The Lion of Janina Part 33

The viziers kissed the holy flag and took the oath to defend it to the last drop of their blood.

"And now close the gates!" commanded the Sultan; and immediately he sent orders to the warders of all the gates of Stambul to let n.o.body either out or in. One of the opposing hosts was never to leave the city alive.

"Long life to the Sultan! Death to the Janissaries!" resounded from fifteen thousand lips in front of the Seraglio.

The Sultan would have led his army in person against the rebels, but his generals fell down on their knees and implored him in the name of the Prophet not to expose his life to danger. Let him at least give his sword to the Grand Vizier, that he might not soil it in the blood of rebels.

So the gates were shut. This circ.u.mstance filled the hearts of the rebels with terror. They foresaw that this day would not be followed by another; the hand of indulgence, of reconciliation, now grasped the weapons of war, of ma.s.sacre.

They all a.s.sembled round the Etmeidan, pulled down the buildings in the street, and made barricades of them. 'Tis a bad sign for a rebellion when it has to look to its defence.

The forces of the Grand Vizier slowly approached amidst the roll of kettle-drums; the Derben Aga appeared in front of the barricades of the Janissaries, with the sanjak-i-sherif in his hand, and summoned the rebels to disperse and return to the allegiance of the sacred banner. The rebels drowned his speech in curses, and above the curses rose the thundering voice of Kara Makan hounding on the fanatical mob against the destroyers of the faith of Osman.

"Wipe out these new ordinances, give up the heads of the G.o.dless ones who signed their names below the khat-i-sherif--to wit the Janissary Aga, the Grand Vizier, the chief mufti, and Nedjib Effendi! This is what the ortas of the Janissaries demand and their honest confederates, the Jamaki, the Kayikjis, and the Hamaloks, who remain faithful to the G.o.d of the Moslemin."

Thrice did the Derben Aga summon the rebels to surrender, and thrice did he receive the same answer. They demanded the heads of the viziers.

Mahmoud's predecessor had, on a similar request, surrendered the heads of the viziers. Mahmoud broke his sword in two above their heads, and throwing the broken pieces in the dust, exclaimed:

"Just as I now break in two this sword and n.o.body shall weld it together again, so also shall ye be overthrown and none shall raise you up again."

The next moment the cannons of Ibraham the Infernal thundered forth their volleys from the Etmeidan. The bombs tore through the rickety wooden barriers, and through the breach thus made rushed Hussein Pasha at the head of the akinjis with Thomar Bey by his side.

The appearance of the detested new soldiers was greeted by the Janissaries with a furious howl, but the very first moment convinced them that the bayonet was a very much more powerful weapon than the dirk. Thomar Bey headed the charge in person, making a way for himself with his bayonet and clearing the ranks of the insurgents like a sharp wedge.

On this side there was no deliverance, so now, with the fury of despair, the insurgents flung themselves on the guns of Ibraham Pasha, three times charging his death-vomiting batteries, and, thrice recoiling, leaving the ground covered with their corpses, the terrible grape-shot mowing them down in heaps.

It was all, all over. The flowers of Begtash's garden, vanquished, humbled by the new soldiers, fled for refuge to the huge quadrangular barracks which occupied the ground at the rear of the Etmeidan.

Kara Makan did not live to experience that hour of humiliation; a cannon-ball took off his head so cleanly that his body could only be identified by his girdle.

Within the walls of the barracks the Janissaries made ready for their last desperate combat. It was now late. Ibrahim the Infernal began to bombard the barracks with red-hot bullets, and within an hour's time the whole of the enormous building was in flames. Those who were inside the gates remained there, for there they were doomed to perish together. Amidst the roaring of the flames their death-cries were audible, but the flames grew stronger every moment and the cry of their mortal anguish waxed fainter. The generals stood around the building, and tears glittered in more eyes than one; after all, it had been a valiant host!

Had been! Those words explain their doom.

On that day twenty thousand Janissaries fell by the command of the Padishah. Those whom the bullet and the sword did not reach perished by the axe and the bowstring. Their bodies were given to the Bosphorus, and for a long time afterwards the billows of distant seas cast their headless trunks on the sh.o.r.es of countries far away. These were the flowers of Begtash.

And so the name of the Janissaries was blotted out of the annals of Ottoman history.

The wearing of their uniforms and their insignia was forbidden under sentence of death. Their barracks were levelled with the ground, their banners were torn to bits, their kettles were smashed to pieces, their memory was made accursed.

The order of the Priests of Begtash was abolished forever, their religious homes were destroyed, their possessions confiscated.

Thus came to an end a soldiery which had existed for centuries, which the wise Chendereli founded, and which had won so many glorious triumphs for the Ottoman arms. It was now unlawful to mention its very name.

But when the b.l.o.o.d.y work was done, the Ottoman nation arose again full of fresh vigor, and it owed a new life, full of glorious days, to the hand which delivered the empire from its two greatest enemies--Tepelenti and the Janissaries.

GLOSSARY OF THE TURKISH WORDS USED IN THIS STORY

AGA--a military and aulic t.i.tle.

AKINJI--a sort of irregular cavalry.

ANADOLI HISSAR--eastern castle.

AZAB--irregular infantry.

BAIRAM--the great Muhammadan ecclesiastical feast.

BAYADERE--a dancing-girl.

BEY--a dignitary next below a pasha.

BOSTANJI--originally the gardeners of the Seraglio, subsequently attendants, body-guards.

CHORBAJI--a Janissary officer.

CIAUS--palace officials employed as attendants, messengers, envoys.

DERBEND AGA--the chief of the street watchmen.

DIRHAM--a coin worth about 2-_d._

DIVAN--council of state.

DZHIN--a huge supernatural being.

EFFENDI--a t.i.tle of honor.

ETMEIDAN--the headquarters of the Janissaries.

FETVA--the opinion or judgment of a mufti.

FIRAK--bodies of troops.

FIRMAN--a decree issued by the Sultan.

GIAOUR--an infidel.

ICHOGLANLER--pages of non-Muhammadan parentage brought up at the Sultan's palace.

IMAM--a priest who recites the canonical prayers.

JAMAK--the servant of a Janissary.