CHAPTER XX
AT CONSTANTINOPLE
Upon the following morning horses were brought round and they wereordered to mount. An officer with twelve Turkish troopers took chargeof them. The pasha came out from his tent.
"I am sending a letter to the Porte saying what I know of the doingsof your ship, and of the service you rendered by saving our countrymenat Athens. I have also given directions that the vessel conveying youshall touch at Tenedos, and have written to the governor there askinghim also to send on a letter in your favour."
After an hour's riding they reached the town of Larissa, and thenfollowed the river on which it stands down to the sea.
"What a lovely country!" Horace exclaimed as he looked at themountains to the right and left.
"We are travelling on classical ground," the doctor replied. "This isthe vale of Tempe, that hill to the right is Mount Ossa, that to theleft is Mount Olympus."
"They are grand," Horace said, "though I should certainly enjoy themmore under other circumstances. Fancy that being the hill that Joveused to sit on. It would be a grand place to climb, wouldn't it?"
"I should be quite content to look at it comfortably from the deck ofthe schooner, Horace, and should have no desire whatever to scale it."
"Where is the schooner now, do you think, doctor?"
"Where we left her. They would wait at the village where they expectedus to be handed over to them till late in the afternoon, and then mostlikely march back to the shore. This morning they will be trying toget news of us. It is possible that one of the Greeks has taken downthe news of our capture by the Turks, in hopes of getting a reward. Hewould not know whether we were killed or captured--they bolted toofast for that; but if a fellow does take news of the fight he willprobably offer to show the spot. Martyn will take out a strong party,and when he finds the bodies of the two Greeks and no signs of us, hewill arrive at the conclusion that we have been carried off. TheGreeks probably recognized the men who attacked them as being a bandof Albanians. The white petticoats alone would tell them that; and asthe Christian Albanians would certainly not be likely to be plunderingon this side at the present time, they will be sure they areMohammedans either raiding on their own account or acting with theTurkish forces in Thessaly.
"No doubt they will offer a reward for news of us, and will probablylearn from some peasant or other that a party of Albanians crossed therange into Thessaly about mid-day. Then when they hear that thepasha's force was lying in the plain, not far from the foot of thehills, they will arrive at the truth that we were taken there. Whattheir next step will be I cannot say, but I should fancy they willsail round the promontory and try and open communication with somesmall village, and get someone to visit the camp and try and pick upnews of what has become of us. It must be days before they can do allthis, and by the time they find we have been put on board ship weshall be at Constantinople.
"At any rate, Horace, I regard the idea of there being a chance oftheir rescuing us as out of the question. What they will do is, ofcourse, beyond guessing. It is vexing to think that if they did butknow at the present moment we were being put on board ship, they mightcut us off at the mouth of the Dardanelles. It is little farther fromthe Gulf of Zeitouni than it is from the mouth of this river, and theschooner would probably sail twice as fast as any craft we are likelyto be put on board. It is annoying, but it is of no use being annoyed.They don't know we are going to be embarked, and they can't learn itfor four or five days at the very earliest, so don't let us worryabout that. We have reasonable cause for worry in knowing that we aregoing to be taken to Constantinople, for not improbably we will beexecuted when we get there."
"You think that it is probable, doctor?"
"I do, indeed. The Sultan is not the man to stand on niceties. He hasdecided not to give quarter to foreigners who fight against him, andas a matter of policy he is perfectly right. We knew all along whatour fate would be if we fell into the hands of the Turks. We have donethem an immense amount of mischief: we have destroyed a frigate andbeaten off their boats; we have taken a lot of prizes, and deliveredsome two or three thousand valuable slaves from their hands. The onlyset-off to this is that we assisted to save some three hundred Turkishwomen and children, as to whose fate the Sultan was probably perfectlyindifferent. The balance is very heavy against us."
Horace could not but admit that this was so, but in this beautifulvalley, and with Constantinople still in the distance, the idea thatere long a violent death might befall him there was not sufficientlyvivid to depress his spirits greatly.
After four hours' riding they came down upon the little port at themouth of the river. Two or three craft were lying there under the gunsof the battery.
"That is our vessel, you will see, Horace. It is a man-of-war brig. Iexpect she is placed here on purpose to enable the pasha tocommunicate direct with Constantinople, instead of having to send upthrough the passes to Salonika."
Leaving the prisoners under charge of the guard, the officer took aboat and rowed off to the brig. In a few minutes a large boat lyingbeside her was manned by a dozen sailors and rowed ashore. The officerwas on board of her. Two of the men who had brought their valisesstrapped behind their saddles had already removed them, and steppedinto the boat forward, while their comrades took charge of theirhorses. The officer then signed to Horace and the doctor to step onboard, and they were rowed out to the brig. Half an hour later theanchor was got up, the sail set, and the vessel left the port.
There was no attempt at restraint of the prisoners. A young lieutenantwho spoke Greek informed them, in the name of the captain, that theorders of the pasha were that they were to be treated as ordinarypassengers, and he requested them to take their meals with him in thecabin. They would be entirely at liberty, except that they would notbe allowed to land at Tenedos, or at any other port at which thevessel might touch.
The brig proved a fairly fast sailer; the wind was favourable, andlate on the afternoon of the day after they had sailed they droppedanchor off Tenedos, and the officer in charge of the captives at oncewent ashore with the pasha's letter to the governor. He returned lateat night, after the prisoners had turned in in one of the officers'cabins that had been vacated for their use. There was not a breath ofwind in the morning, and the captain accordingly did not attempt toweigh anchor.
"It would be a fine thing if this calm would last for a fortnight,"the doctor said as they came on deck in the morning.
"Yes, but there is no chance of that, doctor. We have never had a deadcalm for more than three days since we came out."
"Well, we might do equally well with a light breeze from the north.That would help the schooner across the gulf, and at the same timewould not enable the brig to work up the Dardanelles; there is astrongish current there. Still, I am not at all saying it is likely;I only say that I wish it could be so."
When the officer came on deck he informed them, through thelieutenant, that the governor had given him a strong letter to thePorte speaking in the highest terms of the humanity they had showntowards the Turks they had rescued from Athens. An hour later two orthree boats came off. Among those on board them were several women.When these saw the doctor and Horace leaning over the bulwark, theybroke into loud cries of greeting.
"I expect they are some of those poor creatures we brought over,"Horace said. "I don't remember their faces, we have had too many onboard for that, and I don't understand what they are saying, but it isevidently that."
Some of the boatmen understood both Greek and Turkish, and thesetranslated the expressions of the women's gratitude, and their regretat seeing him a prisoner. They were not allowed to set foot on thebrig, but they handed up baskets of fruit and sweetmeats. One of thewomen stood up in the boat and in Greek said in low tones to Horace,as he leant over the rail:
"There are but few of us here, and we are poor. Our hearts melted thismorning when the news spread that you were prisoners on board a shipon her way to Constantinople. We can do nothing but pray to
Allah foryour safety. My husband was one of the soldiers you brought over, theone who had lost his arm, and who was tended by the _hakim_. As he wasof no more use they have discharged him, and he has remained here, asI am a native of the island and have many friends. He will start in anhour with some fishermen, relations of mine. They will land him aboveGallipoli, and he will walk to Constantinople. Then he will see thebimbashi and his former comrades, and find out Osman and Fazli Beys,who were with us, and tell them of your being prisoners, so that theymay use their influence at the Porte, and tell how you risked yourlives for them, and all--May Allah protect you both, _effendis_!"
Her story terminated abruptly, for the captain at this moment came upand ordered the boat away from the side.
"What is all that about, Horace?" Macfarlane asked as Horace returnedthe woman's last salutation with two or three words of earnest thanks."Why, what is the matter, lad? there are tears in your eyes."
"I am touched at that poor woman's gratitude, doctor. As you can seeby her dress she is poor. She is the wife of a discharged soldier,that man who lost his arm. You dressed the stump, you may remember. Iknow you said that it had been horribly neglected, and remarked what asplendid constitution the Turk had; you thought that had he been anEnglishman the wound would probably have mortified long before."
"Of course I remember, Horace. And has he got over it?"
"He has." And Horace then told him what the woman had said.
"It does one good to hear that," Macfarlane said when he had finished."Human nature is much the same whether it is in the wife of a Turkishsoldier or of a Scottish fisherman. The poor creature and her husbandare doing all they can. The bimbashi and the beys were great men intheir eyes, and they doubtless think that they are quite importantpersons at Constantinople. Still, it is pleasant to think that thepoor fellow, whose arm must still be very far from healed, isundertaking this journey to do what he can for us. It minds me of thatgrand story of Effie Deans tramping all the way from Scotland toLondon to ask for her sister's pardon.
"I don't say that anything is like to come of it, but there is nosaying. If these Turks are as grateful as this soldier and his wifethey might possibly do something for us, if it were not that theSultan himself will settle the matter. An ordinary Turkish officialwill do almost anything for money or favour, but the Sultan is not tobe got round; and they say he is a strong man, and goes his own waywithout asking the advice of anyone. Still it is, as I said, pleasantto know that there are people who have an interest in us, and who aredoing all in their power to help us."
An hour later a small boat was seen to put out from the port and torow away in the direction of the mainland.
For three days the brig lay at her anchorage. Then a gentle breezesprang up from the south. Making all sail, the brig was headed to theentrance of the Dardanelles.
"Unless there is more wind than this," Horace said, "I should hardlythink she will be able to make her way up, doctor. She is not goingthrough the water more than two knots an hour."
"No, she will have to anchor again as soon as she is inside thestraits unless the wind freshens, and I don't think it is likely to dothat. To my mind it looks as if it would die out again at sunset."
This proved to be the case, and before it became dark the brig wasanchored in a bay on the Asiatic side a short distance from theentrance.
The next morning the breeze again blew, and somewhat fresher thanbefore. All day the captain strove to pass up the straits. Sometimesby keeping over out of the force of the current he made two or threemiles, then when they came to some projecting point the current wouldcatch the vessel and drift her rapidly down, so that when the breezeagain sank at sunset they had gained only some four miles. Next daythey were more fortunate and passed the castle of Abydos, and thethird evening came to anchor off Gallipoli. On the following morningthe wind blew briskly from the east, and in the afternoon they droppedanchor off Constantinople.
"Eh, man, but it is a wonderful sight!" Macfarlane said, as theylooked at the city with the crenellated wall running along by thewater's edge, the dark groves of trees rising behind it, and themosques with their graceful minarets on the sky-line. Ahead of themwas Pera with its houses clustering thickly one above the other, andthe background of tall cypress. Across the water lay Scutari, with itsgreat barracks, its mosques, and the kiosks scattered along theshore. Caiques were passing backwards and forwards across the water;heavy boats with sailors or troops rowing between the ships of war andthe shore; native craft with broad sails coming up astern from Broussaand other places on the Sea of Marmora; pleasure boats, with partiesof veiled women rowing idly here and there; and occasionally a longcaique, impelled by six sturdy rowers, would flash past with someofficial of rank.
"I have seen many places," the doctor went on, "but none like this.Nature has done more for Rio, and as much perhaps for Bombay, but manhas done little for either. We may boast of our western civilization,and no doubt we can rear stately buildings; but in point of beauty theorientals are as far ahead of us as we are ahead of the South SeaIslanders. Who would think that the Turks, with their sober ways,could ever have even dreamed of designing a thing so beautiful as thatmosque with its graceful outlines. See how well those dark cypressesgrow with it; it would lose half its beauty were it to rise from theround heads of an English wood.
"Just compare the boats of light-coloured wood all carved andornamented with their graceful lines, and the boatmen in theirsnow-white shirts, with their loose sleeves and bare arms, and theirscarlet sashes and fezzes with the black tub of an English or Scottishriver. Look at the dresses of the peasants in that heavy boat there,and compare them with those of our own people. Why, man, we may be agreat nation, intelligent, and civilized, and all that; but when itcomes to an appreciation of the beautiful we are poor bodies, indeed,by the side of the Turk, whom we in our mightiness are accustomed toconsider a barbarian. I know what you are going to say," he went on,as Horace was going to speak. "There is tyranny and oppression, andevil rule, and corruption, and other bad things in that beautifulcity. I grant you all that, but that has nothing to do with myargument. He may be a heathen, he may be ignorant, he may be what wecall uncivilized; but the Turk has a grand soul or he never would haveimagined a dream of beauty like this."
As the sun set half an hour after the anchor was dropped the officersent with them by the pasha did not think it necessary to land untilthe following morning, as the offices would all be shut. At eighto'clock he was rowed ashore and did not return until late in theevening. Business was not conducted at a rapid rate in the offices ofthe Porte. The lieutenant interpreted to the prisoners that the letterof the governor of Tenedos had been laid before the grand vizier, whowould deliver it with that of the pasha to the Sultan at his audiencein the evening.
"Did he see the grand vizier himself?" Horace asked.
The answer was in the affirmative.
"Did he gather from him whether it was likely that the Sultan wouldregard the matter favourably?"
The two Turks spoke together for some time. "I am sorry to say," thelieutenant replied when they had done, "that the vizier was of opinionthat the Sultan would be immovable. He has sworn to spare none ofthose who have stirred up his subjects to rebellion, and who, withouthaving any concern in the matter, have aided them against him. Heregards them as pirates, and has resolved by severity to deter othersfrom following their example. The vizier said that he would do hisbest, but that when the Sultan's mind was once made up nothing couldmove him; and that having himself received the reports of thedestruction of one of his war-ships, and the very heavy loss inflictedon the boats of the fleet at Chios, and having, moreover, receivedmemorials from the merchants at Smyrna as to the damage inflicted ontheir commerce by what was called the white schooner, he felt that hewould be deaf to any appeal for mercy to two of her officers."
At eight o'clock next morning a boat with twelve soldiers and anofficer came off to the brig. The officer, mounting on the deck,handed to the captain an order f
or the delivery to him of the twoprisoners sent from Thessaly.
"Things look bad, I am afraid," Horace said as they stepped into theboat. "I saw the officer exchange a word or two with the cavalry manwho brought us here and the captain, and I am sure, by the expressionof their faces, that the news was bad. I am sure, too, from the waythey shook hands with us at parting."
"Some of these men's faces seem familiar to me," the doctor said asthey were being rowed towards a landing to the east of the palacegardens. "I can't say that they were among the men we brought fromAthens, but I have a strong idea that two or three of them were. Doyou recognize them?"
"I can't say that I do. You see they were only on board one day, and Ithought more of the women and children than of the soldiers andsailors."
"I am almost sure of them, Horace; yet it is curious, that if they arethe men we saved they did not make some sign of recognition when wecame down the ladder. Turkish discipline is not very strict. They didnot seem to look up much. They were all sitting forward of the sixoarsmen, and I noticed, that till we pushed off they seemed to betalking about something together, and were so intent on it that theydid not look up until after we had pushed off. I did notice that theoarsmen looked a little surprised when the officer, as we pushed off,gave an order to the man steering, and they saw which way the boat'shead was turned.
"I don't suppose they knew that we were prisoners, Horace, and wereexpecting to go back to the place they came from. I suppose thelanding they are taking us to is the nearest one to the prison."
There were no boats lying at the broad steps alongside which the boatdrew up. Six of the soldiers took their places in front of them, theofficer marched between them, and the other six soldiers followedbehind. The road, which was a narrow one, ran between two very highwalls, and rose steeply upward.
"Evidently this landing-place is not much used," the doctor said. "Isuppose it leads to some quiet quarter."
A hundred yards from the landing-place the officer gave the word tohalt, and then another order, upon which one of the men, who carried abag, began to open it.
"Quick, gentlemen!" the officer said in Greek; "you must change here.Quick! there is not a moment to lose."
Astonished at the order, the doctor and Horace obeyed it.
"I suppose," the former muttered, "they don't want it known they havegot two European prisoners. I don't see what else they can be up to."
The change was quickly made. Two long baggy Turkish trousers werepulled over their own, their jackets were thrown into the bag, andthey were enveloped in Turkish robes. Their caps were thrown besidetheir jackets, and turbans placed on their heads, while their shoeswere pulled off and their feet thrust into Turkish slippers. Theofficer and two of the soldiers aided in the work, and in a couple ofminutes the metamorphosis was complete.
"Allah be praised!" the officer exclaimed fervently; and the wordswere echoed by the soldiers. These for a moment, regardless ofdiscipline, gathered round the prisoners. One after another seizedtheir hands, and bending over them pressed them to their forehead;then the officer gave an order, and one or two at a time--the soldierscarried only their side-arms--left the group and hurried on ahead,until the officer remained alone with the astonished Englishmen.
"What does this all mean?" Horace asked the officer in Greek.
"It means that you are free, my friends," he said, shaking each ofthem cordially by the hand; "at least, so far free. Now let us followthe others."
Still, almost thinking they were dreaming, the doctor and Horaceaccompanied their companion up the narrow lane, and emerged into aquiet street behind a great mosque; skirting the wall of this, theyentered a wider street.
"Be careful," the officer said in Greek; "walk along carelessly, andseem to be conversing with me."
Horace translated the remark to the doctor.
There were not a great many people about, but as they went along thenumber increased. They crossed a busy street, turned down a lane onthe other side, and then walked for upwards of half an hour, turningfrequently, and as far as Horace could guess, making a wide detour,and again approaching the busy part of the town. Presently the officerstopped near the corner of a lane in a quiet street, and began to talkin an animated tone about the size of the town and other matters,until he saw that the street was for a moment empty; then he turnedsharply down the lane, which ran between the backs of two sets ofhouses, went for a hundred yards, and then stopped at a door in thewall; opened it with the key, hurried them in, and locked the doorbehind him.
"Allah be praised!" he again said; "you are safe thus far. Now comein, they are anxiously expecting us."
He entered the house, which stood in a small inclosure, and led theway into a room. They were received at the door by a Turk, whom bothrecognized at once as Osman Bey, one of the principal Turks they hadcarried from Athens. He repeated the officer's pious exclamation:
"Allah be praised for his mercies!" and then in Greek he said, "TrulyI am rejoiced, my friends, that Allah has granted me an opportunity ofshowing that I am not ungrateful, and that as you saved me and minefrom death, so have I been able to save you; and I am doubly glad inseeing, what I knew not before, that one of you is the son of theEnglishman to whom principally we owed our escape."
"We are grateful, indeed," Horace said; "but at present we understandnothing. This officer has told us nothing whatever."
"This officer is my son, and is only an officer for the occasion,"Osman Bey said. "But come into the next room; my wife and daughtersare eagerly expecting you."
Three ladies rose from a divan on which they were sitting when the beyentered the room. They were lightly veiled, but the bey said:
"Lay aside your veils. These are as my sons, and you can unveil as ifthey were members of the family."
The ladies unveiled. Horace had not seen their faces before on boardship, for the women of the upper class had remained closely veiled.The mother was a stout, elderly woman, with a kindly face. Herdaughters were girls of fourteen or fifteen, with dark hair, somewhatcolourless faces, and lovely eyes. The bey's wife expressed herpleasure at the arrival of the Englishmen. The girls shrank rathertimidly behind her, embarrassed at being thus unveiled beforestrangers.
"Now sit down," the bey said. "Zuleika, do you bring in coffee andsweetmeats yourself. I do not wish your attendant to enter while thesegentlemen are here."
"I have sent her down the town on a message," the bey's wife said,while the younger girl rose and left the room. "She is faithful, butgirls will chatter. Mourad, we know, we can trust."
The girl soon returned with a tray with coffee, cakes, and sweetmeats.Then the bey said:
"Now I will tell you all about this. Ahmed, the sooner you get rid ofthat uniform the better. Give it to Mourad at once, and let him takeit back to its owner, he may want it."
The young man left the room.
"Now this is how it happened," the bey began. "Three days ago came themessenger from Tenedos. Did you know of his being sent hither?"
"Yes; his wife told us he was leaving--a soldier who had lost hisarm."
"That was the man. He went to Hassan Bimbashi, who brought him firstto Fazli Bey, and then to me. We had a consultation. It was clear tous all that it would be intolerable that men who had behaved with suchhumanity to us should be put to death, if we could possibly save them.It took us a long time to arrange the matter, and we three sat in thenext room there debating the matter all night. We took Ahmed into ourcouncil at once, for he was, of course, as anxious to aid the men whohad saved his parents and sisters from massacre as we were. Naturally,we at first thought of getting you out of prison by bribing theguards; but though this would have been comparatively easy, it wasdoubtful whether there would be time to carry it out. There areseveral prisons here, and there was no saying which you might be sentto, or who would be the men in charge of you; therefore, time would beneeded after you arrived here, and we saw that it was probable that notime would be given us. The Sultan might, of course, view your c
asefavourably; but, on the other hand, if he ordered you to execution,there would be no delay.
"When a thing has to be done, especially when foreigners are in thecase, it is better to do it at once; otherwise, the Porte would bepestered by the foreign representatives. It was agreed, therefore,that if you were to be rescued, it must be done between the time ofyour arrival and your being put in prison. We divided the work intofour parts. Fazli, who has most interest at the Porte, was to try allin his power to influence the ministers, and to get the grand vizierto represent the matter favourably to the Sultan. He was to give usthe earliest news of whatever decision might be arrived at, and aboveall, he was to get some minor official there to follow the officer towhom the order for bringing you ashore should be given.
"The soldier who had brought the message from Tenedos was to find outa dozen of those who had been rescued with us, and to enlist them inthe business. The bimbashi undertook the work of seizing the officerbearing the order. He could not very well take the command of thesoldiers. Their faces would not be noticed by the sailors in thedockyard boat, nor by those on board the ship; but Hassan's would befully seen by both. My son, therefore, volunteered to undertake thispart of the affair, dressed in Hassan's uniform. He was to meet thetwelve men at some spot agreed upon, near the dockyard gate; to marchin with them, produce the order, and go out in one of the dockyardboats to the vessel; bring you ashore, and lead you here. My part ofthe business was to conceal you as long as necessary, and to arrangefor your escape from Constantinople. Thus, you see, the risk wasslight in each case. Fazli would be suspected, because he had urgedyour case at the Porte; but nothing could be proved against him. Hisservants might be examined, and his house searched. He would be ableto prove that he spent the evening with several of his friends, towhom he gave an entertainment; and this morning, at the time the boatcame for you, he was to be at the ministry again, trying what could bedone on your behalf.
"None of the soldiers would know that the bimbashi was mixed up in theaffair at all. Their one-armed comrade was to be furnished with moneyin case their gratitude required stimulating. My son ran no risk,because it is among the officers of the garrison that the search willbe made for the man who commanded the party. As for myself, there isnothing to connect me in any way with it. Ahmed will take you off thisevening to a small kiosk of mine ten miles away on the coast. Thebimbashi's share was the most dangerous. He was to take three men ofhis regiment on whom he could thoroughly rely. They would be three ofthose he had commanded at Athens and who had wives and children whohad been rescued by you. He was much loved by his soldiers, for helived and starved as they did, and did all in his power for theircomfort.
"It is always dangerous to trust anyone, but in this case there wasthe men's loyalty to him and their gratitude to you to bind them. Hewould learn from Fazli the hour when the Sultan's decision would begiven, and he and the three soldiers were to be upon the spot and towatch for the coming out of an officer followed by the man Fazli wasto appoint. The officer was sure to go to one or other of the barracksfor some soldiers to accompany him to the vessel. It would dependupon the hour and the orders he received whether to go direct on boardor to do it in the morning. It was certain the hour would be late, forthe conferences with the Sultan are invariably in the evening. Whetherhe went to one of the barracks or to his own lodging, he was to befollowed until he got to some quiet spot, then seized, bound, andgagged, put into a large basket two of the soldiers were to carry, andtaken to some quiet spot outside the walls. To-night, after it isdark, Hassan will go up and loose his bonds sufficiently to enable himto work himself free after a time.
"That was the arrangement at which we arrived after talking it overfor hours. It was the work of the bimbashi and Ahmed. I am sure thatFazli and I would never have thought of it at all by ourselves. Eversince then we have kept a sharp look-out for the vessel. Everythinghad been got ready. The one-armed soldier had got the twelve men readyto go off. Hassan said he had made his arrangements, and had found aruined hut half a mile out of the town beyond the walls, where therewas little chance of anyone looking in in the course of the day, and,indeed, if anyone did so after eight o'clock, it would make littlematter, as you would be ashore by that hour. After the brig arrived Ihad messages from Fazli every hour. He told us of the strong lettersthat had been sent by Ali Pasha and the governor of Tenedos, and hebrought all his influence to bear to aid the representations made bythem and by the officer who brought you down.
"The ministers and the grand vizier were all agreed that the kindnessshown by those on board the English ship should suffice to save yourlives, but the Sultan decides for himself, and he was known to be soenraged at foreigners joining the Greeks in their rebellion againsthim that they feared nothing would move him. Everything, therefore,was prepared for the attempt. The twelve soldiers were directed to beat a spot near the dockyard at seven in the morning; and the bimbashi,with his three men, took up his post near the entrance to theministry. I had nothing to do. At twelve o'clock last night Hassancame here, bringing the official letter and a suit of his uniform.Everything had gone well. The messenger had been seized in a lonelystreet leading to one of the barracks, and was overpowered andsilenced before he had time to utter a sound. Hassan accompanied themen carrying the basket in case by any accident they should bequestioned, and saw the officer placed, securely bound, in the hut. Ashe had been blindfolded the instant he had been seized he could nothave seen that his assailants were soldiers. Ahmed can tell you therest."
"There is nothing to tell," the young man said. "I found the soldierswaiting at the spot agreed upon, and gave them the arranged sign. Wewent into the dockyard. I showed the order, and demanded a large boat,which was at once given me. Then I went off to the vessel, where ourfriends were handed over to me without a question; rowed to the wharf;the clothes were changed in the lane; and here we are."
"I cannot thank you sufficiently for your kindness, Osman Bey, onbehalf of myself and my friend here, and express our gratitude also toyour son, to Hassan Bimbashi, and to Fazli Bey. You have indeed noblyrepaid the service that my father and all of us were glad to have beenable to render you."
"Do not talk about gratitude," the bey said. "You saved not only us,but our wives and families, and that at the risk of your lives, for Iexpected that the Greeks would fall upon you for interfering in theirbutchery. What you did for us was done for strangers against whom youwere in arms. What we have done for you has been done for ourbenefactors. Therefore let no more be said. My wife and daughterswould have despised me had I not done all in my power to rescue theirpreservers. Now let us return to the next room, where we will have ameal. I think it would be as well, Ahmed, to send Mourad at once downto the bridge to hire a caique there, and tell him to take it to thenext landing to that at which you disembarked, and there wait for you.What do you say?"
"I think, father, it would be better to go boldly down to the bridgeand take the boat there. I am sure to see some of the men we generallyemploy, and it will seem natural to them that I should be going withtwo friends up to our kiosk; whereas the other way would be unusual,and when inquiries are made, as there are sure to be, they might speakof it. But I agree with you that it will be as well not to wait untilthe evening. Directly the officer gets free there is sure to be agreat stir, and there may be janissaries placed at the variouslandings, as it might be supposed the escaped prisoners would try toget on board a neutral ship."
"Perhaps that would be better, Ahmed. I think they might boldly gothrough the crowd with a little more attention to their dress."