"Heaven defend the right!" cried Selem, parrying his blow. Their swords flashed quickly round, and in a moment the Count fell mortally wounded from his horse.
The Hadji, Alp, and many other chiefs, and their followers rushed on the bayonets of the infantry. "Ah! Allah!" shouted the old warrior, "we"ll cut through that wall of steel. Onward, men of Atteghei!" So terrific was the onset that the two foremost ranks of the Russians trembled, wavered, and fell back on the rear, as the dauntless warriors approached them, driving the others in hopeless confusion, cut down by the Circa.s.sian sabres, and trampled under foot by their war-steeds.
"Ah! Allah!" again shouted the Hadji. "Follow me, my son, and we shall soon be within their trenches!" and attacking those who alone stood their ground, followed by a dense cloud of hors.e.m.e.n, sweeping over their prostrate foes.
The remnant of the Russian cavalry had turned, and fled towards the entrance of their fort; but none succeeded in reaching it: the drawbridge was drawn up, the gates were closed.
Why does Selem stay in his career of victory, his cheek blanched even amid the excitement of the combat? On the ground weltering in blood, he sees the slaughtered form of his faithful, loving page; he bends low from his horse, and lifts it in his arms.
Onward, onward rushed the mountaineers towards their hoped for prize; but as they mingled among the confused ma.s.s of flying infantry close to the trenches, a tremendous discharge of cannon saluted them. On friend and foe fell alike the crashing showers of deadly grape; and the ramparts were lined with bristling rows of bayonets. Many of the gallant patriots fell beneath the devastating fire in their career of victory.
"Turn, turn, my n.o.ble friends!" cried the brave Chief Arslan Gherrei.
"It is madness to be exposed to this iron storm. We can never take the fort on horseback."
At the word, the dense troop swept round. A horseman, in the uniform of Russia, seized Selem"s rein, and urged on his horse, while Thaddeus, on the other side, joined the retreating Circa.s.sians. Before the guns could be reloaded, they were beyond their range.
The mountaineers halted in the confines of the forest. Selem sprang to the ground, endeavouring to staunch the blood which flowed from many wounds in the breast of his page. He tore open his vest; his heart turned sick with horror and grief as he discovered a woman"s form. He leant over it with deep grief. The veil which so long had obscured them was torn from his eyes. He knew the features of Azila. In a moment he read the history of her deep unswerving love, constant to the last through trials, hardships, and neglect. He felt her heart to discover if it yet beat. He tried to persuade himself that her yet warm breath fanned his cheeks; but it was in vain. A faint smile still lingered on her features; but no throb answered to his touch. The dark blood flowed slowly from the wounds; her heroic, her loving, spirit had fled; Azila was dead!
None of the chiefs, not even Selem"s father, approached him. They had witnessed the scene, and read the sad story at a glance. Long did he bend, in deep agony, over that inanimate form.
He was aroused by the Russian deserter.
"Think you not, young chief, that I, too, have cause for grief?
Remember you not how I loved that fair and n.o.ble girl? Do you not know me?"
"Yes, yes, I know you now, my friend," answered Selem, recognising in the stranger the Gipsy chief who had aided his escape from Russia, the reputed father of Azila. "You have, indeed, deep cause to grieve for your daughter."
"Except that she sprung from my race, she is not my daughter, though I loved her more than one. See, two of my race I have lost today most cruelly murdered;" and he pointed to the body of Javis, which he had also brought off on the horse of one of the slain troopers. "She, too, murdered by her own father, though he knew it not till too late, when madness seized his brain; and yon poor youth, he also deserves our pity, for I know his deep, yet hopeless, love for Azila, for whose sake he followed you."
"What say you, my old friend?" said Selem, rising from the ground whereon he had been kneeling. "By what strange fortune came you to learn so horrid a tale? and what wonderful chance conducted you hither at this moment?"
"It may seem extraordinary that I am here; and yet such was the decree of fate, when first we met beneath my tent in Russia. You were the unconscious instrument of bringing me hither; and yet, from the remotest period of time, this event was destined. The latest cause was this: It was discovered that I had aided in your escape from Russia, when I and all my tribe, who could be found, were seized and condemned to serve in the ranks of the Russian army of the Caucasus. Azila"s history, I alone, with the dwarf Ladislau, have known from her birth. He was another cause of these events. As you remember well, the Baron always made him his b.u.t.t, treating him with contumely, little thinking what deep feelings of hatred and revenge rankled in the bosom of the diminutive being. A lovely girl of our race, whose sweet voice enraptured the proudest n.o.bles of Moscow, won the haughty Baron"s heart; and, dazzled by his rank and wealth, she consented, at an unhappy moment, to exchange her liberty to become the slavish wife of a tyrannical master. She soon pined for her freedom, regretting the miserable lot she had madly chosen; and, as her husband"s admiration of her charms wore away, he treated her with cruelty and neglect. Yet jealous feelings, at the same time, possessed the tyrant"s breast; and he began to look with an eye of suspicion on an innocent daughter she had just borne him.
"The broken-hearted wife of the Baron died; and Ladislau, to revenge himself on his tyrant, brought away his child, and delivered her to me, making me swear never to reveal her history till his death, and that I heard of ere I left Russia. To rescue her from a life of thraldom and neglect, I determined to keep her as my own daughter, bringing her up with all the accomplishments I could well find means to bestow. She became all I could wish in mind and person, wreathing herself round my heart as much as any child of my own could do; and when she once visited my tents, she seemed so to enjoy the wild freedom of our lives, that I could not again part from her, intending, however, on Ladislau"s death, to make her father recognise her, and restore her to her proper rank and fortune. When you came to my tents, knowing that you were not her brother, I hoped in some way, through your means, to accomplish my purpose; little thinking how deep was the love which had sprung up in the sweet girl"s bosom for you."
"Blind and dull have I been!" exclaimed Selem in a tone of anguish, "not to have seen through her disguise before; for now, when lost to me for ever, I feel how fondly I could have returned her love."
He knelt again over her, and took her cold lifeless hand:--"My true Azila, faithful to death! A hundred fold has your murder added to the debt of retribution I owe our tyrannical invaders. Yes, sweet one, I again swear to avenge your death on every one of that cursed race who sets foot on the sh.o.r.es of Circa.s.sia. Bear witness, my friend, I sign my vow before as fair an image as nature ever formed! Let this be the token! Where the battle is thickest, there will I bear this silken lock."
He kissed her pallid brow, and severed with his dagger one of her long black tresses, which he entwined through the links of his chain armour.
He knelt over the bleeding form for some moments more in silence: he then rose, and extended his hand to the Gipsy chief.
"Welcome, my friend, to the land I call my own. I may now hope to repay your hospitality."
"If my services will be accepted, I have come to offer my hand and heart to the cause of the patriots. I should have remained a good subject of Russia, if she had allowed me; but she will now find me and my tribe her mortal enemies; for I doubt not that all my people will take the first opportunity of escaping, when they hear that I am on the side of the Circa.s.sians; and heartily will they all join in avenging that poor girl"s death."
"It was a barbarous deed," cried Selem, casting an agonised glance on the pale features of Azila, beautiful, even in death.
Arslan Gherrei now approached his son; "Let not sorrow take possession of your soul, my son, for the loss of that faithful girl. I, I too well can share your feelings; but shew yourself stern as a warrior among our countrymen. Think not of grief, while we have swords in our hands to avenge our friends. That poor maiden shall have a befitting funeral, she shall be consigned to the care of Ina, who, with her friends, will mourn over their lost sister."
"You speak truly, my father," exclaimed Selem, "no one henceforth shall see me shed a tear of joy or grief, till every hallowed spot of our loved country shall be freed from the defiling tread of the Russian foot, or till the death-wound comes to send me to a warrior"s grave."
"My son, your words make your father"s heart beat proudly," said the chieftain; "and worthy are you of our royal race. See, is not yonder sight enough to rejoice the breast of every foe to Russia?"
Selem turned his eyes in the direction his father indicated, where the ground, in front of the Russian entrenchments, was strewn with the slain; so rapidly and surely had the Circa.s.sian sabres done their work among the panic-stricken ranks. Few, if any, had reached the gates of the fort; for of those who escaped the first fierce onset, most had been mowed down by the showers of grape and rockets fired by their own countrymen. Many of the Circa.s.sians had fallen; but not one had been left on the field; every horseman seizing his comrade as he was wounded or slain, and bearing him on his steed from the ground.
The band of warriors, a.s.sembled in the forest overlooking the fort, kept the garrison in a constant state of alarm; their swords and armour being seen amid the trees, when any of them approached the skirts of the wood.
A council of war was now held. The Hadji proposed attacking the fort again at once, rushing from their concealments, without a moment"s warning to the enemy, and leaping the trenches on their chargers, in spite of the shower of grape they might expect.
"Mashallah!" he cried, "they should soon learn how little use their big guns would be, when we got at their tails, for they cannot kick as well as bite."
Even Selem, generally cautious, as well as bold, eagerly seconded his old friend"s proposition; and Alp was employed in persuading most of his companions to accompany him. But the proposition was overruled by Arslan Gherrei, and the more prudent leaders, who considered the attempt would be madness; as, to their cost, they had already found the fort so strongly guarded with cannon; not one of their warriors having fallen, except by the destructive fire from the guns. It was at last agreed to storm the fort at a future day, when the garrison would be unprepared to receive them.
Selem, rousing himself from his grief, introduced the Gipsy chief as the foster father of the slaughtered maiden, explaining to them his history.
As there was now no further cause for delay, the band of warriors prepared to leave the scene of their exploit; the Dehli Khans rushing forward, and waving their swords as a parting salute of defiance to their foes.
Selem stood by the side of Azila"s corpse. The Gipsy approached him.
"Let me take the office of bearing those remains," he said; "to you it would be too severe a task."
Selem offered no resistance, as the Gipsy enveloped the body in his horseman"s cloak, and placed it before him on his saddle. A follower of Arslan Gherrei carried the body of Javis, in like manner; while Thaddeus rode by Selem"s side, offering vain consolation to a heart so deeply wounded.
After riding some distance, the party separated; some to return to the camp, and a few, among whom was Alp, to accompany Selem to the valley of Abran Bashi.
Volume 3, Chapter XI.
It was a sad and mournful train which returned to the valley of Abran Bashi, the scene but a few days before of the bridal festival and of joy. Selem had sent to announce his return to his sister, with an account of the sad catastrophe which had occurred. As the cortege approached the house of the chief, she, her woman, and the other females of the hamlet, came out to meet them; and into their hands the remains of the slaughtered Azila were committed.
The Gipsy approached Selem, who, after embracing his sister, had sauntered through the grove to indulge in his grief unseen.
"Young chief," he said, "where shall my poor child be buried?"
How sadly, how harshly did those words grate on Selem"s ears! How many unutterable thoughts of anguish and regret do they summon to the mind of all! The closing for ever of some loved object from our view--the sad reality of death, before only looked on as a remote object!
"Would she not wish to lie in some secluded spot, where her spirit, that had been sorely troubled in this life, might be at rest?"
"My friend," answered Selem, "there is near here a grove sacred to the one Great Spirit we all adore, whatever may be our religious creeds.
None approach that spot with irreverent or light feelings, and there shall Azila rest."
"Such would have been the spot she would have chosen," answered the Gipsy. "And by her side we will place poor Javis. He well deserves to be near her, for he might yet be alive, had he not thrown himself before her to receive the shot."
"He was truly faithful to the last," said Selem. "And yet it was a happier fate for him to die. But, my friend, speak no more on the subject. We must soon again haste to the exciting scenes of war, which, as men, befit us most. Know you where the people of your tribe are stationed, that we may endeavour to a.s.sist them in escaping from the foe? They will be received by my countrymen with open arms, and you may resume your former habits of independence, and your free mode of life.
You will find here no tyrannical laws to restrict you, if you conform to the simple habits and customs of my people; and you may again become the chief of your tribe."
"That can never be," answered the Gipsy. "My tribe are broken and dispersed; though the few who may escape from Russian thraldom, will obey me as of yore. But where are our women and children? Where our cattle and our tents? I and my people will serve under you. Where you go, we will go; and we will be faithful and true to you, until death."
"I could not wish for a more faithful follower than poor Javis proved,"
answered Selem. "And I fear not but you will be equally true to me.