CHAPTER XI
Zeno found the two occupants of the room terrorstruck, and standing onone side of the window, from which they had not dared to look outafter the cry of alarm had been given from below. Indeed they were ina dangerous pass, unless all three of the men who had attempted tostop Zeno were dead, or if the first cry had roused the sleepingcaptain and guards of the tower from their drugged sleep.
But Zeno's own situation was quite as bad. It was out of the questionto shout to Gorlias, on the mere chance of his being still alive andon the pier. No communication was possible, and the rope was cutbelow. It was true that the whole of the fishing-line still lay coiledon the floor of the room, but even if it were long enough to double itwould hardly bear the man's weight; and Carlo guessed that he had cutoff nearly three-quarters of the knotted rope below him.
There was no time to be lost either. He did not know the number of hisassailants, and though he gave his signal when he reached the window,on the mere chance of being heard, he would not have trusted theanswer to it if it had come. Any one could imitate such a sound afterhearing it once. If he let down the remaining length of the rope bythe fishing-line, and if his enemies were on the pier instead ofGorlias, they would have wit enough to knot the rope where it had beencut, and to send it up again, for him to come down by, and he woulddrop into their very midst.
He understood all this in an instant, and without hesitation he castoff everything above, and dropped the rope and the fishing-line out ofthe window. He knew Gorlias well enough to be sure that he would comeback before daylight and land if there were no one on the pier, andremove all traces of the attempt.
'We are all lost!' moaned the big woman.
'My hour has come,' said the Emperor Johannes in solemn terror.
Thereupon he began to say his prayers, and paid no more attention tothe others. Zeno took the woman by the wrist.
'We are not lost unless your husband is awake,' he said. 'Take me tohim.'
The captain's wife stared at him.
'There is no other way. If he is awake, you will tell him that I gotinto the tower, and that you have betrayed me into his hands. You willbe safe at least, and I will take my chance. If he is asleep I havenothing to fear.'
He drew her to the door and began to unbar it himself. She hadunderstood that he was right, so far as her own safety was concerned,and she helped him. A horn lantern stood on the stone floor in theentry at the head of the stair, where she had left it when she hadlast come up. Before going down she barred the door outside as usual,and then led the way.
At the first landing she opened a door as softly as she could and wentin, leaving Zeno on the threshold. It was the sleeping room, and Zenoheard the captain's stertorous breathing with relief. He went in andlooked at the sleeping man's face, which was congested to a dark redby the powerful drug, and Zeno thought it doubtful whether he wouldever wake again. The woman, ignorant of the effects of much opium, wasafraid her husband might open his eyes, and she plucked at Zeno'ssleeve, anxious to get him away; but the Venetian smiled.
'He is good for twelve hours' sleep,' he said. 'Give me his cloak andhelmet. If I find no one awake I will leave them at the outer gate.Otherwise I will send them to the tower in a clothes-basket to-morrowmorning.'
The captain's wife obeyed, less frightened than she had been at first;Zeno muffled half his face in the big cloak, and threw the end overhis shoulder whence it hung down, displaying the three broad stripesof gold lace that formed the border distinctive of a captain's rank inthe guards. The bright helmet had a gilt eagle for a crest, scarcelydiffering from that of the modern German Gardes du Corps regiment.
'Now show me the way,' Zeno said.
Under the folds of the cloak he had the short broad sheath-knife readyin his grasp, and it was no bad weapon in the hand of such a fighteras Carlo Zeno. The captain's wife led the way with the lantern.
The captain's wife obeyed, less frightened than she had been at first.]
At the foot of the next flight of stairs she almost stumbled over thesentinel, half-seated on the lowest step in a drunken sleep; hisshaggy head had fallen forwards on his breast, and his legs stuckstraight out before him, wide apart, like the legs of a wooden doll.His hands lay open with the palms upwards, one on his knee, the otheron the step beside him; and his helmet, which had rolled off his head,had happened to stop just between his feet, the right side up, andfacing him, as if it were watching him in his slumber like a livingthing.
The story they had now reached contained the living room of thecaptain and his wife, and no sentinel was needed higher up in thetower. An iron door, fastened on the inside, cut off the descent, andhad to be opened for Zeno to pass. But being constantly in use thelock was well oiled, and the bolts slipped back almost without noise.Nevertheless, as he followed his companion down the next flight, Zenodrew up the folds of the cloak on his right arm till the edge barelycovered the drawn knife in his hand.
They reached the next story below, where the upper guard-room was. Thedoor was half-open, and a lamp was burning within, but as the windowwas over the great court of Blachernae no light had been visible fromthe water. Zeno heard voices, and caught sight of two guards carousingat the end of an oak table. At the sound of footsteps one of the menrose quickly, but staggered when he tried to walk to the door.
'Who goes there?' he called out, steadying himself by the door-post,and looking out.
The captain's wife had the presence of mind to hold up the lantern, sothat the light fell full upon the helmet Zeno wore. Instantly thesoldier tried to straighten himself to an attitude of attention, withhis hands by his sides. But this was too much for his unstablebalance, and he reeled backwards half across the room within, till hestruck the table behind him, and tumbled down with a clatter ofaccoutrements and a rattling of the horn drinking-cups that werethrown to the ground. His companion, who was altogether too drunk evento leave his seat, broke into a loud idiotic laugh at his accident.
'You have done your share well, Kyria,' said Zeno, as he followed heragain. 'The Emperor's friends could have brought him down by thestairs in triumph without being stopped.'
'You are not out of the palace precincts yet,' answered the captain'swife in a warning tone.
She went on, treading more softly as she descended, and carrying thelantern low lest she or her companion should stumble over anothersleeping sentinel; but the staircase and the door that led into thecourt were deserted, for the captain was a very exact man, and had hissupper at the same hour every evening, and went to bed soon afterwardslike an honest citizen, after setting the watch and locking the irondoor of his own lower landing. In two years he had never once comedown the tower after sunset. The consequence was that the guards, whowere mostly rough barbarians from the Don country and the shores ofthe Black Sea, did as they pleased, or as their lieutenant pleased;for he found it pleasant to spend his nights in another part of thepalace, and was extremely popular with his men, because they werethus enabled to go to bed like good Christians and sleep all night.
All this the captain's wife knew well enough. Her apprehension was forwhat might happen to Zeno between leaving the tower and passing thegreat gate, which was the only way to get out of the fortifiedprecincts. The wide courtyard was very dark, but there were lightshere and there in the windows of the buildings that surrounded it onthree sides, the great mass of the palace on the right, the barracksof the guards along the wall to the left, and the main post at thegreat gate in front with the buildings on each side of it, someoccupied by slaves and some used as stables.
Zeno wished that he had stripped one of the sleeping soldiers and hadput on his dress, for he had been informed of the captain's habits,and knew that the disguise was no longer a safe one after leaving thetower. Indeed it was a chief part of the captain's duty never to goout after dark, on any excuse, and he apparently made sure of obeyingthis permanent order by going to bed early and getting up late. Forthe rest, he had always left the personal care of his prisoner to hiswif
e, judging that her stout middle-age and fiery cheeks sufficientlyprotected his domestic honour. She had been young and very prettyonce, it was true, but the captain did not know that Johannes had evenseen her then, much less did he guess that many years ago, when theEmperor was a handsome young prince and she was a lovely girl in theold Empress's train, she had worshipped him and he had condescendedto accept her admiration for a few weeks. But this was the truth, asZeno's grandson the bishop very clearly explains.
She left her lantern just inside the door and came out with Carlo intothe open air. After walking a few steps she laid her hand on his arm,stopped, looked round, and listened. As yet they had not exchanged twowords about the situation, and were far from sure that the watch whichhad detected Carlo from the water and had failed to catch him, had notcome round by land to the palace gate to give the alarm.
Zeno slipped the cloak from his shoulders and wrapped it round thehelmet, so that the captain's wife could carry both conveniently.
'It is hopeless,' she whispered, as she took them. 'This morning hepromised that he would leave the prison if you could bring him out. Hehas often spoken to me as he spoke to you this evening--he loves theboy dearly; but I was sure that he had made up his mind to riskeverything, else I would not have shown the red light.'
'After all,' Zeno observed, 'it is just as well that he would notcome, since we were seen, though I really believe Gorlias was too muchfor the men who almost caught us. He and I together could certainlyhave settled them all--there were only three. I saw them distinctlywhen they first jumped ashore, and one was killed by the fall when Icut the rope. Gorlias silenced the other two, for if they were alivethere would have been an alarm here by this time.'
'Yes,' the woman answered. 'But some one must have betrayed us. Wecannot try that way again.'
'I shall not try that, or any other way again!' Zeno said withemphasis. 'In the name of the Evangelist, why should I risk my neck tofree a man who prefers to be a prisoner?'
'The wonder is that you are alive this time!'
'It will not even be safe to communicate by the thread again. Will youtake him a message?'
'As well as I can remember it.'
'Tell him that the next time he asks my help he must send me, by thesame messenger, a deed giving Tenedos to Venice, signed and sealed.Otherwise I will not stir!'
'Shall I tell him that?'
'Yes. Tell him so from me. And now, go back, Kyria, and thank you foryour guidance and your lantern in those dark stairs.'
'How shall you pass the gate?' asked the captain's wife.
She spoke anxiously, for Zeno was a handsome man, and she had seen howbrave he was.
'I do not know,' he answered, 'but one of two things must happen.'
'What things?'
'Either I shall get out or I shall never see daylight again! I shallnot let myself be taken alive to be impaled in the Hippodrome, Iassure you. Thank you again, and good-night.'
She drew back into the shadow of the tower door and watched thehandsome young man with the peculiar half-motherly, half-sentimentalanxiety of the middle-aged woman, who was a flirt in her youth andturned the heads of just such men, who knows that she is grown fat andugly and can never turn the head of another, but who has preservedmany tender and pleasant recollections of all the sex.
Zeno did not walk straight towards the gate, though it was easilydistinguished from the adjacent buildings by the greater number of itslights. He crossed the wide court diagonally to the right, in thedirection of the stables, till he was near enough to see distinctlyany one who chanced to come under the rays of one of the scatteredlamps that burned here and there in doorways and open windows. Beforelong he saw a trooper of the guards emerging rather unsteadily out ofthe darkness into one of these small circles of light. Zeno could nothelp smiling to himself at the idea that there was hardly one soberman awake among the guards that night, and that they had all drunkthemselves stupid with his money.
He overtook the man in half-a-dozen strides, and spoke to him in a lowvoice.
'Hi! comrade! You who are still perfectly sober, help a friend who isvery drunk!'
The man stopped, steadied himself, and answered with ponderousgravity.
'Perfectly--hic--hic--sober!'
'I wish I were!' replied Zeno. 'The truth is, I am exceedingly drunk,though I do not show it. Wine only affects my brains, never my legsor my tongue. It is a very strange thing!'
'Very--cu--hic--rious!' responded the soldier, trying to see hisinterlocutor clearly, by screwing up his eyes.
'Extraordinarily cuhicrious, as you justly observe,' Zeno answeredgravely. 'But the fact is----'
'Excuse me--hic,' interrupted the soldier. 'Are you one man--hic--ortwo men?'
'One man,' Zeno answered. 'Only one, and so drunk that I have quiteforgotten the password.'
'Sec--hic--ret,' hiccoughed the man. 'Password secret,' he repeated,with a tremendous effort.
'Here is a gold piece, my dear friend. You will help a comrade introuble.'
The man took the money eagerly, and tried to put it into his wallet.To do so he had to bend his head down so as to see the thongs thatfastened it. It took a long time to find them.
'Just give me the password before you do that,' Zeno said in a coaxingtone.
'Password?' The man looked up stupidly.
The effort of undoing the thongs had been too much for him, and hadsent the blood to his head. He staggered against the Venetian, andtried to speak. After many efforts he got the words out suddenly.
'Drunk, by Moses!' he cried, quite distinctly, as he fell in a heap atZeno's feet.
In his vexation Zeno could have kicked the stupid mass of humanityacross the great yard, but he was far too wise to waste his time sounprofitably. Instead of kicking him he stepped across him, thrusthis hands under the unconscious man's armpits, hove him up like a sackof flour, got him over his shoulder, and carried him to the open doorof the nearest stable, whence the light came. Five horses stood or layin their stalls, but the sixth stall was vacant, and there was freshstraw in it. Zeno threw the man down there, and looked round, to seethat no one else was in the place. He hesitated a moment as to whetherhe should shut the door, but decided that to do so might attract theattention of a sober man, if there were any about, which was doubtful.
The trooper was now sound asleep, and it was the work of a few momentsto pull off his boots of soft leather and slip them on, for Zeno hadleft his own in the boat, and had walked in his cloth hose; he tookoff the soldier's sword-belt and tunic next, the latter of richscarlet cloth trimmed with heavy silver lace, the belt being entirelycovered with silver scales. The drunken sleeper grunted withsatisfaction when he felt himself relieved of his useless clothes, andsettled himself comfortably in the straw while Zeno put on the tunicover his own buff jerkin and drew the belt tight round his waist,settled the man's tall Greek cap on his own head at the proper angle,as the troopers wore it, and threw the military cloak over his arm.
He could now easily pass himself for a trooper at the gate, and a manwho has been a soldier is rarely at a loss amongst soldiers,especially if he wears a uniform. In consideration of what he hadtaken, Zeno, who was an honest man of business, left the man hiswallet with the piece of gold and anything else it might contain, andafter carefully removing a few wisps of straw that clung to hisclothes, he went towards the door of the stable.
His plan was to saunter to the gate and loiter there till a chanceoffered of opening the small night-postern in the great door, which hehad noticed in passing the palace when the gates were open. The factof his being sober when almost every one else was more or lessintoxicated, would give him a great advantage.
But as he turned from the sleeper and walked along the line from theempty stall, which was the last, his eye fell on the saddles andbridles, neatly arranged on stout pegs that projected from the walls,each set opposite the stall of the horse to which it belonged. Hepeered out into the wide court, and listened for the sound of voices.From very far a
way he heard the echo of a drinking chorus, less loudthan the noise made behind him by one of the horses that had a fancyfor a mouthful of hay just then, and was chewing it conscientiously asonly animals can chew.
All was very quiet outside. Zeno changed his plan, turned back intothe stable, and began to saddle the horse farthest from the door. Hedid not mean to ride far, else he would have picked out his mount withall the judgement he possessed. There was but a dash to make, and itwas far more important that no passing trooper should see him in theact of putting on saddle and bridle than that he should have the besthorse under him afterwards. Besides, they were all big, hay-fedanimals, sleek and sleepy, mostly white Tunisians, and much more fitfor a procession than a campaign.
When he had finished, he led the charger past the other stalls,stopping just before he reached the door to put out the oil lamp thathung by the entrance. This done, he slipped his arm through the bridleand left the stable. He struck across the deserted court towards thepalace, until he was almost in the middle of the yard, and oppositethe great gate, towards which he looked steadily for some seconds,trying to make out, by the uncertain light that dimly illuminated itfrom within, whether the doors under the arch were open or shut. Therewas just a possibility that they might be open. It was worth tryingfor; and after all, if they were barred, he was sure that he couldimpose upon the sentinels to open them. A man accustomed to commanddoes not doubt that he must be obeyed when he asserts himself.
Zeno mounted the big horse, which was as quiet as any old circus hackin the Hippodrome, trained to let a dancing-girl skip the rope on hisbroad back. His rider put him from a walk to a canter, and from acanter to a thundering gallop that roused echoes all round the court.
As he came near he saw that the doors were shut, but he did notslacken speed till he was almost upon the startled sentinels. Then hedrew rein suddenly, as was the practice of horsemanship in those days,and the great Tunisian threw himself back on his haunches withoutstretched forefeet, while Zeno called out to the watch.
'On the Emperor's service!' he shouted. 'The gates, and quickly!'
The sentinels were tolerably sober, for they were not to get theirfull share of the flood of wine that was flowing till their guard wasrelieved. But they could hardly be blamed for obeying Zeno'simperative command. It was not likely that a guardsman of their troopwho wished to slip out of barracks for a night's amusement would dresshimself in full uniform and come galloping and shouting to the gate,nor that any trooper would dare to pretend that he rode on theEmperor's business if it were not true.
The two sentinels therefore did not hesitate, but set their longcavalry lances upright against the walls on either side, took down thebar, and laid hold of the ponderous gates, each man taking one andthrowing himself backwards with all his weight to move it. When oncestarted, the doors swung slowly but easily backwards. Zeno satmotionless in the saddle, ready to dash forward as soon as there wasroom for him to pass. He had halted just far enough away to allow thedoors to swing clear of his horse's head as they were pulled inward.It was an anxious moment.
A second more and there would be space between the yawning gates. Butthat second had not yet passed when a tall officer in scarlet rushedshouting from the open door of the guard-house, and seized Zeno'sbridle.
'Stop him!' yelled the lieutenant. 'Shut the gates!'
The two soldiers did their best to obey instantly, but the leaves ofthe gate were of cypress wood four inches thick, and covered withbronze, and were swinging back faster now under the impulse they hadreceived. It was impossible to check them suddenly, and the order washardly spoken when Zeno saw that there was room to ride through.
He would have given his fortune for a pair of Arab spurs at thatmoment, but he struck the corners of his heels at the horse's sideswith all his might, and almost lifted him by the bridle at the sametime. The big Tunisian answered the call upon his strength better thanthe rider had dared to hope; he gathered himself and lifted hisforequarters, shaking his head savagely to get rid of the hands thatgrasped the off rein close to the bit, and then he dashed forwards,straight between the doors, throwing the officer to the ground anddragging him violently away in the powerful stride of his heavygallop.
Seeing what had happened the sentinels started in pursuit at fullspeed, following the sound of the charger's shoes on the cobble-stonesrather than anything they could see, for it was as dark as pitchoutside.
The officer, who was very active and seemed indifferent to thefrightful risk he ran, still clung to the bridle, regained his feet,ran nimbly by the side of the galloping horse, and seemed about tospring up and close with Zeno to drag him from the saddle. Zeno had noweapon within reach now, for his knife was in his own belt, under thebelted tunic he wore over his clothes, and he could not possibly getat it. But the officer was unarmed, too, as he had sprung from hiscouch, and was at a great disadvantage on foot.
They dashed on into the darkness of the broad street. Zeno bent down,and tried to get at his adversary's collar with his right hand, butthe officer dodged him and jerked the bridle with desperate energy,bringing the Tunisian to a stand after one more furious plunge. At thesame instant Zeno heard the footsteps of the two guardsmen running upbehind, and he realised that the odds were three to one against him,and that he had no weapon in his hand. The troopers, of course, hadtheir Greek sabres. If he could not escape, he must either be takenalive or cut to pieces on the spot, with no defence but his barehands.
He did not hesitate. The officer, dragging down the charger's head byhis weight to stop him, was almost on his knees for a moment, on theoff side, of course, and the soldiers had not yet come up. Zenodropped the reins, sprang from the saddle, and ran for his life.