or clerk, stood with his tablets before the 
 seat of the Sultan. The rear of the room was filled 
 with various princes and high officials. 
 
 Turning to the Kadiasker, the Sultan asked: 
 
 " What is the denomination of the crime, and the 
 penalty of him who, unbidden by the Padishah, shall 
 put to death a child of royal blood ? " 
 
 The Kadiasker, after a moment's evident surprise 
 at the question, pronounced slowly the following 
 decision: 
 
 " It were a double crime, Sire, being both murder 
 and treason. And if perchance the child were father- 
 less, let a triple curse come upon the slayer. For 
 what saith the Book of the Prophet ?* ' They who 
 devour the possessions of orphans unjustly, shall 
 swallow down nothing but fire into their bellies, and 
 
 *Koran, Chap. IV.
 
 266 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 shall broil in raging flames.' If such be the curse 
 of Allah upon him who shall despoil the child of his 
 rightful goods, much more does Allah bid us visit 
 with vengeance one who despoils the child of that 
 chief est possession his life. Such is the law, O Zil 
 Ullah."* 
 
 Turning to the Kislar Aga, Mahomet commanded 
 him to give testimony. 
 
 The'Nubian trembled as he looked into the blanched 
 face of the Sultan ; but soon recovered his self pos- 
 session sufficiently to read his master's thoughts, and 
 said, 
 
 " The child of Mira Sultana was found dead at the 
 bath while in the hands of Sayid." 
 
 " Was Sayid the child's appointed attendant ? " 
 asked the Kadiasker. 
 
 " He was not," was the response. 
 
 " Let him die ! " said the judge slowly. 
 
 " Let him die ! " repeated the Grand Vizier. 
 
 The Sultan bowed in assent and withdrew. 
 
 The swift vengeance of the Padishah was hailed 
 with applause by the officials, as if it had erased the 
 blood guilt from the robe of royal honor ; but the peo- 
 ple shook their heads, and kept shadows on their faces 
 for many days. 
 
 " I tire of this life in the barracks," said Captain 
 Ballaban to the Sultan, shortly after this event. 
 
 " Speak honestly, man," was the reply. " You tire 
 of me ; my heart is not large enough to entertain one 
 of such ambition." 
 
 " Nay, Sire, but I would get nearer to the innermost 
 * Shadow of God, one of the titles of the Sultan.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 267 
 
 core of your heart, into that which is your deepest 
 desire." 
 
 " And where, think you, is that spot ? " said the Sul- 
 tan smiling. 
 
 " Constantinople," was the laconic response. 
 
 " Ah ! true lover of mine art thou, if you would be 
 there. Until I put the Mihrab* in the walls of St. 
 Sophia, I shall not sleep without the dream that I 
 have done it. Know you not the dream of Othman ? 
 how the leaves of the tree which sprang from his 
 bosom when the fair Malkhatoon, the mother of all the 
 Padishahs, sank upon it, were shaped like cimeters, 
 and every wind turned their points toward Constanti- 
 nople ? My waking and sleeping thoughts are the 
 leaves. The spirit of Othman breathes through my 
 soul and turns them thither. Go ! and prepare my 
 coming. The walls withstood my father Amurath. 
 Discover why ? I hear that Urban, the cannon founder, 
 is in the pay of the Greeks. He who discovered a 
 way to turn the Dibrians against Sfetigrade can find a 
 way to turn a foreigner's eyes from the battered crown 
 of the Caesars to something brighter Go, and Allah 
 give you wisdom ! " 
 
 The reader is acquainted with the immediate sequel 
 of Captain Ballaban's departure, his adventure with 
 the Italian desperadoes at the old reservoir, and his 
 success with Urban. 
 
 * The niche in mosques, on the side toward Mecca, in the di- 
 rection of which the Moslems turn their faces to pray.
 
 268 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 THE siege and capture of Constantinople by the 
 Turks in 1453, was, with the exception of the 
 discovery of America, the most significant event of 
 the fifteenth century. The Eastern Roman Empire 
 then perished, after eleven centuries of glory and 
 shame ; of heroic conquests, and pusillanimous com- 
 promises with other powers for the privilege of exis- 
 tence ; exhibiting on its throne the virtues and wis- 
 dom of Theodosius and Justinian, and the vices and 
 follies of emperors and empresses whose names it were 
 well that the world should forget. 
 
 But the historic importance of the siege was matched 
 by the thrilling interest which attaches to its scenes. 
 
 The last of the Constantines, from whose hands the 
 queenly city was wrested, was worthy the name borne 
 by its great founder, not, perhaps, for his display of 
 genius in government and command, but for the pious 
 devotion and sacrificial courage with which he defended 
 his trust. A band of less than ten thousand Christians, 
 mostly Greeks, and a few Latins whose love for the 
 essential truth of their religion was stronger than their 
 bigotry for sect, withstood for many weeks the hor- 
 rors which were poured upon them by a quarter of a 
 million Moslems. These foes were made presumptu- 
 ous by nearly a century of unchecked conquest ; their 
 hot blood boiled with fury and daring excited by the 
 promises of their religion, which opened paradise to 
 those that perished with the sword ; and they were
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 269 
 
 led by the first flashings of the startling genius and 
 audacity of Mahomet II. 
 
 The Bosphorus was blockaded six miles above the 
 city by the new fortress, Rumili-Hissar, the Castle of 
 Europe ; answering across the narrow strait to 
 Anadolu-Hissari the Castles of Asia. 
 
 A fleet of three hundred Moslem vessels crowded 
 the entrance to the Bosphorus, to resist any Western 
 ally of the Christians that might have run the gaunt- 
 let of forts which guarded the lower entrance to Mar- 
 mora. At the same time this naval force threatened 
 the long water front of the city with overwhelming 
 assault. The wall which lay between the sea of 
 Marmora and the Golden Horn, and made the city a 
 triangle, looked down upon armies gathered from the 
 many lands between the Euphrates and Danube ; 
 the feudal chivalry from their ziamets under magnifi- 
 cently accoutred beys ; the terrible Akindji, the 
 mounted scourge of the borders of Christendom ; the 
 motley hordes of Azabs, light irregular foot-soldiers, 
 these filling the plains for miles away : while about 
 the tents of the Sultan were the Royal Horse Guards, 
 the Spahis, Salihdars, Ouloufedji and Ghoureba, 
 rivals for the applause of the nations, as the most 
 daring of riders and most skilful of swordsmen : and 
 the Janizaries, who boasted that their tread was as 
 resistless as the waves of an earthquake. 
 
 Miners from Servia were ready to burrow beneath 
 the walls. A great cannon cast by Urban, the Dacian, 
 who had deserted from the Christian to the Moslem 
 camp, gaped ready to hurl its stone balls of six hun- 
 dred pounds weight. It was flanked by two almost
 
 270 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 equally enormous fire-vomiting dragons, as the new 
 artillery was called : while fourteen other batteries of 
 lesser ordnance were waiting to pour their still novel 
 destruction upon the works. Ancient art blended with 
 modern science in the attack ; for battering rams sup- 
 plemented cannon, and trenches breast-deep completed 
 the lines of shields. Moving forts of wood antagon- 
 ized, across the deep moat, the old stone towers, which 
 during the centuries had hurled back their assailants 
 in more than twenty sieges. The various hosts of 
 besiegers in their daily movements were like the folds 
 of an enormous serpent, writhing in ever contracting 
 circles about the body of some helpless prey. From 
 dawn to dark the walls crumbled beneath the pound- 
 ing of the artillery ; but from dark to dawn they rose 
 again under the toil of the sleepless defenders. 
 
 Thousands, impelled by the commands of the Sul- 
 tan, and more, perhaps, by the prospect of reward in 
 this world, and in another, out of which bright-eyed 
 houris were watching their prospective lords, mounted 
 the scaling ladders only to fill with their bodies the 
 moat beneath. At the point of greatest danger the 
 besieged were inspired with the courage of their 
 Emperor, and by the aid of the bands of Italians whom 
 the purse and the appeals of John Giustiniani had 
 brought as the last offering of the common faith of 
 Christendom upon the great altar already dripping 
 with a nation's blood. 
 
 Sometimes when the Christians, whose fewness 
 compared with the assailants compelled them to serve 
 both day and night, were discouraged by incessant 
 danger and fatigue, a light form in helmet and breast-
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 271 
 
 plate moved among them, regardless of arrows and 
 bullets of lead : now stooping to staunch the wounds 
 of the fallen ; now mounting the parapet, where scores 
 of stout soldiers shielded her with their bodies, and 
 hailed her presence with the shout of " The Albanian ! 
 The Albanian ! " The reverence which the soldiers 
 gave to the devoted nuns, who were incessant in their 
 ministry of mercy, was surpassed by that with which 
 they regarded Morsinia. She had become in their 
 eyes the impersonation of the cause for which they 
 were struggling. 
 
 The interruption by the war of the negotiations 
 with the Emir of Trebizond, whose daughter had been 
 selected as the imperial spouse, revived the rumors 
 which had once associated the fair Albanian's name 
 with that of his Majesty ; and gave rise to a nick- 
 name, " the Little Empress," which, among the soldiers, 
 came to be spoken with almost as much loyalty of 
 personal devotion, as if it had received the imperial 
 sanction. 
 
 Constantine's solicitude led him to remonstrate with 
 Morsinia for the exposure of her person to the dan- 
 gers of the wall : but she replied 
 
 " Have you not said, my dear brother, that the 
 defence is hopeless ? that the city must fall ? What 
 fate then awaits me ? The Turks have service for men 
 whom they capture, which, though hard, is not damn- 
 ing to body and soul. What if they send you to the 
 mines, to the galleys ? What if they slay you ? You 
 can endure that. Yet I know that you yourself would 
 perish in the fight before you would submit to even 
 such a fate. But what is the destiny of a woman who
 
 27 2 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 shall fall into their hands ? It is better to die than to 
 be taken captive. And is not yonder breach where the 
 men of the true God are giving their lives for their 
 faith, as sacred as was ever an altar on earth ? Is not 
 the crown of martyrdom better than a living death in 
 the harem of the infidel ? The arrow that finds me 
 there on the wall shall be to me as an angel from heaven ; 
 and a death-wound received there will be as painless 
 to my soul as the kiss of God." 
 
 " But this must not be ! " cried Constantine. " Our 
 valor, if it does not save the city, may lead to surren- 
 der upon terms which shall save all the lives of the 
 people." 
 
 " It is impossible," replied she. " His Majesty 
 informed me yesterday that Mahomet had pledged to 
 his soldiers the spoil of the city, with unlimited license 
 to pillage." 
 
 Constantine was silent, but at length added. " If 
 worst comes, it will then be time enough to expose 
 your life." 
 
 " But the end is near, dear Constantine. The city 
 is badly provisioned. The poor are already starving. 
 The garrison is on allowance which can sustain it but 
 a few days. Besides, as you have told me, the Ital- 
 ians are at feud with the Greeks, and ready to open 
 the gates if famine presses upon them." 
 
 " Yes, curses on the head of that monk Gennadius, 
 who sends insult to our allies every day from his cell I " 
 muttered Constantine. " But I cannot see you in dan- 
 ger, Morsinia. Promise me for your life is dearer 
 to me than my own that you will not go upon the 
 walls. I need not the solemn oath to, our brave Cas--
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 273 
 
 triot, and that to our father Kabilovitsch, that I will 
 guard you. But, if not for my sake, then for their 
 sake, take my counsel. I know that you are under the 
 special care of the Blessed Jesu. Has He not shielded 
 us both me for your sake many times before ? " 
 
 " Your words are wise, my brother. You need net 
 urge the will of Castriot and father Kabilovitsch, for 
 your own wish is to me as sacred as that of any one on 
 earth," said she, looking him in the eyes with the rev- 
 erence of affection, and yielding to his embrace as he 
 kissed her forehead. 
 
 " But," added she, " I must exact of you one prom- 
 ise." 
 
 " Any thing, my darling, that is consistent with your 
 safety," was the quick reply. 
 
 " It is this. Promise me, by the Virgin Mother of 
 God, that you will not allow me to become a living 
 captive to the Turk." 
 
 " Not if my life can shield you. This you know ! " 
 
 " Yes, I would not ask that, but something harder 
 than that you should die for me." 
 
 A pallor spread over the face of Constantine, for he 
 suspected her meaning, yet asked, " And what what 
 may that be ? " 
 
 " Take my life with your own hand, rather than that 
 a Turk should touch me," said Morsinia, without the 
 slightest tremor in her voice. 
 
 Constantine stood aghast. Morsinia continued, taking 
 his strong right hand in hers, and raising it to her 
 lips 
 
 " That were joy, indeed, if the hand of him who 
 loves me, the hand which has saved me from danger 
 18
 
 274 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 so often could redeem me from this which I fear 
 more than a thousand deaths ! Promise me for love's 
 sake ! " 
 
 " I may not promise such a thing," said the young 
 lover, with a voice which showed that her request 
 had cut him to the heart. 
 
 " Then you love me not," said the girl, turning 
 away. 
 
 But the look upon Constantine's face showed the 
 terrible tragedy which was in his soul, and that such 
 an accusation brought it too near its culmination. 
 Instantly she threw herself into his arms. 
 
 " Forgive me ! forgive me ! " cried she. " I will 
 not impugn that love which has proved itself too 
 often. But let us speak calmly of it. Why should 
 you shrink from this ? " she asked, leading him to a 
 seat beside her. 
 
 " Because I love you. My hand would become 
 paralyzed sooner than touch rudely a hair of your 
 head." 
 
 " Nay, in that you do not know yourself," said 
 Morsinia. " Would you not pluck a mole from my 
 face if I was marred by it in your eyes ! " 
 
 " But that would be to perfect, not to harm you," 
 said Constantine. 
 
 " And did you not hold the hand of the poor soldier 
 to-day, while the leech was cutting him, lest the 
 gangrene should infect his whole body with poison ? 
 And would you not have done so had he been your 
 long lost brother, Michael, whom you loved ? And 
 would you not have done it more willingly because 
 you loved him ? "
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 275 
 
 " Yes," said Constantine, " but that would be to 
 save life, not to destroy it." 
 
 " But what, my brother dear, is the fairness of a 
 face compared with the fairness of honor ? What the 
 breath of the body, when both the body and the soul 
 in it are threatened with contamination of such 
 an existence as every woman receives from the 
 Turk ? " 
 
 " I cannot argue with you, Morsinia. My nature 
 rebels against the deed you propose." 
 
 " But," replied she, " is not love nobler, and should 
 it not be stronger, than nature ? If nature should 
 rebel against love, let love crush the rebellion, and 
 show its sovereignty. If my hand should tremble to 
 do aught that your true service required, I would 
 accuse my hand of lack of devotion. But I think 
 that men do not know the fulness of love as women 
 do." 
 
 " Let me ask the question of you, Morsinia," replied 
 the young lover after a pause. " Could you take my 
 life as I lie here ? Will your hand mix the poison to 
 put to my lips in the event of the Turk entering the 
 city ? My life will be worse than death in its bitter- 
 ness if you are lost to me." 
 
 Morsinia pondered the question, growing pale 
 with the fearfulness of the thought. For a while she 
 was speechless. The imagination started by Constan- 
 tino's question seemed to stun her. She stared at 
 the vague distance. At length she burst into tears, 
 and laying her head upon her companion's shoulder, 
 said: 
 
 " I love you too dearly, Constantine, to ask that of
 
 276 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 you which you shrink from doing. There is another 
 who can render me the service." 
 
 " Who would dare ? " said Constantine, rising and 
 gazing wildly at her. " Who would dare to touch you, 
 even at your own bidding ? " 
 
 " I would," said Morsinia quietly. " And this I shall 
 save for the moment when I need the last friend on 
 earth," she added, drawing from her dress the bright 
 blade of an Italian stiletto. " Perhaps, my heart would 
 tremble, and my flesh shrink from the sharp point, 
 though I love not myself as I love you." 
 
 " Let us talk no more of this," said Constantine, 
 " but leave it for the hour of necessity, which happily 
 I think will not soon come. I must tell you now for 
 what I sought you. I have been ordered this very 
 night to aid in a venture which, heaven grant ! shall 
 re-provision the city. Several large galleys, laden with 
 corn and oil, are now coming up the sea from Genoa. 
 If they see the cordon of the enemy's ships drawn 
 across the harbor, not knowing the extremity to which 
 the city is reduced, they may return without venturing 
 an encounter. I am to reach them, and, if possible, 
 induce them to cut their way through. The great 
 chain at the entrance to the Golden Horn will be low- 
 ered at the opportune moment, and all the shipping 
 in the harbor will make an attack upon the enemy's 
 fleet. Of this our allies must be informed. As soon 
 as it is dark I shall drift in a swift little skiff between 
 these Turkish boats ; and before the dawn I shall 
 be far down on Marmora. To-morrow night, if 
 your prayers are offered, Jesu will grant us suc- 
 cess,"
 
 THE CAPTAIN' OF THE JANIZARIES. 277 
 
 With a kiss he released himself from her embrace 
 and was gone. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 pONSTANTINE eluded the heavy boats of the 
 \j Turks, which were anchored to prevent their drift- 
 ing away upon the swift current with which the Black 
 Sea discharges itself through the Bosphorus into Mar- 
 mora. Upon meetingthe befriendinggalleys, it was with 
 little difficulty that he persuaded the Genoese captains 
 to risk the encounter with the Turkish fleet. As Con- 
 stantine pointed out to the Italian captains, the enor- 
 mous navy of the blockaders, formed in the shape of 
 a crescent, and stretched from the wall of the city 
 across to the Asiatic shore, presented a more formida- 
 ble obstacle to the eye than to the swift and skilfully 
 manned Genoese galleys. The Turkish boats were 
 generally but small craft, and laden down to the wa- 
 ter's edge with men. The Genoese had four galleys, 
 together with one which belonged to Byzantium. 
 These were vessels of the largest size, constructed 
 by men who had learned to assert their prowess as 
 lords of the sea. They were armed with cannon 
 adapted to sweep the deck of an adversary at short 
 range : a weapon which the Turks had not yet floated, 
 though they were in advance of the Christians in us- 
 ing such artillery on land. The high sides of the
 
 278 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 Christian galleys, moreover, prevented their being 
 boarded except with dangerous climbing, while the 
 defenders stood ready to pour the famous liquid called 
 " Greek fire " upon the heads of those who should 
 attempt it. Besides, heaven favored the Christians ; 
 for a strong gale was blowing, which, while it tossed the 
 boats of their adversaries beyond their easy control, 
 filled the sails of the Genoese, and sent them bounding 
 over the waves : the oarsmen sitting ready to catch 
 deftly into the bending billows with their blades. 
 Each of the five vessels chose for a target a large one 
 of the Turks, and clove it with its iron prow : while 
 the cannon swept the Turkish soldiers by hundreds 
 from other boats near to them. Passing through the 
 thin crescent, the Christian galleys skilfully tacked, and, 
 careening upon their sides, again assailed the Turks be- 
 fore they could evade their swift and resistless mo- 
 mentum. Again and again the galleys passed, like shut- 
 tles on a loom, through the line of the enemy, sinking 
 the unwieldy hulks and drowning the crowded crews. 
 
 From the walls and house tops of the city went up 
 huzzas for the victors and praises to heaven. From 
 the shores of Asia, and from below the city wall, thou- 
 sands of Moslems groaned their imprecations. The 
 Sultan raged upon the beach, as he saw one after an- 
 other of his pennants sink beneath the waves. Dash- 
 ing far into the sea upon his horse, he vented his im- 
 potent fury in beating the water with his mace, shriek- 
 ing maledictions into the laughing winds, and invoking 
 upon the Christians curses from all the Pagan gods 
 and Moslem saints. 
 
 At one moment the Byzantine galley was nearly
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 279 
 
 overcome, having been caught in a group of Turkish 
 boats, whose occupants climbed her sides, and did 
 murderous work among the crew. Though ultimately 
 rescued by the Genoese, it was only after severe loss. 
 
 But above all other casualties the Christians 
 mourned the fate of young Constantine. With almost 
 superhuman strength he had cut down several assail- 
 ants ; but was finally set upon by such odds that he 
 was pressed over the low bulwarks, and fell into the 
 sea. The galley with its consorts made way to the 
 chain at the entrance to the Golden Horn, where the 
 rich stores, a thousand times richer now in the 
 necessity which they relieved, were received amid the 
 acclamations of the grateful Greeks. 
 
 But woe, Oh, so heavy ! crushed one solitary 
 heart. Her eyes stared wildly at the messenger who 
 brought the fatal tidings ; and stared, hour by 
 hour, in their stony grief, upon the wall of her 
 apartment. Kind attendants spoke to her, but she 
 heard them not. Her soul seemed to have gone 
 seeking in other worlds the soul of her lover. The 
 servants, awed by the majesty of her sorrow, sat 
 down in the court without, and waited : but she called 
 them not. Daylight faded into darkness. The lamp 
 which was brought she waved with her hand to have 
 taken away. The maidens who came to disrobe her 
 for the night found her bowed with her face upon the 
 couch ; and, receiving no response to their proffered 
 offices, retired again to wait. 
 
 The morning came ; and the cheer of the sunlight 
 which, quickening the outer world, poured through 
 the windows high in the Walls of her apartment,
 
 280 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 seemed to awaken her from her trance. But how 
 changed in appearance ! The ruddy hue of health, 
 and the bronzing of daily exposure to the open air, 
 seemed alike to have been blanched by that which had 
 taken hope from her soul. Her eyes were sunken, 
 and the lustre in them, though not lessened, now 
 seemed to come from an infinite depth from some 
 distant, inner world which had lost all relation to this, 
 as a passing star. Morsinia rose, weak at first ; but 
 her limbs grew strong with the imparted strength of 
 her will. She ate ; and speaking aloud but more in 
 addressing herself than her attendants said: " I will 
 away to the walls ! " 
 
 Through the masses of debris, and among the 
 groups of men who were resting and waiting to take 
 the places of their wearied comrades on the ramparts, 
 she went straight to the gate of St. Romanus, where 
 the assaults were most incessant. The cry of " The 
 Little Empress ! " gave way to that of " The Panurgia ! 
 The Panurgia ! " * as some, though familiar with 
 her form, were startled by the almost unearthly change 
 of her countenance. She returned no salutation as was 
 usual with her, but, as if impelled by some superhu- 
 man purpose, her beauty lit as with a halo by the 
 majesty of a celestial passion, she climbed the steps 
 into the tottering tower above the gate. A strong, 
 but gentle hand was put upon her arm. It was that 
 of the Emperor. 
 
 " My daughter, you must not be here. Come away ! " 
 
 * The Panurgia, a name given to the Holy Virgin, who at a 
 former siege of Constantinople, in 1422, was imagined to have 
 appeared upon the wall for its defense.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 281 
 
 She looked at him for an instant in hesitation ; and 
 then, bowing her head, responded in scarcely audible 
 voice : 
 
 " I will obey you, Sire," and added, speaking to 
 herself 
 
 " It is his will too." 
 
 " I know your grief," said his majesty kindly, 
 " and now, as your Emperor, I must protect you 
 against yourself." 
 
 " I want no protection," cried the broken-hearted 
 girl. " Oh, let me die ! For what should I live ? " 
 
 " My dear child," said the Emperor with trembling 
 voice, while the tears filled his eyes. " In other days 
 your holy faith taught me how to be strong. Now, in 
 your necessity, let me repeat to you the lesson. For 
 what shall you live ? For what should / live ? I am 
 Emperor, but my empire is doomed. I live no longer 
 for earthly hope, but solely to do duty ; nothing but 
 duty, stern duty, painful every instant, crushing 
 always, but a burden heaven imposed on a breaking 
 heart. That heaven appoints it that, and that alone 
 makes me willing to live and do it. When the time 
 comes I shall seek death where the slain lie the 
 thickest. But not to-day ; for to-day I can serve. 
 Live for duty ! Live for God ! The days may not be 
 many before we shall clasp hands with those who, 
 now invisible, are looking upon us. Let us go and 
 cheer the living before we seek the companionship of 
 the dead." 
 
 As the Emperor spoke, his face glowed with a 
 majesty of soul which made the symbol of earthly maj- 
 esty that adorned his brow seem poor indeed.
 
 282 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 Gazing a moment with reverent amazement at the 
 man who had already received the divine anointing 
 for the sacrifice of martyrdom he was so soon to offer, 
 Morsinia responded : 
 
 " Your words, Sire, come to me as from the lips of 
 God. I will go and pray, and then then I shall live 
 for duty." 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 MAHOMET had not expended all his petulant rage 
 upon feelingless waves and distant Christians. 
 He summoned to his presence the Admiral of his 
 defeated fleet, Baltaoghli, and ordered that he should 
 be impaled. 
 
 The Admiral had shown as much naval skill as could, 
 perhaps, have been exhibited with the unwieldy boats 
 at his command ; and, moreover, had brought from 
 the fight an eyeless socket to attest his bravery and 
 devotion. The penalty, therefore, which Mahomet 
 attached to his misfortune, brought cries of entreaty 
 in his behalf from other brave officers, especially from 
 the leading Janizaries. This opposition at first con- 
 firmed the determination of the irate despot. But 
 soon the petition of the honored corps swelled into a 
 murmur, which the more experienced of his advisers 
 persuaded Mahomet to heed. 
 
 The Sultan had schooled himself to obey the precept
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 283 
 
 which Yusef, the eunuch, who instructed his childhood, 
 had imparted, viz, " Make passion bend to policy." 
 He therefore apparently yielded, so far at least as to 
 compromise with those whom he feared to offend, and 
 commuted the Admiral's sentence to a flogging. 
 
 The brave man was stretched upon the ground by 
 four slaves. Turning to Captain Ballaban, the Sultan 
 'bade him lay on the lash. Ballaban hesitated. Draw- 
 ing near to Mahomet, he said respectfully, but firmly, 
 
 " The Janizaries are soldiers, not executioners, Sire." 
 
 Mahomet's rage burst as suddenly as powder under 
 the spark. 
 
 " Away with the rebel ! " cried he. " We will find 
 the executioner for him, too, who dares to disobey our 
 orders." 
 
 Seizing his golden mace, the Sultan himself beat the 
 prostrate form of the Admiral until it was senseless. 
 
 Wearying of his bloody work, Mahomet glared like a 
 half satiated beast upon those about him. 
 
 " Where is the damned rebel who dares dispute my 
 will ? Did no orte arrest him ?" 
 
 " The order was not so understood," said an Aga 
 who was near. 
 
 " You understand it now," growled the infuriated, 
 yet half-ashamed, monarch. " Arrest him ! But no ! 
 Let these slaves go search for the runaway. It shall 
 be their office to deal with one who dares to break 
 with my will." 
 
 The Janizaries returned to their places near the 
 walls. 
 
 Mahomet was ill at ease when his better judgment 
 displaced his unwise passion. His love for Ballaban,
 
 284 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 the manliness of the captain's reply to the unreasona- 
 ble order, and the danger of injuring one who stood 
 so high in the estimate of the entire Janizary corps, 
 were not outweighed even by the sense of the indig- 
 nity which the act of disobedience had put upon the 
 royal authority. 
 
 The slaves, not daring to venture among the Jani- 
 zaries in their search for Captain Ballaban, easily per- 
 suaded themselves that he must have fled '; and that, 
 perhaps, he might be lurking somewhere on the shore, 
 as this was the only way of escape. Their search was 
 rewarded. Though in the disguise of scant garments, 
 utterly exhausted so that he could make no resistance, 
 their victim was readily recognized by his form and 
 features, which were too peculiar to be mistaken. 
 The captain had apparently attempted to escape by 
 water ; perhaps, had ventured upon some chance 
 kaik or raft, and been wrecked in the caldron which 
 the strong south wind made with the current pouring 
 from the north. 
 
 His wet garments, such as he had not stripped off, 
 and his exhausted look confirmed their theory. 
 
 One of their number brought the report to the Grand 
 Vizier, Kalil, who repeated it to the Sultan. 
 
 " I will deal with him in person. Let no one know 
 of the capture until I have seen him," said Mahomet, 
 seeking an opportunity to revoke the threat against 
 his friend, which he had uttered in insane rage ; and, 
 at the same time, to cover his imperial dignity by the 
 semblance of a trial. 
 
 The culprit was brought in the early evening to the 
 Sultan's tent. A large lantern of various colored crys-
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 285 
 
 tals hung from the ridge-pole, and threw its beauti- 
 ful, but partly obscured, light over the arraigned 
 man. 
 
 His captors had clothed him in the uniform of the 
 Janizaries. 
 
 " His face has a strange look, as if another's soul 
 had taken lodging behind the familiar lineaments," 
 the Sultan remarked to Kalil as he scanned the cul- 
 prit closely. 
 
 " Do you know, knave, in whose presence you 
 are ? " said Mahomet, sternly. 
 
 " I know not, Sire, except that the excellent adorn- 
 ment of your person and pavilion suggest that I am 
 in the presence of his majesty the " 
 
 " Silence, villain ! do you mock me ? " cried the 
 Padishah, in surprise at the man's assumed ignor- 
 ance. 
 
 " I mock thee not, Sire," said the victim, bowing with 
 courtly reverence, and speaking in a sort of patois of 
 Greek and Turkish. " But I was about to say that I 
 know thee not, except that from the excellence of thy 
 person and estate thou art none less " 
 
 " Silence, you dog ! This is no time for your famil- 
 iar jesting, Ballaban. Speak pure tongue, or I'll 
 cut thine from thy head ! " interrupted the Padi- 
 shah. 
 
 " I speak as best I can," replied the man, " for I 
 was not brought up to the Turkish tongue. I presume 
 that I address the king of the Turks." 
 
 " Miserable wretch ! " hissed his majesty, drawing 
 his jewelled sword. " Dare you call me king of the 
 Turks ? TURKS ! thou circumcised Christian dog ! thou
 
 286 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 pup of Nazarene parentage ! thou damned infidel, 
 beplastered with Moslem favors ! " * 
 
 " It would seem that I needed Moslem favors, which 
 in my destitute condition and imminent danger, 1 
 most humbly crave," replied the object of this 
 contumely. 
 
 " Are you mad ? " shrieked the Sultan, rising and 
 glaring into the other's face. " You are mad, man. 
 Poor soul ! Ay ! Ay ! I see it now. Some demon has 
 possessed you. Some witch has blown on the knots 
 against you." f 
 
 " I am not mad, Sire," said the culprit, " but a poor 
 castaway on your coast." 
 
 " Hear him, poor fellow ! so mad that he knows not 
 himself. Well ! well ! I must forgive you then for 
 not knowing me," said Mahomet, with genuine pity. 
 " Did you love me so, old comrade, that my harsh 
 words knocked over your reason ? or did your reason, 
 toppling over, lead you to challenge me as you 
 did ? We must cure this malady, though it takes the 
 treasure of the empire to do it." Lowering his voice 
 he addressed the Vizier : 
 
 " I could not believe that my faithful comrade would 
 have rebelled. It was not he, but the demon who 
 has possessed him. Think you not so, good Kalil ? " 
 
 * TheOttomans regard the appellation of " King of the TURKS " 
 as an insult, since the Turks are comparatively few of the many 
 subjects of the Sultan in Europe. Some of the most distinguished 
 servants of the empire are of Christian parentage, and either have 
 been conquered or have voluntarily submitted to the domin- 
 ation of the Moslem. 
 
 f The Moslem superstition led them to believe that witches, by 
 tying knots in a cord and blowing on them, brought evil to the 
 person they had in mind.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 287 
 
 The Vizier bowed in assent to the Sultan's theory, 
 and whispered, " It provides a wise escape from antag- 
 onizing the Janizaries. But you should summon a 
 physician." 
 
 Clapping his hands, an attendant appeared, who 
 was dispatched for the court physician ; a man of 
 fame in his profession, whose duty it was to be always 
 within call of the Sultan. 
 
 The physician entering, examined the culprit, 
 looking into his eyes, balancing his head between his 
 hands to determine if there were any sudden disturb- 
 ance of the proportionate avoirdupois ; noting if 
 his tongue lay in the middle of his mouth, and feel- 
 ing his pulse. At length he said in low voice to the 
 Sultan and Vizier : 
 
 " There is, Sire, no outward evidences of lacking 
 wit. I would have him speak." 
 
 " He is the Janizary, Captain Ballaban," whispered 
 the Vizier. " You will observe that the wit is clean 
 gone from him. Tell us your story, Ballaban, or 
 whoever you are." 
 
 " I beg the favor of your excellency, your lord- 
 ship, Sire ; for, since you deny that you are the king 
 of the Turks, I know not what title to give to your 
 authority. I am your prisoner. I fought on the 
 Byzantine galley as Jesu gave me strength, but was 
 unfortunate enough to fall overboard, and fortunate 
 enough to avoid capture by the Turkish boats, as I 
 dived beneath them, or rested myself below their 
 sterns until I reached the shore. But as heaven 
 willed it, I landed below the walls of the city. I was 
 altogether weaponless, having shuffled off my armor
 
 288 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 that I might swim and altogether blown by my effort 
 or, by the bones of Abraham ! I had never been 
 captured by the cowardly slaves you sent. I ask only 
 the treatment of an honorable enemy." 
 
 " By the beard of the Prophet ! " exclaimed Mahomet, 
 " if he were a Christian I would give him liberty for 
 the valor of his speech. Some of the spirit of our 
 gallant Ballaban is still left in him. The witches 
 could not take the great heart out of him, though they 
 stole away his wits. What say you, Sage Murta ? " 
 The physician replied, knitting his brows and strok- 
 ing his chin 
 
 " The Padishah is wise. The man is mad. But 
 since his heart is not touched by the demon, but only 
 his memory erased and his imagination distorted, my 
 science tells me there is hope of his cure." 
 
 " What medicament have you for a diseased mind ?" 
 asked the Sultan. 
 
 With reverent pomposity, but in low voice not over- 
 heard by the patient, the physician uttered the pre- 
 scription : 
 
 " First, we have the religious cure if so be that 
 the man is under the charm of the evil spirits Find 
 thee a cord with eleven knots tied on it : for such was 
 the number on the cord with which the daughters of 
 Lobeid, the Jew, bewitched the Prophet. Asthou un- 
 tiest the knots repeat the last two chapters of the 
 Koran, which the Angel Gabriel revealed as the talis- 
 man, saying 
 
 " ' I fly for refuge unto the Lord of the daybreak, that 
 he may deliver me from the mischief of the night, 
 when it cometh on ; and from the mischief of women,
 
 THE CAP TAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 289 
 
 blowing on the knots ; and from the mischief of the 
 envious ; and from the mischief of the whisperer, the 
 devil, who slyly withdraweth, who whispereth evil sug- 
 gestions into the breasts of men : and from genii and 
 men.' 
 
 " If this should fail as I have known it to fail in 
 the case of those who were not born in the sacred family 
 of Islam we should try the virtues of the heritage bowl, 
 which is much esteemed among the Giaours. I have 
 possessed myself of one, once the property of an an- 
 cient family. It is made of silver, and engraved with 
 forty-one padlocks. A decoction mixed in this bowl, 
 and poured on the head of the patient any time within 
 seven weeks after the day on which they celebrate the 
 imagined rising of Jesu, son of Mary, from the dead, 
 will often break the most malignant spell. The Chris- 
 tian Paska* is just past ; so that it will be opportune." 
 
 " But should this likewise fail ? " asked Mahomet, 
 impatient with the sage's prolixity. 
 
 " Ah ! we shall then have to try our strictly human 
 remedies. This ailment is called by the Latin disciples 
 of Galen, dementia, which signifieth that the man's 
 mind, his natural thoughts, have gone away from him- 
 We must recall them. For this we must have some 
 strong appeal to that which was his hottest passion or 
 interest before his mind flew away from him. Do you 
 know the absorbing humor of this man ? Was he a 
 lover ? If so, we must find the fair one who has 
 robbed him of his better part, and, restoring her to 
 him, we shall restore him to himself. " 
 
 " Nay, " said Mahomet. " Captain Ballaban was 
 
 * Easter.
 
 290 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 never enamored of woman. The maid who lured the 
 Prophet from the charms of Ayesha and Hafsa, * 
 would not have turned Ballaban's head. I once offered 
 him the choice of a bevy of Georgians ; but he 
 would not even look at them. He is a soldier ; from 
 tassel to shoe-thong a soldier. " 
 
 " Ah ! then we have the remedy at hand, " said 
 Murta, rolling his eyes as if reading the prescription 
 in the air. " Give him command ; military excitement; 
 honors of the field. When the cimeters gleam then 
 will reason flash again. And my science is at fault 
 if the simple summons to some high duty work not a 
 counter charm to break the spell that is on him, 
 though it were woven by the mystic dance of all the 
 genii and devils." 
 
 " We will try this last remedy first, " said Mahomet. 
 " Dismiss him. Let him go as he will, without hin- 
 drance or seeming to follow, until my orders be brought 
 him by his Aga. In the meantime search the shore 
 for the knotted cord the witches may have blown 
 upon. And, good Murta, send for the silver bowl ; for 
 my brain is that hot that I fear me the Giaour ghosts we 
 have sent gibbering to hell during the last few days 
 have left the spell of their evil eyes upon me too." 
 
 The following day was not far advanced when Cap- 
 tain Ballaban was summoned to the Sultan's tent, the ru- 
 mor of his restoration to royal favor having been made 
 to precede the summons. In fact, after the affair of 
 the preceding afternoon, Ballaban had not gone to 
 the sea shore, but retired to his own quarters, where 
 
 *The Coptic Mary with whom the Prophet was said to have been 
 enamored.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 291 
 
 he loyally awaited either his death summons, or an 
 invitation for some wild frolic with the Padishah ; he 
 knew not which, so thought about neither ; but busied 
 himself over a plan for a new gun-carriage he was 
 going to submit to Urban. 
 
 With assumed stolidity he entered the royal tent. 
 As he rose from his obeisance upon the earth, his maj- 
 esty embraced him with boyish delight. 
 
 " Your old self again : I see your soul in your face. 
 I'd give half the horse-tails in the empire rather 
 than lose that shock of hair from my sight, or the glow- 
 ing brain that is under it from my councils, my red- 
 headed angel ! " 
 
 " There is no need to lose it, except by cutting it off 
 at my shoulders," said Ballaban, falling in with the 
 humor of the Sultan, yet watchful not to be taken 
 unawares, if, in its fitfulness, that humor should turn. 
 
 " I have a grand service for you, if you have skill 
 and courage enough to execute it," said Mahomet, 
 watching the effect on his friend. 
 
 The captain's eyes flashed with the prospect, as he 
 said: 
 
 " I wait your plan, Sire ; only let it be bold." 
 
 " I have no plan, you must make one. I would see 
 if your brain is as square as the pot you keep it in," 
 said the Sultan, tapping him on the head with a 
 jewelled whip staff, and adding, 
 
 " It is evident, Captain, that we must get possession 
 of the Golden Horn ; for so long as the enemy hold 
 that for their harbor, we cannot prevent their reprovis- 
 ioning the city as they did yesterday ; and a few 
 more such auxiliaries as they brought, indeed, another
 
 292 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 such leader as the Genoese Giustiniani, would compel 
 us to raise the siege. How can we take the harbor ? 
 Our boats can never raise the chain at the mouth." 
 
 " That has been my problem since the siege began," 
 said Ballaban. " I remember while in Albania, as I 
 lodged one night in a village, I met with some Italian 
 officers, who had come to offer their swords to Cas- 
 triot. They told how they moved their fleet overland, 
 several miles on a roadway of timbers.* We can use 
 that device. The thing is not impracticable ; for there 
 is a depression to the north of Galata, through which 
 from the Bosphorus to the inland extremity of the 
 Golden Horn is but five or six miles. Our vessels are 
 not large ; could be transported with the multitudes 
 of our troops, and on the still water of the harbor 
 would soon, by superior numbers, capture those of the 
 Christians." 
 
 " A good conception ! " said Mahomet, " and if my 
 reading has not been at fault, the Roman Augustus 
 did something similar, f It shall be done. Let it not 
 be said that the Ottoman was surpassed in daring or 
 difficulty of enterprise by Pagan or Christian. You 
 shall perform it, Ballaban. The woods above Galata 
 will serve for planking, and the engineers can be 
 spared from before the walls until it is accomplished." 
 
 A few days later a large fleet of the Moslems was 
 conveyed overland, by means of a roadway of greased 
 timbers. To the amazement of the Christians their ' 
 adversary's navy no longer lay idly upon the Bos- 
 
 * In 1437 the Venetians carried many large ships across the 
 country from the river Adige to the lake of Garda. 
 f At Actium.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 293 
 
 phorus, but was transformed into a line of floating bat- 
 teries within the harbor of the Golden Horn, and 
 from their rear soon destroyed the fleet of the 
 defenders. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 city was now completely invested. Menaced 
 1 from all sides, the defenders were not sufficient 
 in numbers to guard the many approaches. Yet the 
 daily righting was desperate, for the Moslems were 
 inspired by the certainty of success, while the Chris- 
 tians were nerved with the energy of despair. To end 
 the siege Mahomet designated a time for a combined 
 assault from sea and land. 
 
 As the fatal day dawned, numberless hordes moved 
 towards the walls. The great ditches were soon 
 filled with the dead bodies of thousands of the least 
 serviceable soldiers, who had been driven from behind 
 by the lances of the trained bands, that they might 
 thus worry the patience and exhaust the resources of 
 the brave defenders, without taxing the best of the 
 Moslem troops. The carcasses of the slain made a 
 highway for the living, over which they poured 
 against the gate of St. Romanus. The four grim 
 towers toppled beneath the pounding of great stone 
 balls hurled from the cannon of Urban. The defenders 
 were driven off the adjacent walls by the storms of 
 bullets and arrows that swept them. At the critical 
 moment the Janizaries, unwearied as yet by watching
 
 294 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES, 
 
 or fighting, twelve thousand strong, as compact a mass 
 beneath the eye of the Sultan as the weapon he held 
 in his hand, moved to where the breach was widest. 
 
 " The spoil to all ! A province to him who first 
 enters ! " cried the Sultan, waving his iron battle 
 mace. Hassan, the giant, first mounted the rampart, 
 and fell pierced with arrows and crushed with stones. 
 But through the gap his dying valor had made in the 
 ranks of the foe first rushed the company of Ballaban. 
 
 In vain did the people crowd beneath the dome of 
 St. Sophia, grasping with hopeless hope an ancient 
 prophecy that at the extreme moment an angel would 
 descend to rescue the city. Alas ! only the angel of 
 death came that day ; and to none brought he more 
 welcome news than to the Emperor, " Thy prayer is 
 answered ; for thou hast fallen where the dead lie 
 thickest ! " Near the gateway of St. Romanus, where 
 he had met the first of the invaders, under the piles 
 of the dead, gashed by sabre strokes and crushed 
 beneath the feet of the victors, lay the body of Con- 
 stantine Palaeologus, the noblest of the Caesars of the 
 Eastern Empire ! 
 
 The Turks placed his ghastly head between the 
 feet of the bronze horse, a part of the equestrian statue 
 of Justinian, where it was reverently saluted even by 
 the Moslems, who paused in the rage of the sack to 
 think upon the virtue and courage of the unfortunate 
 monarch. 
 
 Captain Ballaban had pressed rapidly through the 
 city to the doors of St. Sophia. The oaken gates 
 flew back under the axes of the Moslems. Monks and 
 matrons, children and nuns, lords and beggars were
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 295 
 
 crowded together, not knowing whether the grand 
 dome would melt away and a legion of angels descend 
 for their relief, or the vast enclosure would become a 
 pen of indiscriminate slaughter. The motley and help- 
 less misery excited the pity of the captors. Ballaban's 
 voice rang through the arches, proclaiming safely to 
 those who should submit. That he might the better 
 command the scene, he made his way to the chancel 
 in front of the grand altar. It was filled with the 
 nuns, repeating their prayers. Among them was the 
 fair Albanian. Her face was but partly toward him, 
 yet he could never mistake that queenly head. She 
 was addressing the Sisters. Holding aloft the bright 
 shaft of a stiletto, she cried, 
 
 " Let us give ourselves to heaven, but never to the 
 harem ! " 
 
 Ballaban paused an instant. But that instant 
 seemed to him many minutes. As, under the lightning's 
 flash, the whole moving panorama of the wide land- 
 scape seems to stand still, and paints vividly its 
 prominent objects, however scattered, upon the startled 
 eye of the beholders ; so his mind marvellously quick- 
 ened by the excitement, took in at once the long track 
 of his own life. He saw a little child's hand wreath- 
 ing him with flowers plucked beside a cottage on the 
 Balkans ; a lovely captive whose face was lit by the 
 blazing home in a hamlet of Albania ; a form of one 
 at Sfetigrade lying still and faint with sickness, but 
 radiant as with the beginning of transfiguration for the 
 spirit life ; and the queenly being who was borne in 
 the palanquin through the gate of Phranza. But how 
 changed ! How much more glorious now ! Earthly
 
 296 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 beauty had become haloed with the heavenly. He 
 never had conceived of such majesty, such glory of 
 personality, such splendor of character, as were 
 revealed by her attitude, her eye, her voice, her 
 purpose. 
 
 " But now," thought he, "the descending blade will 
 change this utmost sublimity of being into a little heap 
 of gory dust ! " 
 
 All this flashed through his mind. In another 
 instant his strong hand had caught the arm of the 
 voluntary sacrifice. The stiletto, falling, caught in the 
 folds of her garments, and then rang upon the marble 
 floor of the chancel. Morsinia uttered a shriek and 
 fell, apparently as lifeless as if the blade had entered 
 her heart. 
 
 The Janizary stood astounded. A tide of feeling 
 strange to him poured through his soul. For the 
 first time in his life he felt a horror of war. Not 
 thousands writhing on the battle field could blanch 
 his cheek with pity for their pangs : but that one 
 voice rang through and through him, and rent his 
 heart with sympathetic agony. Her cry had become 
 a cry of his own soul too. 
 
 For the first time he realized the dignity of 
 woman's character. This woman was not even 
 wounded. She had fallen beneath the stroke of a 
 thought, a sentiment, a woman's notion of her honor ! 
 The women he had known had no such fatal scruples. 
 Other captive beauties soon became accustomed to 
 their new surroundings. Many even offered to buy 
 with their charms an exchange of poverty for the 
 luxuries of the harem of Pashas and wealthy Moslems.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 297 
 
 Was this a solitary woman's tragedy of virtue ? Or 
 was it some peculiar teaching of the Christian's faith 
 that inspired her to such heroism ? However it came, 
 the man knew that with her it was a mighty reality ; 
 this instinct of virtue ; this sanctity of person. 
 
 And this woman was his dream made real ! A 
 celestial ideal which he had touched ! 
 
 The man's brain reeled with the shock of these 
 tenderer and deeper feelings, coming after the wildness 
 of the battle rage. He grasped the altar for support- 
 The blood seemed to have ceased to bound in his 
 veins, the temples to be pulseless ; a band to have been 
 drawn tightly about his brain so as to paralyze its 
 action. He felt himself falling. A deathly sickness 
 spread through his frame. He was sure he had 
 fainted. He thought he must have been unconscious 
 for a while. Yet when he opened his eyes, the soldier 
 near him was in the same attitude of dragging a nun 
 by her wrists as when he last saw him. Time had 
 stood still with his pulses. He shuddered at the 
 cruelty on every side, as the shrieks from the high 
 galleries were answered by those in distant alcoves 
 and from the deep crypt. He watched the groups of 
 old men and children, monks and senators, nuns and 
 courtesans, tied together and dragged away, some for 
 slaughter, some for princely ransom, some for shame. 
 
 The building was well emptied when the Sultan 
 entered. 
 
 He at once advanced to the altar and proclaimed: 
 
 " God is God ; there is but one God, and Mahomet 
 is the apostle of God ! " 
 
 " But whom have we here, Captain Ballaban ? "
 
 298 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 " Your Majesty, I am guarding a beautiful captive 
 whom I would not have fall into the hands of the 
 common soldiers ; I take it, of high estate," replied 
 the Janizary, knowing that such an introduction to the 
 royal attention alone could save her from the fate 
 which awaited the unhappy maidens, most of whom 
 were liable to be sold to brutal masters and transported 
 to distant provinces. 
 
 The Sultan gazed upon the partly conscious woman, 
 and commanded, 
 
 " Let her be veiled ! Seek out a goodly house. Find 
 the Eunuch Tamlich." Ballaban shuddered at this 
 command, and was about to reply, when his judgment 
 suggested that he was impotent to dispute the royal 
 will except by endangering the life or the welfare of 
 his captive. 
 
 The safest place for her was, after all, with the 
 maidens who were known to be the choice of the 
 Sultan, and thus beyond insult by any except the 
 imperial debauchee. 
 
 Mahomet II. gave orders for the immediate transfor- 
 mation of the Christian temple of St. Sophia into a 
 Mosque. In a few hours desolation reigned in those 
 " Courts of the Lord's House," which, when first com- 
 pleted, ages ago, drew from the imperial founder, the 
 remark: " Oh, Solomon ! I have surpassed thee ! " 
 and which, though the poverty of later monarchs had 
 allowed it to become sadly impaired, was yet regarded 
 by the Greek Christians as worthy of being the vesti- 
 bule of heaven. 
 
 The command of the Sultan : " Take away every 
 trace of the idolatry of the infidel ! " was obeyed in
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 299 
 
 demolishing the rarest gems of Christian art to which 
 attached the least symbolism of the now abolished 
 worship. The arms were chiseled off the marble 
 crosses which stood out in relief from the side walls, 
 and from the bases of the gigantic pillars. The rare 
 mosaics which lined the church as if it were a vast 
 casket the fitting gift of the princes of the earth to 
 the King of Kings were plastered or painted over. 
 The altar, that marvellous combination of gold and 
 silver and bronze, conglomerate with a thousand 
 precious stones, was torn away, that the red slab of 
 the Mihrab might point the prayers of the new devotees 
 toward Mecca. The furniture, from that upon the 
 grand altar to the banners and mementoes of a thou- 
 sand years, the donations of Greek emperors and 
 sovereigns of other lands, was broken or torn into 
 pieces. There remained only the grand proportions 
 of the building its chief glory enriched by polished 
 surfaces of marble and porphyry slabs ; the superb 
 pillars brought by the reverent cupidity of earlier ages 
 from the ruined temple of Diana at Ephesus, the 
 temple of the Sun at Palmyra,the temple on the Acro- 
 Corinthus, and the mythologic urn from Pergamus, 
 which latter, having been used as a baptismal font 
 by the followers of Jesus, was now devoted to the 
 ablutions of the Moslems. 
 
 From St. Sophia the Sultan passed to the palace of 
 the Greek Caesars. 
 
 " Truly ! truly !" said he " The spiders web is the 
 royal curtain ; the owl sounds the watch cry on 
 the towers of Afrasiab," quoting from the Persian 
 poet Firdusi, as he gazed about the deserted halls.
 
 300 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 He issued his mandate which should summon 
 architects and decorators, not only from his 
 dominions, but from Christian nations, to adorn the 
 splendid headland with the palatial motley of walls 
 and kiosks which were to constitute his new seraglio. 
 The considerateness of Ballaban led him to select 
 the house of Phranza as the place to which Morsinia 
 was taken. The noble site and substantial structure 
 of the mansion of the late chamberlain commended it 
 to the Sultan for the temporary haremlik ; and the 
 familiar rooms alleviated, like the faces of mute friends, 
 the wildness of the grief of their only familiar captive. 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 pONSTANTINE, after his escape from the Sultan's 
 Vy tent, where he had been taken for the demented 
 Ballaban, was unable to enter Constantinople before it 
 fell. His heart was torn with agonizing solicitude for 
 the fate of Morsinia. He knew too well the deter- 
 mination of the dauntless girl in the event of her fall- 
 ing into the hands of the Turks. Filling his dreams at 
 night, and rising before him as a terrible apparition by 
 day, was that loved form, a suicide empurpled with its 
 own gore. Yet love and duty led him to seek her, or at 
 least to seek the certainty of her fate. He therefore 
 disguised himself as a Moslem and mingled with the 
 throng of soldiers and adventurers who entered the 
 city under its new possessors. He wandered for hours 
 about the familiar streets, that, perchance, he might
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 301 
 
 come upon some memorial of her. The secrets of 
 the royal harem he could not explore, even if suspicion 
 led his thought thither. The proximity of the 
 residence of Phranza was guarded by the immediate 
 servants of the Sultan, so that he was deprived of 
 even the fond misery of visiting the scenes so asso- 
 ciated with his former joy. 
 
 In passing through one of the narrowest and foulest 
 streets the only ones that had been left undisturbed 
 by the Vandalism of the conquerors he came upon 
 an old woman, hideous in face and decrepit, whom he 
 remembered as a beggar at the gate of Phranza. 
 From her he learned many stories of the last hours of 
 the siege. 
 
 According to her story she had gone among the 
 first to St. Sophia. When the Moslems entered they 
 tied her by a silken girdle to the person of the 
 Grand Chamberlain, and, amid the jeers of the soldiers, 
 marched them together to the Hippodrome. She 
 remembered the Sultan as he rode on his horse, 
 how he struck with his battle hammer one of the silver 
 heads of the bronze serpents, and cried: " So I smite 
 the heads of the kingdoms ! " Just as he did so he 
 turned, and saw her in her rags tied to the courtly- 
 robed lord, and in an angry voice commanded that the 
 princely man be loosed from contact with the filthy 
 hag. Phranza was taken away : but nobody cared to 
 take her away. She was trampled by the crowd, but 
 lived. And nobody thought of turning her out of her 
 hovel home. She was as safe as is a rat when the 
 robbers have killed the nobler inmates of a house. 
 
 The woman said that she had heard that the
 
 302 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 daughter of Phranza was sent away somewhere to 
 an island home. But the Albanian Princess, Yes. 
 she knew her well ; for no hand used to drop so 
 bountifully the alms she asked, or said so kindly 
 " Jesu pity you, my good woman ! " as did that beau- 
 tiful lady. The beggar declared that she stood near 
 her by the altar in St. Sophia. " She looked so 
 saintly there ! There was a real aureole about her 
 head as she prayed, so she was a saint indeed. Then 
 she raised her dagger ! " But the wretched watcher 
 could watch no longer, though she heard her cry, so 
 wild that she would never cease to hear it. 
 
 The beggar ceased her story ; all her words had cut 
 through her listener's heart as if they had been 
 daggers. 
 
 " It is well ! " he said, " I v/ill go to Albania. 
 Among those who loved her I will worship her memory ; 
 and, under Castriot, I will seek my revenge." 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 MORSINIA'S fears, and her horror at the antici- 
 pated life in the harem, were not confirmed by 
 its actual scenes. Except for the constant surveillance 
 of the Nubian eunuchs and female attendants, there 
 was no restriction upon her liberty. She passed 
 through the familiar corridors, and rested upon the 
 divan in what had been her own chamber in better 
 days. Other female captives became her companions ; 
 but among them were none of those belonging to
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 303 
 
 Constantinople. Suburban villages were represented; 
 but most of the odalisks * were Circassian beauties, 
 whose conduct did not indicate that they felt any shame 
 in their condition. They indulged in jealous rivalry, 
 estimating their own worth by the sums which the 
 agents of the Sultan had paid their parents for their 
 possession ; or bantering one another as to who 
 of their number would first meet the fancy of their 
 royal master. There were several Greeks, who, with 
 more modesty of speech, spared none of the arts of 
 the toilet to prepare themselves to better their con- 
 dition in the only way that was now open to them. A 
 Coptic girl had been sent by Eenal, the Borghite 
 Khalif of Egypt, as a present to the Sultan. Her 
 form was slight, and without the fullness of develop- 
 ment which other races associate with female beauty, 
 but of wonderful grace of pose and motion; her face 
 was broad ; eyes wide and expressionless ; mouth 
 straight. Yet her features had that symmetry and 
 balance which gave to them a strange fascination. 
 The Turcoman Emir who had already given his 
 daughter to Mahomet the nuptials with whom he 
 was celebrating when called to the throne exercised 
 still further his fatherly office in presenting to his 
 son-in-law as fine a pair of black eyes as ever flashed 
 their cruel commands to an amative heart. To study 
 this physiognomical museum afforded Morsinia an en- 
 tertaining relief from the otherwise constant torture of 
 her thoughts. 
 
 To her further diversion one was introduced into 
 the harem who spoke her own Albanian tongue, This 
 
 * Odalisk; the title of a childless inmate of the harem.
 
 304 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 new comer was of undoubted beauty, so far as that 
 quality could be the product of merely physical 
 elements. It was of the kind that might bind a god 
 on earth, but could never help a soul to heaven. Her 
 lower face, with full red lips arching the pearliest 
 teeth, and complexion ruddy with the glow of health, 
 shading into the snowy bosom, might perhaps serve to 
 make a Venus ; but her upper features, the low fore- 
 head and dilated nostrils, could never have been made 
 to bespeak the thoughtful Minerva in this retreat of 
 those, who, to the Moslem imagination, are the types of 
 heavenly perfection. Her eyes were bright, but only 
 with surface lustre. Her nature evidently contained 
 no depths which could hold either noble resentment 
 or self sacrificing love ; either grand earthly passion 
 or heavenly faith. 
 
 This woman's vanity did not long keep back the 
 story of her life. She told of her conquest of the 
 village swains who fought for the possession of her 
 charms ; of the devotion of an Albanian prince who 
 took her dowerless in preference to the ladies of great 
 family and fortune, and would have bestowed upon her 
 the heirship to his estates : of how she was stolen away 
 from the great castle by a company of Turkish officers, 
 who afterward fought among themselves for the 
 privilege of presenting her to the Valide Sultana ;* 
 for it was about the time of the Ramedan feast when 
 the Sultan's mother made an annual gift to her son of 
 the most beautiful woman she could secure. The vain 
 captive declared that the jealousy of the odalisks at 
 
 * Mother of the Sultan.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 305 
 
 Adrianople had led the Kislar Aga to send her here 
 to Constantinople. 
 
 " And who was the Albanian nobleman whose bride 
 you had become ? " asked Morsinia. 
 
 " Oh, one who is to be king of Albania one day, 
 the Voivode Amesa." 
 
 " Ah ! said Morsinia, " this is news from my coun- 
 try. When was it determined that Amesa should be 
 king ?" 
 
 " Oh ! every one speaks of it at the castle as if it 
 were well understood. And when he becomes king 
 then he will claim me again from Mahomet, though he 
 must ransom me with half his kingdom. Yes, I am 
 to be a queen ; and indeed I may be one already, for 
 perhaps Lord Amesa is now on the throne. And that 
 is the reason I wear the cord of gold in my hair ; for 
 one day my royal lover will put the crown here." 
 
 The bedizened beauty rose and paced to and fro 
 through the great saion. The pride which gave the 
 majestic toss to her head, however it would have 
 marred that ethereal form which the inner eye of the 
 moralist or the Christian always sees, and which is 
 called character, only gave an additional charm to 
 her ; as the delicate yet stately comb of the peacock 
 adds to the fascination of that bird. Her carriage 
 combined the gracefulness of perfect anatomy and 
 health with the dignity which conceit, thoroughly 
 diffused in muscle and nerve, lent to all her movements. 
 With that step upon it no carpet beneath a throne 
 would have been dishonored. Her dress was in 
 exquisite keeping with her person. The close fitting 
 
 zone or girdle about her waist left the bust uncon- 
 20
 
 306 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 torted ; a model which needed no device to supple- 
 ment the perfection of nature. A robe of purple 
 velvet trailed luxuriantly behind ; but in front was 
 looped so as to display the loose trousers of white silk 
 which were gathered below the knee and fell in full 
 ruffles about the unstockinged ankles, but not so 
 low as to conceal the rings of silver which clasped 
 them, and the slippers of yellow satin, ending in long 
 and curved points, which protruded from beneath. 
 
 As the other women gazed at this self-assumed queen 
 of the harem the green fire of jealousy flashed alike 
 from black eyes and blue. The straight thin noses of 
 the Greeks for the moment forgot their classic models, 
 and dilated as if in rivalry of that flattened feature of 
 the Egyptian ; while the straight mouth of the daugh- 
 ter of the Nile writhed in indescribable curves, indica- 
 tive of commingled wrath, hatred, pique and scorn. 
 
 This parade would have produced in Morsinia the 
 feeling of contempt, were it not for that sisterly 
 interest which was awakened by the fact that she was 
 her own country-woman. Morsinia's face, usually 
 calm in its great dignity and reserve, now flushed with 
 the struggle between indignation and pity for the girl. 
 
 At this moment the purple hangings which separated 
 the salon from the open court were held aside by the 
 silver staff of the eunuch in charge ; and the young- 
 Padishah stood as a spectator of the scene. 
 
 " Ah ! Tamlich," cried he, addressing the black 
 eunuch, " you were right in saying that the great har- 
 emlik at Adrianople, with its thousand goddesses, 
 could not rival this temporary one for the fairness of 
 the birds you have caged in it."
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 307 
 
 The women made the temineh a salutation with the 
 right hand just sweeping the floor, and then pressed 
 consecutively to the heart, the lips and the forehead ; 
 a movement denoting reverence, and, at the same time, 
 giving field for the display of the utmost grace of mo- 
 tion. 
 
 The Padishah passed among these his slaves with 
 the license which betokened his absolute ownership ; 
 stroking their hair and toying with their persons accord- 
 ing to his amiable or insolent caprice. Morsinia, 
 however, was spared this familiarity. The Sultan him- 
 self colored slightly as he addressed her a few words in 
 Greek, of which language, in common with several 
 others, he knew enough to act as his own interpreter. 
 His questions were respectful, all limited to her 
 comfort in her new home. With Elissa, the queenly 
 Albanian, he was at once on terms of intimacy. Her 
 manner betokened that she gave to him only too will- 
 ingly whatever he might be disposed to take. 
 
 As the Sultan withdrew, the eunuch Tamlich 
 remarked to him : 
 
 " My surmise of your Excellency's judgment was 
 verified. Said I not that the two Arnaouts were the 
 fairest ? And did I not behold your Majesty gaze 
 longest upon them ? " 
 
 " I commend your taste, Tamlich," replied Mahomet. 
 " But those two are as unlike as a ruby and a 
 pearl." 
 
 " But as fair as either, are they not ? The chief 
 hamamjina* declares that the blue-eyed one has the 
 most perfect form she ever saw ; and that it is a form 
 * Hamamjina ; bath attendant.
 
 308 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 which will improve with years. Morsinia Hanoum* 
 will be more fit for Paradise, while Elissa Hanoum 
 may lose the grace of the maiden as a matron. But 
 the cherry is ripe for the plucking now." 
 
 " I like the ruby better than the pearl," said the 
 Sultan. " I cannot quite fathom the deep eye of the 
 latter. She thinks too much. I would not have 
 women think. They are to make us stop thinking. 
 The problems of state are sufficiently perplexing: I 
 want no human problem in my arms." 
 
 " But one who thinks may have some skill in afford- 
 ing amusement. Have I not heard thee say, Sire, 
 ' Blessed is the one who can invent a new recreation ? ' 
 That requires thinking." 
 
 " Right, Tamlich ! can she sing ? " 
 
 " Ay ! your Majesty, to the Greek cythera ; and 
 such songs that, though they know not a word of 
 them for the songs are in her own Arnaout tongue 
 the odalisks all fall to weeping." 
 
 " I like not such singing," said Mahomet. " To make 
 people think with her thoughtful eyes is bad enough 
 in a woman. To make them weep with her voice is 
 wicked, is Christian. I will give her away to some one 
 who wants a wife that thinks. There is Hamed Bey, 
 one of the muderrisf who is to be put at the head of 
 my new chain of Ulemas.J He will want a wife who 
 thinks ; and his eyes are that blind with dry study that 
 it will do him good to weep. But who is the woman ? 
 
 *Hanoum ; a title given to matrons. 
 
 f Muderris ; professors in the high schools. 
 
 \ Chain of Ulemas ; a renowned system of colleges.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 309 
 
 I think I saw her face in St. Sophia the day of our 
 entry." 
 
 " She belonged to the house-hold of Phranza, the 
 Chamberlain, who possessed this very house," replied 
 the eunuch. " And I think, from its goodly size and 
 decoration, he must have used the treasury of the 
 empire freely." 
 
 " To Phranza ! Why, I have a daughter of his in 
 the nursery at Adrianople. His wife I have given to 
 the Master of the Horse.* His son I have this day 
 sent to hell for his insolence. But she is an Arnaout ; 
 therefore not of kin to Phranza. Search out her story, 
 Tamlich ! For a member of the family of Phranza, 
 and not of his blood, may be of some political conse- 
 quence. I will keep her. But get her story, Tamlich, 
 get her story ! " 
 
 " I have it already, Sire," replied the eunuch. 
 
 Ah ! " 
 
 " She is a ward of Scanderbeg, the Arnaout traitor, 
 sent to Constantinople to escape the danger of capture 
 by thine all-conquering arms. But the bird fled from 
 the fowler into the snare." 
 
 " Perhaps a child of Scanderbeg ! Eh, Tamlich ? 
 One at least whose life is of great value to him, and 
 was to the Greek empire. I will inform Scanderbeg 
 that she is in my possession. By the dread of what 
 may happen to her I shall the easier force that raven- 
 ing brute to make terms ; for I am tired of battering 
 my sword against his rocks, trying to prick his skin. 
 Keep her close, Tamlich, keep her close ! " 
 
 *Gibbon ; Chapter LXVIII.
 
 310 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 T ATE in the day the Sultan retired to a neighbor- 
 ly ing mansion, once possessed by the Greek Grand 
 Duke, Lucas Notaras, and there sought relaxation 
 from the incessant cares of the empire. The day had 
 been wearisome. Architects had submitted plans for 
 the detailed ornamentation of the new seraglio which 
 was rising on the Byzantine Point. One of the plans 
 led to dispute between the Padishah and the chief Mufti, 
 the expounder of the Moslem law. It was occasioned 
 thus. The porphyry column* which stood hard by 
 the palace of the Greek emperors, had once served to 
 hold aloft the bronze statue of Apollo, a precious 
 relic of ancient Greek mythology. This was afterward 
 reverenced by the people as the figure of the Emperor 
 Constantine the Great, or worshipped by them as 
 that of Christ. An architect proposed that the time- 
 glorious shaft should now be surmounted by the 
 colossal statue of Mahomet II. The Mufti declared the 
 project to be impious, as tempting to idolatry, against 
 which the Koran was so clear and denunciatory, and 
 also the Sounna or traditional sayings of the Prophet. 
 The Sultan's pride rebelled against this assumption of 
 an authority above his own. But the Sultan's super- 
 stitious regard for the faith among the people, which 
 led him to wash his hands and face openly whenever 
 he spoke with the architect, who was a Christian en- 
 gaged at great cost from Italy, also led him to fear 
 
 * Porphyry column; now the famous Burnt Column.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 311 
 
 to break with the prescriptions and customs of his 
 religion in this matter. He contented himself with an 
 oath that he had sooner lost the honor of a campaign 
 than the privilege of seeing himself represented as the 
 conqueror of both Constantine and Christ. Generals, 
 too, had been in council with him that day regarding 
 the conduct of intrigues for the possession of the 
 Peloponnesus, and about the wars in Servia, Boznia 
 and Trebizond. Ill tidings had come from Albania, 
 where Scanderbeg was consuming the Turkish armies, 
 as a great spider entraps in his webs and at his 
 leisure devours a swarm of hornets, which, could they 
 have free access to him, would instantly sting him to 
 death. The messenger who brought this news was 
 rewarded by having hurled at his head an immense 
 vase of malachite, in the exertion of lifting which the 
 imperial wrath was sufficiently eased to allow of his 
 turning to other business. A plan for the reception 
 of the inmates of the grand harem at Adrianople, when 
 they should be transported to the spacious buildings 
 being constructed for them in the seraglio, was also a 
 pleasing diversion, and led the Sultan to make the 
 brief visit to the fair ones at the house of Phranza, 
 which has been described. But the nettled spirit of the 
 Padishah was far from subdued. He had during 
 the day given an order, the sequel to which we must 
 relate, and which, while it disturbed his conscience 
 and flooded him at moments with the sense of self- 
 contempt, also inflamed his natural passion for cruelty. 
 He determined to drown the noble, and to satiate the 
 the vicious, craving by an hour or two of unrestrained 
 debauch.
 
 312 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 In the court of the house of the Grand Duke 
 Notaras was spread the royal banquet. Rarest viands 
 were flanked by flagons of costliest wines. Upon the 
 momentary surprise of the steward when he received 
 the order to provide the wines, the monarch cried in a 
 contemptuous tone : 
 
 " Ah ! I know your thoughts. It is not according to 
 the Koran that wine should be drunk. But by the 
 staff of Moses,* which they found in the palace of the 
 Caesars yonder, I swear that Mahomet the Emperor 
 shall not yield to Mahomet the Prophet in everything. 
 The Prophet made laws to suit his own taste, so 
 will If. He can have Mecca and Medina and 
 Jerusalem ; but I shall reign without him in my own 
 palace in Stamboul, which I have captured with my 
 own hand. Bring the wine, or I'll spill your black 
 blood as a beverage to those in hell ! It will be sweet 
 enough for your kin who are black with roasting. I 
 will have wine to-day ! Cool it in all the snows from 
 Mount Olympus yonder; for my blood is as hot as if I 
 were shod with fire ; and my skull boils like a pot.J 
 
 About the table were divans cushioned with down 
 and covered with yellow silk. The Padishah took his 
 seat upon the highest cushion. By his side stood the 
 chief of the black eunuchs, splendidly attired in the 
 waistcoat of flower embroidered brocade, tunic of scarlet 
 
 * Staff of Moses ; one of the relics held sacred by the Greeks 
 at the time. 
 
 \ Gibbon's statement of Mahomet II's. opinion. 
 
 \ Punishment of those in hell, according to Koran. 
 
 See effigy in the museum of the Elbicei- Atika at Constantinople.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 313 
 
 flowing trousers, red turban, and half boots of bronzed 
 leather. He held a wand of silver covered with elegant 
 tracery and topped in filagree. As he waved this 
 symbol of his office, there came from the various doors 
 opening into the court groups of the harem women. 
 They were draped in gauze, in the folds of which 
 sparkled diamonds and glowed the hues of precious 
 stones selected by the taste of the chief eunuch to 
 set off the complexion and hair of their various wearers, 
 and at the same time to facilitate their grouping into 
 sets of dancers. The court was made radiant with 
 these beautiful forms, which moved in circles or in 
 spirals about the fountains and under the orange 
 trees, whose white blossoms and golden fruit in 
 simultaneous fulness completed the picture for the eye, 
 while their fragrance loaded the air with its delicate 
 delight. 
 
 The Kislar Aga had arranged a scene which espec- 
 ially pleased the monarch, whose head was already 
 swimming with the combined effect of the mazy dance 
 and the fumes of the wine. An attendant led into 
 the court, held partly by a strong leash and partly by the 
 voice of his trainer, a magnificent leopard. With 
 utmost grace the beast leaped over the ribboned wand, 
 falling so softly to the ground that, though of enormous 
 weight, he would not seemingly have broken a twig 
 had it lain beneath his feet. In imitation of this, a 
 eunuch led into the court by a leash of roses a Circas- 
 sian dancer, the gift of a Caramanian prince. Her 
 form was as free from the hindrances of dress as that 
 of her spotted competitor ; except that a bright gem 
 burned upon her forehead, in the node which gathered
 
 3 M THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 a part of her hair ; while the abundance of her tresses 
 was either held out on her snowy arms, or fell about 
 her as a veil almost to her feet. With a hundred varia- 
 tions the girl repeated the motions of the leopard, 
 leaping the wands with equal grace as she came to 
 them in the measures of the dance. 
 
 The great brute had laid his head in the lap of his 
 trainer, and was watching his beautiful rival with 
 apparent enjoyment ; only now and then uttering a 
 low growl as if in jealousy, when the Bravo ! of the 
 Sultan rewarded some especially fascinating movement. 
 The girl came to the side of the magnificent monster 
 and dropped her long hair over his head. The brute 
 closed his eyes as if soothed by the wooing of the 
 maiden. Cautiously, but encouraged by the low voice 
 of the trainer, she placed her head upon the mottled 
 and living pillow. A great paw was thrown about 
 her shoulder. 
 
 The Sultan was in ecstasy of applause, and shouted: 
 
 " A collar of gold for each of them ! " 
 
 The girl attempted to rise, but her splendid lover 
 seemed to have become really enamored of the 
 beautiful form he held. Her slightest motion was 
 answered by a growl ; while the swaying of his tail 
 indicated that, as among human kind, so with the 
 brutes, the softest sentiments were to be guarded by 
 those of a severer nature ; that baffled love must meet 
 the avenging of cruel wrath. Like the affection of 
 some men, that of the leopard was limited to its own 
 gratification, and utterly regardless of the comfort 
 of its object ; for the fondness of the brute was not 
 such as to prevent his long nails protruding through
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 315 
 
 their velvet covering, and entering the bare flesh of 
 the girl. She quivered with pain, yet, at the quick 
 warning of the trainer, she made no outcry. The 
 man drew from his pocket a small bit of raw flesh, and 
 diverted the eyes of the brute from the blood stream- 
 ing at each claw-puncture on the neck and bosom of 
 his victim. The leopard savagely snapped at the 
 morsel, and, at the same instant struck it with his paw, 
 and leaped to seize it as it was hurled many feet away. 
 The girl as quickly darted to a safe distance. Attend- 
 ants instantly appeared and surrounded the beast 
 with their spear points. He crouched at the feet of 
 the trainer, and whined in fear until he was led 
 out. 
 
 The girls then encircled the seat of the Sultan, and 
 vied with one another in the simulated attempt to 
 throw over him a spell. Nor was the attempt merely 
 simulated, as each one displayed the utmost art of 
 beauty and manner to win from the half-drunken 
 tyrant some token of his favor. 
 
 When Elissa came near the Sultan, he bade her play 
 with him as the Circassian did with the leopard. He 
 held her and exclaimed to the others : 
 
 " Beware your leopard when he growls ! but where 
 is the other Arnaout ? I will have the pearl with the 
 ruby of the harem ! where is she, I say ? Did I not 
 order you to bring all the odalisks to my feast? " 
 
 " From your Majesty's orders but lately, Sire, I 
 supposed " began the eunuch. 
 
 " Supposed ? You are to obey, not to suppose," 
 cried the demented man, slashing at him with the 
 cimeter that lay at his feet.
 
 316 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 " But she is not robed for the feast." 
 
 " Bring her as she is, and robe her here. You said 
 that she was fairer than this one. If she is not fairer 
 than this one, the leopard's claws will grip her, and 
 the beast shall have your black body for his next 
 supper. Bring her ! " 
 
 The eunuch soon returned with Morsinia. She 
 wore a sombre feridje, or cloak completely envelop- 
 ing the person. This she had on at the moment she 
 was summoned, and the eunuch obeyed literally the 
 mandate of the monarch to bring her as she 
 was. 
 
 As she stood before the Sultan she appeared, in 
 contrast with her half naked and bejeweled sisters, 
 like a prophetess; some female Elijah before Ahab 
 surrounded by his household of Jezebels. Throwing 
 back the yashmak, or long veil the one Moslem 
 costume she had very willingly assumed after her 
 captivity she gazed upon the tyrant with a look of 
 amazed inquiry of his meaning in summoning her to 
 such a place. The sovereignty of her soul asserted 
 and expressed itself in her noble brow, her clear and 
 steady eye, her dauntless bearing. 
 
 " Sire, I have obeyed," said she, making the obeis- 
 ance which in form was obsequious, but which she 
 executed with such dignity that even the dull wit of 
 the reveller felt that she had not really humbled her- 
 self before him by so much as the shadow of a 
 thought. 
 
 " Disrobe her ! " cried the monarch. 
 
 The woman stepped back, as if to avoid the contact 
 of her person with the black eunuch ; but as sud-
 
 THE CAP TAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 3 1 ^ 
 
 denly threw off the feridje herself. If she had seemed 
 a gloomy prophetess before, her appearance now 
 would have suggested to an ancient Greek the 
 apparition of Pudicitia, the goddess of modesty. 
 Her gown of rich pearl-tinted cloth covered her 
 shoulders ; and, though opened upon the oosom, it 
 was to show only the thick folds of white lace which 
 embraced the throat in a ruffle, and was clasped with 
 a single gem a cameo presented to her by the Greek 
 Emperor. 
 
 The bearing of the woman gave a temporary check 
 to the abominable rage of the royal wretch, and 
 recalled him to his better judgment. For it was a 
 peculiarity of Mahomet that no passion or debauch 
 could completely divert him from carrying out any 
 plan he had devised pertaining to his imperial ambi- 
 tion. As certain musicians perform without the sacri- 
 fice of a note the most difficult pieces, when too 
 drunk to hold a goblet steadily to their lips, and as 
 certain noted generals have staggered through the 
 battle without the slightest strategic mistake, so Ma- 
 homet never lost sight of a political or military pur- 
 pose he had formed. While sleeping and waking, 
 in the wildest revelry and in the privacy of his unspeak- 
 able sensuality, that project blazed before him like a 
 strong fire-light through the haze. 
 
 " Take her away ! Take her away ! " said he to 
 the eunuch, recollecting his purpose of using her in 
 his negotiations with Scanderbeg ; and covering his 
 retreat from his original command by the remark, 
 " She is the woman who thinks, I want none such 
 to put her head against my heart. She might dis-
 
 
 318 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 cover my thoughts ; and by the secrets of Allah ! if a 
 hair of my beard knew one of my thoughts I would 
 pluck it out and burn it."* 
 
 As Morsinia withdrew, a eunuch approached and 
 whispered to the Sultan. 
 
 " Ah ! it is good ! good ! " cried the Monarch. 
 " My Lord, the Grand Duke Notaras, will revisit his 
 mansion. For him we have provided a feast such 
 as his master Palaeologus never gave him. Ah ! my 
 lovely Arnaout shall sit at my right hand for the 
 queen of beauty has precedence to-day," said he, 
 addressing Elissa. " And the Egyptian shall make 
 me merry with the music of her voice, which I doubt 
 not is sweeter than the strains of her native Memnon. 
 And, Tamlich, you shall do me the honor of represent- 
 ing the king of Nubia, and lie there opposite." 
 
 The eunuch stood bewildered ; for never before had 
 a Moslem proposed to introduce into his harem the 
 person of any man, as now the Duke of Notaras was 
 to look upon the beauties who should be reserved 
 solely for the feasting of the Padishah's eyes. 
 
 Mahomet, knowing his thoughts, bade him obey, 
 and cried, 
 
 " Let the fair houris veil their faces with their 
 blushes. Bring in Notaras ! " 
 
 Three blacks entered, each bearing a great salver, 
 on which was a covered dish of gold. 
 
 " To Tamlich I demit the honors of the board," 
 said he, waving the foremost waiter toward the eunuch, 
 whose face almost blanched at the strange turn affairs 
 
 *A similar remark was made afterward by Mahomet II. to a chief 
 officer who asked him his plans for a certain campaign.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 319 
 
 were taking, or perhaps with the suspicion that to-mor- 
 row his head would fall from his shoulders as the pen- 
 alty of having witnessed the Padishah disgrace him- 
 self. 
 
 The attendants placed the dishes before the eunuch 
 and the two favored beauties. The covers removed 
 revealed the ghastly sight of three human heads, their 
 unclosed eyes staring upward from their distorted 
 faces and gory locks. The eunuch leaped from the 
 divan. The women fell back shrieking and fainting. 
 They were the heads of the Grand Duke Notaras and 
 his two children. 
 
 Well did the Sultan need the strong diversion of the 
 drunken revelry to drown the thoughts of what he knew 
 to be transpiring at the hour. In spite of his royal 
 word to the distinguished captive who had made his 
 submission absolute, except to the extent of seeing his 
 children dishonored to the vilest purposes, Mahomet 
 had ordered that Notaras should be beheaded at the 
 Hippodrome, having been first compelled to witness 
 the decapitation of his family. 
 
 Even Mahomet was sobered by the horrid ghoul- 
 ism he had devised, and dismissed the terror-stricken 
 revelers with a volley of curses.
 
 320 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 THE courage of Morsiniawhen she appeared before 
 Mahomet had been stimulated by an event which 
 occurred a little before her summons. 
 
 She was sitting by the latticed window in the house 
 of Phranza. It overlooked the wall surrounding the 
 garden, which on that side was a narrow enclosure. 
 This had been her favorite resort in brighter days. 
 From it she could see what passed in the broad highway 
 beyond, while the close latticed woodwork prevented 
 her being seen by those without. While musing there 
 she was strangely attracted by an officer who fre- 
 quently passed. His shape and stature reminded her 
 strongly of Constantine. As he turned his face to- 
 ward the mansion the features seemed identical with 
 those of her foster brother. Recovering from the 
 stroke of surprise this apparition gave her, Morsinia 
 rubbed her eyes to make sure she was not dreaming, 
 and looked again. He was in conversation with 
 another. It could not be Constantine, for, aside from 
 the general belief in Constantine's death before the 
 termination of the siege, this person was saluted with 
 great reverence by the soldiers who passed by, and 
 approached with familiarity by other officers of 
 rank. 
 
 The sight brought into vivid conviction what had 
 long been her day dream, namely, that Michael, her 
 childhood playmate, might be living, and if so, would 
 probably be among the Turkish soldiers ; for his 
 goodly physique and talent, displayed as a lad, would
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 3 21 
 
 certainly have been cultivated by his captors. She 
 now felt certain of her theory. So strong was the 
 impression, and so active and exciting her thoughts 
 as she endeavored to devise a way by which the dis- 
 covery might be utilized to the advantage of both, that 
 even the loathsome splendor of the Sultan's garden 
 party, had not impressed her as it otherwise would 
 have done. 
 
 For several days after she was almost oblivious to the 
 monotony of the harem life ; so busy was she with her 
 new problem. She determined that, at any cost, she 
 would bring herself into communication with the 
 officer, and, if her theory should be confirmed, declare 
 herself, and boldly propose that he should rescue her. 
 For she could not conceive that, however much he 
 had become accustomed to Turkish life, he had lost 
 all yearning for his liberty and all impression of his 
 Christian faith. 
 
 But how could she convey any intelligence to him ? 
 Except through the eunuchs, the inmates of the 
 harem had little communication with the outer world. 
 The customs of life there were as inflexible as the 
 walls. 
 
 To her natural ingenuity, now so quickened by neces- 
 sity and hope, there at length appeared an end thread 
 of the tangle. The women of the harem relieved the 
 tedium of their existence by making various articles, 
 the construction of which might not mar the delicacy 
 of their fingers ; such as needlework upon their own 
 clothing, coverings for cushions, curtains, tapestried 
 hangings, spreads for couches, cases in which the 
 
 Koran could be kept so that even when being read it 
 21
 
 322 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 need not be touched by the fingers, bags of scented 
 powders, and the like. Many of these articles were 
 disposed of at the bazaars of the city, and the pro- 
 ceeds spent by the odalisks at their own caprice ; 
 generally for confections and gew-gaws. At the time 
 there was quite a demand for articles made in the 
 harem. Many thousands of Moslems had been 
 imported from Asia Minor to take the place of the 
 rapidly disappearing Greek population. Large stores 
 of articles were sent from the great harem at Adrian- 
 ople, and sold for fabulous prices in the bazaars of 
 Stamboul, as the new capital was called by the Turks. 
 The agents for the sale of these things were generally 
 the female attendants at the harem, who had free 
 association with the bazaar keepers. Sometimes these 
 women sold directly to the individual purchasers 
 without going to the trade places. An officer or young 
 citizen was often inveigled into buying, and paying 
 exorbitant prices too, on hearing that some odalisk 
 had set longing eyes upon him, and wrought the purse 
 or belt, the dagger-sheath or embroidered jacket, as a 
 special evidence of her favor. Many were the stories 
 which the gallants of the city and garrison were accus- 
 tomed to tell, as they displayed their purchases, about 
 nocturnal adventures, in which they were guided only 
 by a pair of bright eyes, and of favors received from 
 beauties whose names, of course, prudence forbade 
 them to mention. All the traditions of lovers, romances 
 of moon-shadowed grottoes, and all the stories of 
 castles with the thread at the window, that have been 
 told from the beginning of the world, had their coun- 
 terpart in those the swains of Stamboul told about
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 323 
 
 the Sultan's earthly paradise at Adrianople, or those 
 which, in their amatory bantering, they had made to 
 cluster about the villa of the late Phranza at the new 
 capital. 
 
 An old woman, who, formerly a servant in the 
 harem, had been given by the Valide Sultana, the 
 mother of Amurath, to a subaltern officer as wife, but 
 had long been a widow, was permitted freely to enter 
 the haremlik, and engaged as a convenient broker 
 between those within and those without. One day 
 Morsinia, in giving her some of her handiwork for 
 sale, held up an elegant case of silk containing 
 several little crystals, or phials, of atar of roses. 
 
 " Kala-Hanoum, do you know the young Captain 
 Ballaban ? " 
 
 " Ay, the Knight of the Golden Horn ? " asked 
 the woman. 
 
 " And why do they call him that ? " 
 
 " Because," she replied, " his head glows like one, I 
 suppose." 
 
 " Yes, he is the man Well ! find him Tell him any 
 story you please about my beauty." 
 
 " I need not invent one ; I must only tell the truth 
 to bewitch him," replied the old dame, with real fond- 
 ness and admiration. " But that will be difficult. I 
 can invent a lie better than describe the truth, unless 
 you help me." 
 
 " Well," said Morsinia, " tell him as much truth about 
 my appearance as you can, and invent the rest. Tell 
 him let me see that my eyes are as bright as the 
 stars that shine above the Balkans." 
 
 " Do they shine there more brilliantly than here
 
 324 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 where they make their toilet in the Bosphorus ? " 
 asked the woman. 
 
 "Oh ! yes," said Morsinia, "for the air is clearest 
 there of any place on the earth. Tell him, too, that my 
 teeth are as white as the snows that lie in the pass of 
 Slatiza." 
 
 " Where is that ? " queried the messenger. 
 
 " Oh ! it is a grotto I have heard of, that lies very 
 high up toward the sky, where the snows are unsoiled 
 by passing through the clouds, which, you know, 
 always tints them. And then telfrhim that altogether I 
 am as queenly as as well ! as the wonderful Eliza- 
 beth Morsiney, the bride of the Christian king Sigis- 
 mund." 
 
 " Elizabeth Morsiney ? yes, I will remember that 
 name, if some day you will tell me her story." 
 
 " That I will," said Morsinia. " And tell the young 
 officer that the odalisk who made this lovely case has 
 dreamed of him ever since she was a child." 
 
 " He cannot resist that," said the woman. 
 
 " But you must sell it to no one else. And see this 
 elegant sash of cashmere ! I will give it to you to sell 
 on your own account, Hanoum, if you bring me some 
 sure evidence that he has bought the case of perfume. 
 And be sure to tell him that just when the sun is set- 
 ting he must go somewhere alone, and look at the 
 sun through each of the little phials, and he may see 
 the face of her who sent them ; for you know that a 
 true lover can always see the one who sends a phial 
 of atar of roses in the sun glints from its sides. 
 And when you bring me evidence that he has bought 
 it, then, good Kala, you shall have the sash of cash-
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 325 
 
 mere." The old woman's cupidity hastened her feet 
 upon her errand. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 "OEACE be with thee!" said the old woman, 
 1 dropping a low courtesy to the officer, as he 
 walked near the new buildings of the seraglio. 
 
 " Peace be unto thee, and the mercy of God and His 
 blessing,* good woman !" replied the soldier ; but 
 waving his hand, added kindly, " I have no need of 
 your harem trumpery." 
 
 " But see this !" said she, showing the elegant case 
 of perfumery. " This holds the essence of the flowers 
 of paradise." 
 
 " Go along, old mother ! I would have no taste for 
 it if it contained the sweat of the houris." f 
 
 " But this case was made especially for you, Captain 
 Ballaban." 
 
 " Or for any other man whose purse will buy it," 
 replied he, moving away. 
 
 The woman followed closely, chattering into his 
 deaf ears. 
 
 " But, could you see her that made it, you would not 
 decline to buy, though you gave for it half the gold 
 you found in the coffers of the rich Greeks the day 
 
 * Koran, Chapter IV. " When you are saluted with a salutation, 
 salute the person with a better salutation, or at least return the 
 same, 
 
 f According to the Koran the houris perspire musk.
 
 326 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 your valor won the city, brave Captain ; and the cost 
 of it is but a lira ;* and the maiden is dying of love 
 for you." 
 
 " Then why does she not give it to me as a present ? 
 Love asks no price," said he, just turning his head. 
 
 " That she would, but for fear of offending your 
 honor by slighting your purse," said the quick-witted 
 woman. 
 
 " Well said, mother ! I warrant that the Beyler 
 Bey, or the noble Kaikji,f who made love to you never 
 got you for nothing." 
 
 " Indeed, no! He paid the Valide Sultana ten prov- 
 inces, and a brass buckle besides, to prevent her giv- 
 ing me to Timour ; who took it so hard that he would 
 have broken his heart, but that the grief went the 
 wrong way and cracked his legs, and so they call him 
 Timour-lenk. That was the reason he made war on 
 the Ottomans. It was all out of jealousy for me," 
 said she, making a low and mock courtesy. " But if 
 you could see the beautiful odalisk who made this ! 
 Her form is as stately as the dome of St. Sophia." 
 
 "She's too big and squatty, if she's like that," 
 laughed the officer. 
 
 " Her face glows in complexion like the mother of 
 pearl," went on the enthusiastic saleswoman. 
 
 " Too hard of cheek ! " sneered the other. " Even 
 yours, Hanoum, is not so hard as mother of pearl." 
 
 " A neck like alabaster " 
 
 " Cold ! too cold ! I would as soon think of making 
 love to a gravestone," was the officer's comment. 
 
 * About an English pound sterling. 
 f Kaikji ; a common boatman.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 3 2 7 
 
 " And such melting lips " 
 
 " Yes, with blisters ! I tell you, old Hanoum, I'm 
 woman proof. Go away ! " 
 
 " And her eyes shine through her long lashes like 
 the stars through the fir trees on the Balkans." 
 
 " Tut ! Woman, you never saw the stars shine 
 on the Balkans. They do shine there, though, like the 
 very eyes of Allah. A woman with such eyes would 
 frighten the Padishah himself." 
 
 Kala Hanoum took courage at this first evidence of 
 interest on the part of the officer, and plied her ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 " And her teeth are as white as the snows in the 
 grotto of Slatiza " 
 
 " The grotto of Slatiza ? You mean some bear's 
 cave. But the snows are white there, whiter and 
 purer than anywhere else on earth, except as I once 
 saw them, so red with blood, there in the Pass of 
 Slatiza. But how know you of Slatiza, my good 
 woman ? " 
 
 " And altogether she is as fair as the bride of Sigis- 
 mund of Hungary," said Kala, without regarding his 
 question. 
 
 " And who was she, Hanoum ? " asked the man, 
 with curiosity fully aroused. 
 
 " Why, Elizabeth Morsiney, of course." 
 
 The officer turned fully toward the woman, and 
 scanned closely her features as if to discover some- 
 thing familiar. Was there not some hint to be picked 
 from these words ? 
 
 " Hanoum, who told you to say that ? " 
 
 The woman in turn studied his face before she
 
 328 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 replied. She would learn whether the allusions had 
 excited a pleasant interest, or roused antagonism in 
 him. It required but a moment for her to discover 
 that Morsinia had given her some clue that the man 
 would willingly follow, so she boldly replied : 
 
 " The odalisk herself has talked to me of these 
 things." 
 
 " The odalisk ! What is she like ? " said he eagerly. 
 " Describe her to me." 
 
 " Why, I have been describing her for this half- 
 hour ; but you would not listen. So I will go off 
 and do my next errand." 
 
 The woman turned away, but, as she intended it 
 should be, the officer was now in the attitude of the 
 beggar. 
 
 " Hold, Hanoum, I will buy your perfume But tell 
 me what she is like in plain words. Is she of light 
 hair?" 
 
 " Ay, as if she washed it in the sunshine and dried 
 it in the moonlight, and as glossy as the beams of 
 both." 
 
 " Think you she belonged to Stamboul before the 
 siege?" 
 
 " Ay, and to the great Scanderbeg before 
 that." 
 
 The officer was bewildered and stood thinking, 
 until Kala interrupted him. 
 
 " But you said you would buy it, Captain." 
 
 " Did I ? Well, take your lira." 
 
 As the woman took the piece of money she added: 
 " And don't forget that the odalisk said she had 
 dreamed of you since she was a child, and that at
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 329 
 
 sunset if you looked through the phials you would see 
 her face." 
 
 " Nonsense, woman ! " 
 
 " But try it, Sire, and maybe the noble Captain 
 would send something to the beautiful odalisk?" 
 
 " Yes, when I see her in the phial I will send her 
 myself as her slave." 
 
 The man thrust the silken case into the deep 
 pocket of his flowing vest and went away. 
 
 Then began a struggle in Captain Ballaban. Since 
 the capture of the fair girl by the altar of St. Sophia, 
 he had been unable to efface the remembrance of 
 her. She stood before him in his dreams : some- 
 times just falling beneath the dagger ; sometimes in 
 the splendor which he imagined to surround her in 
 the harem ; often in mute appeal to him to save her 
 from the nameless horrors which her cry indicated that 
 she dreaded. When waking, his mind was often dis- 
 tracted by thoughts of her. The presence of the 
 Sultan lost its charm, for he had come to look upon 
 him as her owner, and to feel himself in some way 
 despoiled. He was losing his ambition for distant 
 service, and found himself often loitering in the vicin- 
 ity of the Phranza palace. 
 
 This feeling which, perhaps, is experienced by most 
 men, at least once in life, as the spell of a fair ftice is 
 thrown over them, was associated with a deeper and 
 more serious one in Captain Ballaban. 
 
 From the day of her capture until now he had felt 
 almost confident of her identity with his little play- 
 mate in the mountain home. She thus linked together 
 his earliest and later life ; and, as he thought of her,
 
 330 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 he thought of the contrast in himself then and now. 
 The things he used to muse about when a child, his 
 feelings then, his purposes, his religious faith, all came 
 back to him, and with a strange strength and fascina- 
 tion. He began to realize that, though he was an 
 enthusiast for both the Moslem belief and the service 
 of the Ottoman, yet he had become such, not in his 
 own free choice, but by the overpowering will of others. 
 At heart he rebelled, while he could not say 
 that he had come to disbelieve a word of the 
 Koran, and was not willing to harbor a purpose 
 against the sovereignty of the Padishah. Still he was 
 compelled to confess to himself that, if the fair woman 
 were indeed his old play-mate, and there was open 
 a way by which he could release her from her captivity, 
 he would risk so much of disloyalty to the Sultan as 
 the attempt should require. Indeed, he argued to 
 himself that, except in the mere form of it, it would 
 not be disloyalty ; for what did Mahomet care for one 
 woman more or less in his harem ? And was this 
 woman not, after all, more his property than she was 
 that of the Padishah ? He had captured her ; per- 
 haps twice ; and had saved her life in St. Sophia, for 
 only his hand caught her dagger. She was his ! 
 
 Then he became fond of indulging a day dream. 
 The Sultan sometimes gave the odalisks to his favorite 
 pashas and servants. What if this one should be 
 given to him ? 
 
 He had gone so far as once to say in response to 
 the Sultan, who twitted him for being in love, that he 
 imagined such to be the case, and only needed the 
 choice of His Majesty to locate the passion. But
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 331 
 
 he did not dare to be more specific, lest he might run 
 across some caprice of the Sultan ; for he felt sure 
 that so beautiful an odalisk as his captive would not 
 long be without the royal attention. 
 
 Old Kala Hanoum's information regarding the fair 
 odalisk allayed the turmoil in Ballaban's breast, in 
 that it gave certainty to his former suspicions. For 
 her words about the stars above the Balkans, the snows 
 of Slatiza, and Elizabeth Morsiney, were not acci- 
 dental. He had no doubt that the Albanian odalisk 
 was the little lady to whom he once made love in the 
 bowers of blackberry bushes, and vowed to defend 
 like a true knight, waving his wooden sword over the 
 head of the goat he rode as a steed. In the midst of 
 such thoughts and emotions, Captain Ballaban awoke 
 to full self-consciousness, and said to himself 
 
 " I am in love ! But I am a fool ! For a man with 
 ambition must never be in love, except with himself. 
 Besides, this woman I love is perhaps half in my 
 imagination ; for I never yet caught a full view of her 
 face. As for her being my little Morsinia Illusion ! 
 No ! this is no illusion ! But what if she be the same ! 
 Captain Ballaban, are you going to be a soldier, or a 
 lover ? Take your choice ; for you can't be both, at 
 least not an Ottoman soldier and a lover of a Christian 
 girl." 
 
 Rubbing his hand through his red hair, as if to pull 
 out these fantasies, he strode down to the water's 
 edge, and, tossing a Kaikji a few piasters, was in a 
 moment darting like an arrow across the harbor ; 
 a customary way the captain had of getting rid of any 
 vexation. The cool evening breeze wooed the over-
 
 33 2 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 thoughtfulness from his brain, or he spurted it out 
 through his muscles into the oar blades, which dropped 
 it into the water of oblivion. 
 
 He was scarcely aware that he was becoming more 
 tranquil, when .a quick cry of a boat keeper showed 
 that he had almost run down the old tower of white 
 marble which rises from a rocky islet, just away 
 from the mainland on the Asiatic side of the Bos- 
 phorus. 
 
 " Kiss-Koulessi, the Maiden's Tower, this," he mut- 
 tered. " Well, I have fled from the fortress of one 
 maiden to run against that of another. Fate is against 
 me. Perhaps I had better submit. Why not ? Wasn't 
 Charis a valiant general of the old Greeks, who sent 
 him here, once on a time, to help the Byzantines ? 
 Well ! He had a wife, the fair Boiidion, the ' heifer- 
 eyed maiden.' And here she lies beneath this tower. 
 The world would have forgotten General Charis, but 
 for his wife Damalis, whom they have remembered 
 these two thousand years. A wife may be the making 
 of a man's fame. If the Sultan would give me my 
 pick of the odalisks I think I would venture." 
 
 These thoughts were not interrupted, only supple- 
 mented, by the sun's rays, now nearly horizontal, 
 as striking the water far up the harbor of Stamboul, 
 they poured over it and made it seem indeed a Golden 
 Horn, the open end of which extended into the Bos- 
 phorus. The ruddy glow tipped the dome of St. 
 Sophia as with fire ; transformed the gray walls of the 
 Genoese tower at Galata into a huge porphyry column, 
 sparkling with a million crystals ; and made the white 
 marble of the Maiden's Tower blush like the neck of
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 333 
 
 a living maiden, when kissed for the first time by the 
 hot lips of her lover. 
 
 So the Captain thought : and was reminded to 
 inspect the silken treasure he had purchased. He 
 would look through the phials, as who knows he 
 might see the face of her who sent them. If looking 
 at the red orb of the sun, just for an instant, made his 
 eyes see a hundred sombre suns dancing along the 
 sky, it would not be strange if his long meditation 
 upon a certain radiant maiden should enable him to 
 see her, at least in one shadowy reproduction of his 
 inner vision. 
 
 He drew the silken case from his pocket. It was 
 wrought with real skill, and worth the lira, even if it 
 had contained nothing, and meant nothing. The 
 little phials were held up one by one, and divided the 
 sun's beams into prismatic hues as they passed 
 through the twisted glass. In each was a drop or two 
 of sweet essence, like an imprisoned soul, waiting to 
 be released, that it might fly far and wide and distill 
 its perfume as a secret blessing. 
 
 " But this one is imperfect," muttered the Captain, 
 as he held up a phial that was nearly opaque. It was 
 larger than the others, and contained a tightly wrapped 
 piece of paper. " The clue ! " said he, and, after 
 a moment's hesitation, broke the phial. Unwinding 
 the paper, he read : 
 
 " You are Michael, son of Milosch. I am Morsinia, 
 child of Kabilovitsch. For the love of Jesu ! save me 
 from this hell. We can communicate by this means." 
 
 It was a long row that Captain Ballaban took that 
 night upon the Bosphorus. Yet he went not far, but
 
 334 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 back and forth around the new seraglio point, scarcely 
 out of sight of the clear-cut outline of the Phranza 
 Palace, as it stood out against the sky above the 
 ordinary dwellings of the city. The dawn began to 
 peer over the hills back of Chalcedon, and to send its 
 scouts of ruddy light down the side of Mt. Olympus, 
 when he landed. But the length of the night to him 
 could not be measured by hours. He had lived over 
 again ten years. He had gone through a battle which 
 tired his soul as it had never been tired un der the 
 flashing of steel and the roar of culverin. Only once 
 before, when, as a mere child he was conquered by the 
 terrors of the Janizaries' discipline, had he suffered so 
 intensely. Yet the battle was an undecided one. He 
 staggered up the hill from the landing to the barracks 
 with the cry of conflict ringing through his soul. " What 
 shall I do ? " On the one side were the habit of loyalty, 
 his oath of devotion to the Padishah, all his earthly 
 ambition which blazed with splendors just before him 
 for he was the favorite of both the Sultan and the 
 soldiers and all that the education of his riper years 
 had led him to hope for in another world. On the 
 other side were this new passion of love which he 
 could no longer laugh down, and the appeal of a help- 
 less fellow creature for rescue from what he knew was 
 injustice, cruelty and degradation ; the first personal 
 appeal a human being had ever made to him, and he 
 the only human being to whom she could appeal. To 
 heed this cry of Morsinia he knew would be treason 
 to his outward and sworn loyalty. To refuse to heed 
 it he felt would be treason to his manhood. What 
 could he do ? Neither force was preponderating.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 335 
 
 The battle wavered. 
 
 What did he do ? What most people do in such 
 circumstances he temporized : said, " I will do 
 nothing to-day." Like a genuine Turk he grunted to 
 himself, " Bacaloum ! " " We shall see ! " 
 
 But though he arranged and ordered an armistice 
 between his contending thoughts, there was no real 
 cessation of hostilities. Arguments battered against 
 arguments. Feelings of the gentler sort mined in- 
 cessantly beneath those which he would have called 
 the braver and more manly. And the latter counter- 
 mined : loyalty against love : ambition against pity. 
 
 But all the time the gentler ones were gaining 
 strength. On their side was the advantage of a 
 definite picture a lovely face ; of an immediate and 
 tangible project the rescue of an individual. The 
 danger of the enterprise weighed nothing with him, or, 
 at least, it was counter-balanced by the inspiriting 
 anticipation of an adventure, an exploit : the very 
 hazard rather fascinating than repelling. Yet he had 
 not decided. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 pAPTAIN BALLABAN was summoned by the 
 \j Sultan. 
 
 " Well, comrade," said Mahomet, familiarly throw- 
 ing his arm about his friend, much to the disgust of 
 the Capee Aga, the master of ceremonies, through
 
 336 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 whom alone it was the custom of the Sultans to be 
 approached. 
 
 " Well ! comrade, I gave a necklace worth a thou- 
 sand liras to a girl who pleased me in the harem." 
 
 " Happy girl, to have pleased your Majesty. That 
 was better than the necklace," replied Ballaban. 
 
 <: Think you so ? Let me look you through and 
 through. Think you there is nothing better in this 
 world than to please the Padishah ? Ah ! it is worth 
 a kingdom to hear that from a man like you, Ballaban. 
 Women say it ; but they can do nothing for me. 
 They dissipate my thoughts with their pleasuring me. 
 They make me weak. I have a mind to abolish the 
 whole harem. But to have a man, a strong man, a man 
 with a head to plot for empire and to marshal armies, a 
 man with an arm like thine to make love to me ! Ah, 
 that is glorious, comrade. But let me make no mistake 
 about it. You love me ? Do you really think no gold, 
 no honors, could give you so much pleasure as pleas- 
 ing me ? Swear it ! and by the throne of Allah ! I 
 will swear that you shall share my empire. But to 
 business ! " dropping his voice, and in the instant 
 becoming apparently forgetful of his enthusiasm for 
 his friend. 
 
 " We make a campaign against Belgrade. I must 
 go in person. Yet Scanderbeg holds out in Albania. 
 It is useless meeting him in his stronghold. You can- 
 not fight a lion by crawling into his den. He must 
 be trapped. Work out a plan." 
 
 " I have one which may be fruitful," instantly replied 
 Captain Ballaban. 
 
 " Ah ! so quick ? "
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES, 337 
 
 " No, of long hatching, Sire. I made it in my first 
 campaign in Albania with your royal father. The 
 young Voivode Amesa is nephew to Scanderbeg. 
 He is restless under the authority of the great 
 general : has committed some crime which, if known, 
 would bring him to ruin : is popular with the people 
 of the north." 
 
 " Capital ! " said Mahomet eagerly. " I see it all. 
 Work it out ! Work it out ! He may have anything, 
 if only Scanderbeg can be put out of the way, and 
 the country be under our suzerainty. Work it out ! 
 And the suzerain revenues shall all be yours ; for by 
 the bones of Othman ! there is not a province too 
 great for you if only you can settle affairs among the 
 Arnaouts. 
 
 " And now a gift ! I will send you the very queen of 
 the harem." 
 
 " My thanks, Padishah, but I " began Ballaban, 
 
 when he was cut short by the Sultan. 
 
 " Not a word ! not a word ! I know you decline to 
 practice the softer virtues, and prefer to live like 
 a Greek monk. But you must take her. If you like 
 her not, drown her. But you shall like her. By the 
 dimple in the chin of Ayesha ! she is the most perfect 
 woman in the empire." 
 
 " But," interposed Ballaban, "I am a Janizary, 
 and it is not permitted a Janizary to marry." 
 
 " A fig for what is permitted ! When the Padi- 
 shah gives, he grants permission to enjoy his gifts. 
 Besides, you need not marry. You can own her ; 
 sell her if you don't like her. But you must take 
 her." 
 
 22
 
 33 8 THE CAPTAIN Of THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 11 Of what nation is she ? Perhaps I could not 
 understand her tongue," objected Ballaban. 
 
 " So much the better," said Mahomet. " Women 
 are not made to talk. But this woman is an 
 Arnaout, from Scanderbeg's" country." 
 
 Captain Ballaban could scarcely believe his ears. 
 
 This then is Morsinia ! To have her, to save her 
 without breach of loyalty ! This was too much. 
 With strangely fluttering heart he acquiesced, and his 
 thanks were drawn from the bottom of his soul. 
 
 The next day he sought Kala Hanoum, and sent 
 by her to Morsinia a gem enclosed in a pretty casket, 
 with which was a note, reading, 
 
 " It shall be so. Patience for a few days, and our 
 hearts shall be made glad." 
 
 How strangely Fate had planned for him ! It must 
 have been Fate ; for only powers supernal could have 
 made the gift of the Padishah so fitting to his heart. 
 No chance this ! His secret passion, unbreathed to 
 any ear on earth, had been a prayer heard in 
 heaven ! 
 
 Ballaban was now an undoubting Moslem that he 
 found Kismet on the side of his inclinations. Hebe- 
 longed to Islam, the Holy Resignation ; resigned to the 
 will of Providence, since Providence seemed just now to 
 have resigned itself to his will. He was surprised at 
 the ecstatic character his piety was taking on. He 
 could have become a dervish : indeed his head was 
 already whirling with the intoxication of his pros- 
 pects. 
 
 Captain Ballaban, like a good Moslem, went to the 
 Mosque. He made his prayer toward the Mihrab ;
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 339 
 
 but his eyes and thoughts wandered to the spot at the 
 side of it, where he had saved the life of Morsinia ; 
 and he thanked Allah with full soul that he had been 
 allowed to save her for himself. 
 
 The Padishah, the following day, bade Ballaban 
 repair to a house in the city, and be in readiness to 
 receive the gift of heaven and of his own imperial 
 grace. On reaching the place an elderly woman 
 the Koulavous, an inevitable attendant upon marriages 
 conducted him through the selamlik and mabeyn 
 to the haremlik of the house. The bride or slave, as 
 he pleased to take her, rose from the divan to meet 
 him. Though her thick veil completely enveloped her 
 person, it could not conceal her superb form and 
 marvellous grace. His hand trembled with the agita- 
 tion of his delight as he exercised the authority 
 of a husband or master, and reverently raised the 
 veil. 
 
 He stood as one paralyzed in amazement. She was 
 not Morsinia. She was Elissa ! 
 
 He dropped the veil. 
 
 Strange spirits seemed to breathe themselves in 
 succession through his frame. 
 
 First came the demon of disappointment, checking 
 his blood, stifling him. Not that any other mortal 
 knew of his shattered hopes ; but it was enough that 
 he knew them. And with the consciousness of defeat, 
 a horrible chagrin bit and tore his heart, as if it had 
 been some dragon with teeth and claws. 
 
 Then came the demon of rage ; wild rage ; want- 
 ing to howl out its fury. He might have smitten the 
 veiled form, had not the latter, overcome by her
 
 340 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES, 
 
 bewilderment and the scorn of him she supposed to 
 have been a lover, already fallen fainting at his feet. 
 
 Then rose in Ballaban's breast the demon of ven- 
 geance against the Sultan. Had Mahomet been 
 present he surely had felt the steel of the outraged 
 man. Only the habit of self-control and quiet review 
 of his own passions prevented his seeking the Padishah, 
 and taking instant vengeance in his blood. 
 
 Then there came into him a great demon of impiety, 
 and breathed a curse against Allah himself through 
 his lips. 
 
 But finally a new spirit hissed into his ears. It was 
 Nemesis. He felt that this was the moment when a 
 just retribution had returned upon himself. For he 
 well knew the face that lay weeping beneath the heap 
 of bejewelled lace and silk. It was that of the Dodola, 
 whom he had flung into the arms of the Albanian 
 Voivode Amesa when he was awaiting the embrace of 
 some more princely maiden. And now the sarcasm of 
 fate had thrown her into his arms. 
 
 " Allah ! Thou wast even with me this time," he 
 confessed back of his clenched teeth. 
 
 " But doubtless," he thought, " it was through the 
 information I gave to the Aga that this girl has been 
 stolen away from Amesa." 
 
 " Would that heaven rid me of her so easily ! " he 
 muttered. "Yet that is easy ; thanks to our Moslem 
 law, which says, ' Thou mayest either retain thy wife 
 with humanity or dismiss her with kindness.'* Yet I 
 cannot dismiss her with kindness. She can not go 
 back to the royal harem. If I dismiss her I harm 
 * Koran, Chap. II.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 341 
 
 her, and Allah's curse will be fatal if I wrong this 
 creature again to say nothing of the Padishah's if I 
 throw away his gift. I must keep her. Well ! Baca- 
 loum ! Bacaloum ! It is not so bad a thing after all to 
 have a woman like that for one's slave ; for a wife 
 without one's heart is but a slave. Well ! " He raised 
 the veil again from the now sitting woman. 
 
 The mutually stupid gaze carried them both through 
 several years which had passed since they had parted 
 at Amesa's castle. 
 
 Elissa was easily induced to tell her story. Assum- 
 ing that it might be already known to her new lord, 
 she gave it correctly ; and therefore it differed sub- 
 stantially from that she had told to Morsinia. She had 
 been but a few days in Amesa's home when he dis- 
 covered that she was not the person he had presumed 
 her to be. In an outburst of rage he would have taken 
 her life, but was led by an old priest to adopt a more 
 merciful method of ridding himself of her. To have 
 returned her to the village above the Skadar would 
 have filled the country with the scandal, and made 
 Amesa the laughing stock of all. She was therefore 
 sent within the Turkish lines, with the certainty of 
 finding her way to some far-distant country. Her 
 beauty saved her from a common fate, and she was 
 sent as a gift to the young Padishah by an old general, 
 into whose hands she had fallen. 
 
 Ballaban assured the woman of his protection, and 
 also that the time would come when he would com- 
 pensate her for any grief she had endured through his 
 fault. In the meantime she was retained in the lux* 
 urious comfort of her new abode.
 
 34 2 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 pAPTAIN BALLABAN was almost constantly 
 l^ engaged at the new seraglio. It was being con- 
 structed not only with an eye to its imposing appear- 
 ance from without and its beauty within, such as 
 befitted both its splendid site between the waters and 
 the splendor of the monarch whose palace it was to be ; 
 but also with a view to its easy defence in case of 
 assault. Upon the young officer devolved the duty 
 of scrutinizing every line and layer that went into the 
 various structures. 
 
 He was especially interested in the side entrances, 
 and communications between the various departments 
 of the seraglio. He gave orders for a change to be 
 made in the line of a partition and corridor, and also 
 for a slight variation in the position of a gateway in 
 the walls dividing the mabeyn* court from that of the 
 haremlik. Just why these changes were made, per- 
 haps the architects themselves could not have told ; 
 nor were they interested to enquire, supposing that 
 they were made at the royal will. Ballaban was dis- 
 posed to indulge a little his own fancy. If there was 
 to be a broad entrance for public display, and then a 
 narrow passage for the Sultan only, why not have a 
 way through which he could imagine a fair odalisk 
 fleeing from insult and torture into the arms of him- 
 self ? But Ballaban's face grew pale as he watched 
 
 * The mabeyn lies between the selamlik (general reception 
 room for men) and the haremlik ; and is the living apartment for
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 343 
 
 the completion of a sluice way leading from a little 
 chamber, down through the sea wall, to meet the 
 rapid current of the Bosphorus. He remembered the 
 declaration of the Padishah, that, if ever an odalisk 
 were unfaithful to him, she should be sewn into a bag, 
 together with a cat and a snake, and drowned in 
 Marmora.* 
 
 In the meantime old Kala Hanoum was amazed at 
 the number of articles of Morsinia's handiwork she 
 was able to induce the young captain to purchase. 
 Indeed, he never refused. And quite frequently she 
 was the bearer of gifts, generally confections, some- 
 times little rolls of silk suitable for embroidery with 
 colored threads or beads, accompanied by the name 
 of some fellow officer of the Janizaries from whom 
 apparently an order for work was given ; the Captain 
 acting as an agent in a sort of co-partnership with 
 Kala. Of course this was only secret mail serv- 
 ice between Ballaban and the odalisk. If Kala sus- 
 pected it, her commissions were so largely remunera- 
 tive that she silenced the thought of any thing but 
 legitimate business. 
 
 Ballaban devised plans for her escape which Mor- 
 sinia found it impracticable to execute from her side 
 of the harem wall ; and her shrewdest suggestions 
 were pronounced equally unsafe by the strategist 
 without. Ballaban had caught glimpses of Morsinia 
 while loitering among the trees at the upper end of the 
 Golden Horn, by the Sweet Waters, where the ladies of 
 the harem were taken by the eunuchs on almost 
 
 * The sluice which was supposed to have been used for this 
 purpose is still seen at Old Seraglio Point.
 
 344 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 weekly excursions. He had proposed to have in 
 readiness two horses, that, if she should break from 
 the attendants, they might flee together. But before 
 this could be accomplished, the excursions were dis- 
 continued, as the attention of all was turned to a new 
 pleasure. 
 
 The grand haremlik was at length completed. 
 Perhaps no place on earth was so suggestive of indo- 
 lent and sensual pleasure as this. There were luxu- 
 rious divans, multiplying mirrors, baths of tempered 
 water, fountains in which perfumes could be scattered 
 with the spray, broad spaces for the dance, half hidden 
 alcoves for the indulgence in that which shamed the 
 more public eye, and gardens in which Araby com- 
 peted with Africa in the display of exotic fruits and 
 flowers. 
 
 A day was set for the reception of the grand harem 
 from Adrianople which contained nearly a thousand 
 of the most beautiful women in the world into this 
 new paradise. The Kislar Aga had arranged a 
 pageant of especial magnificence, which could be wit- 
 nessed by the people at a distance. Two score 
 barges, elegantly decorated, rowed by eunuchs, their 
 decks covered with divans, were to receive the oda- 
 lisks from Adrianople at the extreme inner point of 
 the seraglio water front on the Golden Horn. The 
 Valide Sultana's barge was to lead the procession, 
 which should float to the cadences of music far out 
 into the harbor. At the same time, the Sultan in his 
 kaik, and the women of the temporary haremlik, each 
 propelling a light skiff decorated with flags and 
 streamers, were to move from the extreme outer point
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 345 
 
 of the seraglio grounds, until the two fleets should 
 meet, when, amid salvos of artillery from the shores, 
 the odalisks with the Sultan were to turn about and 
 lead their sisters to the water gate of the haremlik. 
 Orders were given forbidding the people to appear 
 upon the water, or upon the shores within distance 
 to see distinctly the faces of the ladies of the harem. 
 
 Every evening at sundown a patrol of eunuchs made 
 a cordon of boats a few hundred yards from the 
 shore, within which, screened by distance from the eyes 
 of common men, the odalisks went into training for 
 the great regatta. The Padishah, sitting in his barge, 
 encouraged their rivalry by gifts for dexterity in man- 
 aging the little boats, for picturesqueness of dress and 
 for grace of movement, as with bared arms and stream- 
 ing tresses, they propelled the kaiks. 
 
 Morsinia found herself one of the most dexterous in 
 handling the oars. The free life of her childhood on 
 the Balkans and among the peasants of upper Albania, 
 had developed muscle which this new exercise soon 
 brought into unusual efficiency. She observed that 
 the attendant eunuchs were deficient in this kind of 
 strength, and had no doubt that, with her own light 
 weight, she could drive the almost imponderable kaik 
 swifter than any of them. 
 
 The young Egyptian woman was her only compet- 
 itor for the honor of leading the fleet on the day of 
 the regatta. To add to the interest of the training, 
 Mahomet ordered that the two should race for the 
 honor of being High Admiral of the harem fleet ; and 
 .one evening announced that the competitive trial 
 should take place the next afternoon. The course
 
 346 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 was fixed for a half mile, just inside of Seraglio 
 Point, where the waters of the harbor are still, unvexed 
 by the rapid current which pours along the channel 
 of the Bosphorus. The flag-boat was to be anchored 
 almost at the meeting of the inner and outer waters. 
 
 That night Morsinia wrote a note containing these 
 words 
 
 " About dusk just below the Seven Towers watch 
 for kaik. MORSINIA." 
 
 Kala Hanoum was commissioned early the following 
 morning to deliver a pretty little sash, wrought with 
 stars and crescents, to Captain Ballaban. Morsinia 
 was careful to show Kala the scarf, and dilate upon 
 the peculiar beauty of the work until the woman's 
 curiosity should be fully satisfied ; thus making 
 sure that she would not be tempted to inspect it for 
 herself. She then wrapped the note carefully within 
 the scarf, and tied it strongly with a silken cord. 
 
 Old Kala had a busy day before her, with a dozen 
 other commissions to discharge. But fortune favored 
 her in the early discovery of the well known shape of 
 the Captain in ordinary citizen's dress, as he was 
 engaged in eager conversation with the Greek monk, 
 Gennadius, whom the Sultan had allowed to super- 
 intend the worship of the Christians still resident in 
 the city. Indeed Mahomet was wise enough to even 
 pension some of the Greek clergy to keep up the 
 establishment of their faith ; for he feared to antago- 
 nize the millions in the provinces of Greece who 
 could not be persuaded to embrace Islam ; and was 
 content to exact from them only the recognition of his 
 secular supremacy. Kala Hanoum had too much rev-
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 347 
 
 erence in her nature to interrupt a couple of such wor- 
 thies ; so she followed a little way behind them. They 
 came to the gate-way a mere hole in the wall which 
 led to what was known as theHermit's Cell, the abode 
 of Gennadius during the siege. The spiritual pride 
 of the monk had prevented his exchanging this for a 
 more commodious residence into which the Sultan 
 would have put him. He said he only wanted a place 
 large enough to weep in, now that the people of the 
 Lord were in captivity. 
 
 The monk had entered the little gateway, and his 
 companion was following, when Kala's instinct for 
 business got the better of her reverence ; and, darting 
 forward, she thrust the little roll into his hand just as 
 he was stooping to enter the gate, not even glancing at 
 his face. She said in low voice, not caring to be 
 overheard by the monk : 
 
 " A part of your purchase yesterday, Sire, which 
 you have forgotten." 
 
 She waited for no reply, but trotted off, muttering 
 to herself : 
 
 " That's done, now for old Ibrahim the Jew." 
 
 The contrast between Morsinia and the Egyptian as 
 they presented themselves for the contest, afforded a 
 capital study in racial physique. The latter was rather 
 under size, with scarcely more of Womanly develop- 
 ment than a boy. Her face was almost copper colored ; 
 her hair jet and short. The former was tall, with fem- 
 ininity stamped upon the contour of bust and limb ; 
 her face pale, even beneath the mass of her light 
 locks. 
 
 The kaiks were of thinnest wood that could be held
 
 348 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 together by the web-like cross bracing, and seemed 
 scarcely to break the surface of the water when the 
 odalisks stepped into them. Morsinia had brought a 
 feridje" of common sort ; saying to the eunuch, whose 
 attention it attracted, that yesterday she was quite 
 chilled after rowing, and to day had taken this with 
 her by way of precaution. She might have found 
 something more beautiful had she thought in time ; 
 but it would be dark when they returned. Besides, 
 it would be a capital brace for her feet ; the crossbar 
 arranged for that purpose being rather too far away 
 from the seat. So saying she tossed it into the bottom 
 of the kaik before the officious eunuch could provide 
 a better substitute. 
 
 The Padishah's bugle sounded the call. It rang 
 over the waters, evoking echoes from the triple shore 
 of Stamboul, Galata and Skutari, which died away in 
 the distant billows of Marmora. As it was to be the 
 last evening before the pageant of the grand reception, 
 the time was occupied in making final arrangements 
 for the order in which the boats should move ; so that 
 it was growing dark when the Padishah reminded the 
 chief marshal that they must have the race for the 
 Admiral's badge. Katub, a fat and indolent eunuch, 
 was ordered to moor his kaik, for the stake boat, as 
 far out toward the swift current as safety would 
 permit. 
 
 The two competitors darted to the side of Mahomet's 
 barge. From a long staff, just high enough above the 
 water to be reached by the hand, hung a tiny streamer 
 of silk, the broad field of which was dotted with pearls. 
 This was to be the possession of the fair rower who,
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 349 
 
 rounding the stake boat first, could return and 
 seize it. 
 
 The Sultan threw a kiss to the fair nymphs as a 
 signal for the start. Myriads of liquid pearls, surpass- 
 ing in beauty those upon the streamer, dropped from 
 the oar blades, and strewed the smooth surface ; or 
 were transformed into diamonds as they sunk swirl- 
 ing into the broken water. The spray rose from the 
 sharp prows in sheafs, golden as those of grain, in the 
 ruddy reflection of the western sky. Each graceful 
 kaik, and the more graceful form that moved it, 
 almost created the illusion of a single creature ; some 
 happy denizen of another world disporting itself for 
 the luring of mortals in this. 
 
 The boats kept close company. The Egyptian was 
 expending her full strength, but her companion, with 
 longer and fewer strokes, was apparently reserving 
 hers. They neared the stake. The Egyptian, having 
 the inside, began to round it ; but the Albanian kept 
 on, now with rapid and strong strokes. The spectators 
 were amazed at her tactics. 
 
 " She is making too wide a sweep," said the Sultan. 
 
 " She does not seem inclined to turn at all," 
 observed the Kislar Aga. 
 
 " She will strike the current if she turn not soon," 
 rejoined Mahomet excitedly. 
 
 The prow of her kaik turned off westward. 
 
 " She is in the stream ! " cried several. " She will be 
 overturned ! " But on sped the kaik, heading full 
 down the current, which, catching it like some friendly 
 sprite from beneath, bore it quickly out of sight 
 around the Seraglio Point ; and on on into a thick mist
 
 35 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 which was rolling up, as if sent of heaven to meet it, 
 from the broad expanse of the sea. 
 
 " An escape ! " cried the Sultan. " After her every 
 one of you black devils ! " 
 
 The eunuchs wasted several precious moments in 
 getting the command through their heads, and, even 
 when they started, it was evident that their muscles were 
 too flaccid, their spines too limp, and their wind not 
 full enough to overhaul the flying skiff of the Albanian. 
 
 " To shore ! To horse ! " cried the raging mon- 
 arch. 
 
 A quarter of an hour later, horsemen were clatter- 
 ing down the stony street along the water front of 
 Marmora, pausing now and then to stare out into the 
 sea mist, dashing on, stopping and staring, and on 
 again. The foremost to reach the Castle of the Seven 
 Towers left orders to scour the shore, and to set patrol 
 to prevent any one landing. Some were ordered to 
 dart across to the islands. Within an hour from the 
 escape every inch of shore, and the great water course 
 opposite the city, were under complete surveillance. 
 
 Just before this was accomplished a man arrived at 
 the water's edge, close to the south side of the great 
 wall of which the Castle of Seven Towers was the 
 northern flank. He held two horses, saddled and 
 bagged, as if for a distant journey. A second man ap- 
 peared a moment later, who came up from a clump of 
 bushes a little way below. 
 
 " In good time, Marcus ! " said the new comer, who 
 stooped close to the water and listened, putting his 
 hand to his ear so as to exclude all sounds except 
 such as should come from the sea above.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 351 
 
 " Listen ! an oar stroke ! Yes ! Keep everything 
 tight, Marcus." 
 
 Darting into the copse, in a moment more the man 
 was gliding in a kaik, with a noiseless stroke, out in 
 the direction of the oar splash of the approaching 
 boat. Nearer and nearer it came. The night and 
 the mist prevented its being seen. The man moved 
 close to its line. It was a light kaik, he knew from 
 the almost noiseless ripple of the water as the sharp 
 prow cut it. The man gave a slight whistle, when the 
 stroke of the invisible boat ceased, and the ripple at 
 its prow died away. 
 
 " Morsinia ! " 
 
 " Ay, thank heaven ! " came the response. 
 
 " Speak not now, but follow ! " and he led the way 
 cautiously toward the little beach where the horses 
 were heard stamping. They were several rods off, 
 piloting themselves by the sound. 
 
 " Hark ! " said the man, stopping the boats. Hoofs 
 were heard approaching, and voices 
 
 " She might have put across to the Princess Island," 
 said one. 
 
 " Nonsense ! " was the reply. " She would only im- 
 prison herself by that more likely she has gone clean 
 across to Chalcedon. But I hold that she has played 
 fox, and turned on her trail. Ten liras to one that 
 she is by this time in Galata with some of the Genoese 
 Giaours. If so, she will try to escape in a galley ; but 
 that can be prevented : for the Padishah will overhaul 
 every craft that sails out until he finds her. But 
 hoot, man ! what have we here ? Two horses ! A 
 woman's baggage ! She has an accomplice ! An elope-
 
 352 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 ment ! The horses are tied. The runaway couple 
 haven't arrived yet. Dismount, men ! we will lie in 
 wait along the shore here. Yes, let their two horses 
 stand there to draw them to the spot by their stamp- 
 ing. Send ours out of hearing. Now every man to 
 his place ! Silence ! " 
 
 " Back ! Back ! We are pursued on land," said the 
 man in the boat to Morsinia, and both boats pushed 
 noiselessly out again from the shore. 
 
 " I had prepared for this, Morsinia. You must 
 come into my boat ; we will row below for a mile, 
 where we can arrange it at the shore." 
 
 Quietly they shot down in the lessening current, 
 until they turned into a little cove made by a project- 
 ing rock. As lightly as a fawn the girl leaped to the 
 beach. Her companion was by her side in an instant. 
 She drew back, and gave no return to his warm em- 
 brace, but said heartily : 
 
 " Thank Heaven, and you, Michael ! " 
 
 " Michael ? " exclaimed the man. " Indeed I do 
 not wonder that you think me a spirit, and call me by 
 the name of my dead brother. But this shall assure 
 you that I am Constantine, and in the flesh," cried he, 
 as he pressed a kiss upon her lips. 
 
 Morsinia was dazed. She tried to scan his face. 
 She fell as one lifeless into his arms. 
 
 He seated himself on the rock and held her to his 
 heart. For a while neither could speak. 
 
 "Is it real?" said she at length, raising her head 
 and feeling his face with her hand. But how" 
 
 Voices were heard shouting over the water. 
 
 " We must be gone," said Constantine.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 353 
 
 The excitement of her discovery that her lover was 
 still living, and her bewilderment at his appearance 
 instead of Michael, were too much for Morsinia. 
 Constantine carried the exhausted girl into his boat, 
 which was larger than hers. Towing her little kaik 
 out some distance he tipped it bottom upwards, and 
 let it drift away. 
 
 " That will stop the hounds," muttered he. " They 
 will think you have been overturned." 
 
 With tremendous, but scarcely audible, strokes he 
 ploughed away westward. It was not until far from 
 all noise of the pursuers that he paused. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 IMMINENT as was the danger still, the curiosity 
 1 of both at the strangeness of the Providence 
 which had brought them back to each other, as from 
 the dead, was such that they must talk ; and the 
 freshness of the newly-kindled love stole many a mo- 
 ment for endearing embrace. Indeed an hour passed, 
 and the night might have flown while they loitered, 
 were it not that the rising wind brought a distant 
 sound which awakened them to the remembrance that 
 they were still fugitives. 
 
 Constantine at length insisted that his companion 
 should lie upon the bottom of the boat, and take 
 needed rest. 
 
 " If I had now my feridje" ! " said she. 
 23
 
 354 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 "I have provided for that," replied Constantine. 
 " Yours would be recognized. I have one belonging 
 to the common women, which will be better." In 
 addition to the feridje, the foresight of Constantine 
 had laid in warm wraps and a store of provisions. 
 These were packed in bundles that they might be 
 carried conveniently on horses, in the hand, or in the 
 boat, as necessity should compel. 
 
 " I cannot rest," said Morsinia, " when there is so 
 much to say and hear." 
 
 " But you must lie down. I will tell you my story ; 
 then you can tell me yours." 
 " But can we not stop ? " 
 " No. It will not be safe to do so yet." 
 " I have learned to trust your guidance as well as 
 your love," said she, and reclined in the stern of the 
 boat. 
 
 The moon rose near to midnight. The fog illu- 
 mined by it made them clearly visible to each other, 
 while it shut out the possibility of their being seen by 
 any from a distance. 
 
 " It is the blessing of Jesu upon us," said Morsinia. 
 " The same as when He stood upon the little lake in 
 Galilee, like a form of light, and said, ' Be not 
 afraid.' " 
 
 Constantine gave his story in hasty sentences and 
 detached portions, breaking it by pauses in which he 
 listened for pursuers, or gave his whole strength to the 
 oars, or, more frequently, did nothing but gaze at his 
 companion : more than once reaching out his hand to 
 touch her, and see if she were not an apparition. 
 He. told of his escape from the Turks, his arrest as
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 355 
 
 a lunatic and the scene before the Sultan, his return 
 to Constantinople after its capture, and the apparent 
 evidence he there had from the old beggar, of Mor- 
 sinia's death : with all of which the reader is familiar. 
 He also related how he had gone to Albania. The 
 report of Morsinia's death had caused the greatest 
 grief to Kabilovitsch, and thrown General Castriot 
 into such a rage that he found easement for it in a 
 special raid upon the Turkish camp ; which raid was 
 remembered, and was still spoken of by the soldiers, as 
 the "Call of the Maiden." For as Castriot returned 
 from fearful slaughter, in which he had completely 
 riddled the enemy's quarters, captured their com- 
 mander and compelled them to break up the campaign, 
 the general was overheard to say, " The maiden's 
 spirit called us and we have answered." Without know- 
 ing the meaning of these words the soldiers probably 
 assumed that they were a reference to the Holy Virgin 
 Mary, whose blessing Castriot had invoked upon the 
 enterprise. After that Sultan Mahomet sent a special 
 embassage and proposal of peace to Albania. In the 
 royal letter he stated, 
 
 " She whom the Emperor of the Greeks was unable 
 to keep for Scanderbeg is now in the custody of the 
 royal harem, safe and inviolate ; to be delivered into 
 Scanderbeg's hand as a pledge of a treaty by which 
 Scanderbeg shall agree to cease from further depreda- 
 tions and invasion of Macedonia, and to submit to 
 hold his kingdom in fief to the Ottoman throne." 
 
 The letter ended with a boastful reference to the 
 Sultan's conquest of Constantinople, Caramania and 
 other countries, and the threat of invading Albania
 
 35<5 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 with a host so great as to cover all its territory with 
 the shadow of the camps. 
 
 Castriot's reply, when known, filled the Dibrians and 
 Epirots with greatest enthusiasm. It closed with the 
 words, 
 
 " What if you have subjugated Greece, and put into 
 servitude them of Asia ! These are no examples for 
 the free hearts of Albania ! " * 
 
 The news contained in Mahomet's missive led Cas- 
 triot to allow Constantine to go to Constantinople, that 
 he might discover, if possible, whether Morsinia was 
 really living, and was the person referred to by the 
 Sultan. On reaching the city, Constantine had sought 
 out the monk Gennadius, with whom he had been 
 often thrown before and during the siege. From him 
 he learned nothing of Morsinia except the old story 
 of her self-sacrifice by the side of the altar ; which 
 story had become so adorned with many additions in 
 passing from mouth to mouth, that the " Fair Saint of 
 Albania " was likely to be enrolled upon the calendar 
 of the holy martyrs. Constantine was returning with 
 the monk from the church of Baloukli, where they had 
 gone to see the perpetuated miracle of the fishes which 
 leaped from the pan on hearing of the capture of the 
 city, and which are still, with one side black with the 
 frying, swimming in the tank of holy water. He had 
 just reached the little gate of the monk's lodging 
 when Morsinia's message was put into his hand by a 
 little old woman. 
 
 " But how did you know of my arrival in Constanti- 
 
 * According to Knowles, this was a part of Scanderbeg's reply 
 to Amurath II.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 357 
 
 nople ? " Constantine asked, as he concluded his 
 account. 
 
 The question led to Morsinia's story, and the 
 revelation that his brother Michael was still living, an 
 officer of the Sultan, as like to Constantine as one 
 eye to the other ; their mistaken identity by Kala 
 Hanoum having led to the present happy denoue- 
 ment. The mutual narratives of the past grew into 
 plans for the future, the chief part of which related to 
 the restoration of Michael from the service- of the 
 Moslem. 
 
 While they talked, the day broke over the Asiatic 
 coast. The faint glow of light rapidly changed into 
 bars of gold, which were transformed into those of 
 silver, and melted again into a broad sheen of orange 
 and purple tints. But for the shadowed slopes of the 
 eastern shore that lay between the water and the sky, 
 this would have made Marmora like an infinite sea of 
 glory. 
 
 But there was a fairer sight before the eyes of Con- 
 stantine ; one more suggestive of the heavenly. It 
 was the face of his beloved, now first clearly seen. 
 It seemed to him that she could not have been more 
 enchanting if he had discovered her by the " River of 
 the Water of Life " in the Golden City, where only 
 he had hoped ever again to gaze upon her.
 
 358 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 THE fugitives landed a good score of miles from 
 Stamboul, on the northern shore of Marmora, 
 and struck the highway which runs westward, follow- 
 ing the coast line to Salonika, where it divides, bend- 
 ing south into Greece, and branching north through 
 Macedonia. The fugitives followed the latter high- 
 way. The country through which they passed was 
 at the time conquered by the Moslem, but was dotted 
 over with the settlements of the adherents to the old 
 faith, who kept the watchfires of hope still burning in 
 their hearts, though they were extinguished on the 
 mountains. It was by this route that Constantine had 
 gone to Stamboul. He was therefore familiar, not 
 only with the way, but with the people ; and easily 
 secured from them concealment when necessary, and 
 help along the journey. His belt had been well filled 
 with gold by Castriot, so that two fleet horses and all 
 provisions were readily supplied. 
 
 Their journey was saddened by their solicitude for 
 the fate of Albania. Before Constantine had left that 
 country, Moses Goleme, wearied with the incessant 
 sacrifices he was compelled to make, and discouraged 
 by what he deemed the impossibility of longer holding 
 out against the Turks, had quarreled with Castriot, 
 and thrown off his allegiance. He had even been 
 induced by Mahomet's pledge of liberty to Albania 
 if only Castriot were overthrown to enter the service 
 of the enemy. The wily Sultan had placed him in 
 command of an invading army, with which, however,
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 359 
 
 he had returned to his country only to meet an over- 
 whelming defeat at the hands of the great captain, 
 and to flee in disgrace to Constantinople. 
 
 This swift vengeance administered by the patriots 
 did not entirely crush the dissatisfaction among the 
 people. Their fields were wasted by the long war ; 
 for half a generation had passed since it began. Only 
 the personal magnetism of their chief held the factions 
 to their doubtful loyalty. 
 
 After several weeks' journeying, our fugitives 
 reached the camp of Castriot. It little resembled the 
 gorgeous canvas cities of the Turks they had passed. 
 The overspreading trees were, in many instances, the 
 only shelter of voivodes and princely leaders, the 
 story of whose exploits floated as an enchantment to 
 the lovers of the heroic in all lands. 
 
 But the simple welcome they received from the 
 true hearts of their countrymen was more to Morsinia 
 and Constantine than any stately reception could 
 have been. Kabilovitsch's joy was boundless. The 
 venerable man had greatly failed, worn by out- 
 ward toil, and more by his inward grief. Castriot had 
 grown prematurely old. His hair was whitened ; his 
 eyes more deeply sunken beneath the massive brows ; 
 his shoulders a little bowed. Yet there was no sign 
 of decrepitude in face or limb. His aspect was 
 sterner, and even stronger, as if knit with the iron 
 threads of desperation. 
 
 As Kabilovitsch, whom the wanderers had first 
 sought upon their arrival, led them to Castriot, the 
 general gazed upon them silently for a little. Years, 
 with their strange memories, seemed to flit, one after
 
 360 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 another, across his scarred face. Taking Morsinia's 
 hands in his, he stood looking down into her blue 
 eyes, just as he had done when years ago, he bade her 
 farewell. Then he kissed her forehead as he said : 
 
 " Thank heaven ! there is not yet a wrinkle on that 
 fair brow. But I wronged you, my child, in sending 
 you among strangers. Can you forgive the blunder 
 of my judgment? It was my heart that led me 
 wrong." 
 
 " I have nothing to forgive thee," replied Morsinia. 
 " Though I have suffered, to gaze again into thy face, 
 Sire, takes away even the memory of it all. I shall be 
 fully blessed if now I can remove some of those care 
 marks from thy brow." 
 
 " Your return takes away from me twice as many 
 years as those you have been absent, and I shall be 
 young again now as young almost as Kabilovitsch," 
 added he, with a kindly glance at the old veteran, 
 whose battered dignity had given place to an almost 
 childish delight. 
 
 The scene within the tent was interrupted by a 
 noise without. A crowd of soldiers had gathered, 
 and were gazing from a respectful distance at a 
 strange-looking man : " A man of heaviness and eaten 
 up with cares." He was clad in the coarsest gar- 
 ments ; his beard untrimmed ; hatless ; a rope about 
 his neck. As Scanderbeg came out of the tent, the 
 man threw himself at his feet, and cried, as he bowed 
 his head upon the ground : 
 
 " Strike, Sire ! I have sold my country. I have 
 returned to die under the sword of my true chief, 
 rather than live with the blessing of his enemies. The
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 361 
 
 curse on my soul is greater than I could bear, with all 
 the splendid rewards of my treason. Take out the 
 curse with my blood ! Strike, Sire ! Strike ! " 
 
 He was Moses Goleme. Castriot stood with folded 
 arms and looked upon the prostrate man. His lips 
 trembled, and then were swollen, as was noted of them 
 when his soul was fired with the battle rage. Then 
 every muscle of his face quivered as if touched by 
 some sharp pain. Then came a look of sorrow and 
 pity. His broad bosom heaved with the deep-drawn 
 breath as he spoke. 
 
 " Moses Goleme, rise ! Your place is at no man's 
 feet. For twenty years you watched by Albania, while 
 I forgot my fatherland. Your name has been the ral- 
 lying cry of the patriot ; your words the wisdom of 
 our council ; your arm my strength. Brave man ! 
 take Castriot's sword, and wear it again until your own 
 heart tells you that your honor has been redeemed. 
 Rise ! " 
 
 Untying the rope from the miserable man's neck, he 
 flung it far off, and cried, 
 
 " So, away with whatever disgraces the noble 
 Goleme ! My curse on him who taunts thee for the 
 past ! Let that be as a hideous dream to be forgotten. 
 For well I know, brave comrade, that thy heart slept 
 when thou wast away. But it wakes again. Thou art 
 thy true self once more ! " 
 
 The broken-hearted man replied, scarcely raising his 
 eyes as he spoke : 
 
 " My hands are not worthy to touch the sword of 
 Castriot. Let me cleanse them with patriot service. 
 Tell me, Sire, some desperate adventure, where, since
 
 362 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 thou wilt not slay me, I may give my wretched life 
 for my country." 
 
 " No, Moses, you shall keep your life for Albania. 
 I know well the strength of your temptation. My 
 service is too much for any man. Were it not that I 
 am sustained by some strange invisible spirit, I too 
 would have yielded long ago. But enough ! The old 
 command awaits thee, Moses." 
 
 The man looked upon Castriot with grateful amaze- 
 ment. But he could not speak, and turned away. 
 
 At first he was received sullenly by the soldiers ; 
 but when the story of Castriot's magnanimity was 
 repeated, the camps rang with the cry, " Welcome? 
 Goleme ! " That his restoration might be honored, a 
 grand raid through the Turkish lines was arranged 
 for the next night. The watch cry was, " By the beard 
 of Moses ! " and many a veteran then wielded his 
 sword with a courage and strength he had not felt for 
 years. Even old Kabilovitsch, whose failing vigor had 
 long excused him from such expeditions, insisted upon 
 joining in this. Constantine then rewhetted his steel 
 for valiant deeds to come. And, as the day after the 
 fight dawned, Moses Goleme led back the band of vic- 
 tors, laden with spoil. As he appeared, to make his 
 report to the chief, his face was flushed with the old 
 look ; and, grasping the hand of Castriot, he raised 
 it to his lips and simply said : 
 
 " I thank thee, Sire ! " and retired.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 363 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 pAPTAIN BALL A BAN was among the first to learn 
 \j of the personality of the odalisk who had escaped 
 at the time of the race. His first thought was to aid her 
 in eluding pursuit, presuming that she had gone alone 
 and without accomplice. But when the horses were 
 discovered at the Seven Towers, he gave way to a fit 
 of jealousy. In his mind he accused Morsinia of hav- 
 ing made him her dupe ; for, notwithstanding his 
 assurances of aid, she had evidently made a confidant 
 of another. His better disposition, however, soon led 
 him to believe that she had been spirited away through 
 some plan devised in the brain of Scanderbeg. While 
 he rejoiced for her, he was disconsolate for himself ; 
 and determined that, upon his return to the war in 
 Albania, to which field he knew it was the purpose of 
 the Padishah to transfer him, he would discover the 
 truth regarding her. He had learned from her secret 
 missives, which Kala Hanoum had brought him before 
 the flight, of the death of his father Milosch and his 
 mother Helena, and the supposed death of his brother 
 Constantine. There were, then, no ties oMeinship, 
 and but this one tie of affection to Morsinia, to divide 
 his allegiance to the Padishah. And Morsinia had 
 faded again from reality, if not into his mere dream, at 
 least into the vaguest hope. His ardent soul found 
 relief only by plunging into the excitement of the 
 military service. 
 
 Mahomet had not exhausted his favors to Ballaban 
 by the gift of the Albanian Venus, Elissa. Summoning
 
 364 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 him one day he repeated his purpose of designating 
 him as the chief Aga of the Janizaries, the old chief 
 having been slain in a recent engagement. Ballaban 
 remonstrated, as once before, against this interference 
 with the order of the corps, in which the choice of 
 chief Aga was left to the vote of the soldiers them- 
 selves. 
 
 Mahomet replied angrily " I tell you, Ballaban, 
 my will shall now be supreme over every branch of my 
 service. My fathers felt the independence of the Jan- 
 izaries to be a menace to their thrones. Their power 
 shall be curbed to my hand, or the whole order shall 
 be abolished." 
 
 " Beware ! " replied Ballaban. " You know not the 
 alertness of the lion whose lair you would invade. I 
 will serve my Padishah with my life in all other ways, 
 but my vows forbid my treachery to my corps. Strike 
 off my head, if you will, but I cannot be Aga, except 
 by the sovereign consent of my brothers." 
 
 " I shall not take off your head, comrade," replied 
 Mahomet. " I need what is in it too much, though it 
 belongs to a young rebel. But begone ! I shall work 
 my plans without asking your advice in the matter." 
 
 A firman was issued by which the Padishah claimed 
 the supreme power of appointing to command in all 
 grades of the military service. Within an hour after 
 its proclamation, the Janizaries were in open defiance 
 of the sovereign. Before their movements could be 
 anticipated, the great court in front of the selamlik in 
 the seraglio was filled with the enraged soldiery. That 
 sign of terror which had blanched the faces of former 
 Padishahs the inverted soup-kettle was planted
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 365 
 
 before the very doors of the palace, and the Sultan 
 was a prisoner within. 
 
 " Recall the firman ! Long live the Yeni-Tscheri ! " 
 rang among the seraglio walls, and was echoed over 
 the city. 
 
 The Sultan not appearing, there rose another cry, 
 at first only a murmur, but at length pouring from 
 thousands of hoarse throats, 
 
 " Down with Mahomet ! Live the Yeni-Tscheri!" 
 
 Still the Sultan made no response. There was a 
 hurried consultation among the leaders of the insur- 
 gents. Then a rapid movement throughout the crowd. 
 For a moment it seemed as if they had turned every 
 man against his fellow. But Mahomet's experienced 
 eye, as he watched from the latticed window, saw that 
 the swarm of men was only taking shape. The mob 
 was transformed into companies. Between the ranks 
 passed men, as if they rose out of the ground ; some 
 dragging cannon ; some bearing scaling ladders. 
 
 Mahomet appeared upon the platform, dressed in 
 full armor. He raised his sword, when silence fell 
 upon the multitude. 
 
 " I am your Padishah." 
 
 " Long live Mahomet ! " was the cry. 
 
 " Do I not command every faithful Ottoman ? Who 
 will follow where Mahomet leads ? " 
 
 " All ! all ! " rang the response. 
 
 " Then reverse the kettle ! " commanded he, his face 
 lit with the assumption of victory. 
 
 " Reverse the firman !" was the answer. 
 
 " Never ! " cried the monarch, infuriated with this 
 unexpected challenge of his authority.
 
 366 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 The Janizaries retreated a few steps from the 
 platform. The Padishah assumed that they were awed 
 by his determination, and smiled in his triumph. But 
 his face was as quickly shaded with astonishment ; for 
 the movement of the insurgents was only to allow the 
 cannon to be advanced. 
 
 The sagacity of the monarch never forsook him. 
 Not even the wildness of passion could long lead him 
 beyond the suggestion of policy. Raising his hand 
 for silence, he again spoke. 
 
 " We are misunderstanding each other, my brave 
 Yeni-Tscheri. If you have grievance let your Agas 
 present it, for the Padishah shall be the father of his 
 people, and the Yeni-Tscheri are the eldest born of his 
 children." 
 
 The Sultan withdrew. Eight Agas held a hurried 
 consultation, and presented themselves to the sover- 
 eign to offer him absolute and unquestioning obe- 
 dience upon the condition of their retaining as ab- 
 solute and unquestioned self-government within the 
 corps. 
 
 While they were in consultation, Captain Ballaban 
 appeared among the troops. He waved his hand to 
 address them. 
 
 " He is bought by the Padishah. We must not hear 
 him," cried one and another. 
 
 " My brothers ! " said the Captain, having after a 
 few moments gained their attention. "I love the 
 Padishah. But I adore that royal hand chiefly because, 
 beyond that of any of the heirs of Othman, it has 
 already bestowed favor upon our corps. But our 
 order is sacred. He may command to the field, and
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 367 
 
 in the field, but it must be from without. We must 
 choose our own Aga as of old." 
 
 " Long live Ballaban ! " rose from every side. 
 
 The speaker broke into a rhapsodic narration of 
 the glories of the corps, interwoven with the recital 
 of the exploits of the Padishah, during which he was 
 interrupted by cheer after cheer, mingled with the cry 
 of " Ballaban ! Ballaban forever ! " 
 
 The Sultan, hearing the shout, shrewdly seized upon 
 the opportunity it suggested, and leaving the Agas, 
 rushed to the platform. He shouted 
 
 " Allah be praised ! Allah has given one mind to 
 the Padishah and to his faithful Yeni-Tscheri. Balla- 
 ban forever ! Yes, take him ! Take him for your 
 Aga ! The will of the corps and the will of the sover- 
 eign are one, for it is the will of Allah that sways 
 us all ! " 
 
 The soldiers, caught by the enthusiasm of the 
 instant, repeated the shout, drowning the voices of the 
 few who were clear-headed enough to remember that 
 the firman had not been withdrawn. 
 
 " Ballaban ! Long live Ballaban Aga ! Long live 
 Mahomet Padishah ! " 
 
 The Agas appeared, but were impotent to assert 
 their dissent. As well might they have attempted to 
 howl down a hurricane as to make themselves heard in 
 the confusion. Indeed, their presence upon the plat- 
 form was regarded by the corps as their endorsement 
 of the Padishah's desire, and served to stimulate the 
 enthusiasm that broke out in redoubled applause. 
 
 Mahomet followed up his advantage, and formally 
 confirmed the apparent election by announcing
 
 368 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 " A donative ! A double pay to every one of the 
 Yeni-Tscheri ! and the Padishah's fifth of the spoil 
 shall be divided to the host ! " 
 
 The multitude were wild with delight. The inverted 
 soup-kettle was turned over, and swung by its handle 
 from the top of the staff ; following which, the crowd 
 poured out from the court.* 
 
 Within a few days Ballaban, as chief Aga, led his 
 corps toward Albania. 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 
 AFTER the defeat of Moses as a Turkish leader, 
 and his return to his patriotic allegiance, there 
 was a lull in active hostilities between the two powers. 
 Amesa, like other of the prominent voivodes in Scan- 
 derbeg's army, took the occasion offered to look after 
 his own estates. He had added somewhat to his local 
 importance by marrying the daughter of a neighboring 
 land-owner. But neither conjugal delights, nor the 
 additional acres his marriage brought him, covered his 
 ambition. His envy of Castriot had deepened into 
 inveterate hatred. 
 
 The Voivode sat alone in the great dining hall of 
 his castle. It was late in the night. As the blazing 
 logs at one end of the room cast alternately their 
 glare and shadows around, the rude furniture seemed 
 
 * The firman of Sultan Mahomet was never revoked, and from 
 his time until the extinction of the order of Janizaries by Sultan 
 Mahmoud, in 1834, the Padishah always appointed the Chief Aga.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 369 
 
 to be thrown into a witching dance. Helmets and 
 corselets gleamed bravely from their pegs, suggesting 
 that they were animated by heroic souls. The great 
 bear-skin, with its enormous head, lying at the 
 Voivode's feet, crouched in readiness to receive the 
 lunge of the boar's tusks which threatened it from the 
 corner. Pikes, spears, bows and broad-mouthed 
 arquebuses were ranged about, as if to defend their 
 owner, should any demon inspire these lifeless forms 
 for sudden assault upon him. 
 
 Amesa had been sitting upon a low seat between the 
 fire and a half-drained tankard of home-brewed liquor, 
 his brows knit with the concentration of his thoughts. 
 
 A slight sound without arrested his attention. 
 
 " Drakul is late, but is coming at last. If only.he 
 has brought me the red forelock of that fellow who 
 used to be always crossing my track, and has now 
 come back to Albania !" he said, in a tone of musing, 
 but intended to be heard by the delinquent as the 
 great oaken door creaked behind him. Raising his 
 eyes, but not turning his head to look, Amesa changed 
 his soliloquy into a volley of oaths at the comer. 
 
 " I thought your name-sake, Drakul, had run off 
 with you, you lazy imp.* What kept you ? " 
 
 " A long journey," was the reply. 
 
 Amesa started to his feet, for the voice was not that 
 of Drakul. He faced one whose appearance was not 
 the less startling because it was familiar. 
 
 " I have brought the red forelock myself," said the 
 visitor. 
 
 * The word Drakul signifies in Servian "the Devil" 
 24
 
 370 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 Amesa stared stupidly an instant, then reached 
 toward his weapon lying upon the table near. 
 
 " Stop ! " said the man, laying the flat side of his 
 sword across the Voivode's arm before he could grasp 
 his yataghan. 
 
 " How dare you intrude yourself unbidden here ! " 
 cried the enraged Amesa. 
 
 " It required no daring," was the cool reply, " for I 
 am the stronger." 
 
 " Help ! Help ! " shouted the voivode, as he real- 
 ized that he would not be permitted to reach his 
 weapon. 
 
 The door swung, and a band of strange men stood 
 in the opening. 
 
 '.' I feared, noble Amesa," said the intruder, " that I 
 should not be a welcome guest, and so brought with 
 me a party of friends to help me to good cheer while 
 under your roof. You need not disturb your servants 
 to help you, for, if they should hear, they could not 
 obey, as they are all safely guarded in their quarters. 
 If they should come out they might be harmed. Let 
 them rest. Retire, men ! You recognize me, Lord 
 Amesa ? " 
 
 " Ay. You are Arnaud's whelp," sneered the 
 entrapped man. 
 
 " More gentle words would befit the courtesy of my 
 host," was the quiet reply. " But you are as much 
 mistaken as when you took the simple witted Elissa on 
 my commendation. Do not respond, Sire ! In your 
 heat you might say that which pride would prevent 
 your recalling. I am a Moslem soldier, and you are 
 my prisoner ; as secure as if you were in Constanti-
 
 THE CAP TAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 3 ^ l 
 
 nople." The visitor threw off the Albanian cape, and 
 revealed the elegantly wrought jacket of the Janizary 
 Aga. 
 
 " And what would you have of me ? Is there noth- 
 ing that can satisfy you less than my life ? " asked 
 Amesa. 
 
 " My noble Amesa," said Ballaban Aga, taking a 
 seat and motioning the Voivode to another. " Years 
 ago I gave you my word in honor that I would serve 
 you against Scanderbeg. I have come to redeem that 
 pledge, and you must help me." 
 
 " How can that be, if you are an officer of the 
 Moslems ? " asked Amesa, taking the seat, and adopt- 
 ing the low tone of the other ; for these words had 
 excited in him all his cupidity, and stirred his natural 
 secretiveness and habit of sinister dealing. His eyes 
 ceased to glare like a tiger's when at bay ; they shone 
 now like a snake's. 
 
 " Amesa must enter the service of the Padishah." 
 " Impossible ! " cried he ; but in a tone that indi- 
 cated, not indignant rejection of the proposition ; 
 rather doubt of its practicability. 
 
 " But first you must raise here in Albania the 
 standard of revolt against Scanderbeg, claiming the 
 title of king of Epirus and the Dibrias for yourself. 
 Scanderbeg's sword will, of course, compel the next 
 step your safety in the Turkish camp. The Padishah 
 will then become your patron, offering to withdraw 
 his armies and restore the ancient liberties of the 
 country, with the solitary limitation that you shall 
 acknowledge the suzerainty of the Sultan. The 
 revenues you may collect shall remain in your posses-
 
 373 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 sion for the strengthening of your local power. The 
 defection of Moses Goleme well nigh destroyed the 
 leadership of Scanderbeg yours will complete the 
 work. Yet it will not be defection ; rather, as Moses 
 Goleme regarded it, the truest service of your country, 
 because the only service that is practicable." 
 
 " But I cannot thus break with the patriot leaders," 
 said Amesa, apparently having felt a real touch of honor. 
 
 " It must be," replied the Aga. " You cannot 
 longer remain as you are, even if you would. You, 
 Sire, have been guilty of some great crime. Nay, do 
 not deny it ! Nor need you take time to give expres- 
 sion to any wrath you may feel on being plainly 
 accused of it," continued Ballaban, silencing Amesa 
 more effectively by the straight look into his eyes than 
 by his words. " My moments here are too few to talk 
 about the matter, and you should have exhausted any 
 feeling you may have had in private penitence hereto- 
 fore, rather than reserve it until another person lays it 
 to your charge. But the point is this : Scanderbeg is 
 aware of your crime, and awaits only the opportune 
 moment to punish you as it deserves." 
 
 " How do you know that ? " said Amesa, the bright 
 gleam of his eye changing to a stony stare, as the 
 color failed from his face, and he leaned back in 
 ghastly consternation. 
 
 " It is enough that I know it. The Janizaries have 
 not roamed these Albanian hills for twelve years with- 
 out finding out the secrets of the country. The holes 
 in the ground are our ears, and the very owls spy for 
 us through the dark. But enough of words. Sign 
 this, and set to it your seal ! "
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 373 
 
 Ballaban presented a parchment, offering formally, 
 in the name of the Sultan, the government of Albania 
 to Amesa, on the condition set forth above. 
 
 " I would consider the " began Amesa ; but he 
 was cut short by Ballaban 
 
 " No ! sign instantly ! I have done for you all the 
 considering that is necessary, and must be gone." 
 
 " But," began Amesa again, " so important a mat- 
 ter" 
 
 " Sign instantly ! " repeated Ballaban ; and, pointing 
 to the door where the soldiers stood waiting their 
 orders " or neither Amesa nor his castle will exist 
 until the day breaks." 
 
 The baffled man took from a niche in the wall a 
 horn of thickened ink, and, with the wooden pen, made 
 his signature, and pressed the ancient seal of the De 
 Streeses against the ball of softened wax attached 
 to it. 
 
 " This will serve to keep you true : for if by the next 
 fulness of the moon Amesa's standard be not raised 
 against Scanderbeg's, this, as evidence of your treason, 
 shall be read in all your Albanian camps," said Balla- 
 ban, placing the document in his bosom. "And should 
 you need to confer with your new friends, your faith - 
 ful Drakul may inquire at our lines for Ballaban Bad- 
 era, Aga of the Janizaries." 
 
 With a low salam he withdrew. A few muffled 
 orders, a shuffling of feet, and the castle was as quiet 
 as the stars that looked down upon it.
 
 374 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 CHAPTER LIII. 
 
 r PHE martial pride of the Ottoman never made a 
 1 more imposing demonstration than when his arm- 
 ies deployed upon the plain of Pharsalia* in Thessaly, 
 and threatened the southern frontier of Albania. Nor 
 had Jove, who, according to the mythologic concep- 
 tion, held his court upon the summit of the not distant 
 Olympus looked down upon such a display of earthly 
 power since, fifteen centuries before, the armies of 
 Pompey and Caesar there contended for the domina- 
 tion of the Roman world. For Mahomet II. had sworn 
 his mightiest oath, that, by one blow, he would now 
 sweep all the Arnaout rebels into the sea ; and that 
 the waves of the Adriatic over against Italy, and those 
 of the Mediterranean which washed the Greek penin- 
 sula, and the Euxine that stayed the steps of the Mus- 
 covite, should sing with their confluent waves the 
 glories of the European Empire of the Ottoman which 
 lay between them. 
 
 The menace to Scanderbeg's domain was not chiefly 
 in the numbers of men whom the redoubtable Isaac 
 Pasha now commanded in the name of the Sultan ; 
 but in the fact that the mighty host was accompanied 
 by Amesa, the new " King of Albania." 
 
 The defection of the Voivode had sent consterna- 
 tion through the hearts of the patriots. Their leaders 
 looked with suspicion into one another's faces as they 
 gathered in council ; for no one knew but that his 
 
 * Vide Knowles, History of the Turks, and Albanian Chroni- 
 cles.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 375 
 
 comrade was in secret league with the enemy. Wear- 
 ied with trials, the soldiers whispered in the camps 
 that Amesa was a Castriot as well as Scanderbeg. Ital- 
 ians of rank, who had loaned their swords to the great 
 chieftain, were returning to their homes, saying that it 
 was not worth while to risk their lives and fortunes in 
 defending a people who were no longer agreed in 
 defending themselves. Scanderbeg, apparently un- 
 willing or unable to cope with this double danger, 
 the power of the Ottoman without, and a civil war 
 within his land retired to Lyssa,* far away to the 
 north. 
 
 The Turks determined to inaugurate their final con- 
 quest, by the formal coronation of their ally, so that, 
 heralded by King Amesa's proclamations, they might 
 advance more readily to the occupation of the land. 
 The day was set for the ceremony of the royal investi- 
 ture. As their scouts, ranging far and wide, reported 
 no enemy to be near, the attention of the army was 
 given to preparation for the splendid pageants, the 
 very story of which should awe the simple peasant 
 population into submission, or seduce their hearts with 
 the hope of having so magnificent a patron. 
 
 The day before that appointed for this glorious dawn 
 of the new royalty, was one of intense heat, in the 
 middle of July. The snows had melted even from 
 the summit of the Thessalian Olympus, though its 
 bare pinnacle yonder pierced the sky nearly ten thou- 
 sand feet above the sea. Armor was heaped in the 
 tents. Horses unsaddled were gathered in stockades, 
 
 * Modern Alessio.
 
 376 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 or tethered far out on the glassy plain. Soldiers 
 stretched themselves under the shadow of the trees, or 
 wandered in groups through the deserted gardens and 
 orchards of the neighboring country, feasting upon 
 the early ripened fruits. Only the eagles that circled the 
 air high above the vast encampment, or perched upon 
 the crags of distant hills, seemed to have any alarm ; 
 for now and then they darted off with a shrill cry. 
 
 But an eye, like that of a mysterious retributive 
 Providence, was peering through the thicket that 
 crested a high hill. Scanderbeg, presumed to be far 
 away, had studied the plain long and intently ; when, 
 turning to Constantine, who was at his side, he said : 
 
 " Now plan me a raid through that flock of silly 
 sheep. Where would you strike, my boy ? " 
 
 Constantine replied, " There is but one point at 
 which we could enter the plain, through yonder 
 depression. The hills on either side would conceal 
 the advance until well upon them. Besides, the nar- 
 rowness of the valley, and the growth of trees would 
 prevent their meeting us with more than man for 
 man." 
 
 Scanderbeg shook his head. 
 
 " The Turks know that place invites attack as well 
 as we do, and have ranged so as to prevent surprise 
 there. But yonder line of trees and copse leads 
 almost to the centre of their camp." 
 
 " But it is exposed to view on either side," replied 
 Constantine. 
 
 " So much the better," said Castriot, " and there- 
 fore it is not guarded even in Isaac Pasha's thought. 
 It would take longer after the alarm to range
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 377 
 
 against us there than in the ravine. Their cavalry is 
 afl on this side the trees. They could not cut through 
 the bushes before we were by the horse-tails yonder, 
 there by the Pasha's tent." 
 
 " But is it not too open ? " said Constantine, almost 
 incredulous. 
 
 " Yes, at any other time than this, when the Turks 
 are not dreaming of our being within a dozen leagues 
 of them. The very boldness of such an attack as this 
 at high noon-tide will be better for us than any schem- 
 ing. And, if I mistake not, and our beasts are not too 
 jaded by the long march, we shall have the souls out 
 of a thousand or so of the Turks before they can get 
 their bodies into armor. And I give to you, my boy, 
 the care of our nephew, Amesa. Be diverted by no 
 side play, but cut your way straight to him. If possi- 
 ble, spare his life, but he must never get a crown upon 
 his head." 
 
 As silently as the summer's fleecy clouds gather 
 into the storm, the band of patriots, summoned from 
 their various quarters, gathered behind the spur of the 
 hill. The Turks were startled as with a sudden rising 
 tempest. Beys and Pashas and Agas had scarcely 
 emerged from their tents, when five thousand Albanian 
 cavalrymen were already turning the line of the woods. 
 On they came with the celerity of a flock of birds just 
 skimming the ground. The sentry flew as the leaves 
 before the wind. The very multitude of the Turks, 
 driven toward the centre, but fed the dripping swords 
 of the assailants. Among the tents wound the com- 
 pact array of Albanian riders, like a huge serpent. 
 On and on it rolled, scarcely pausing to repel attack.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 Dividing, one part crushed the headquarters of Isaac, 
 while the other wrapped in its crunching folds ttie 
 splendid camp of Amesa. 
 
 Bravely did this young Absalom defend his un- 
 fledged royalty. Surrounded by a group of Alban- 
 ian renegades like himself, he fought desperately, 
 well knowing the dire vengeance which should follow 
 his capture. But one by one they fell. Amesa 
 remained almost alone, as yet unharmed. The captain 
 of the Albanian troops commanded a halt, and, dis- 
 mounting, he demanded Amesa's surrender. 
 
 " To none but a Castriot will a Castriot surrender ! " 
 cried the infuriate man, making a lunge at the chal- 
 lenger. The thrust was avoided. 
 
 " You shall surrender to another," cried the Alban- 
 ian officer. " Stand back, men, he shall yield to me 
 alone." 
 
 " Who are you ? " growled the challenged man. 
 " One who has the right to avenge the wrong done 
 to Mara de Streeses," was the reply. 
 
 Quick as a panther Amesa leaped upon him. But 
 the tremendous blow he aimed, might as well have 
 been delivered against a rock, as against the sword of 
 Constantine. The effort threw him off his balance ; 
 and before he could recover himself, the tremendous 
 slash of his opponent, though warded, brought him to 
 the ground. In an instant Constantine's knee was 
 upon his breast, and his sword at his throat. 
 " Do you surrender ? " 
 " Yes ! " groaned the helpless man. 
 He was instantly disarmed, and bound by the girth 
 to a horse.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 379 
 
 CHAPTER LIV. 
 
 corps of Janizaries had been quartered at 
 1 some distance from the main body of the Turks. 
 Their new Aga comprehended at once the significance 
 of the turmoil in the camp, and hastened to the 
 defence. Though he moved rapidly, and with a well 
 conceived plan of confronting the enemy, yet, most of 
 his troops being foot-soldiers, he was unable to con- 
 front the swift-riding squadrons of Scanderbeg. 
 These assailants withdrew from the field, but only to 
 return again and again upon the panic stricken Turks, 
 whose fears had magnified the numbers of their foes 
 into scores of thousands. So rapidly did assault fol- 
 low assault, and from such diverse quarters, that the 
 Moslem fright imagined one attack was headed by the 
 terrible Ivan Beg with his savage Montenegrins, and 
 another by Hunyades, a report of whose alliance 
 with Scanderbeg had reached the camps before the 
 battle. Indeed the rumble of a coming thunder 
 storm was interpreted into the clamor and tread of 
 unknown myriads ready to burst through the moun- 
 tains. Never did a more insane panic steal away the 
 courage of soldiers and the judgment of generals. 
 Late in the day the plain of Pharsalia was the scene 
 of one vast wreck. Overturned tents displayed 
 immense stores of burnished arms and vestments, pro- 
 visions of need and luxury, standards for the field 
 and banners for the pageant ; and everywhere strewn 
 amid this debris of pomp and pride the half-armored
 
 380 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 bodies of the slaughtered Turks. In narrow moun- 
 tain valleys the freshet following the sudden tempest, 
 never changed the bloom of the summer gardens 
 more completely, than this panic, following Scander- 
 beg's raid, changed the splendid camp of the morn- 
 ing into the desolation upon which the setting sun 
 cast, as a fitting omen, its red rays. Indeed, we can 
 conceive no similitude by which to express the con- 
 trast better than that of Amesa himself, in the morn- 
 ing adorned in the splendor of his royal expectation, 
 and at night lying bound with ropes at the feet of 
 Scanderbeg. 
 
 The grand old chieftain looked at the renegade for 
 a moment with pity and scorn ; then turned away, 
 saying, 
 
 " Let him lie there until Captain Constantine, to 
 whom he belongs, shall come." 
 
 But Constantine came not. Though the main 
 body of the Turks had taken to precipitate flight, the 
 Janizaries had managed, by their unbroken and 
 orderly retreat, to cover the rear, and prevent pursuit 
 by Scanderbeg. Ballaban had reached the group 
 engaged in the capture of Amesa, and almost rescued 
 him. This would have been accomplished had not 
 Constantine and a handful of his company made a 
 living wall between the Janizaries and those who were 
 leading away the miserable man. Ballaban, feeling 
 the responsibility of saving him whom he had led into 
 this shameful misfortune, pressed to the very 
 front. 
 
 " By the sword of the Prophet ! the fellow fights 
 bravely," he exclaimed, as he watched Constantine,
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 381 
 
 baffling a half dozen Janizaries who were pressing 
 upon him. 
 
 " Back, men ! I would measure my arm against 
 his," he cried, as he laid his sword against that of his 
 unknown antagonist. 
 
 Both were in complete armor, their faces concealed 
 by the closed helmets. The soldiers stood as eager 
 spectators of the masterly sword play. The two men 
 seemed evenly matched, the same in stature and 
 build. There was, too, a surprising similarity in 
 movement the very tactics of the Janizary in thrust 
 and parry being repeated by the Albanian ; their 
 swords now flashing like interlacing flames ; the 
 sharp ring as the Albanian smote upon the polished 
 metal of his antagonist's armor, answered by the 
 duller thud as the Janizary's blow fell upon the thick 
 leather which encased the panoply of his opponent. 
 Then both stood as if posing for the sculptor ; their 
 sword points crossing ; their eyes glaring beneath the 
 visors ; the slightest movement of a muscle antici- 
 pated by either then again the crash. 
 
 But Constantine was exhausted by his previous 
 engagement with Amesa. In an unlucky moment the 
 sword turned in his hand. The steadiness of the 
 grip was lost. He managed to ward the blow which 
 the Aga delivered ; but, foreseeing that he could not 
 recover his grasp soon enough to return it, and that 
 his opponent was thrown slightly off his perfect 
 poise by his exertion, he dropped his sword, and 
 closed with him. They fell to the ground ; but the 
 Aga, more alert at the instant, was uppermost, and 
 his dagger first in position for the fatal cut.
 
 382 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 " I can not slay so valiant a man as you," said Bal- 
 laban. " You surrender ? " 
 
 " I must," was the response. As they rose, Balla- 
 ban looked a moment upon the vanquished, and said, 
 
 " I would know the name of my worthy antagonist, 
 for worthier I never found. Scanderbeg himself could 
 not have done better. But I had the advantage of being 
 in better wind at the start, or, Allah knows, I had fared 
 hard." 
 
 " It is enough that I am your prisoner," said Con- 
 stantine, "and that I have detained my conqueror 
 long enough to prevent the recapture of that Albanian 
 traitor, Amesa. You can have me willingly, now that 
 you cannot have him." 
 
 The Albanian threw up his visor. Ballaban stared 
 at the face. It was as familiar as his own which he 
 saw daily in the polished brass mirror. The Janizaries 
 stared with almost equal amazement. 
 
 " No wonder he fought so well, Aga ! " said one, " for 
 he is thy other self." 
 
 " Let him be brought to our headquarters when we 
 halt," said Ballaban, remounting his horse, and dashing 
 away to another part of the field.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 383 
 
 CHAPTER LV. 
 
 NIGHT brought little sleep to the Turkish host. 
 Though danger was past, a sense of humiliation 
 and chagrin was shared by officers and men, as they 
 realized that their defeat was due to their own folly 
 more than to the strength of their foe. In every tent- 
 less group the men disturbed the quiet of the night with 
 their ceaseless quarrels. Members of the different com- 
 mands, hopelessly confused in the general flight, ri- 
 valled one another in the rancor and contempt of their 
 mutual recriminations as much as they ever emulated 
 one another in the courage and prowess of a well 
 fought field. Among those of highest rank bitter and 
 insulting words were followed by blows, as if the gen- 
 eral disgrace could be washed out by a gratuitous spill- 
 ing of their own blood. 
 
 But a different interest kept Ballaban waking. 
 Beneath the great tree, which had been designated as 
 the headquarters of the Janizaries, and from a limb of 
 which was suspended the symbolic kettle, his prisoner 
 had been awaiting the Chief Aga. The glimpse of his 
 face at the time of the capture had awakened in the 
 Janizary more than a suspicion of the personality of 
 the captive ; while the name of Ballaban, which he had 
 heard from the soldiers, revealed to the Albanian 
 that of his captor. With impatience the Aga con- 
 versed with the various commanders who thronged 
 him, and as soon as possible dismissed them. When 
 they were alone Constantine rose, and, without com- 
 pleting his salam, exclaimed,
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 " You play more roughly, Michael, than whtrt last 
 we wrestled together among the rocks of Slatiza." 
 
 " Ah, my brother Constantine, I thought of you 
 when you gripped me in the fight to-day ; for it was 
 the same old hug with which we rolled together long 
 ago. I would have known you, had you only given 
 me time to think, without your raising the visor." 
 
 The brothers stood for a moment in half embrace, 
 scanning each other's face and form. An onlooker 
 would have noted that their mutual resemblance was 
 not in the details of their features, so much as in cer- 
 tain marked peculiarities ; such as the red and brist- 
 ling hair, square face, prominent nose and chin. Con- 
 stantine's forehead was higher than Michael's, which 
 had more breadth and massiveness across the brows. 
 In speaking, Constantine's eye kindled, and his plas- 
 tic lips gave expression to every play of sentiment : 
 while Michael's face was as inflexible as a mask ; the 
 deep light of his glance as thoroughly under control 
 of his will as if it were the flash of a dark lantern ; his 
 appearance revealing not the shadow of a thought, 
 not the flicker of an emotion, beyond that he chose to 
 put into words. This physiognomical difference was 
 doubtless largely due to the training of years. The 
 Janizary's habit of caution and secretiveness evolved, 
 as it were, this invisible, but impenetrable, visor. The 
 custom of unquestioning obedience to another, and 
 that of the remorseless prosecution of whatever he 
 regarded as politic for the service, gave rigidity to the 
 facial muscles ; set them with the prevalent purpose ; 
 stereotyped in them the expression of determination. 
 A short beard added to the immobile cast of his coun-
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 3 8 5 
 
 tenance. Thus, though when separated the two men 
 might readily be taken the one for the other, when 
 together their resemblance served to suggest as wide 
 contrasts. 
 
 The entire night was spent by the brothers in mutual 
 narrations of their eventful lives. Though their 
 careers had been so distinct, in different lands, under 
 rival civilizations, in the service of contending nations, 
 and inflamed by the incentives of antagonistic religions, 
 yet their roads had crossed at the most important 
 points in each. They learned to their astonishment 
 that the most significant events, those awakening the 
 deepest experience in the one life, had been due to 
 the presence of the other. As Michael told of his 
 raid upon the Albanian village, Constantine supplied 
 the key to the mystery of the escape of his fair captive, 
 and the arrest of Michael for having at that time 
 deserted his command. Then Michael in turn sup- 
 plied the key to Constantine's arrest by Colonel Kab- 
 ilovitsch's men as a Turkish spy. Constantine solved 
 the enigma of Amesa's overtures to Michael in refer- 
 ence to the Dodola Elissa ; and Michael solved that 
 of Constantine's rough handling by the garrison of 
 Sfetigrade for having dropped the dog into the well. 
 Constantine unravelled the diabolical plot which had 
 nearly been tragic for Michael in the old reservoir at 
 Constantinople ; and Michael as readily unravelled that 
 of the serio-comic drama in the tent of Mahomet, 
 when Constantine's life was saved through the assump- 
 tion that he was his lunatic brother. Constantine 
 supplied to Michael the missing link in the story of 
 Morsinia's escape from Constantinople ; and Michael 
 25
 
 386 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 supplied that which was wanting of Constantine's 
 knowledge of the story of her escape from death in 
 the horrors of the scene in St. Sophia after the capt- 
 ure of the city. They had, under the strange leadings 
 of what both their Christian and Moslem faith recog- 
 nized as a Divine Providence, been more to each other 
 than they could have been had their lives drifted in 
 the same channel during all these years. In the old 
 boyhood confidence, which their strange meeting had 
 revived, Michael did not withhold the confession of 
 Morsinia's influence upon him, though she had been 
 to him more of an ideal than a real person, a beauti- 
 ful development to his imagination out of his child- 
 hood memory of his little playmate in the Balkans. 
 Nor did Constantine hesitate to declare the love and 
 betrothal by which he held the charming reality as his 
 own. He told, too, of her real personality as the 
 ward of Scanderbeg, and the true heir of the splendid 
 estates until recently held by Amesa. 
 
 The dawn brought duties to the Aga which pre- 
 cluded further conference with Constantine. 
 
 "We must part, my dear brother," said Michael. 
 " Our armies will probably return through Macedonia, 
 and abandon the campaign : for such is the unwise 
 determination of our commander Isaac. You must 
 escape into your own lines. That can be easily 
 arranged. We may not meet again soon ; but I swear 
 to you, by the memory of our childhood, that your 
 personal interest shall be mine. Aside from the ne- 
 cessities of the military service, we can be brothers still. 
 And Morsinia, that angel of our better natures ; you 
 must let me share with you, if not her affection, surely
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 387 
 
 her confidence. I could not woo her from you if I 
 would ; but assure her that, though wearing the uni- 
 form of an enemy, I shall be as true in my thoughts of 
 her as when we played by the old cot on the moun- 
 tains ; and as when I pledged my life to serve her 
 while she was in the harem at Stamboul." 
 
 " But why must this war against Castriot continue ? 
 I would that our compact were that of the armies to 
 which we belong," said Constantine. 
 
 " It is impossible for a Janizary to sheath the 
 sword while Scanderbeg lives," replied the Aga. 
 " Our oath forbids it. He once was held by the vow 
 of the Prophet's service, and deserted it. I know his 
 temptation was strong. In my heart I might find 
 charity for him." The speaker hesitated as if haunted 
 by some troublesome memory, then continued " But 
 a Janizary may show no charity to a renegade. Be- 
 sides, he is the curse of Albania. But for his ambi- 
 tion, these twelve years of blood would have been 
 those of peace and happiness through all these val- 
 leys, under the sway of our munificent and wise Pad- 
 ishah." 
 
 " Your own best thoughts, Michael, should correct 
 you. What are peace and its happy indolence com- 
 pared with the cause of a holy faith ? " 
 
 " You speak sublimely, my brother," replied Michael, 
 " but your faith gains nothing by this war. Under our 
 Padishah's beneficence the Giaours are protected. 
 The Greeks hold sufficient churches, even in Stamboul, 
 for the worship of all who remain in that faith. 
 Indeed, I have heard Gennadius the monk of whom 
 you were speaking awhile ago say that he would
 
 388 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 trust his flock to the keeping of the Moslem stranger 
 sooner than to the Pope of Rome. I have known our 
 Padishah defend the Greek Giaours from the tyranny 
 of their own bishops. He asks only the loyalty of his 
 people to his throne, and awaits the will of Allah to 
 turn them to his faith ; for the Book of the Prophet 
 says truly, Allah will lead into error whom he pleaseth 
 and whom he pleaseth he will put in the right 
 way.* Believe me, my brother, Albania's safety is 
 only in submission. The Fate that directs all 
 affairs has indubitably decreed that all this vast 
 peninsula between Adria and yEgea shall lie 
 beneath the shadow of the Padishah's sceptre ; for he 
 is Zil-Ullah, the shadow of God. Who can resist the 
 conqueror of the capital of your Eastern Christian 
 Empire ; the conqueror of Athens, and of the islands 
 of the sea?" 
 
 " Let us then speak no more of this," said Constan- 
 tine. " Our training has been so different, that we can 
 not hope to agree. But we can be one in the kindli- 
 ness of our thoughts, as we are of one blood. Jesu 
 bless you, my brother ! " 
 
 " Allah bless you, Constantine ! " was the hearty 
 response, as the two grasped hands. Eyes which 
 would not have shown bodily pain by so much as the 
 tremor of their lids, were moist with the outflow of 
 those springs in our nature that are deeper than cour- 
 age springs of brotherly affection, fed by hallowed 
 memories of the long ago. 
 
 Two Janizaries accompanied Constantine beyond 
 the Turkish lines. 
 
 Koran, Chapter VI.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 389 
 
 " What new scheme has the Aga hatched in his 
 brain now ? " said one of them, as they returned. 
 
 " He has twisted that fellow's brain so that he will 
 never serve Scanderbeg truly again," was the knowing 
 reply. " The Aga is the very devil to throw a spell 
 over a man. They say that when he captured the fel- 
 low yesterday, he had only to squint into his face a 
 moment, when, as quick as a turn of a foil, the man 
 changed his looks, and was as much like the Aga as 
 two thumbs." 
 
 CHAPTER LVI. 
 
 THE splendor of the victory, and the inestimable 
 spoil which fell into the hands of the Albanians, 
 elated the patriot braves ; and the good news flew as 
 if the eagles that watched the battles from afar were 
 its couriers. Castriot, however, seemed to be oblivi- 
 ous to the general rejoicing. The wrath he had dis- 
 played during the time of Amesa's menace from the 
 ranks of the enemy, was displaced by pity as he looked 
 upon the contemptible and impotent man. He touched 
 him with his foot, and said, in half soliloquy 
 
 " And in this body is some of the blood of the Cas- 
 triots ! Humph ! " 
 
 Turning away he paced the tent 
 
 " And why not Castriot's blood in Amesa ! It is not 
 too immaculate to flow in his veins, since it has filled 
 my own. I was a Turk, too, once. But " looking
 
 39 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 at the wrinkles upon his hand " growing old in a 
 better service may atone somewhat for the shame of 
 earlier days. And these hands never murdered a 
 peaceful neighbor and his innocent wife, and robbed 
 a child of her inheritance though they did murder 
 that poor Reis-Effendi. But God knows it could not 
 be helped. But what is one man that he shall con- 
 demn another ! " An officer approached for or- 
 ders. 
 
 " What, Sire, shall be done with the prisoner ? " 
 
 " Let him lie until Constantine comes ! " was the 
 response. 
 
 Late in the night the general sat gazing upon the 
 miserable heap of humanity that crouched by the tent 
 side. Amesa raised himself as far as his bonds would 
 permit, and began to speak. 
 
 " Silence ! " demanded Castriot, but without taking 
 his eyes from the prisoner. 
 
 A subaltern, anxious to induce the general to take 
 needed rest, again suggested some disposition of the 
 prisoner for the night. 
 
 " Let him lie until Constantine comes ! " 
 
 "Captain Constantine has been captured, Sire," 
 replied the officer ; " men who were with him have 
 returned, and so report." 
 
 " By whom captured ? " asked the general in alarm. 
 
 " By Janizaries." 
 
 Castriot smiled, and asked, " It is certain he was not 
 slain ? " 
 
 " Certain, Sire, for Ino saw him being taken away." 
 
 " Let the prisoner lie there until Captain Constan- 
 tine returns."
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 391 
 
 The morning found Amesa still bound. No one 
 had been allowed to speak to him, nor he to utter a 
 word. 
 
 During Castriot's absence from the tent not one 
 approached it ; only the guard patrolled at the dis- 
 tance of a couple of rods. 
 
 " The torture of such a villain's thoughts will be 
 more cruel than our taunts or swords. Let him lie 
 there, and tear himself with his own devil claws ! " 
 had been Castriot's order. 
 
 Toward noon the camp rang with cheers. Scouts 
 reported that Constantine had escaped, and was re- 
 turning. Castriot alone seemed unsurprised, though 
 gratified with the news. He went to the edge of the 
 camp to meet him. 
 
 " Well, my boy, your brother was not so well pleased 
 with your looks, and let you go sooner than I thought 
 he would. I expected you not until to-night." 
 
 " My brother ? How knew you, Sire, that I had 
 seen him ? for I have told it to none." 
 
 " Then tell it to none. To warn you of that I came 
 to meet you, lest your tongue might be unwise. Did 
 you not tell me yourself that Ballaban was the Moslem 
 name of your brother ? " 
 
 " But how knew you that he was in this service ? " 
 asked Constantine. 
 
 " As I know every officer in the enemy's service in 
 Albania above an ojak's command. And the Aga of 
 the Janizaries is to my mind as the commander of the 
 expedition. And I will tell you more, my boy ; 
 unless the Padishah has gone daft with his chagrin 
 over this defeat, Ballaban Aga will command the next
 
 39 2 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 campaign against us : for none save he kept his wits 
 in the fight yesterday. His plan was masterful, and 
 saved the whole Moslem army. He held his Janiza- 
 ries so well in hand, and so well placed, that I could 
 not follow up our advantage, nor even strike to rescue 
 you. Ballaban evidently has been much in the 
 Albanian wars, and has learned my methods better 
 than any of our own officers. Should he succeed to 
 the horse-tails, the war hereafter will not be so one- 
 sided as it has been. Mark that, my dear fellow. 
 But we must look to our royal prisoner, after I have 
 heard your story." 
 
 Late in the day Castriot summoned Moses Goleme, 
 Kabilovitsch, and Constantine. Amesa was unbound, 
 and was bidden to speak what he could in extenuation 
 of his treason. The Voivode protested his innocence 
 of any designs against the liberties of his country ; 
 and declared that he had despaired of obtaining her 
 independence under Castriot's leadership. Better was 
 it to take the virtual freedom of Albania under the Sul- 
 tan's nominal suzerainty, than to longer wage a hopeless 
 war. In this he was seconded, he said, by the noblest 
 generals and patriots. He was about to mention 
 them ; but was forbidden to utter so much as a sus- 
 picion against any one. 
 
 " I would not know them," said the magnanimous 
 chief. " I will not have a shadow of distrust in my 
 mind toward any who have not drawn sword against 
 us. Let them keep their thoughts in their own breasts- 
 Noble Moses, your lips shall pronounce the sentence 
 due Amesa's treason." 
 
 The Dibrian general was silent.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 393 
 
 " Then, if Moses speaks no condemnation, no other 
 lips shall," said Castriot. 
 
 Amesa threw himself at the feet of the chief, and 
 began to pour forth his gratitude. 
 
 " The life thou hast spared, Sire, shall ever be thine. 
 My sword shall be given to thee as sovereign of my 
 heart, as well as of my country." 
 
 " Hold !" said Castriot. "What says Arnaud, the 
 forester ? " 
 
 Amesa raised his face, blanched as suddenly with 
 horror as it had been flushed with elation. The ven- 
 erable Kabilovitsch sat in silence for a time, lost in 
 the vividness of his recollections. At length, with 
 slow speech and tremulous voice, he portrayed the 
 scenes of that terrible night when the castle of the 
 gallant De Streeses was destroyed, its owner slain, the 
 fair Mara driven back into the flames from which she 
 would have fled. 
 
 " It is a lie," shouted Amesa. " The deed was 
 wrought by Turks ! " 
 
 " Thy words condemn thee ! " said Castriot. " The 
 crime was not laid to thy charge, Amesa. But now it 
 shall be. Let Drakul be brought." 
 
 Soldiers led in the man. The villain, whose hand 
 had stayed at no deed of daring or cruelty, was now 
 seized with such cowardly fright that he could scarce 
 keep his legs. He was dragged before the extem- 
 porized court. In answer to questions, he admitted 
 his part, not only in the original murders, but also in 
 the raid upon the hamlet where Amesa had suspected 
 the heiress of De Streeses to be concealed. 
 
 Amesa's rage at this betrayal burst forth in savage
 
 394 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 oaths, mingled with such contradictory denials of his 
 story as clearly confirmed its truth. 
 
 " For his treason against my authority, I refuse to 
 take vengeance," said Castriot. " But Albania, appeal- 
 ing for God's aid in establishing its liberties, must, in 
 God's name, do justice. What says Colonel Kabil- 
 ovitsch ? " 
 
 The old man spoke as if the solemnity of the Last 
 Judgment had fallen upon him, 
 
 " As soon I must go before Him whose mercy I 
 shall so sadly need for the sins of my own life, I for- 
 give Amesa the cruelty with which he has followed me. 
 God is my witness, that my personal grievance colors 
 not a thought of my heart. But, as I shall soon stand 
 before the Judge, together with the noble De Streeses, 
 who was robbed of life in its meridian, and that 
 bright spirit whose cry for Amesa's mercy I heard 
 from out the flames, I say, Let justice be done ! and 
 let the soul of the murderer be sent to confront his 
 victims there before their God ! " 
 
 " Amen ! " said Constantine. Moses Goleme was 
 silent. 
 
 Amesa had lost all his bravado. He trembled as 
 would the meanest of men who should bow his neck 
 to the sword. He confessed his crime, and piteously 
 begged for his life ; or, at least, that time should be 
 given him to make preparation for what he dreaded 
 worse than death. A spirit already damned seemed 
 to have taken possession of his quivering frame. 
 
 " Your life, Amesa," said the chief, " is forfeit for 
 your crimes. On the citadel walls of Croia, when we 
 shall have returned there, as the sun sets, so shall your
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 395 
 
 life ! Jesu grant that, through your repentance and 
 the prayers of Mother Church, your soul may rise 
 again in a better world ! " 
 
 " Amen ! " responded all. 
 
 The army returned from the Thessalian border 
 through the country northward, everywhere received 
 with ovations by the people. The fate of Amesa, 
 though commiserated, was as generally commended. 
 No one, however attached by association to the once 
 popular Voivode, raised a voice in dissent from the 
 sentence, or in pity for the culprit. 
 
 CHAPTER LVII. 
 
 'T'HE news reached Morsinia at Croia long before 
 1 the return of the army. She took little joy in the 
 hearty and generous acclaim that welcomed her to her 
 inheritance. She had no vanity to be stimulated by 
 the popular stories which associated her beauty with 
 her wealth. Her thoughts seemed to be palled with 
 heaviness, rather than canopied by the bright pros- 
 pects which fortune had spread for her. 
 
 When Castriot officially announced to her the res- 
 toration ef the DeStreeses property, she refused to 
 enter upon her estates, which were to come to her 
 through the ceremony of blood in the execution of 
 her enemy. 
 
 " No ! Let them be confiscate to the State. I 
 cheerfully surrender their revenues for Albania. I
 
 39 6 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 ask nothing more than to be the instrument of so aid- 
 ing our noble cause and its noble leader," said she. 
 
 " Albania will insist that you shall obtain your 
 right. From voivode to lowest peasant, the people 
 will be content only as the daughter of DeStreeses 
 graces his ancient castle." 
 
 " But," responded she, " I shall never enter its 
 doors over the body of my enemy. May not some 
 other fate be his ? " 
 
 " Law should be sacred," said Castriot. 
 
 " But is it not a law of Albania that even a mur- 
 derer need not be executed if all the family of his vic- 
 tim unite in his behalf, and he pay the Krwnina ?* 
 Am I not all the family of DeStreeses ? Let then the 
 estates be the Krwnina." 
 
 " That cannot be," replied Castriot. " The law 
 requires the price of blood to be paid by the murderer, 
 and the estates belong not to Amesa. Besides, Al- 
 bania will be better served by your occupation of the 
 castle, reviving its ancient prestige, and proclaiming 
 thus that the reign of justice has been restored in our 
 land." 
 
 " But let justice be mingled with mercy," said Mor- 
 sinia. 
 
 " Nay, the mercy would dilute the quality of the 
 justice." 
 
 " Can there be no mitigation of our cousin Amesa's 
 fate, which shall not prejudice the right ?" asked the 
 fair intercessor. " If Jesu prayed to his Father that 
 
 * The price of blood , generally 1000 piastres among the poorer 
 classes, which was paid by the culprit to the village where the 
 crime was committed, and by it paid to the general government.
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 397 
 
 His murderers might be forgiven, may not I plead 
 that my father, the father of his country, shall be 
 gracious to him who has wronged me ? " 
 
 Castriot was absorbed in deep thought. At length 
 he replied: 
 
 " Ah, how little we men, schooled to revenge and 
 bloodshed, know what justice is, and what mercy is, 
 as these sentiments move in the heart of the Eternal ! 
 Your pure soul, my child, has closer kinship with 
 heaven than ours. I fear to deny your request, lest I 
 should offend that mysterious Spirit which has seemed 
 to counsel me since, in the land of the Moslems, I 
 swore to return to my Christian faith ; and which, in 
 my prayers and dreams, has been strangely associated 
 with you. In all that is right and good your con- 
 science shall still inspire mine : for you are my good 
 angel. Amesa's life shall be spared. But no breath 
 of his must so much as taint the air of Albania. I am 
 summoned by my old ally, Ferdinand of Naples, to 
 assist in driving the French from his domains. Amesa 
 shall go with me, and be kept in custody among 
 strangers. But it must be proclaimed from the cita- 
 del of Croia that his life is restored him by the daughter 
 of Musache de Streeses. 
 
 " And yet, my dear child," continued he, "in these 
 rude times you cannot dwell alone in the castle. You 
 need a protector who is not only wise and brave, and 
 loyal to Albania, but loyal to you. My duties else- 
 where will prevent my rendering that service. Colonel 
 Kabilovitsch's age is stealing the alertness from his 
 energies. Our Constantine Ah ! Does the blush tell 
 that I am right ? " He took her hand, as he asked :
 
 39 8 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 " May I exercise the father's privilege, according to 
 our Albanian custom, and put this hand into Constan- 
 tine's, to keep and to defend ?" 
 
 Morsinia replied frankly. " Since, Sire, I may not 
 give my estates to my country, bestow them upon 
 whom you will ; and my hand must go to him, who, 
 since we were children, has held my heart." 
 
 The following day, as the sun gilded the walls of 
 Croia with his setting rays, an immense concourse of 
 soldiers and peasants gathered within the citadel 
 court. The executioner led the traitor, followed by a 
 priest, out upon the bastion. A trumpet sounded, 
 and the silence which followed its dying note was 
 broken by the voice of the crier, who announced that, in 
 the name of God and the sovereign people, and by the 
 ordaining of George, Duke of Albania, the decree of 
 justice should be executed upon the Voivode Amesa. 
 Then followed the record of his crimes, together with 
 the declaration that his appearance in arms among the 
 enemy, having been, according to his declaration, not 
 treason against his country, but rebellion against the 
 military chieftaincy of Duke George, was by the grace of 
 that high official forgiven ; and further that the sentence 
 of death for his foul murder of Musache De Streeses 
 and his wife Mara Cernoviche, was, through the inter- 
 cession of Mara, sole survivor of that ancient house, 
 and by the authority of Duke George, commuted to 
 perpetual banishment from the realm, in such place 
 and condition as seemed best to the Duke for the 
 security of the land. 
 
 The people stood in amazement as they listened. 
 The relief from the horror of the anticipated spectacle,
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 399 
 
 when the head of the former favorite should be held 
 up by the executioner, led them to accept compla- 
 cently this turn in affairs, even though their judg- 
 ment did not commend it. In a few moments the cry 
 rose, " Live Duke George ! A Castriot forever ! " 
 Soon it changed to wilder enthusiasm, " Long live 
 Mara De Streeses ! " This storm of applause could 
 not be stilled until Morsinia premitted herself to be 
 led by Castriot to the edge of the battlement. 
 
 As the sun was setting, the huge mass of the citadel 
 rose like a mighty altar from the bosom of the gloom 
 which had already settled about its base. Slowly the 
 shadow had climbed its side, cro\yding the last 
 bright ray until it vanished from the top of the 
 parapet. It was at this instant that Morsinia 
 appeared. The citadel beneath her was sombre as the 
 coming night which enwrapped it, but her form was 
 radiant in the lingering splendor of the departing day. 
 As she raised her hand in response to the grateful 
 clamor of the people, she seemed the impersonation 
 of a heavenly benediction. The multitude gazed in 
 reverent silence for a moment. Then, as the sun 
 dropped, behind the western hill, veiling the glory of 
 this apparition, they made the very sky resound with 
 their shouts ; and in the quick gathering darkness 
 went their ways. 
 
 A few weeks later, the castle of De Streeses was 
 decked with banners, whose bright colors rivalled the 
 late autumnal hues of the forest from the midst of 
 which it rose. Multitudes of people all day long 
 thronged the paths leading up to it from the valleys 
 around. Gorgeously arrayed voivodes, accompanied
 
 400 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 by their suites, made the ravines resound with their 
 rattling armor ; and bands of peasants, in cheap but 
 gaudy finery, threaded through the by paths. Those 
 who possessed tents brought them. Others, upon their 
 arrival in the proximity of the castle, erected booths 
 and festooned them with vines, which the advancing 
 season had painted fiery red or burst into gray feathery 
 plumes. From cleared places near the castle walls rose 
 huge spirals of smoke, as oxen and sheep, quartered 
 or entire, were being roasted, to feed the multitude of 
 guests ; while great casks of foaming beer and ruddy 
 sparkling wine excited and slaked their thirst. The 
 recent defeat of the Turks had led to the withdrawal 
 of their armies, at least until winter should have 
 passed : and the people of the northern country gave 
 themselves up to the double celebration of the well- 
 won peace and the nuptials of Mara De Streeses. 
 
 Within the castle the great and the dignified of the 
 land abandoned themselves to equal freedom with 
 the peasants, in the enjoyment of games, and the observ- 
 ance of simple and fantastic national customs. Mor- 
 sinia and Constantine kissed again through the ivy 
 wreath, as in the days of childhood. The new matron's 
 distaff touched the oaken walls of the great dining 
 hall ; and her hand spread the table with bread and 
 wine and water, in formal assumption of her office as 
 housewife. When she undressed and dressed again 
 the babe, borrowed from a neighboring cottage, she 
 received sundry scoldings and many saws of nursery 
 advice from a group of peasant mothers. The 
 happy couple were almost buried beneath the buckets 
 of grain, which some of the guests poured over them,
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 4I 
 
 as they wished them all the blessings of the soil. 
 When they approached the fire place they were showered 
 with sparks, as some one struck the huge glowing 
 log and invoked for them the possession of herds and 
 flocks and friends as many as the fireflecks that flew. 
 
 Gifts were offered : those of the poor and rich 
 being received with equal grace ; a rare breed of 
 domestic fowls following a case of cutlery from 
 Toledo in Spain ; and a necklace of pearls preced- 
 ing a hound trained by some skillful hunter. On 
 opening the casket which Castriot presented, as he 
 kissed the golden cluster upon the forehead of the 
 bride, there was found within a cap of sparkling 
 gems, such as is worn by oriental brides, a parchment 
 commissioning Constantine as a voivode in the 
 Albanian service, with governor's command of the 
 Skadar country. 
 
 The blessing of the priest was supplemented by 
 those of the old men, which were put in form of 
 prophecies. Kabilovitsch inclosed the happy couple 
 in outstretched arms, and gazing long into their faces, 
 said: 
 
 " As on that night at the foot of the Balkans I 
 wrapped you, my children, in my blanket, and, in my 
 absence, another greater than we knew, our generous 
 Castriot, took my place to watch over you ; so now, as 
 soon I must leave you forever, One greater than 
 man knows, even our Covenant God, shall be your 
 guardian ! " 
 
 A man, apparently decrepit with the weight of years, 
 assumed the privilege of a venerable stranger upon such 
 
 occasions, and came to utter his prophecy. His head 
 26
 
 402 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 was covered with a close fitting fur cap, which concealed 
 his brow to the eyes. Straggling gray locks hung 
 partly over his face and down his neck. As he spoke, 
 Constantine started with evident amazement, which 
 was, however, instantly checked. The bride seemed 
 strangely fascinated. Kabilovitsch, who had been too 
 much absorbed with his own thoughts to notice the 
 stranger's approach, lifted his head quickly, and put 
 his hand to his ear, as if catching some faint and 
 distant sound. This was the old prophet's bless- 
 ing 
 
 " Allah ordains that these walls, consecrated to 
 Justice, and inhabited by Love, shall from this day be 
 guarded by Peace. Even the Moslem's sword shall be 
 stayed from hence ! " 
 
 He bowed to the floor, touching with his lips the 
 spot where Morsinia had stood. Before the guests 
 could fully comprehend this scene, he was gone. But 
 lying on the floor where he had bowed was a silken 
 case, elegantly wrought. Morsinia uttered a subdued, 
 yet startled, cry as she seized it. The gift seemed to 
 have thrown a spell about her ; for, with paled cheeks, 
 she asked that she might retire to rest awhile in her 
 chamber. 
 
 " A wjeshtize ! " cried several, looking out from 
 the door through which the man had passed. 
 
 " Heaven grant he has left no curse ! " exclaimed 
 others. 
 
 The silken case contained several crystals of atar 
 of roses. In one of these, which was larger than the 
 others, gleamed, instead of the perfumed drop, a 
 splendid diamond. Upon a piece of parchment, as
 
 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 43 
 
 fine as the silk of which the case was made, Morsinia 
 read 
 
 " My pledge to give my life for thine shall be kept 
 when need requires Meanwhile know that the 
 Padishah, the rightful Lord of Albania, has bestowed 
 this castle upon Ballaban Badera, Aga of the Jani- 
 zaries, who in turn bestows it upon Mara De Streeses 
 " Signed, 
 
 " MICHAEL." 
 
 Our story has covered a period of thirteen years. 
 For eleven years more the genius of Scanderbeg, 
 which his perhaps too partial countrymen used to 
 compare to that of Alexander and Pyrrhus, withstood 
 the whole power of the Ottoman Empire, directed 
 against him by the most skilful generals of the age. 
 Sinam and Assem, Jusem and Caraza, Seremet and 
 the puissant Sultan Mahomet himself successively 
 appeared in the field ; but retreated, leaving their thou- 
 sands of slain to attest the invincibility of the Alban- 
 ian chief. Only one Ottoman commander ventured 
 to return for a second campaign. The old Latin 
 chronicles of the monk Marinus Barletius who records 
 the deeds of Castriot in thirteen volumes assign 
 this honorable distinction to the Janizary, Ballaban 
 Badera. In six campaigns this redoubtable warrior 
 desolated Albania. From Thessaly, northward over 
 the land, poured the Moslem tide, but it stayed itself 
 at the waters of Skadar ; and, as if fate had approved 
 the prophecy of the aged stranger at the nuptials of 
 Constantine and Morsinia, the castle of De Streeses,
 
 404 THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. 
 
 during all these terrible years, looked down upon blood- 
 less fields. Though his lands were ravaged, the courage 
 of Castriot was not wearied, nor was his genius baffled, 
 until, in the year 1467, there came upon him a mightier 
 than Ballaban, a mightier than Mahomet. In the 
 presence of the last enemy he commended his country to 
 the valor of his voivodes, his family to the protection of 
 friends,* and his soul to the grace of Jesu, his Saviour. 
 They buried him in the old church at Lyssa. Years 
 after, no Scanderbeg succeeding Scanderbeg, the 
 Turks possessed the land. They dug up his bones, 
 and, inclosing their fragments in silver and gold, 
 w.ore them as amulets. Pashas and Viziers esteemed 
 themselves happy, even in subsequent centuries, if 
 they might so much as touch a bone of Scanderbeg; 
 "For perchance," they said, "there may thus be 
 imparted to us some of that valor and skill which 
 in him were invincible by the might of men." 
 
 * Castriot married late in life. 
 
 THE END.
 
 BEN-HUR: A TALE OF THE CHRIST. 
 
 By LEW. WALLACE. New Edition, pp. 552. 16mo, 
 
 Cloth, $1 50. 
 
 Anything so startling, new, and distinctive as the leading feature of 
 this romance does not often appear in works of fiction. . . . Some of Mr. 
 Wallace's writing is remarkable for its pathetic eloquence. The scenes 
 described in the New Testament are rewritten with the power and skill of 
 an accomplished master of style. N". Y. Times. 
 
 Its real basis is a description of the life of the Jews and Romans at the 
 beginning of the Christian era, and this is both forcible and brilliant. . . . 
 We aro carried through a surprising variety of scenes ; we witness a sea- 
 fight, a chariot-race, the internal economy of a Roman galley, domestic in- 
 teriors at Antioch, at Jerusalem, and among the tribes of the desert ; pal- 
 tices, prisons, the haunts of dissipated Roman youth, the houses of pious 
 families of Israel. There is plenty of exciting incident ; everything is ani- 
 mated, vivid, and glowing. N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 From the opening of the volume to the very close the reader's interest 
 will be kept at the highest pitch, and the novel will be pronounced by all 
 one of the greatest novels of the day. Boston Post. 
 
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 strengthen the semblance. Boston Commonwealth. 
 
 "Ben-Hur" is interesting, and its characterization is fine and strong. 
 Meanwhile it evinces careful study of the period in which the scene is laid, 
 and will help those who read it with reasonable attention to realize the 
 nature and conditions of Hebrew life in Jerusalem and Roman life at 
 Antioch at the time of our Saviour's advent. Examiner, N. Y. 
 
 It is really Scripture history of Christ's time clothed gracefully and deli- 
 cately in the flowing and loose drapery of modern fiction. . . . Few late 
 works of fiction excel it in genuine ability and interest. N. Y. Graphic. 
 
 One of the most remarkable and delightful books. It is as real and 
 warm as life itself, and as attractive as the grandest and most heroic chap- 
 ters of history. Indianapolis Journal. 
 
 The book is one of unquestionable power, and will be read with un- 
 wonted interest by many readers who are weary of the conventional novel 
 and romance. Boston Journal. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK. 
 
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 THE BOYHOOD OF CHRIST. 
 
 By LEW. WALLACE, Author of " Ben-Hur," &c. 14 Full- 
 page Engravings on Plate Paper. 4to, Ornamental 
 Leather Covers, $3 50. (In a J3ox.) 
 
 The story is told by an earnest, loving reader of the Gospels, and 
 the effort to present the actual life of Christ in his youth is rever- 
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 This sumptuous work is superlative in more respects than one. . . . 
 It is such a bit of fine and fluent story-telling as we are sure no one 
 could write but the author of " Ben-Hur." It is the boy Christ who 
 figures in these pages, none other. Philadelphia Press. 
 
 A most interesting and pleasant book for old and young alike, and 
 will be a permanent companion to " Ben-Hur." Lutheran Observer, 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 A magnificent book. . . . The subject is treated in that reverent 
 yet familiar narrative style which has made General Wallace so well 
 known and liked, and the illustrations are worthy of the peculiar 
 grandeur of the subject. The whole forms a work of art which is 
 unique even among the many fine productions of the modern press. 
 St. Louis Republic. 
 
 The style of the work is simple and graceful, the spirit of it is 
 reverent and helpful, and it impresses forcibly the reality of the tie 
 of humanity between Jesus and ourselves, and there are many and 
 very fine illustrations. The Congregationalist, Boston. 
 
 What history, art, and travel may contribute to help clear and 
 vivid portraiture and description is familiar to the author, and he 
 has all the sympathetic and tender imagination to give them power. 
 Boston Globe. 
 
 A real spirit of reverence pervades the narrative, and extends from 
 the narrator throughout his young audience. . . .The publication is 
 very beautiful. Christian Advocate, N. Y. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK. 
 
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 part of the United States or Canada, on receipt of the price.
 
 THE LAND AND THE BOOK. 
 
 By WILLIAM M. THOMSON, D.D., Forty-five Years a Mis- 
 sionary in Syria and Palestine. In Three Volumes, 
 Square 8vo, Ornamental Cloth. Price per Volume, 
 $6 00; Sheep, $7 00; Half Morocco, $8 50; Full Mo- 
 rocco, Gilt Edges, $10 00. 
 
 Vol. I. SOUTHERN PALESTINE AND JERUSALEM. 140 Illus- 
 trations and Maps. 
 
 Vol. II. CENTRAL PALESTINE AND PHOENICIA. 130 Illustra- 
 tions and Maps. 
 
 Vol. III. LEBANON, DAMASCUS, AND BEYOND JORDAN. 147 
 Illustrations and Maps. 
 
 To forty-five years' life and study on the soil of Palestine, the author 
 adds ample learning and the fruit of the latest topographical surveys and 
 linguistic researches. ... A standard authority, if not a classic. Critic, 
 N.Y. 
 
 The work is of the highest value. Church Press, N.Y. 
 
 This book is one which every earnest reader of the Bible should have 
 in his library; for we believe it is the best account of the region at pres- 
 ent accessible to American readers. Christian Advocate, Chicago. 
 
 The most exhaustive, the most faithful, and the most graphic account 
 of the Holy Land that has ever been written. Standard, Chicago. 
 
 The author has treated his subject so graphically as to invest it with 
 extraordinary attractions. Lutheran Observer, Philadelphia. 
 
 The three volumes form a geographical, historical, scientific, and script- 
 ural encyclopaedia of Palestine and the adjoining countries. Zion'slfer- 
 ald, Boston. 
 
 A colossal achievement, and one creditable alike to author and to pub- 
 lisher. Interior, Chicago. 
 
 A superb and most valuable volume. Christian Advocate, Cincinnati. 
 
 The reader feels as if the author were indeed at his elbow, and as if he 
 himself really stands on the sacred soil of distant Palestine. S. S. Times, 
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 One of the noblest works illustrative of sacred things which any man 
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 lence in all respects. Christian Advocate, N.Y. 
 
 This must take the place of all other works for completeness, accuracy, 
 and beauty. ... It will be, as it deserves, an authoritative standard at all 
 times of the countries of which it treats. Christian at Work, N.Y. 
 
 Here, as before, we have that accurate sketching of sacred places which 
 can only come from personal observation, and which, with the help of the 
 admirable illustrations, brings every scene distinctly before the eye. 
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 The most complete, accurate, and interesting illustration of the land 
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 JESUS CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 JESUS CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT ; or, The 
 Great Argument. By W. H. THOMSON, M.A., M.D., Pro- 
 fessor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, Medical Depart- 
 ment University of New York. Pages viii., 472. Crown 
 8vo, Cloth, $2 00. 
 
 The book is worthy in every way of careful reading, and we trust it 
 will do much to confirm the faith of wavering Christians, and show the 
 "internal critics" that men outside the pulpit see the folly of their as- 
 saults on God's Word just as plainly as those who preach the whole 
 Bible's simple truth to sinners. Christian Intelligencer, N. Y. 
 
 The argument of the author is masterly, grand, unanswerable. It should 
 be carefully studied by all who wish to have an intelligent understanding 
 of the fundamental truths of the Word of God. Interior, Chicago. 
 
 Dr. Thomson's special qualifications for the task lie in his familiarity 
 with Oriental, Arabic, and Jewish habits of thought and expression, and 
 with the scenery and modes of life of those lands where the Bible writings 
 originated, while his own scientific training fits him for exactness of reason- 
 ing. His argument brings out very clearly the remarkable special fulfil- 
 ments of the prophecies of Christ in the Old Testament, but he does not 
 lay great stress on them, for the wise reason that such a series of fulfil- 
 ments would not alone carry conviction. He finds a higher and more 
 philosophical ground in the remarkable unlikeness of the prophecies to the 
 human opinions and ideals of the time, and to their unmistakable conform- 
 ity to the intent of the Christian Gospel itself. N. Y. Times. 
 
 A book which can be recommended to the thoughtful students of the 
 life of our Lord as related to Old Testament prophecy. It is fresh, stimu- 
 lating, and eminently readable. Dr. Thomson's style is stirring and ag- 
 gressive. Sunday School Times, Philadelphia. 
 
 In respect to both the fulness of the proofs adduced and to the forms 
 in which they are presented, it excels any that we have seen elsewhere. 
 Methodist Quarterly Review, N. Y. 
 
 We have read this book from beginning to end. In fact it goes with- 
 out saying that this is so to any reader who will get ten pages into it. It 
 is impossible to lay it down. . . . It is so clear, so connected, so cogent in 
 its reasoning, that one feels the same delight as in listening to a great 
 advocate arguing a point of law before able judges. . . . We commend 
 this book to all our readers, and more especially to the clergy. Church- 
 man, N. Y. 
 
 The work is scholarly and thoughtful, and will broaden the view of 
 Christianity and strengthen its claims. Biblical literature by it has gained 
 another work of needed spirit and character. Boston Globe. 
 
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