Under the Red Dragon: A Novel
the same route nearly, but comes ere long to the Devil's Staircase,
the steps of which are trunks of trees alternated by others hewn out
of the solid rock; and this perilous path lies, for some part of the
way at least, between dark, shadowy, and enormous masses of impending
cliffs, where any number of men might be taken by surprise. And
certainly I felt my heart beat faster, with the mingled emotions of
fierce excitement and stern joy, as I hooked my sword-hilt close up to
my waist-belt, assured myself that the caps were on my revolver, and
spurred my roadster forward. Darkness was completely set in now, and
before me there twinkled one solitary star at the distant end of the
gloomy and rocky tunnel through which I was pursuing my solitary way.
CHAPTER XLI.--THE CARAVANSERAI.
I pursued the old road just described, urging my horse to a trot where
I dare do so, but often being compelled--by the rough construction and
nature of the way, and at times by my painful doubts as to whether I
was pursuing the right one--to moderate his pace to a walk.
Frequently, too, I had to dismount and lead him by the bridle,
especially at such parts as those steps of wood and stone by the
Merdven or Devil's Staircase, when after passing through forests of
beech and elm, walnut and filbert trees, I found myself on the summit
of a rock, which I have since learned is two thousand feet above the
Euxine, and from whence the snow-capped summits of the Caucasus can be
seen when the weather is clear. Around me were the mountains of Yaila,
rising in peaks and cliffs of every imaginable form, and fragments of
rock like inverted stalactites started up here and there amidst the
star-lighted scenery. Anon the way lay through a forest entirely of
oaks, where the fallen leaves of the past year lay deep, and the heavy
odour of their decay filled all the atmosphere. The country seemed
very lonely; no shepherd's cot appeared in sight, and an intense
conviction of utter solitude oppressed me. Frequently I reined in my
horse and hearkened for a sound, but in vain. I knew a smattering of
Arabic and that polyglot gibberish which we call Hindostani, but
feared that neither would be of much service to me if I met a Tartar;
and as for a Greek or Cossack, the revolver would be the only means of
conferring with them. Once the sound of a distant bell struck my ear,
announcing some service by night in a church or monastery among the
hills; and soon, on my left, towered up the range of which
Mangoup-Kaleh is the chief, crowned with the ruins of a deserted
Karaite or Jewish tower, and which overlooks Sebastopol on one side,
and Sebastopol on the other. After a time I came to a place where some
buffaloes were grazing, beside a fountain that plashed from a little
archway into a basin of stone. This betokened that some habitation
must be in the vicinity; but that which perplexed me most, was the
circumstance that there the old road was crossed by another: thus I
was at a loss which to pursue. One might lead me to the shore of the
Black Sea; another back towards Sebastopol, or to the Russian pickets
in the valley of Inkermann; and the third, if it failed to be the way
to Kokoz, might be a path to greater perils still.
While in this state of doubt, a light, hitherto unnoticed, attracted
my attention. It glimmered among some trees about a mile distant on my
left, and I rode warily towards it, prepared to fight or fly, as the
event might require. Other lights rapidly appeared, and a few minutes
more brought me before a long rambling building of Turkish aspect,
having large windows filled in with glass, a tiled roof, and broad
eaves. On one side was a spacious yard enclosed by a low wall, wherein
were several horses, oxen, and buffaloes tethered to the kabitkas or
quaintly-constructed country carts; on the other was a kind of open
shed like a penfold, where lighted lanterns were hanging and candles
burning in tin sconces; and by these I could perceive a number of
bearded Armenians and Tartars seated with chibouks and coffee before
them, chatting gaily and laughing merrily at the somewhat broad and
coarse jokes of a Stamboul Hadji, a pretended holy mendicant, whose
person was as unwashed and whose attire was as meagre and tattered as
that of any wandering Faquir I had ever seen in Hindostan. His beard
was ample, and of wonderful blackness; his glittering eyes, set under
beetling brows, were restless and cunning; his turban had once been
green, the sacred colour; and he carried a staff, a wallet, a
sandal-wood rosary of ninety-nine beads, and a bottle, which probably
held water when nothing stronger could be procured. The Tartars, six
in number, were lithe, active, and gaily-dressed fellows, with large
white fur caps, short jackets of red or blue striped stuff, and loose,
baggy, dark blue trousers, girt by scarlet sashes, wherein were stuck
their daggers and brass-butted pistols; for, though all civilians,
they were nevertheless well armed.
The Armenians seemed to be itinerant merchants, or pedlars, as their
packages were close beside them; and two Tartar women--the wife and
daughter probably of the keeper of the khan--who were in attendance,
bringing fresh relays of coffee, cakes, and tobacco, wore each a white
feredji, which permitted nothing of their form to be seen, save the
sparkling dark eyes and yellow-booted feet, as it covered them so
completely that each looked like nothing else than a walking and
talking bundle of white linen. The whole group, as I came upon it thus
suddenly, when seen by the flickering light of the candles and
lanterns, had a very picturesque effect; but the idea flashed upon me,
that as all these men were, too probably, subjects of the Russian
empire, I ran some risk among them; and on my unexpected appearance
the Tartars started, eyed each other and me, in doubt how to act, and
instinctively laid hands on their weapons, like men who were wont to
use them. The Armenians changed colour and laid down their pipes,
fearing that I was but the precursor of a foraging party; and even the
Hadji paused in his story, and placed a hand under his short cloak,
where no doubt a weapon was concealed. All seemed doubtful what to
make of me. I heard "Bashi-bazouk" (Irregular) muttered, and "Frank,"
too. My gray greatcoat enabled me, in their unprofessional eyes, to
pass for anything. If a Russian officer, they feared me; if one of the
Allies, I was the friend--however unworthy an instrument--of the
successor of Mahomet; one of those who had come to fight his battles
against the infidels of the Russian-Greek church; so either way I was
pretty secure of the Tartars' good will; and boldly riding forward, I
proceeded to "air" some of the Arabic I had picked up in the East, by
uttering the usual greeting; to which the keeper of the khan replied
by a low salaam, bending down as if to take the dust from my right
boot and carry it to his lips, while more than once he said,
"_Hosh ghieldiniz!_" (_i. e_., Welcome!)
Then a Tartar, as a token of goodwill, took a pipe from his mouth and
presented it to me, while another offered me sliced water-melon on an
English delph-plate.
"_Aan coon slaheet nahss?_" (Have you any coppers?) whined the Hadji.
I gave him a five-piastre piece, on which he salaamed to the earth
again and again, saying,
"_Kattel herac! kattel herac!_" (Thank you, sir.)
The meeting was a narrow escape, for I might have fallen among
Russians; but fortunately not one of their nation happened at that
moment to be about the place. I laid some money on the low board
around which they were seated, and asked for coffee and a chibouk,
which were brought to me, when I dismounted. However, I remained near
my horse, that I might vault into the saddle and be off on the
shortest notice. On inquiring if I was on the right road for Kokoz,
the host of the establishment shook his head, and informed me that I
was several versts to the left of it. I next asked whether there were
any Russian troops in the immediate neighbourhood. Still eyeing me
keenly and dubiously, several of the Tartars replied in the
affirmative; and the tattered Hadji, whose goodwill I had won by my
peace-offering, told me that a party of Cossacks were now hovering in
the Baidar Valley, the very place through which I had passed, and must
have to repass, unless for safety I remained with Canrobert's flying
column. But then my orders were to return with his answer, and without
delay. Here was a pleasant predicament! After mature consideration I
resolved to wait for daylight, when the Hadji promised to be my guide
to the Tartar village, where the Franks were posted, and which he led
me to understand was nearer the base of Mangoup-Kaleh than the town of
Kokoz; and in the meantime, he added, he should resume a story, in the
narration of which he had been interrupted by my arrival. This
announcement was greeted with a hearty clapping of hands; the women
came nearer; all adjusted themselves in attitudes of attention, for
oral storytelling is the staple literature of the East. Thus their
thoughts, suspicions, and conjectures were drawn from me; and as all
seemed good-humoured, I resolved to make the best of the situation and
remain passive and patient, though every moment expecting to hear the
clank of hoofs or the jingle of accoutrements, and to see the glitter
of Cossack lances; and while I sat there, surveying the singular group
of which I formed one, the quaint aspect of the caravanserai on one
side, the dark forest lands and starlit mountains on the other, my
thoughts, in spite of me, reverted to the news I had so lately
heard--to her I had now lost for ever, and who, in her splendid
English home, was far away from all such wild scenes and stirring
perils as those which surrounded me.
The story told by the Hadji referred to a piece of court scandal,
which, had he related it somewhere nearer the Golden Horn, might have
cost him his head; and to me it became chiefly remarkable from the
circumstance that, soon after the Crimean War, a portion of it
actually found its way as news from the East into the London papers;
but all who heard it in the khan listened with eyes dilated and mouth
agape, for it was replete with that treachery and lust of cruelty
which are so peculiarly oriental. After extolling in flowing and
exaggerated terms the beauty of Djemila Sultana, whom he called the
third and youngest daughter of the Sultan Abdul Medjid, the Hadji told
us that he had been present when she was bestowed in marriage upon
Mahmoud Jel-al-adeen Pasha, to whom, notwithstanding the charms of
this royal lady, the possession of her hand was anything but enviable,
as oriental princesses usually treat worse than slaves their husbands,
leading them most wretched lives, in consequence of their tyrannical
spirit, their caprice, pride, and jealousy of other women. Now the
Sultana Djemila was no exception to this somewhat general rule, and
having discovered by the aid of her royal papa's chief astrologer, the
Munadjim Bashee, that her husband had purchased and secluded in a
pretty little kiosk near the waterside at Pera a beautiful Circassian,
whom he was wont to visit during pretended absences on military duty,
she found means to have the girl carried off, and ordered the Capi
Aga, or chief of the White Eunuchs, an unscrupulous Greek, to
decapitate her; an operation which he performed by one stroke of his
sabre, for the neck of the victim was very slender, and shapely as
that of a white swan. Not contented with this, she resolved still
farther to be revenged upon her husband the Pasha when he returned to
dinner.
Seating herself in the divan-hanee while the meal of which the Pasha
was to partake alone--as women, no matter what their rank may be,