THE SAME (LATER IN THE SAME DAY).
The Council resumed its sitting at four o'clock. The Voivode PeterVissarion and the Voivodin Teuta had arrived with the "Gospodar Rupert,"as the mountaineers call him (Mr. Rupert Sent Leger) on the armouredyacht he calls _The Lady_. The National Council showed great pleasurewhen the Voivode entered the hall in which the Council met. He seemedmuch gratified by the reception given to him. Mr. Rupert Sent Leger, bythe express desire of the Council, was asked to be present at themeeting. He took a seat at the bottom of the hall, and seemed to preferto remain there, though asked by the President of the Council to sit atthe top of the table with himself and the Voivode.
When the formalities of such Councils had been completed, the Voivodehanded to the President a memorandum of his report on his secret missionto foreign Courts on behalf of the National Council. He then explainedat length, for the benefit of the various members of the Council, thebroad results of his mission. The result was, he said, absolutelysatisfactory. Everywhere he had been received with distinguishedcourtesy, and given a sympathetic hearing. Several of the Powersconsulted had made delay in giving final answers, but this, he explained,was necessarily due to new considerations arising from the internationalcomplications which were universally dealt with throughout the world as"the Balkan Crisis." In time, however (the Voivode went on), thesematters became so far declared as to allow the waiting Powers to formdefinite judgment--which, of course, they did not declare to him--as totheir own ultimate action. The final result--if at this initial stagesuch tentative setting forth of their own attitude in each case can be sonamed--was that he returned full of hope (founded, he might say, upon ajustifiable personal belief) that the Great Powers throughout theworld--North, South, East, and West--were in thorough sympathy with theLand of the Blue Mountains in its aspirations for the continuance of itsfreedom. "I also am honoured," he continued, "to bring to you, the GreatCouncil of the nation, the assurance of protection against unworthyaggression on the part of neighbouring nations of present greaterstrength."
Whilst he was speaking, the Gospodar Rupert was writing a few words on astrip of paper, which he sent up to the President. When the Voivode hadfinished speaking, there was a prolonged silence. The President rose,and in a hush said that the Council would like to hear Mr. Rupert SentLeger, who had a communication to make regarding certain recent events.
Mr. Rupert Sent Leger rose, and reported how, since he had been entrustedby the Council with the rescue of the Voivode Peter of Vissarion, he had,by aid of the Voivodin, effected the escape of the Voivode from theSilent Tower; also that, following this happy event, the mountaineers,who had made a great cordon round the Tower so soon as it was known thatthe Voivode had been imprisoned within it, had stormed it in the night.As a determined resistance was offered by the marauders, who had used itas a place of refuge, none of these escaped. He then went on to tell howhe sought interview with the Captain of the strange warship, which,without flying any flag, invaded our waters. He asked the President tocall on me to read the report of that meeting. This, in obedience to hisdirection, I did. The acquiescent murmuring of the Council showed howthoroughly they endorsed Mr. Sent Leger's words and acts.
When I resumed my seat, Mr. Sent Leger described how, just before thetime fixed by the "pirate Captain"--so he designated him, as did everyspeaker thereafter--the warship met with some under-sea accident, whichhad a destructive effect on all on board her. Then he added certainwords, which I give verbatim, as I am sure that others will some timewish to remember them in their exactness:
"By the way, President and Lords of the Council, I trust I may ask you toconfirm Captain Rooke, of the armoured yacht _The Lady_, to be Admiral ofthe Squadron of the Land of the Blue Mountains, and also Captain(tentatively) Desmond, late First-Lieutenant of _The Lady_, to thecommand of the second warship of our fleet--the as yet unnamed vessel,whose former Captain threatened to bombard Ilsin. My Lords, AdmiralRooke has done great service to the Land of the Blue Mountains, anddeserves well at your hands. You will have in him, I am sure, a greatofficial. One who will till his last breath give you good and loyalservice."
He had sat down, the President put to the Council resolutions, which werepassed by acclamation. Admiral Rooke was given command of the navy, andCaptain Desmond confirmed in his appointment to the captaincy of the newship, which was, by a further resolution, named _The Gospodar Rupert_.
In thanking the Council for acceding to his request, and for the greathonour done him in the naming of the ship, Mr. Sent Leger said:
"May I ask that the armoured yacht _The Lady_ be accepted by you, theNational Council, on behalf of the nation, as a gift on behalf of thecause of freedom from the Voivodin Teuta?"
In response to the mighty cheer of the Council with which the splendidgift was accepted the Gospodar Rupert--Mr. Sent Leger--bowed, and wentquietly out of the room.
As no agenda of the meeting had been prepared, there was for a time, notsilence, but much individual conversation. In the midst of it theVoivode rose up, whereupon there was a strict silence. All listened withan intensity of eagerness whilst he spoke.
"President and Lords of the Council, Archbishop, and Vladika, I shouldbut ill show my respect did I hesitate to tell you at this the firstopportunity I have had of certain matters personal primarily to myself,but which, in the progress of recent events, have come to impinge on theaffairs of the nation. Until I have done so, I shall not feel that Ihave done a duty, long due to you or your predecessors in office, andwhich I hope you will allow me to say that I have only kept back forpurposes of statecraft. May I ask that you will come back with me inmemory to the year 1890, when our struggle against Ottoman aggression,later on so successfully brought to a close, was begun. We were then ina desperate condition. Our finances had run so low that we could notpurchase even the bread which we required. Nay, more, we could notprocure through the National Exchequer what we wanted more thanbread--arms of modern effectiveness; for men may endure hunger and yetfight well, as the glorious past of our country has proved again andagain and again. But when our foes are better armed than we are, thepenalty is dreadful to a nation small as our own is in number, no matterhow brave their hearts. In this strait I myself had to secretly raise asufficient sum of money to procure the weapons we needed. To this end Isought the assistance of a great merchant-prince, to whom our nation aswell as myself was known. He met me in the same generous spirit which hehad shown to other struggling nationalities throughout a long andhonourable career. When I pledged to him as security my own estates, hewished to tear up the bond, and only under pressure would he meet mywishes in this respect. Lords of the Council, it was his money, thusgenerously advanced, which procured for us the arms with which we hewedout our freedom.
"Not long ago that noble merchant--and here I trust you will pardon methat I am so moved as to perhaps appear to suffer in want of respect tothis great Council--this noble merchant passed to his account--leaving toa near kinsman of his own the royal fortune which he had amassed. Only afew hours ago that worthy kinsman of the benefactor of our nation made itknown to me that in his last will he had bequeathed to me, by secrettrust, the whole of those estates which long ago I had forfeited byeffluxion of time, inasmuch as I had been unable to fulfil the terms ofmy voluntary bond. It grieves me to think that I have had to keep you solong in ignorance of the good thought and wishes and acts of this greatman.
"But it was by his wise counsel, fortified by my own judgment, that I wassilent; for, indeed, I feared, as he did, lest in our troublous timessome doubting spirit without our boundaries, or even within it, mightmistrust the honesty of my purposes for public good, because I was nolonger one whose whole fortune was invested within our confines. Thisprince-merchant, the great English Roger Melton--let his name be for evergraven on the hearts of our people!--kept silent during his own life, andenjoined on others to come after him to keep secret from the men of theBlue Mountains that secret loan made to me on thei
r behalf, lest in theireyes I, who had striven to be their friend and helper, should sufferwrong repute. But, happily, he has left me free to clear myself in youreyes. Moreover, by arranging to have--under certain contingencies, whichhave come to pass--the estates which were originally my own retransferredto me, I have no longer the honour of having given what I could to thenational cause. All such now belongs to him; for it was his money--andhis only--which purchased our national armament.
"His worthy kinsman you already know, for he has not only been amongstyou for many months, but has already done you good service in his ownperson. He it was who, as a mighty warrior, answered the summons of theVladika when misfortune came upon my house in the capture by enemies ofmy dear daughter, the Voivodin Teuta, whom you hold in your hearts; who,with a chosen band of our brothers, pursued the marauders, and himself,by a deed of daring and prowess, of which poets shall hereafter sing,saved her, when hope itself seemed to be dead, from their ruthless hands,and brought her back to us; who administered condign punishment to themiscreants who had dared to so wrong her. He it was who later took me,your servant, out of the prison wherein another band of Turkishmiscreants held me captive; rescued me, with the help of my deardaughter, whom he had already freed, whilst I had on my person thedocuments of international secrecy of which I have already advisedyou--rescued me whilst I had been as yet unsubjected to the indignity ofsearch.
"Beyond this you know now that of which I was in partial ignorance: howhe had, through the skill and devotion of your new Admiral, wroughtdestruction on a hecatomb of our malignant foes. You who have receivedfor the nation the splendid gift of the little warship, which alreadyrepresents a new era in naval armament, can understand the great-souledgenerosity of the man who has restored the vast possessions of my House.On our way hither from Ilsin, Rupert Sent Leger made known to me theterms of the trust of his noble uncle, Roger Melton, and--believe me thathe did so generously, with a joy that transcended my own--restored to thelast male of the Vissarion race the whole inheritance of a noble line.
"And now, my Lords of the Council, I come to another matter, in which Ifind myself in something of a difficulty, for I am aware that in certainways you actually know more of it than even I myself do. It is regardingthe marriage of my daughter to Rupert Sent Leger. It is known to me thatthe matter has been brought before you by the Archbishop, who, asguardian of my daughter during my absence on the service of the nation,wished to obtain your sanction, as till my return he held her safety intrust. This was so, not from any merit of mine, but because she, in herown person, had undertaken for the service of our nation a task of almostincredible difficulty. My Lords, were she child of another father, Ishould extol to the skies her bravery, her self-devotion, her loyalty tothe land she loves. Why, then, should I hesitate to speak of her deedsin fitting terms, since it is my duty, my glory, to hold them in higherhonour than can any in this land? I shall not shame her--or evenmyself--by being silent when such a duty urges me to speak, as Voivode,as trusted envoy of our nation, as father. Ages hence loyal men andwomen of our Land of the Blue Mountains will sing her deeds in song andtell them in story. Her name, Teuta, already sacred in these regions,where it was held by a great Queen, and honoured by all men, willhereafter be held as a symbol and type of woman's devotion. Oh, myLords, we pass along the path of life, the best of us but a little timemarching in the sunlight between gloom and gloom, and it is during thatmarch that we must be judged for the future. This brave woman has wonknightly spurs as well as any Paladin of old. So is it meet that ere shemight mate with one worthy of her you, who hold in your hands the safetyand honour of the State, should give your approval. To you was it givento sit in judgment on the worth of this gallant Englisher, now my son.You judged him then, before you had seen his valour, his strength, andskill exercised on behalf of a national cause. You judged wisely, oh, mybrothers, and out of a grateful heart I thank you one and all for it.Well has he justified your trust by his later acts. When, in obedienceto the summons of the Vladika, he put the nation in a blaze and rangedour boundaries with a ring of steel, he did so unknowing that what wasdearest to him in the world was at stake. He saved my daughter's honourand happiness, and won her safety by an act of valour that outvies anytold in history. He took my daughter with him to bring me out from theSilent Tower on the wings of the air, when earth had for me nopossibility of freedom--I, that had even then in my possession thedocuments involving other nations which the Soldan would fain havepurchased with the half of his empire.
"Henceforth to me, Lords of the Council, this brave man must ever be as ason of my heart, and I trust that in his name grandsons of my own maykeep in bright honour the name which in glorious days of old my fathersmade illustrious. Did I know how adequately to thank you for yourinterest in my child, I would yield up to you my very soul in thanks."
The speech of the Voivode was received with the honour of the BlueMountains--the drawing and raising of handjars.