RUPERT'S JOURNAL--_Continued_.
_July_ 7, 1907
When the grey of the morning came, I gave up hope of my wife appearing,and made up my mind that, so soon as I could get away without excitingAunt Janet's attention, I would go to St. Sava's. I always eat a goodbreakfast, and did I forgo it altogether, it would be sure to excite hercuriosity--a thing I do not wish at present. As there was still time towait, I lay down on my bed as I was, and--such is the way ofFate--shortly fell asleep.
I was awakened by a terrific clattering at my door. When I opened it Ifound a little group of servants, very apologetic at awaking me withoutinstructions. The chief of them explained that a young priest had comefrom the Vladika with a message so urgent that he insisted on seeing meimmediately at all hazards. I came out at once, and found him in thehall of the Castle, standing before the great fire, which was always litin the early morning. He had a letter in his hand, but before giving itto me he said:
"I am sent by the Vladika, who pressed on me that I was not to lose asingle instant in seeing you; that time is of golden price--nay, beyondprice. This letter, amongst other things, vouches for me. A terriblemisfortune has occurred. The daughter of our leader has disappearedduring last night--the same, he commanded me to remind you, that he spokeof at the meeting when he would not let the mountaineers fire their guns.No sign of her can be found, and it is believed that she has been carriedoff by the emissaries of the Sultan of Turkey, who once before broughtour nations to the verge of war by demanding her as a wife. I was alsoto say that the Vladika Plamenac would have come himself, but that it wasnecessary that he should at once consult with the Archbishop, StevanPalealogue, as to what step is best to take in this dire calamity. Hehas sent out a search-party under the Archimandrite of Spazac, PetrofVlastimir, who is to come on here with any news he can get, as you havecommand of the signalling, and can best spread the news. He knows thatyou, Gospodar, are in your great heart one of our compatriots, and thatyou have already proved your friendship by many efforts to strengthen ourhands for war. And as a great compatriot, he calls on you to aid us inour need." He then handed me the letter, and stood by respectfullywhilst I broke the seal and read it. It was written in great haste, andsigned by the Vladika.
"Come with us now in our nation's peril. Help us to rescue what we mostadore, and henceforth we shall hold you in our hearts. You shall learnhow the men of the Blue Mountains can love faith and valour. Come!"
This was a task indeed--a duty worthy of any man. It thrilled me to thecore to know that the men of the Blue Mountains had called on me in theirdire need. It woke all the fighting instinct of my Viking forbears, andI vowed in my heart that they should be satisfied with my work. I calledto me the corps of signallers who were in the house, and led them to theCastle roof, taking with me the young messenger-priest.
"Come with me," I said to him, "and see how I answer the Vladika'scommand."
The National flag was run up--the established signal that the nation wasin need. Instantly on every summit near and far was seen the flutter ofan answering flag. Quickly followed the signal that commanded the callto arms.
One by one I gave the signallers orders in quick succession, for the planof search unfolded itself to me as I went on. The arms of the semaphorewhirled in a way that made the young priest stare. One by one, as theytook their orders, the signallers seemed to catch fire. Instinctivelythey understood the plan, and worked like demigods. They knew that sowidespread a movement had its best chance in rapidity and in unity ofaction.
From the forest which lay in sight of the Castle came a wild cheering,which seemed to interpret the former stillness of the hills. It was goodto feel that those who saw the signals--types of many--were ready. I sawthe look of expectation on the face of the messenger-priest, and rejoicedat the glow that came as I turned to him to speak. Of course, he wantedto know something of what was going on. I saw the flashing of my owneyes reflected in his as I spoke:
"Tell the Vladika that within a minute of his message being read the Landof the Blue Mountains was awake. The mountaineers are already marching,and before the sun is high there will be a line of guards within hail ofeach other round the whole frontier--from Angusa to Ilsin; from Ilsin toBajana; from Bajana to Ispazar; from Ispazar to Volok; from Volok toTatra; from Tatra to Domitan; from Domitan to Gravaja; and from Gravajaback to Angusa. The line is double. The old men keep guard on the line,and the young men advance. These will close in at the advancing line, sothat nothing can escape them. They will cover mountain-top and forestdepth, and will close in finally on the Castle here, which they canbehold from afar. My own yacht is here, and will sweep the coast fromend to end. It is the fastest boat afloat, and armed against a squadron.Here will all signals come. In an hour where we stand will be a signalbureau, where trained eyes will watch night and day till the lost one hasbeen found and the outrage has been avenged. The robbers are even nowwithin a ring of steel, and cannot escape."
The young priest, all on fire, sprang on the battlements and shouted tothe crowd, which was massing round the Castle in the gardens far below.The forest was giving up its units till they seemed like the nucleus ofan army. The men cheered lustily, till the sound swung high up to uslike the roaring of a winter sea. With bared heads they were crying:
"God and the Blue Mountains! God and the Blue Mountains!"
I ran down to them as quickly as I could, and began to issue theirinstructions. Within a time to be computed by minutes the whole number,organized by sections, had started to scour the neighbouring mountains.At first they had only understood the call to arms for general safety.But when they learned that the daughter of a chief had been captured,they simply went mad. From something which the messenger first said, butwhich I could not catch or did not understand, the blow seemed to havefor them some sort of personal significance which wrought them to afrenzy.
When the bulk of the men had disappeared, I took with me a few of my ownmen and several of the mountaineers whom I had asked to remain, andtogether we went to the hidden ravine which I knew. We found the placeempty; but there were unmistakable signs that a party of men had beenencamped there for several days. Some of our men, who were skilled inwoodcraft and in signs generally, agreed that there must have been sometwenty of them. As they could not find any trail either coming to orgoing from the place, they came to the conclusion that they must havecome separately from different directions and gathered there, and thatthey must have departed in something of the same mysterious way.
However, this was, at any rate, some sort of a beginning, and the menseparated, having agreed amongst themselves to make a wide cast round theplace in the search for tracks. Whoever should find a trail was tofollow with at least one comrade, and when there was any definite news,it was to be signalled to the Castle.
I myself returned at once, and set the signallers to work to spreadamongst our own people such news as we had.
When presently such discoveries as had been made were signalled withflags to the Castle, it was found that the marauders had, in theirflight, followed a strangely zigzag course. It was evident that, intrying to baffle pursuit, they had tried to avoid places which theythought might be dangerous to them. This may have been simply a methodto disconcert pursuit. If so, it was, in a measure, excellent, for noneof those immediately following could possibly tell in what direction theywere heading. It was only when we worked the course on the great map inthe signaller's room (which was the old guard room of the Castle) that wecould get an inkling of the general direction of their flight. This gaveadded trouble to the pursuit; for the men who followed, being ignorant oftheir general intent, could not ever take chance to head them off, buthad to be ready to follow in any or every direction. In this manner thepursuit was altogether a stern chase, and therefore bound to be a longone.
As at present we could not do anything till the intended route was moremarked, I left the s
ignalling corps to the task of receiving and givinginformation to the moving bands, so that, if occasion served, they mighthead off the marauders. I myself took Rooke, as captain of the yacht,and swept out of the creek. We ran up north to Dalairi, then down southto Olesso, and came back to Vissarion. We saw nothing suspicious except,far off to the extreme southward, one warship which flew no flag. Rooke,however, who seemed to know ships by instinct, said she was a Turk; so onour return we signalled along the whole shore to watch her. Rooke heldThe Lady--which was the name I had given the armoured yacht--in readinessto dart out in case anything suspicious was reported. He was not tostand on any ceremony, but if necessary to attack. We did not intend tolose a point in this desperate struggle which we had undertaken. We hadplaced in different likely spots a couple of our own men to look afterthe signalling.
When I got back I found that the route of the fugitives, who had nowjoined into one party, had been definitely ascertained. They had gonesouth, but manifestly taking alarm from the advancing line of guards, hadheaded up again to the north-east, where the country was broader and themountains wilder and less inhabited.
Forthwith, leaving the signalling altogether in the hands of the fightingpriests, I took a small chosen band of the mountaineers of our owndistrict, and made, with all the speed we could, to cut across the trackof the fugitives a little ahead of them. The Archimandrite (Abbot) ofSpazac, who had just arrived, came with us. He is a splendid man--a realfighter as well as a holy cleric, as good with his handjar as with hisBible, and a runner to beat the band. The marauders were going at afearful pace, considering that they were all afoot; so we had to go fastalso! Amongst these mountains there is no other means of progressing.Our own men were so aflame with ardour that I could not but notice thatthey, more than any of the others whom I had seen, had some special causefor concern.
When I mentioned it to the Archimandrite, who moved by my side, heanswered:
"All natural enough; they are not only fighting for their country, butfor their own!" I did not quite understand his answer, and so began toask him some questions, to the effect that I soon began to understand agood deal more than he did.
_Letter from Archbishop Stevan Palealogue_, _Head of the Eastern Churchof the Blue Mountains_, _to the Lady Janet MacKelpie_, _Vissarion_.
_Written July_ 9, 1907.
HONOURED LADY,
As you wish for an understanding regarding the late lamentable occurrence in which so much danger was incurred to this our Land of the Blue Mountains, and one dear to us, I send these words by request of the Gospodar Rupert, beloved of our mountaineers.
When the Voivode Peter Vissarion made his journey to the great nation to whom we looked in our hour of need, it was necessary that he should go in secret. The Turk was at our gates, and full of the malice of baffled greed. Already he had tried to arrange a marriage with the Voivodin, so that in time to come he, as her husband, might have established a claim to the inheritance of the land. Well he knew, as do all men, that the Blue Mountaineers owe allegiance to none that they themselves do not appoint to rulership. This has been the history in the past. But now and again an individual has arisen or come to the front adapted personally for such government as this land requires. And so the Lady Teuta, Voivodin of the Blue Mountains, was put for her proper guarding in the charge of myself as Head of the Eastern Church in the Land of the Blue Mountains, steps being taken in such wise that no capture of her could be effected by unscrupulous enemies of this our Land. This task and guardianship was gladly held as an honour by all concerned. For the Voivodin Teuta of Vissarion must be taken as representing in her own person the glory of the old Serb race, inasmuch as being the only child of the Voivode Vissarion, last male of his princely race--the race which ever, during the ten centuries of our history, unflinchingly gave life and all they held for the protection, safety, and well-being of the Land of the Blue Mountains. Never during those centuries had any one of the race been known to fail in patriotism, or to draw back from any loss or hardship enjoined by high duty or stress of need. Moreover, this was the race of that first Voivode Vissarion, of whom, in legend, it was prophesied that he--once known as "The Sword of Freedom," a giant amongst men--would some day, when the nation had need of him, come forth from his water-tomb in the lost Lake of Reo, and lead once more the men of the Blue Mountains to lasting victory. This noble race, then, had come to be known as the last hope of the Land. So that when the Voivode was away on his country's service, his daughter should be closely guarded. Soon after the Voivode had gone, it was reported that he might be long delayed in his diplomacies, and also in studying the system of Constitutional Monarchy, for which it had been hoped to exchange our imperfect political system. I may say _inter alia_ that he was mentioned as to be the first king when the new constitution should have been arranged.
Then a great misfortune came on us; a terrible grief overshadowed the land. After a short illness, the Voivodin Teuta Vissarion died mysteriously of a mysterious ailment. The grief of the mountaineers was so great that it became necessary for the governing Council to warn them not to allow their sorrow to be seen. It was imperatively necessary that the fact of her death should be kept secret. For there were dangers and difficulties of several kinds. In the first place it was advisable that even her father should be kept in ignorance of his terrible loss. It was well known that he held her as the very core of his heart and that if he should hear of her death, he would be too much prostrated to be able to do the intricate and delicate work which he had undertaken. Nay, more: he would never remain afar off, under the sad circumstances, but would straightway return, so as to be in the land where she lay. Then suspicions would crop up, and the truth must shortly be known afield, with the inevitable result that the Land would become the very centre of a war of many nations.
In the second place, if the Turks were to know that the race of Vissarion was becoming extinct, this would encourage them to further aggression, which would become immediate should they find out that the Voivode was himself away. It was well known that they were already only suspending hostilities until a fitting opportunity should arise. Their desire for aggression had become acute after the refusal of the nation, and of the girl herself, that she should become a wife of the Sultan.
The dead girl had been buried in the Crypt of the church of St. Sava, and day after day and night after night, singly and in parties, the sorrowing mountaineers had come to pay devotion and reverence at her tomb. So many had wished to have a last glimpse of her face that the Vladika had, with my own consent as Archbishop, arranged for a glass cover to be put over the stone coffin wherein her body lay.
After a little time, however, there came a belief to all concerned in the guarding of the body--these, of course, being the priests of various degrees of dignity appointed to the task--that the Voivodin was not really dead, but only in a strangely-prolonged trance. Thereupon a new complication arose. Our mountaineers are, as perhaps you know, by nature deeply suspicious--a characteristic of all brave and self-sacrificing people who are jealous of their noble heritage. Having, as they believed, seen the girl dead, they might not be willing to accept the fact of her being alive. They might even imagine that there was on foot some deep, dark plot which was, or might be, a menace, now or hereafter, to their independence. In any case, there would be certain to be two parties on the subject, a dangerous and deplorable thing in the present condition of affairs.
As the trance, or catalepsy, whatever it was, continued for many days, there had been ample time for the leaders of the Council, the Vladika, the priesthood represented by the Archimandrite of Spazac, myself as Archbishop and guardian of the Voivodin in her father's
absence, to consult as to a policy to be observed in case of the girl awaking. For in such case the difficulty of the situation would be multiplied indefinitely. In the secret chambers of St. Sava's we had many secret meetings, and were finally converging on agreement when the end of the trance came.
The girl awoke!
She was, of course, terribly frightened when she found herself in a tomb in the Crypt. It was truly fortunate that the great candles around her tomb had been kept lighted, for their light mitigated the horror of the place. Had she waked in darkness, her reason might have become unseated.
She was, however, a very noble girl; brave, with extraordinary will, and resolution, and self-command, and power of endurance. When she had been taken into one of the secret chambers of the church, where she was warmed and cared for, a hurried meeting was held by the Vladika, myself, and the chiefs of the National Council. Word had been at once sent to me of the joyful news of her recovery; and with the utmost haste I came, arriving in time to take a part in the Council.
At the meeting the Voivodin was herself present, and full confidence of the situation was made to her. She herself proposed that the belief in her death should be allowed to prevail until the return of her father, when all could be effectively made clear. To this end she undertook to submit to the terrific strain which such a proceeding would involve. At first we men could not believe that any woman could go through with such a task, and some of us did not hesitate to voice our doubts--our disbelief. But she stood to her guns, and actually down-faced us. At the last we, remembering things that had been done, though long ages ago, by others of her race, came to believe not merely in her self-belief and intention, but even in the feasibility of her plan. She took the most solemn oaths not to betray the secret under any possible stress.
The priesthood undertook through the Vladika and myself to further a ghostly belief amongst the mountaineers which would tend to prevent a too close or too persistent observation. The Vampire legend was spread as a protection against partial discovery by any mischance, and other weird beliefs were set afoot and fostered. Arrangements were made that only on certain days were the mountaineers to be admitted to the Crypt, she agreeing that for these occasions she was to take opiates or carry out any other aid to the preservation of the secret. She was willing, she impressed upon us, to make any personal sacrifice which might be deemed necessary for the carrying out her father's task for the good of the nation.
Of course, she had at first terrible frights lying alone in the horror of the Crypt. But after a time the terrors of the situation, if they did not cease, were mitigated. There are secret caverns off the Crypt, wherein in troublous times the priests and others of high place have found safe retreat. One of these was prepared for the Voivodin, and there she remained, except for such times as she was on show--and certain other times of which I shall tell you. Provision was made for the possibility of any accidental visit to the church. At such times, warned by an automatic signal from the opening door, she was to take her place in the tomb. The mechanism was so arranged that the means to replace the glass cover, and to take the opiate, were there ready to her hand. There was to be always a watch of priests at night in the church, to guard her from ghostly fears as well as from more physical dangers; and if she was actually in her tomb, it was to be visited at certain intervals. Even the draperies which covered her in the sarcophagus were rested on a bridge placed from side to side just above her, so as to hide the rising and falling of her bosom as she slept under the narcotic.
After a while the prolonged strain began to tell so much on her that it was decided that she should take now and again exercise out of doors. This was not difficult, for when the Vampire story which we had spread began to be widely known, her being seen would be accepted as a proof of its truth. Still, as there was a certain danger in her being seen at all, we thought it necessary to exact from her a solemn oath that so long as her sad task lasted she should under no circumstances ever wear any dress but her shroud--this being the only way to insure secrecy and to prevail against accident.
There is a secret way from the Crypt to a sea cavern, whose entrance is at high-tide under the water-line at the base of the cliff on which the church is built. A boat, shaped like a coffin, was provided for her; and in this she was accustomed to pass across the creek whenever she wished to make excursion. It was an excellent device, and most efficacious in disseminating the Vampire belief.
This state of things had now lasted from before the time when the Gospodar Rupert came to Vissarion up to the day of the arrival of the armoured yacht.
That night the priest on duty, on going his round of the Crypt just before dawn, found the tomb empty. He called the others, and they made full search. The boat was gone from the cavern, but on making search they found it on the farther side of the creek, close to the garden stairs. Beyond this they could discover nothing. She seemed to have disappeared without leaving a trace.
Straightway they went to the Vladika, and signalled to me by the fire-signal at the monastery at Astrag, where I then was. I took a band of mountaineers with me, and set out to scour the country. But before going I sent an urgent message to the Gospodar Rupert, asking him, who showed so much interest and love to our Land, to help us in our trouble. He, of course, knew nothing then of all have now told you. Nevertheless, he devoted himself whole-heartedly to our needs--as doubtless you know.
But the time had now come close when the Voivode Vissarion was about to return from his mission; and we of the council of his daughter's guardianship were beginning to arrange matters so that at his return the good news of her being still alive could be made public. With her father present to vouch for her, no question as to truth could arise.
But by some means the Turkish "Bureau of Spies" must have got knowledge of the fact already. To steal a dead body for the purpose of later establishing a fictitious claim would have been an enterprise even more desperate than that already undertaken. We inferred from many signs, made known to us in an investigation, that a daring party of the Sultan's emissaries had made a secret incursion with the object of kidnapping the Voivodin. They must have been bold of heart and strong of resource to enter the Land of the Blue Mountains on any errand, let alone such a desperate one as this. For centuries we have been teaching the Turk through bitter lessons that it is neither a safe task nor an easy one to make incursion here.
How they did it we know not--at present; but enter they did, and, after waiting in some secret hiding-place for a favourable opportunity, secured their prey. We know not even now whether they had found entrance to the Crypt and stole, as they thought, the dead body, or whether, by some dire mischance, they found her abroad--under her disguise as a ghost. At any rate, they had captured her, and through devious ways amongst the mountains were bearing her back to Turkey. It was manifest that when she was on Turkish soil the Sultan would force a marriage on her so as eventually to secure for himself or his successors as against all other nations a claim for the suzerainty or guardianship of the Blue Mountains.
Such was the state of affairs when the Gospodar Rupert threw himself into the pursuit with fiery zeal and the Berserk passion which he inherited from Viking ancestors, whence of old came "The Sword of Freedom" himself.
But at that very time was another possibility which the Gospodar was himself the first to realize. Failing the getting the Voivodin safe to Turkish soil, the ravishers might kill her! This would be entirely in accord with the base traditions and history of the Moslems. So, too, it would accord with Turkish customs and the Sultan's present desires. It would, in its way
, benefit the ultimate strategetic ends of Turkey. For were once the Vissarion race at an end, the subjection of the Land of the Blue Mountains might, in their view, be an easier task than it had yet been found to be.
Such, illustrious lady, were the conditions of affairs when the Gospodar Rupert first drew his handjar for the Blue Mountains and what it held most dear.
PALEALOGUE, _Archbishop of the Eastern Church_, _in the Land of the Blue Mountains_.