The Slaves of the Padishah Part 20

"Why have you not sent hay?"

The wisest of them, desirous to answer the question, politely rejoined: "It has been a dry summer, sir, the Lord has kept back the clouds of Heaven."

"Oh, that's it, eh!" said Ha.s.san. "Tell Kucsuk Pasha that he must give his horses the clouds to eat; the hay of the Magyars is there, it seems."

This messenger had no sooner departed than a whole emba.s.sy arrived from the Janissaries, and the whole lot of them energetically demanded that they should be led into battle at once.

"What?" inquired Ha.s.san mockingly, "has your hay fallen short too, then?" The Janissaries are infantry, by the way.

"It is glory we are running short of," said the leader of the deputation stolidly; "it bores us to stand staring idly into the eyes of the enemy."

"Then don't stare idly at them any longer; away with those mutinous dogs and impale them, and put them on the highest hillock that the whole army may see them."

The bodyguard, after a fierce struggle, overpowered the Janissaries, and pending their impalement, locked them up in the cellar of the cloisters.

By this time Ha.s.san Pasha was in the most horrible temper; and just at that unlucky moment who should arrive but Ballo, the envoy of the Prince of Transylvania.

Ha.s.san, who could not see very well at the best of times, and was now blinded with rage besides, roared at him:

"Whence hast thou come? Who hath sent thee hither? What is thy errand?"

"I come from Kiuprile, sir," replied Ballo blandly.

"What a good-for-nothing blackguard this Kiuprile must be to send to me such a rogue as thou art, except in chains and fetters."

"Well, of course he knows that I am the envoy of Transylvania, and represent the Prince."

"Represent the Prince, eh? Art thou the Prince's cobbler that thou standest in his shoes? Hast thou brought soldiers with thee?"

"Gracious sir----"

"Thou hast _not_, then? Not another word! Hast thou brought money?"

"Gracious sir!"

"Not even money! Wherefore, then, hast thou come at all? Canst thou pay the allotted tribute?"

"Gracious sir!"

"Don't gracious sir me, but answer--yes or no!"

"Well, but----"

"Then why not?"

"The land is poor, sir. The heavy hand of G.o.d is upon it."

"Thou must settle that with G.o.d, then, and pray that it may not feel my heavy hand also. Wherefore, then, hast thou come?"

Ballo made up his mind to swallow the bitter morsel.

"I have come to implore you to remit the annual tribute."

At first Ha.s.san did not know what to say.

"Hast thou become wooden, then," he said at last, "thou and thy whole nation? What right have ye to ask for a remission of the tribute?"

"Gracious sir, the tribute is five times more than what Gabriel Bethlen was wont to pay."

"Gabriel Bethlen was a fine fellow who paid in iron what he did not pay in silver; if he paid fourteen thousand thalers for the privilege of fighting alongside of us, ye may very well pay down eighty thousand for sitting comfortably at your own firesides. What, only eighty thousand for Transylvania, a state that is always digging up gold and silver, when a single sandjak[16] pays the Pasha of Thessalonica twice as much?"

[Footnote 16: Province.]

At these words the national pride awoke in the breast of Ballo.

"Sir, Thessalonica is a subject province, and its Pasha has unlimited power over his sandjaks, but Transylvania is a free state."

"And who told thee that it shall not become a sandjak like the rest?"

said Ha.s.san grimly. "Before the moon has waxed and waned again twice, take my word for it that a Turkish Pasha shall sit on the throne of Transylvania! Dost thou hear me? By the prophet I swear it."

"The Grand Seignior has also sworn that the ancient rights of Transylvania should never be infringed. He swore it on the Koran and by the Prophet."

"It is beneath the dignity of the Grand Seignior, our present Sultan,"

cried Ha.s.san, "to remember the oath sworn by the great Suleiman; not what he says, but what his viziers wish, will happen. And vainly do ye entrust your heads to his hand, while the sword of execution remains in our hands! I'll humble you, ye stony-headed, most obstinate of all nations! Ye shall be no different from the Bosnian rajas who themselves pull the plough!"

Ballo raised his head with a bitter look before the wrathful vizier.

"Then, sir, you must find another population for Transylvania, for you will not find there now the men you seek. You may see no end of murdered Magyars there, but a degraded Magyar you will never find."

At these words Ha.s.san drew his sword, and with his own hand would have decapitated the presumptuous amba.s.sador, but the mamelukes dragged him away, a.s.suring the Pasha that they would impale him along with the Janissaries.

"Place the stake in front of my window that I may speak to the insolent wolf while he is well spitted."

The men-at-arms did indeed thrust Ballo into the cellar along with the Janissaries, and began to plant a long, sharp-pointed stake in front of the Pasha's window, when, all at once, a frightful din arose behind their backs, for the Janissaries, hearing that their comrades had been condemned to death without mercy, had revolted in a body. In a moment they had cut down those of their officers who remonstrated, and while one body rushed towards the monastery, beating their alarm-drum and blowing their horns, the others attacked the negro giants guarding the impalement stakes already planted on the top of the hill, and in a few moments the executioners were themselves writhing on the stakes.

Meanwhile the mamelukes of Ha.s.san, who were preparing to resist the insurgents, put to flight by the furious Janissaries, made for the courtyard of the cloister and its garden, which was surrounded by a stone wall, and after barricading the entrances, succeeded with great difficulty in shutting the iron gates in the faces of their a.s.sailants, and prepared vigorously to defend them.

The insurgents surrounded the monastery, and bombarding its windows with bullets and darts, began to besiege it at long-firing distance.

Ha.s.san, distracted by rage and fear, fled into the tower of the monastery, leaving his guards to defend the gates till the other divisions of the army should come to quell the insurgents, but they did not stir. Ha.s.san perceived from his tower that not a man from Kiuprile's army was coming to his a.s.sistance, though they very well could see his jeopardy and hear the din of the firing a long way off. On the other side the Moldavians had pitched their camp on the hills, but it never entered their minds to draw nearer; on the contrary, they were only too delighted to see Turks devour Turks in this fashion. Ismail Pasha's army seemed rather to be retreating than approaching, and from Kucsuk and his son he durst not hope for a.s.sistance, as they were his personal enemies.

At that moment the insurgents caught sight of the stake planted before the window, and set up a howl of fury.

"Ah, ha! Ha.s.san had this planted here for himself. Let's fix up Ha.s.san!"

With a shudder the Vizier reflected on the enormous difference between the throne of Transylvania and the stake on which he might be planted instead, and cursed softly as he murmured to himself:

"That rogue of a Christian must have prayed to his G.o.d that I might be brought to shame here;" and grasping in his terror the solitary bell-rope that hung there, and winding it round his neck, he stood by the window, so that if the rebels should burst through the gates he might leap out and hang himself, rather than that they should wreak their horrible threats upon him.