"Go thy way, and quickly," said Corti, sternly.
"Dost thou threaten me?"
"By the Prophet, yes--with my sword, and the Padishah."
"The Padishah! Oh, ho!" and the man turned pale. "G.o.d is great--I give him praise."
At last the Count alighted before the main entrance of the Church. By friendly chance, also--probably because the site was far down toward the sea, in a district not yet reached by the hordesmen--the s.p.a.ce in front of the vestibule was clear of all but incoming fugitives; and he had but to knock at the door, and give the name of the Princess Irene to gain admission.
In the vestibule the party were relieved of their bonds; after which they pa.s.sed into the body of the building, where they embraced each other, and gave praise aloud for what they considered a final deliverance from death and danger; in their transports, they kissed the marbles of the floor again and again.
While this affecting scene was going on, Corti surveyed the interior.
The freest pen cannot do more than give the view with a clearness to barely stimulate the reader"s imagination.
It was about eleven o"clock. The smoke of battle which had overlain the hills of the city was dissipated; so the sun, nearing high noon, poured its full of splendor across the vast nave in rays slanted from south to north, and a fine, almost impalpable dust hanging from the dome in the still air, each ray shone through it in vivid, half-prismatic relief against the shadowy parts of the structure. Such pillars in the galleries as stood in the paths of the sunbeams seemed effulgent, like emeralds and rubies. His eyes, however, refused everything except the congregation of people.
"O Heaven!" he exclaimed. "What is to become of these poor souls!"
Byzantium, it must be recalled, had had its triumphal days, when Greeks drew together, like Jews on certain of their holy occasions; undoubtedly the a.s.semblages then were more numerous, but never had there been one so marked by circ.u.mstances. This was the funeral day of the Empire!
Let the reader try to recompose the congregation the Count beheld-- civilians--soldiers--nuns--monks--monks bearded, monks shaven, monks tonsured--monks in high hats and loose veils, monks in gowns scarce distinguishable from gowns of women--monks by the thousand. Ah, had they but dared a manly part on the walls, the cause of the Christ for whom they affected such devotion would not have suffered the humiliation to which it was now going! As to the ma.s.s in general, let the reader think of the rich jostled by the poor--fine ladies careless if their robes took taint from the Lazarus" next them--servants for once at least on a plane with haughty masters--Senators and slaves--grandsires--mothers with their infants--old and young, high and low, all in promiscuous presence-- society at an end--Sancta Sophia a universal last refuge. And by no means least strange, let the reader fancy the refugees on their knees, silent as ghosts in a tomb, except that now and then the wail of a child broke the awful hush, and gazing over their shoulders, not at the altar, but toward the doors of entrance; then let him understand that every one in the smother of a.s.semblage--every one capable of thought--was in momentary expectation of a miracle.
Here and there moved priestly figures, holding crucifixes aloft, and halting at times to exhort in low voices: "Be not troubled, O dearly beloved of Christ! The angel will appear by the old column. If the powers of h.e.l.l are not to prevail against the Church, what may men do against the sword of G.o.d?"
The congregation was waiting for the promised angel to rescue them from the Barbarians.
Of opinion that the chancel, or s.p.a.ce within the railing of the apse opposite him, was a better position for his charge than the crowded auditorium, partly because he could more easily defend them there, and partly because Mahommed when he arrived would naturally look for the Princess near the altar, the Count, with some trouble, secured a place within it behind the brazen bal.u.s.trade at the right of the gate. The invasion of the holy reserve by the Berbers was viewed askance, but submitted to; thereupon the Princess and her suite took to waiting and praying.
Afterwhile the doors in the east were barred by the janitor.
Still later there was knocking at them loud enough to be by authority.
The janitor had become deaf.
Later still a yelling as of a mob out in the vestibule penetrated to the interior, and a shiver struck the expectant throng, less from a presentiment of evil at hand than a horrible doubt. An angel of the Lord would hardly adopt such an incongruous method of proclaiming the miracle done. A murmur of invocation began with those nearest the entrances, and ran from the floor to the galleries. As it spread, the shouting increased in volume and temper. Ere long the doors were a.s.sailed. The noise of a blow given with determination rang dreadful warning through the whole building, and the concourse arose.
The women shrieked: "The Turks! The Turks!"
Even the nuns who had been practising faith for years joined their lay sisters in crying: "The Turks! The Turks!"
The great, gowned, cowardly monks dropped their crucifixes, and, like the commoner sons of the Church, howled: "The Turks! The Turks!"
Finally the doors were battered in, and sure enough--there stood the hordesmen, armed and panoplied each according to his tribe or personal preference--each a most unlikely delivering angel.
This completed the panic.
In the vicinity of the ruined doors everybody, overcome by terror, threw himself upon those behind, and the impulsion thus started gained force while sweeping on. As ever in such cases, the weak were the sufferers.
Children were overrun--infants dashed from the arms of mothers--men had need of their utmost strength--and the wisdom of the Count in seeking the chancel was proved. The ma.s.sive brazen railing hardly endured the pressure when the surge reached it; but it stood, and the Princess and her household--all, in fact, within the chancel--escaped the crushing, but not the horror.
The spoilsmen were in strength, but they were prudently slow in persuading themselves that the Greeks were unarmed, and incapable of defending the Church. Ere long they streamed in, and for the first time in the history of the edifice the colossal Christ on the ceiling above the altar was affronted by the slogan of Islam--_Allah-il-Allah_.
Strange now as it may appear to the reader, there is no mention in the chronicles of a life lost that day within the walls of Sancta Sophia.
The victors were there for plunder, not vengeance, and believing there was more profit in slaves than any other kind of property, their effort was to save rather than kill. The scene was beyond peradventure one of the cruelest in history, but the cruelty was altogether in taking possession of captives.
Tossing their arms of whatever kind upon their backs, the savages pushed into the pack of Christians to select whom they would have. We may be sure the old, sick, weakly, crippled, and very young were discarded, and the strong and vigorous chosen. Remembering also how almost universally the hordes were from the East, we may be sure a woman was preferred to a man, and a pretty woman to an ugly one.
The hand shrinks from trying to depict the agonies of separation which ensued--mothers torn from their children, wives from husbands--their shrieks, entreaties, despair--the mirthful brutality with which their pitiful attempts at resistance were met--the binding and dragging away--the last clutch of love--the final disappearance. It is only needful to add that the rapine involved the galleries no less than the floor. All things considered, the marvel is that the cry--there was but one, just as the sounds of many waters are but one to the ear--which then tore the habitual silence of the august temple should have ever ceased--and it would not if, in its duration, human sympathy were less like a flitting echo.
Next to women, the monks were preferred, and the treatment they received was not without its touches of grim humor. Their cowls were s.n.a.t.c.hed off, and bandied about, their hats crushed over their ears, their veils stuffed in their mouths to stifle their outcries, their rosaries converted into scourges; and the laughter when a string of them pa.s.sed to the doors was long and loud. They had pulled their monasteries down upon themselves. If the Emperor, then lying in the b.l.o.o.d.y alley of St.
Romain, dead through their bigotry, superst.i.tion, and cowardice, had been vengeful in the slightest degree, a knowledge of the judgment come upon them so soon would have been at least restful to his spirit.
It must not be supposed Count Corti was indifferent while this appalling scene was in progress. The chancel, he foresaw, could not escape the foray. There was the altar, loaded with donatives in gold and precious stones, a blazing pyramidal invitation. When the doors were burst in, he paused a moment to see if Mahommed were coming.
"The hordes are here, O Princess, but not the Sultan."
She raised her veil, and regarded him silently.
"I see now but one resort. As Mirza the Emir, I must meet the pillagers by claiming the Sultan sent me in advance to capture and guard you for"
him."
"We are at mercy, Count Corti," she replied. "Heaven deal with you as you deal with us."
"If the ruse fails, Princess, I can die for you. Now tie yourselves as before--two and two, hand to hand. It may be they will call on me to distinguish such as are my charge."
She cast a glance of pity about her.
"And these, Count--these poor women not of my house, and the children-- can you not save them also?"
"Alas, dear lady! The Blessed Mother must be their shield."
While the veils were being applied, the surge against the railing took place, leaving a number of dead and fainting across it.
"Hadifah," the Count called out, "clear the way to yon chair against the wall."
The Sheik set about removing the persons blockading the s.p.a.ce, and greatly affected by their condition, the Princess interceded for them.
"Nay, Count, disturb them not. Add not to their terror, I pray."
But the Count was a soldier; in case of an affray, he wanted the advantage of a wall at his back.
"Dear lady, it was the throne of your fathers, now yours. I will seat you there. From it you can best treat with the Lord Mahommed."
Ere long some of the hordes--half a dozen or more--came to the chancel gate. They were of the rudest cla.s.s of Anatolian shepherds, clad princ.i.p.ally in half-cloaks of s.h.a.ggy goat skin. Each bore at his back a round buckler, a bow, and a clumsy quiver of feathered arrows. Awed by the splendor of the altar and its surroundings, they stopped; then, with shouts, they rushed at the tempting display, unmindful of the living spoils crouched on the floor dumb with terror. Others of a like kind reenforced them, and there was a fierce scramble. The latest comers turned to the women, and presently discovered the Princess Irene sitting upon the throne. One, more eager than the rest, was indisposed to respect the Berbers.
"Here are slaves worth having. Get your ropes," he shouted to his companions.
The Count interposed.
"Art thou a believer?" he asked in Turkish.