CHAPTER IX.
But while these refugees from the little hamlet on the mountains wereso favored of good Providence, what of the others? Our story mustreturn to the day of the battle in the Pass of Slatiza. Mother Helenafell beneath the sword of a Turk while defending herself from hisinsults. The boy, Michael, with arms bound above the elbows and drawnback so that, while retaining the use of his hands, he could not freehimself, was driven along with others under guard of several soldiers.As they descended the mountains the band of captives was steadilyincreased by contributions from the cottages and hiding places alongthe way. They were mostly boys and girls, the old men and women havingbeen slain or left to perish in the utter desolation which marked thetrack of the army. Some of the captives were children too young toendure the tramp, and were carried upon the horses of the mountedsoldiers. No one was treated unkindly. After the first day their bandswere untied so that they moved without weariness. They shared the bestof the soldiers' rations--sometimes feasting while their captorsfasted--and were snugly wrapped in the blankets by the camp-fires atnight. The daily march, after the Christian army had abandoned thepursuit, was of but a few miles, with long intervals for rest. Indeed,Michael thought that the troopers were more anxious about his beingkept in good condition, even in fresh and comely appearance, thanMother Helena would have been. As they approached Philippopolis theywere all made to wash at a stream. Their matted locks were combed:--ahard job with the mass of rebellious red bristles which stood aboutMichael's head, like a nimbus on the wooden image of some Romishsaint. In some instances the captors went into the city and returnedwith pretty skirts of bright colored wool or silk, and caps made ofshells and beads for the girls. Fantastic enough were the costumes andtoilets which the rough old troopers forced upon the little maidens;but if they were pleasing to the captors they would prove, perhaps, aspleasing to the rough slave buyers in the market square ofPhilippopolis, who purchased the girls for disposal again at theharems of the capital. An officer of excise presided over these sales,and, before the property was delivered to the purchaser, retainedone-fifth the price as the share of the Sultan. If any of the girlswere, in the judgment of the officer, of peculiar beauty or promise,they were reserved for the royal harem; the value of them being paidto their captors out of the tax levied upon the others. This gaveoccasion for the extravagant and often ludicrous costumes in which thediverse tastes of the soldiers arrayed their captives for the contestof beauty.
The boys, however, were not sold. They were the special property ofthe Sultan, to be trained as Janizaries for military service, oremployed in menial positions about the royal seraglio. The captorsreceived rewards according to the number and goodly condition of thelads they brought in.
The band of boys to which Michael was attached was marched at once toAdrianople. Several hundreds were gathered in a great square court,which was surrounded by barracks on three sides, and on the fourthfaced the river Marissa. A great soup kettle, the emblem of theJanizary corps, was mounted upon a pole in the centre of the square,and seemed to challenge the honors of the gilt star and crescent, theemblem of royalty, that gleamed from the tall staff in an adjacentcourt of the seraglio. There were scattered about utensils fordomestic use; the tools of carpenters, blacksmiths, armorers,harness-makers and horse-shoers; old swords, battered helmets, brokenwagons, bow-guns, the figure heads of veteran battering rams; indeedall the used and disused evidences that within these walls lived aself-sustaining community, able to provide for themselves in war or inpeace.
For several days the new boys were fed with delicious milk and meats,prepared by skilful hands of old soldiers, who knew the art of nursingthe sick almost as well as they knew that of making wounds. For a fewnights the lads slept upon soft divans, until every trace of wearinessfrom the journey had disappeared. They were then stripped naked andexamined carefully by the surgeons. If one were deformed, orill-proportioned, or failed to give promise of a strong 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 werethus branded for life with an adverse destiny.
The more favored lads were graded into ojaks, or messes; and amongthem were daily contests in running and wrestling, according to theresults of which the ojaks were constantly changing their members; thestrongest and most agile living together in honorary distinction fromtheir fellows.
The officers in charge of these Janizary schools were old or crippledmen, whom years or wounds had rendered unfit for service in the field,and who were assigned to the easier task in compensation for pastfidelity. The spirit of the veterans was thus infused into the youngrecruits by constant contact and familiarity with them; and the rigidhabits of the after service were acquired almost insensibly throughthe daily drill and discipline.
Michael's rugged health and mountain training enabled him to advancerapidly through the various grades. Though almost the youngest in hiscompany, he was the first in the race, and no one could take him fromhis 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 thesabre-scar across his cheek.
"Ay, tough and handy!" responded Mustapha, an old captain of thecorps, ogling Michael with his widowed eye, and stroking his beardwith his equally bereaved hand, as he watched the boy wriggling frombeneath to the top of a companion nearly double his size. "If thelittle fellow is as agile in wit as he is in limb he will not long beamong the Agiamoglans.[23] A splendid build! broad in the shoulders;deep-chested, but not flat; narrow loins; compact hips--just the makeof 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 changedsomewhat since the old Padishah had you for his page. I remember whenyour waist was as trim as a squirrel's--but now--from the look of yourpaunch I would think you were the soldier who drank up the poorwoman's supper of goat's milk, and had his belly ripped open by thePadishah to discover his guilt.[24] Only goat's milk swells like that.Let us see if some of the butter sticks not yet to your ribs," saidthe 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 ladwill 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 hishand. "But at what match did you see me run?"
"I only saw you run once," said Selim, "and that was at Angora, whenTimour the Lame[25] was after you to get your ugly head for thepyramid of skulls he left there as a monument. But see the lad! Hetosses the big one as a panther topples an ox. We have not had hismatch in the school since Scanderbeg was a boy."
"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 lastbattle under the Balkans. Carambey got fast in a bog, in the firstbattle, and Scanderbeg was unable to redeem the defeat in the second.But he lived not to know it. He sent a host of gibbering Giaour ghoststo hell while on his way to heaven. 'In the crossing of the cimetersthere is the gate of paradise,' says the Koran; and, though his bodycould not be found, he went through the gate, beyond a doubt."
"That is a loss, comrade, the Padishah can never make good with anyman in the service. But have you not noted, Mustapha, that Scanderbegnever fought so well against Christians as against the Caramanians,the Kermians and rebellious Turks. In Anatolia I have seen his lipsburst with blood,[26] through sheer rage of fight; but in Servia heseemed listless and without heart for the fray. The Grand Vizier hasnoted it, and twitted him with remembering too well that he wasChristian born."
"And how did he take that?"
"Why, the color came to his face; his lips swelled; his whole bodyshook;--just as I have seen him when compelled to restrain himselffrom heading a charge, because the best moment for it had notarrived."
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"Did the Vizier take note of his manner?"
"Yes, and spoke of it to the Padishah. Amurath looked troubled, and Ioverheard him say, 'I must not believe it, for I need him. No othergeneral can match Hunyades.' And the Padishah said well; and he haddone well if he had taken the Vizier's head from his shoulders forsuch an insinuation. For Scanderbeg only half loyal were better thanall the rest of the generals licking the Padishah's feet. But,Mustapha, we must train the little devil yonder to forget that he everheard the name of Jesu, Son of Mary, except from the Koran."
"Let us see if he has as much courage as he has cartilage," saidMustapha. "The day is one fit for the water test. Let us have thesquad on the river's bank. If you will bring them, I will go andarrange the test."
"It is too cold, and besides I do not like it," said Selim. "I haveknown some of the best and hottest blood that ever boiled in a child'sveins to be chilled forever by it. It is too severe, except fortrout."
"But it is commanded. And to-day is as mild as we shall have for awhole moon yet," was the reply, as Mustapha moved toward the water.
The river Marissa was covered with thin ice, not strong enough to bearthe weight of a person. A young woinak had attached a small red flagto a block of wood, and whirled it out over the slippery surface somethree rods from the shore. The boys gathered naked and shivering atthe barrack doors, and, at a signal were to dash after the flag. Allhesitated at the strange and cruel command, until a whip, snappingclose to their bare backs, started them. Some slipped and fell uponthe rough and icy stones of the paving in the court. Others halted atthe river's edge. Only a few ventured upon the brittle ice; and they,as it broke beneath them, scrambled back to the shore. One or twofainted in the shock of the cold plunge, and were drawn in by thewoinaks. But three pressed on, breaking the ice before them with theirarms, or with the whole weight of their bodies, as they climbed uponits brittle edge. Soon they were beyond their depth; one dared to gono further, and, blue and bleeding, gave up the chase. The prize laybetween Michael and his companion. This boy was larger and older thanhe; and finding that the ice would sustain his weight, stretchedhimself on it, and crawled forward until he grasped the flag. But themomentary pause, as he detached it from the wooden block and put itbetween his teeth, was sufficient to allow the crackling bridge tobreak beneath him; and he sunk out of sight. At the same instantMichael disappeared. Though several yards from his companion, heplunged beneath the ice, and reappeared carrying the flag in his teethand holding his comrade's head above the water until the woinaks couldreach and rescue them both.
"Bravo!" shouted the attendants. The boys were hurried into thebarracks, and given a hot drink made from a decoction of strong mints;while the woinaks smeared their bodies with the same, and rubbed themuntil the shock of their exposure was counteracted by the generousreturn of the natural heat.
"I thought," said old Mustapha, "that we would have drowned someto-day. It is a cruel custom; but it is worth months of otherpractices to find out a lad's clear grit and power of endurance. Thetwo boys who got the flag will some day become as valiant asourselves, eh, Selim?" and the living eye of the veteran nodded to theempty socket across his nose--the nearest approach to a wink he wascapable of.
"As the boys were floundering in the water," said Selim, "I thought ofa scene which I saw about at the same spot--now three score years havegone since it--for it was just after I was brought into the Janizary'sschool. Our Padishah's great grandfather, the first Amurath, haderected a high seat or throne on the river's bank yonder. You knowthat Saoudji, the Padishah's son, had joined the Greeks; but the youngtraitor was captured. Well! old Amurath bade the executioner pass thered hot iron before his son's eyes until the sight was dried up inthem. Then, while the blind prince was groping about and begging formercy, the Padishah, his father, commanded a circle of swordsmen to beformed about him, swinging their cimeters, so that his head would fallby 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 ofselecting his own executioner. And having thus set them an example ofpaternal duty, Amurath commanded the fathers of the Greek youths, whomhe had captured, to cut off the heads each of his own son. Those whosefathers were not known or could not be found, were tied together ingroups and thrown into the stream; the Padishah betting heavily withthe Grand Vizier upon those who should float the longest. So, cruelthough our customs are, you see, Mustapha, we are not so barbaric asour ancestors."
"Nor so abominably vicious as the Greeks," said Mustapha. "With themthe loving mothers put out the eyes of their children.[27] No, we arequite gentle nurses of the lads committed to our charge, thoughsometimes our tiger claws will prick through the velvet."
"Come, help me up! good Mustapha," said Selim, trying to rise from abench in the sunshine of the court where they were sitting. "The coldstiffens my bones."
"Bah! comrade, you have no bones, only flesh and belly. How will youbalance your fat hulk on the bridge that is finer than a hair andsharper than the edge of a sword that takes you over hell intoparadise? I fear me, Selim, that I shall have to content myself withthe company of the Prophet and the houris in heaven, for you willnever get there, unless I give you a lift across Al Sirat,"[28] saidMustapha, giving his comrade a jerk which sent him far out into thecourt, where with difficulty he kept his feet upon the slipperystones.
The old fellow took the rough play good-naturedly, and replied,
"You will never see paradise, Mustapha. The houris will have nought todo with so ugly a face as yours. It will turn them all squint-eyed tolook 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 isimpossible; since, if the houri be in the sunshine of your good eye,you have no arm on that side to embrace her; and if you embrace herwith the arm you have got, you have no eye on that side to look uponher beauty. Trust me, you old moulted peacock, that I shall get overAl Sirat before Mustapha has found a houri----"
"Hist!" said Mustapha, pointing to the entrance of the square from theseraglio court adjoining, and assuming an attitude of the gravestdignity. In a moment more the two officers knelt, and resting theirforeheads on the ground, remained in that position until a lad of sometwelve years approached them and touched the head of each with hisfoot, bidding them rise.
"I have come, good Selim, to see what new hounds you have for me,"said the young Prince Mahomet.[29]
"Ah! my little Hoonkeawr![30] the Prophet, your namesake, has sent youa fine one; as lithe as a greyhound and as strong as a mastiff; and,if I mistake not, already trained for the game; for he came from theBalkans, 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 intheir beds."
"The water-test, Selim, and you called me not?" said the boy, lookingfurious in his rage. "You knew I wanted to see it; and you told me notfor spite. You will pay for this one day, you fat villain! And I wantthe 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 andtoss of his head, as if to even speak in the presence of the soldierswere a degradation to his dignity.
"To-morrow we will have the hunt in better style than we could arrangeit now were the boys able," said Selim, endeavoring to appease theyoung 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 givethee, my prince:--Beware of demanding the impossible--check back eventhe desire of it. The rule of the Janizary school is that the boyshave rest after the water-
test, and the Padishah would not allow evenhis own son to break it. I would train thee to self-command; for thetime 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. Iwish the boys had all been drowned in the river, and old Selim, andyou too," cried the royal lad, giving way to an outburst of childishrage.
"Wait until thou canst get the bit between thy teeth before attemptingto run thine own gait," coolly replied the old eunuch.
FOOTNOTES:
[23] The Inexpert, or lower grade of Janizaries.
[24] An incident narrated in Turkish history.
[25] Timour-lenk or Timourlane; Timour the Lame.
[26] See old annals.
[27] Vide, the Greek Empress Irene and her son Constantine.
[28] The bridge over hell mentioned above.
[29] Afterward Sultan Mahomet II.
[30] Literally, Man of Blood, a title of the Sultan.
The Captain of the Janizaries Page 9