by Talbot Mundy
Chapter Twenty"So few against so many! I see death, and I am not sorry!"
THOU LAND OF THE GLAD HAND
Thou land of the Glad Hand, whose frequent boastIs of the hordes to whom thou playest host!Whose liberty is full! whose standard highHas reached and taken stars from out the sky!Whose fair-faced women tread the streets unveiled,Unchallenged, unaffronted, unassailed!Whose little ones in park and meadow laugh,Nor know what cost that precious cup they quaff,Nor pay in stripes and bruises and regretTen times each total of a parent's debt!Thou nation born in freedom--land of kingsWhose laws protect the very feathered things,Uplifting last and least to high estateThat none be overlooked--and none too great!Is all thy freedom good for thee alone?Is earth thy footstool? Are the clouds thy throne?Shall other peoples reach thy hand to takeThat gladdens only thee for thine own sake?
To get word to Rustum Khan was simple enough, for he himself cameriding down to get news. The minute he learned what Monty wantedof him he turned his horse back up-hill at a steady lope, and I beganon the next item in the program.
Nor was that difficult. The reading aloud of Will's letter, translatedto them by Anna, convinced the women that their beloved bridge wasin no immediate danger, and no less than three hundred of them marchedoff to reenforce Kagig's men behind Beirut Dagh. I reckoned thatby the time they reached the scene of action we would have a fewmore than three thousand men and women in the field under arms--againstMahmoud Bey's thirty thousand Turks!
There remained to scrape together as many as possible to man thecastle walls; and what with wounded, and middle-aged women, andmen whose weapons did not fit the plundered Turkish ammunition, Ihad more than a hundred volunteers in no time. The only disturbingfeature about this new command of mine was that it contained morethan a sprinkling of the type of malcontents who had bearded Kagigin his den the night before. Those looked like thoroughly excellentfighting men, if only they could have been persuaded to agree totrust a common leader.
Not one of them but knew a thousand times more of Zeitoon, and theirpeople, and the various needs of defense than, for instance, I did.Yet they clustered about me for lack of confidence in one another,and shouted after the women who marched away advice to watch lestKagig betray them all. Not for nothing had the unspeakable Turkinculcated theories of misrule all down the centuries!
I led them up to the castle, they carrying with them food enoughfor several days. We passed Rustum Khan coming down with the horsemen,and I fell behind to have word with him.
"Which of these men shall I pick to command the rest?" I asked him."You've more experience of them."
"Any that you choose will be pounced on by the rest as wolves devoura sheep!" the Rajput answered.
"Should I have them vote on it?"
"They would elect you," he answered.
"I've got to be free to look for Miss Gloria. She'skidnapped--disappeared utterly!"
Rustum Khan swore under his breath, using a language that I knewno word of.
"A woman again, and more trouble!" he said at last grimly. "Letlike cure like then! Choose a woman herdsman!" he grinned. "Itmay be she will surprise them into obedience!"
"I'll take your advice," said I, although I resented his insinuationthat they were a herd--so swiftly does command make partisans.
"The last thing you may take from me, sahib!" he answered.
"How so?"
"So few against so many! I see death and I am not sorry. Only mayI die leading those good mountain-men of mine!"
It was part and parcel of him to praise those he had drilled andscorn the others. I shook hands and said nothing. It did not seemmy place to contradict him.
"Let us hope these people are the gainers by our finish!" he calledover his shoulder, riding on after his command. "They are not atall bad people--only un-drilled, and a little too used to the waysof the Turk! Good-by, sahib!"
Within the castle gate I found a woman, whom they all addressed asMarie, very busy sorting out the bundles they had thrown againstthe wall. She was putting all the food together into a common fund,and as I entered she shouted to her own nominees among the otherwomen to get their cooking pots and begin business.
Still pondering Rustum Khan's advice, in the dark whether or notbe meant it seriously, I chose Marie Chandrian to take command.She made no bones about it, but accepted with a great shrill laughthat the rest of them seemed to recognize--and to respect for oldacquaintance' sake. She turned out to have her husband with her--anenormous, hairy man with a bull's voice who ought to have been inone or other of the firing-lines but had probably held back in obedienceto his better half. She made him her orderly at once, and it wasnot long before every soul in the castle had his or her place to hold.
Then I mounted once more and rode at top speed down the new roadthat Monty was defending, taking another horse this time, not sogood, but much less afraid of the din of battle.
I found Monty scarcely fifty paces from the track, on the outsideedge of the fringe of trees that the Turks had been unable to cutdown. There were numbers of wounded laid out on the track itself,with none to carry them away; and the Turks were keeping up a hotfire from behind the shelter of the felled trees and standing stumps.The outside range was two hundred yards, and there were several platoonsof the enemy who had crept up to within thirty or forty yards andcould not be dislodged.
I pulled Monty backward, for he could not hear me, and he and I stoodbehind two trees while I told him what I had done, shouting intohis ear.
"I've got to go and find Gloria!" I said finally, and he frowned,and nodded.
"Go first and take a look at the ramp through the trees. Tell mewhat's happening."
So I limped down to the end of the track and made my way cautiouslythrough the lower fringe of trees that had been cut three-parts throughin readiness for felling in a hurry. Just as I got there the Turksbegan a new massed advance up the ramp, as if in direct proof ofMonty's mental alertness.
The men posted on the opposite flank to where I was opened a terrificfire that would have made poor Kagig bite his lips in fear for thewaning ammunition. Then Fred came into action with his hundred,throwing them in line into the open along the top, where they laydown to squander cartridges--squandering to some purpose, however,for the Turkish lines checked and reeled.
But Mahmoud Bey had evidently given orders that this advance shouldbe pressed home, and the Turks came on, company after company, insucceeding waves of men. There were some in front with picks andshovels, making rough steps in the slippery clay; and I groaned,hating to go and tell Monty that it was only a matter of minutesbefore the frontal attack must succeed and the pass be in enemy hands.
"Here goes Armenia's last chance!" I thought; and I waited to seethe beginning of the end before limping back to Monty.
And it was well I did wait. I had actually forgotten Rustum Khanand his two squadrons. Nor would I ever have believed without seeingit that one lone man could so inspirit and control that number ofaliens whom he had only as much as drilled a time or two. It saidas much for the Zeitoonli as for Rustum Khan. Without the veryultimate of bravery, good faith, and intelligence on their part hecould never have come near attempting what he did.
He brought his two squadrons in line together suddenly over the browof the ramp, galloped them forward between Fred's extended riflemen,and charged down-hill, the horses checking as they felt the slipperyclay under foot and then, unable to pull up, careering head-long,urged by their riders into madder and madder speed, with Rustum Khanon his beautiful bay mare several lengths in the lead.
Cavalry usually starts at a walk, then trots, and only gains itsgreat momentum within a few yards of the enemy. This cavalry startedat top speed, and never lost it until it buried itself into theadvancing Turks as an avalanche bursts into a forest! No human enemycould ever have withstood that charge. Many of the horses fell inthe first fifty yards, and none of these were able to regain theirfeet in time to be of use. Some of the riders were
rolled on andkilled. And some were slain by the half-dozen volleys the astonishedTurks found time to greet them with. But more than two-thirds ofRustum Khan's men, armed with swords of every imaginable shape andweight, swept voiceless into an enemy that could not get out of theirway; and regiments in the rear that never felt the shock turnedand bolted from the wrath in front of them.
I climbed out to the edge of the trees, and yelled for Fred, wavingboth arms and my hat and a branch. He saw me at last, and broughthis hundred men down the ramp at a run.
"Join Monty," I shouted, "and help him clear the woods."
He led his men into the trees like a pack of hounds in full cry,and I limped after them, arriving breathless in time to see the Turksin front of Monty in full retreat, fearful because the Rajput'scavalry had turned their flank. Then Monty and Fred got their mentogether and swung them down into the pass to cover Rustum Khan'sretreat when the charge should have spent itself.
The Rajput had managed to demoralize the Turkish infantry, but Mahmoud'sguns were in the rear, far out of reach. Bursting shells did moredestruction as he shepherded the squadrons back again than bullet,bayonet and slippery clay combined to do in the actual charge itself.Monty gave orders to throw down the fringe of trees and let themthrough to the castle road, so saving them from the total annihilationin store if they had essayed to scramble up the slippery ramp. Andthen Fred's men joined Monty's contingent, helping them fortify thenew line--deepening and reversing the trench the Turks had dug belowthe ramp, and continuing that line along through the remaining edgeof trees that still stood between the enemy and the castle road.
But by cutting down the fringe at the end of the road to let RustumKhan through we had forfeited the last degree of secrecy. If theTurks could come again and force the gut of the pass, nothing butthe hardest imaginable fighting could prevent them from swinginground at that point and making use of our handiwork.
"That castle has become a weakness, not a strength, Colonel sahib!"said Rustum Khan, striding through the trees to where Monty and Fredand I were standing. "I have lost seven and thirty splendid men,and three and forty horses. One more such charge, and--"
"No, Rustum Khan. Not again," Monty answered.
"What else?" laughed the Rajput. "That castle divides our forces,making for weakness. If only--"
"We must turn it to advantage, then, Rustum Khan!"
"Ah, sahib! So speaks a soldier! How then?"
"Mahmoud knows by now that the trees are down," said I. "His watchersmust have seen them fall. Some of the trees are lying outward towardthe ramp."
"Exactly," said Monty. "His own inclination will lead him to useour new road, and we must see that he does exactly that. The gunsare making the ramp too hot just now for amusement, but let someone--you, Fred--run a deep ditch across the top of the ramp; andif we can hold them until dark we'll have connected ditches dug atintervals all the way down."
Looking over the top of the trees I could just see the Montdidierstandard bellying in the wind.
"I'll bet you Mahmoud can see that, too!" said I, drawing the others'attention to it.
"Let's hope so," Monty answered quietly. "Now, Rustum Khan, findone of those brave horsemen of yours who is willing to be capturedby the enemy and give some false information. I want it well understoodthat our only fear is of a night attack!"
"You say, Colonel sahib, there will be no further use for cavalry?"
"Not for a charge down that ramp, at any rate!"
"Then send me! My word will carry conviction. I can say that asa Moslem I will fight no longer on the side of Christians. Theywill accept my information, and then hang me for having led a chargeinto their infantry. Send me, sahib!"
Monty shook his head. Rustum Khan seemed inclined to insist, butthere came astonishing interruption. Kagig appeared, with arms akimbo,in our midst.
"Oh, sportmen all!" he laughed. "This day goes well!"
"Thank God you're here!" said Monty. "Now we can talk."
"That Will--what is his name?--Will Yerkees is a wonderful fighter!"said Kagig, snapping his fingers and making the joints crack.
"He accuses you of that complaint," said I.
"Me? No. I am only enthusiast. The road behind Beirut Dagh isrough and narrow. The Turks had hard work, and less reason foreagerness than we. So we overcame them. They have fallen back towhere they were at dawn, and they are discouraged"--he made hisfinger-joints crack again--"discouraged! The women feel very confident.The men feet exactly as the women do! The Turks are preparing tobivouac where they lie. They will attack no more to-day--I know them!"
"Listen, Kagig!" Monty drew us all together with a gesture of bothhands. "These Turks are too many for us, if we give them time.Our ammunition won't last, for one thing. We must induce Mahmoudto attack to-night--coax him up this castle road, and catch him ina trap. It can be done. It must be done!"
"I know the right man to send to the Turk to tell him things!" Kagiganswered slowly with relish.
"That is my business!" growled Rustum Khan, but Kagig laughed at him.
"No Turk would believe a word you say--not one leetle word!" he said,snapping his fingers. "You are a good fighter. I saw your chargefrom the castle tower; it was very good. But I will send an Armenianon this errand. Go on, Lord Monty; I know the proper man."
"That's about the long and short of it," said Monty. "If we caninduce Mahmoud to attack to-night, we've a fair chance of hittinghim so hard that he'll withdraw and let us alone. Otherwise--"
Kagig's finger-joints cracked harder than ever as his quick mindreviewed the possibilities.
"Have you any idea what can have happened to Miss Vanderman?" Iasked him.
"Miss Vanderman? No? What? Tell me!"
He seemed astonished, and I told him slowly, lest he miss one grainof the enormity of Maga's crime. But instead of appearing distressedhe shook his bands delightedly and rattled off a very volley ofcracking knuckles.
"That is the idea! We have Mahmoud caught! I know Mahmoud! I knowhim! The man I shall choose shall tell Mahmoud that Gloria Vanderman--thebeautiful American young lady, who is outlawed because of herfighting on behalf of Armenians--who--who could not possibly be claimedby the American consul, on account of being outlawed--is in the castleto-night and can be taken if he only will act quickly! Oh, how hiseyes will glitter! That Mahmoud--he buys women all the time! Ayoung--beautiful--athletic American girl--Mahmoud will sacrificethree thousand men to capture her!"
Monty ground his teeth. Fred turned his back, and filled his pipe.Rustum Khan brushed his black beard upward with both hands.
"Suppose you go now and try to find Miss Vanderman," said Monty rathergrimly to me. "If you find her, hide her out of harm's way andcommunicate with Will!"
So Fred helped me on the horse and I rode back to the castle, whereI explained the details of the fighting below to the defenders, andthen rode on down to Zeitoon by the other road. It was wearing alonginto the afternoon, and I had no idea which way to take to look forGloria; but I did have a notion that Maga Jhaere might be lookingout for me. There was a chance that she might have been in earnestin persuading me to elope, and that if I rode alone she might showherself--she or else Gloria's captors.
Failing signs of Maga Jhaere or her men, I proposed to ride behindBeirut Dagh in search of Will, and to get his quick Yankee wit employedon the situation.
So, instead of crossing the bridge into Zeitoon I guided my horsearound the base of the mountain, riding slowly so as to ease thepain in my foot and to give plenty of opportunity to any one lyingin wait to waylay me.
It happened I guessed rightly. The track swung sharp to the leftafter a while, and passed up-hill through a gorge between two cliffsinto wilder country than any I had yet seen in Armenia. From thetop of the cliff on the right-hand side a pebble was dropped andstruck the horse--then another--then a third one. I thought it bestto take no notice of that, although the horse made fuss enough.
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sp; The third pebble was followed by a shrill whistle, which I also decidedto ignore, and continued to ride on toward where a clump of scrawnybushes marked the opening out of a narrow valley. I heard the bushesrustle as I drew near them, and was not surprised to see Maga emerge,looking hot, impatient and angry, although not less beautiful onthat account.
"Fool!" she began on me. "Why you wait so long? Another half-hourand it is too late altogether! Come now! Leave the horse. Come quick!"
Wondering what important difference half an hour should make, itoccurred to me that Will was probably impatient long ago at receivingno news of Gloria. If I judged Will rightly, he would be on hisway to look for her.
"Come quick!" commanded Maga.
"I can't climb that cliff," said I. "I've hurt my foot."
"I help you. Come!"
She stepped up close beside me to help me down, but that instantit seemed to me that I heard more than one horse approaching.
"Quick!" she commanded, for she heard them, too, and held out herarms to help me. "Quick! I have two men to help you walk!"
I could have reached my pistol, but so could she have reached hers,and her hand and eye were quicker than forked lightning. Besides,to shoot her would have been of doubtful benefit until Gloria'swhereabouts were first ascertained. She put an arm round me to pullme from the saddle, and that settled it. I fell on her with allmy weight, throwing her backward into the bushes, and kicking thehorse in the ribs with my uninjured foot. The horse took frightas I intended, and went galloping off in the direction of theapproaching sounds.
I had not wrestled since I was a boy at school, and then never withsuch a spitting puzzle of live wires as Maga proved herself. I hadthe advantage of weight, but I had told her of my injured foot, andshe worked like a she-devil to damage it further, fighting at thesame time with left and right wrist alternately to reach pistoland knife.
I let go one wrist, snatched the pistol out of her bosom and threwit far away. But with the free and she reached her knife, and landedwith it into my ribs. The pain of the stab sickened me; but theknowledge that she had landed fooled her into relaxing her hold inorder to jump clear. So I got hold of both wrists again, and werolled over and over among the bushes, she trying like an eel to wriggleaway, and I doing my utmost to crush the strength out of her. Wewere interrupted by Will's voice, and by Will's strong arms draggingus apart.
"Catch her!" I panted. "Hold her! Don't let her go!"
"Never fear!" he laughed.
"Her men have kidnapped Gloria! Tie her hands!"
Will had two men with him, one of whom was leading my runaway horse.They gazed open-eyed while Will tied Maga's wrists behind her back.
"Kagig--what will he say?" one of them objected, but Will laughed.
"What you do with me?" demanded Maga.
"Take you to Kagig, of course. Where's Miss Vanderman?"
Then suddenly Maga's whole appearance changed. The defiance vanished,leaving her as if by magic supple again, subtle, suppliant, conjuringback to memory the nights when she had danced and sung. The firedeparted from her eyes and they became wet jewels of humility withsoft love lights glowing in their depths.
"You do not want that woman!" she said slowly, smiling at Will."You give 'er to this fool!" She glanced at my bleeding ribs, asif the blood were evidence of folly. "You take me, Will Yerkees!Then I teach you all things--all about people--all about land, andlove, and animals, and water, and the air--I teach you all!"
She paused a moment, watching his face, judging the effect of words.He stood waiting with a look of puzzled distress that betrayed regretfor her tied wrists, but accepted the necessity. Perhaps she mistookthe chivalrous distress for tenderness.
"I 'ave tried to make that man Kagig king! I 'ave tried, and tried!But 'e is no good! If 'e 'ad obeyed me, I would 'ave made 'im kingof all Armenia! But 'e is as good as dead already, because Mahmoudthe Turk is come to finish 'im--so!" She spat conclusively. "Sonow I make you king instead of 'im! You let that Gloria Vandermango to this fool, an' I show you 'ow to make all Armenians followyou an' overthrow the Turks, an' conquer, an' you be king!"
Will laughed. "Better stick to Kagig! I'm going to take you to him!"
"You take me to 'im?"
She flashed again, swift as a snake to illustrate resentment.
"Yes."
"Then I tell 'im things about you, an' 'e believe me!"
"Let's bargain," laughed Will. "Show me Miss Vanderman, alive andwell, and--"
"Steady the Buffs!" I warned him. "Gloria's not far away. Therewere pebbles dropped on my horse. There may be a cave above thiscliff--or something of the sort."
Will nodded. "--and I won't tell Kagig you made love to me!"he continued.
"Poof! Pah! Kagig, 'e know that long ago!"
Will turned to his two men and bade them tie the horses to a bush.
"How are the ribs?" he asked me.
"Nothing serious," said I.
"Do you think you can watch her if I tie her feet?"
"She's slippery and strong! Better tie her to a tree as well!"
So between them Will and the two men trussed her up like a chickenready for the market, making her bound ankles fast to the roots ofa bush. Then he led the two men up the cliff-side, and Maga layglaring at me as if she hoped hate could set me on fire, while Imade shift to stanch my wound.
But she changed her tactics almost before Will was out of sight beyonda boulder, beginning to scream the same words over and over in thegipsy tongue and struggling to free her feet until I thought thethongs would either burst or strip the flesh from her.
The screams were answered by a shout from up above. Then I heardWill shout, and some one fired a pistol. There came a clatter ofloose stones, and I got to my feet to be ready for action--not thatmy hurts would have let me accomplish much.
A second later I saw three of Gregor Jhaere's gipsies scurrying alongthe cliff-side, turning at intervals to fire pistols at some onein pursuit. So I joined in the fray with my Colt repeater, andflattered myself I did not do so badly. The first two shots producedno other effect than to bring the runaways to a halt. The next threeshots brought all three men tumbling head over heels down thecliff-side, rolling and sliding and scattering the stones.
One fell near Maga's feet and lay there writhing. The other twocame to a standstill in a hideous heap beside me, and I stooped tosee if I could recognize them.
What happened after that was almost too quick for the senses to takein. One of the gipsies came suddenly to life and seized me by theneck. The other grasped my feet, and as I fell I saw the third manslash loose Maga's thongs and help her up.
My two assailants rolled me over on my back, and while one held methe other aimed blows at my head with the butt of his empty pistol.Once he hit me, and it felt like an explosion. Twice by a miracleI dodged the blows, growing weaker, though, and hopeless. He aimeda fourth blow, taking his time about it and making sure of his aim,and I waited in the nearest approach to fatalistic calm I everexperienced.
In a strange abstraction, in which every movement seemed to beslowed down into unbelievable leisureliness, I saw the butt of thepistol begin to approach my eye--near--nearer. Then suddenly I hearda woman scream, and a shot ring out.
Instead of the pistol butt the gipsy's brains splashed on my face,and the man collapsed on top of me. Next I realized that GloriaVanderman was wiping my face with a cloth of some kind, holding ahot pistol in her other hand, while Will was standing laughing overme, and Maga Jhaere with the other gipsy had disappeared altogether.
"Did you shoot Maga?" I mumbled.
"No," Will laughed. "I'd hate to shoot a woman who'd offered tomake me king! She ought to be hung, though, for a horse-thief!She and that other gipsy got away with the mounts! Never mind--thereare four of us to carry you, if Gloria lends a hand!"
But I have no notion how they carried me. All I remember is recoveringconsciousness that evening in the castle, to discove
r myself copiouslybandaged, and painfully stiff, but not so much of an invalid after all.