At this, Gaskho Bey, foaming with rage, tore the sword out of Pehlivan"s hand (where he had left his own sword he could not have said for the life of him), and, placing himself at the head of a band of Spahis, began to pursue the retreating foe.
Ali was proceeding quite leisurely towards the fortress, as if he did not trouble himself about his pursuers, although they were six times as numerous as his forces.
When Gaskho Bey had got within ear-shot, Tepelenti shouted back to him:
"Thou hast come to a bad place, brave Bey. This ground is mine, and what is beneath it is mine also, dost thou not know that yet?"
Gaskho Bey naturally did not understand a word of this till, at a gesture from Ali, a rocket flew up into the air, at which signal those inside the fortress suddenly exploded all the mines which had been dug under all the streets of the town. Tepelenti had prepared these during his fortunate days by piercing water conduits and making subterranean vaults large enough to hold great stores of gunpowder.
Ali rallied his own bands at the head of the bridge, and when, suddenly, the explosion burst forth along the whole length of the street, and the destroying flame tossed the pursuing squadrons into the air one after the other, he amused himself by contemplating the ruin from the top of the fort, and was the last who disappeared in the hidden tunnel. For a long time those in the fortress could hear the agonized cries of the vanquished. One-third of the besieging army had been destroyed in a single night. The rest quitted the accursed town, which seemed to have been built over h.e.l.l itself, and took up a position in the fields outside and on the heights of Lithanizza.
The rising sun revealed a horrible spectacle. The town of Janina no longer existed, the beautiful tall houses, the cupolaed mosques, the slender white minarets, the imposing barracks--where were they?
Instead of them, all that could be seen was a shapeless ma.s.s of piled-up ruins; here and there, on a dark background, scorched by flickering flames, a huddle-muddle of broken rafters, mangled corpses, charred black or gaping hideously open, lay scattered about amongst the rubbish, and from the mouth of a conduit at the side of the bastion there trickled sadly down into the lake a dark red stream, which wound its way in and out amongst the ruins.
"Poor children, how sweetly they are sleeping!"
Thus spoke Ali.
In a corner of the red tower, sleeping side by side, were the two Suliote kinsfolk, Artemis and Kleon. They slept in each other"s embrace, and not even the gaze of Ali awoke them.
"Don"t arouse them," said Ali to his dumb eunuchs; "let them sleep on!"
And again he regarded them with a smile--they slept so soundly. And yet they knew not when they fell asleep whether they would ever awake again.
Ali did not arouse the slumberers. Thrice he sent to see if they had awakened, but he would not have them disturbed. At last the hand of the youth made his chain clank, and both of them opened their eyes at the sound.
"I was on my way to Akro-Corinth," said he, rubbing his large dreamy eyes with his hands, "and I saw them rebuilding the Parthenon."
"I stood at Thermopylae," said the girl, "and the enemy fell before me by thousands."
"And now we shall go to the block," sighed Kleon, listening as the iron doors of his dungeon slowly opened.
"Be strong!" whispered the girl, pressing the hand of her brother which was enlaced in hers.
The dumb eunuchs surrounded them, and led them before Ali Pasha.
The pasha was sitting on a divan, and still wore his funeral robe; all the furniture was shrouded with cinder-colored cloth; there was nothing golden, nothing that sparkled in the room.
The brother and sister stood before him, pressing each other"s hands.
"My dear children," said the pasha, in a voice that trembled with emotion, "don"t look into each other"s eyes, but look at me!"
At this unusual tone, at these kindly words, the brother and sister did look at him, and perceived that the old man was looking at them sadly, doubtfully, and that his eyes were full of tears.
Ali beckoned to the eunuchs, and they freed the brother and sister from their chains.
"Behold, ye are free, and may return to your homes," said Ali.
These words had the effect of an electric shock upon the youth, and his face lit up with a flush of joy.
"Why dost thou rejoice?" cried Artemis, casting a severe look upon him; "dost thou not perceive that the monster is mocking us? He only wants to excite joy within us that he may kindle our hopes, and then make death all the more bitter to us. Why dost thou make sport of us, thou old devil? Slay us quickly, or slay us with lingering torments, "tis all one to us, but do not mock us!"
Tepelenti devoutly raised his eyes to heaven.
"My soul is an open book before you. Ye are free. Ye free Suliotes, we understand one another. I have sinned grievously against you, but ye have revenged yourself upon me. I burned your villages, ye, in return, have destroyed my fortresses. I have pillaged your lands, and ye have taken my possessions from me. I have slain your bridegroom and s.n.a.t.c.hed thee from thy parent"s house; thou hast cut off the head of my favorite grandson, and ravished from me my favorite wife. Now we are quits, and owe each other nothing. Go in peace!"
There was so much sincerity, so much repentant, contrite grief in the words of Ali, that the watchful maid began to regard him with curious sympathy.
"Thou art amazed at my change of countenance," said Ali, observing the impression his words had produced on Artemis. "Thou hast not seen me like this before! That other Ali is no more. He died, and was buried.
A penitent kneels before thee who has a horror of his past sins, and begs thy forgiveness, kissing the hem of thy garment."
And, indeed, Ali fell down on his knees before Artemis, in order that he might kiss the border of her robe, and breaking forth into moans, shed tears at the girl"s feet, so that she involuntarily bent down and raised him up.
She was a woman, after all, and could not bear to see any one weeping before her.
"Listen now to what I say," continued the pasha, "and do not fancy that Ali has gone mad. This night I saw a vision. A beauteous and radiantly majestic maiden descended at my threshold from the midst of the bright, open heavens, surrounded by a company of winged children"s heads. The maiden looked at me so gently, so kindly. A divine light shone from her countenance, and, on the earth beneath, all the flowers turned their faces towards her as if she were the sun. In the arms of this heavenly maid sat a child, but what a child! At the sight of him, even I, old man as I am, trembled with joy. Round about the head of this child was a wreath of stars, and the smile upon his face was salvation itself. And when I raised my trembling hands towards her, the heavenly lady and the child extended their arms towards me, and from the lips of the maiden, in a sweet, inexpressibly sweet voice, came these words: "Ali Tepelenti, I call thee!" And I, all trembling, fell down on my knees before her."
The brother and sister involuntarily knelt down beside Ali and stammered, full of devotion, "Blessed be the most holy Virgin!"
Ali Pasha continued the recital of his vision.
"With my face covered, I listened to the words of the bright apparition, and now she addressed me once more in a dolorous voice, which pierced my very heart, "Ali Tepelenti, behold me!" And when I raised my face, lo! I beheld seven swords pointing towards the heart of the heavenly maid, and I felt my hand grow numb with fright. "Ali Tepelenti," said the lady for the third time, "these swords _thou_ hast thrust into my wounds, and my blood be upon thy head!" And I, groaning, made answer, "How could I have done so when I do not know thee?" And she replied, "He who persecutes mine, persecutes me, and who robs my temples, robs me; didst thou not pull down the churches of Tepelen, Turezzo, and Tripolizza?" "I swear that I will build them up again," I replied, raising my hand to give solemnity to my vow; and as I spoke one of the seven swords fell from the heart of the lady.
"Didst thou not rob the Suliotes of their children," inquired the heavenly vision anew, "in order to bring them up as Moslems?" "I swear that I will make them Christians again!" and at these words the second sword fell out of her heart. "Didst thou not carry off their maidens for thine own harem?" "I swear that I will give them back to the Suliotes!" and with that the third sword fell from her heart. "Didst thou not gather together immense treasures from the heritage of widows and orphans?" And, smiting the ground with my head, I answered: "All my treasures shall be dedicated to thy service." And thus she recorded my mortal sins one by one, and thus I swore to make rigorous reparation for them with an irrefragable oath, and as many times as I so swore a sword fell at my feet. Finally but one sword remained in her bleeding heart, and then she asked me, "Hast thou not sought the death of that Suliote brother and sister who were the most faithful defenders of my altars? Hast thou not plunged them into thy dungeon, and is not their death already resolved upon in thy heart?" And, terrified, I laid my hand upon my heart, for verily that thought was in it, and not without a fierce struggle, I stammered, "Oh, heavenly vision! these two young people are my mightiest enemies, and they have sworn to kill me; yet if thou dost command it I will lay my gray head in their hands, and I will be in their power, not they in mine."
At these words the last sword also fell from her heart, and she answered, "Ali Tepelenti, take these swords in thy hand, and do as thou hast said." And with that she reascended into heaven, the clouds closed behind her, and I remained alone with the seven swords in my hand, on which seven vows were written. This vision I saw in the night that has just past; and now reflect upon my words."
The minds of the brother and sister were deeply agitated. The old Moslem before them had spoken with such devotion, with such enthusiasm of his vision, that it was impossible to question its reality. The emotion visible in his countenance, the tears in his eyes, the tremor in his voice, proved that he really felt what he said. While they were standing there pondering over the old man"s vision, he took them by the hand and led them into his treasure-chamber, and showed them the heaps and heaps of gold and silver, the coins piled up in vats, and the steel which had been melted into bars and stacked up there.
"My treasures are at your disposal--use them as you will." Then, selecting from amongst his choicest diamonds two stones, worth a hundred thousand sequins, he placed them in the hands of Kleon and Artemis, and said, "These I will send to the war-chest of the Hetaeria!"
Why, what does Ali mean by mentioning this secret society, which had already undermined the whole Turkish Empire--just as he had undermined Janina? Perhaps he would fire these mines also! Of a truth the arm of Ali reached as far as Stambul! aye, and as far as Bucharest also.
And now he led the brother and sister into his armory, and there they saw whole chests full of firearms from the manufactories of the best English and French makers.
"You see, I could arm a whole realm with the weapons I have in Janina."
The brother and sister sighed; one and the same thought suddenly occurred to them both.
"Tepelenti," said the girl.
"Command me!"
"Thou hast done much harm to us, we also have done much harm to thee; let us act as if we now saw each other for the first time."
"I forgive you."
"I will forget that thou didst put to death my betrothed in this room, and thou forget that we killed thy grandson. Call to mind, moreover, that not only are we captives in this fortress, but thou art also surrounded by the hosts of thine enemies."