""Once I found out that thief No. 132, the grand vizier, wished to twist the treasurer"s neck, to get back what he had stolen. I too was then in the Turkish secret police; only a sort of No. 10, simply a fraudulent bankrupt. I had a good idea: now if I could manage to push on into the ranks of the No. 50 thieves! I went to the pasha, and revealed the secret that he was on the list of rich men whom the minister meant to strangle as conspirators, in order to secure their property. What would he give me if I saved both him and his treasures? Ali Tschorbadschi promised me a quarter of his wealth when once we should both be in safety. "Yes," said I, "but I should like to know first how much the whole comes to, for I will do nothing with my eyes shut. I am a family man--I have a son whom I should like to settle in life."" Ha! ha! The old man said it so seriously that it makes me laugh now to think of it.
"You have a son?" said the pasha to my father. "That is well; if I escape I will give my only daughter to your son, and so the whole property will remain in the family: send me your son that I may know him." By G.o.d! if I had only known then that the lovely lady with the white face and meeting brows was destined for me! Do you hear, comrade?--but I must have another drink, to drown my grief. . . . You will permit me to empty my gla.s.s to the health of your spouse, the loveliest of ladies?"
The galley-slave rose with the courtesy of a prince and drank the toast.
Then he threw himself back in his chair, and drew breath through his teeth like a man who has dined well. "My father agreed to the bargain.
"We decided," said he, "that Ali Tschorbadschi should pack his jewels in a leather bag, which I was to take with me in an English ship, which would convey me as an unsuspected person, with all my luggage, to Malta.
There I was to await Ali Tschorbadschi, who was to leave Stamboul as if on a pleasure trip, with his daughter, but without any luggage, make his way to the Piraeus, and thence by a Greek trader to Malta. The pasha showed great confidence in me. He left me alone in the treasure-chamber, so that his own visits there should not be noticed, and commissioned me to select the most precious objects and pack them in the leather bag. I could describe now all the jewels I chose. The antique gems, the girdles of pearls, rings, agraffes, a casket full of diamonds--"
""Could you not hide a few away?" asked I.
""You a.s.s"s head!" he replied, "why should I take a single diamond and become thief No. 18, when it was in my power to steal them all?"
"Aha! my old father was a clever fellow! "The devil I was! I was a moon-calf. I ought to have done as you say. I stuffed my bag full, and brought it to the pasha without arousing suspicion. He put a few rouleaux of louis d"or among the jewels in the bag, closed it with a puzzle-lock, and fastened lead seals to the four corners: then he sent me for a _caque_, that I might get quietly away. I was back in a quarter of an hour. He handed me the bag with the English steel puzzle-lock and the four lead weights. I took it under my cloak and slipped through the garden door to the boat; on the way I handled the bag and felt the agraffes, the casket, and the rouleaux. In an hour I was on board an English ship, the anchor was weighed, and we left the Golden Horn." "And you never took me," said I, with child-like reproach to my papa, "who was to marry the pasha"s lovely daughter?" "You fool!"
cried the old man, "I didn"t want you or your pasha or his lovely daughter; I never meant to wait for you at Malta: with the money given me for the journey I embarked direct for America, and the leather bag went with me. But, confound it! when I got to a safe place I took out my knife and slit the bag, and what do you think fell out of it?--copper b.u.t.tons, rusty horse-shoes, and instead of the casket full of diamonds, a stone inkstand--in the rouleaux, instead of louis d"or were heavy paras, the sort the corporals use for paying the private soldiers. The rascally thief had robbed me! In all my 133 cla.s.ses this had never occurred; there was no number for it. While I went for the boat, the thief had prepared another identical bag filled with all sorts of rubbish, and sent me with it across the ocean, while he fled in another direction with the real jewels. But look you, there is justice not only on land but by water, for the great thief ran into the net of a still greater, who robbed and murdered him." And this tip-top thief, who deprived the other of his property and his life was--you--brother of my heart--Michael Timar Levetinczy, the man of gold!" said the fugitive, as he rose and bowed mockingly.
Timar answered not a word.
"And now we will talk in a different way," said Theodor Krisstyan, "but still at three paces" distance, and without forgetting that the gun is aimed at you."
Timar looked indifferently down the muzzle of the gun. He had himself loaded it with ball.
"This discovery considerably increased the sufferings of my slavery,"
continued the adventurer. "Instead of living comfortably on Ali"s treasure, I had to drag out a miserable existence on the hateful sea.
And why? Because Michael Timar had smuggled the treasures which were intended for me from under my nose, and also the girl I should have married, the fair little savage who had grown up for me on the desolate island. Of her too Timar must needs defraud me, for he could not be happy with the wife whose father he had killed; he must needs have a mistress as well. Fy! Herr Timar. So it was for that you sent me to the galleys for fifteen years."
Blow after blow fell on Timar"s shame-stricken face. No doubt many of these accusations were false--they were not all true. He had not "killed" Timea"s father, had not "stolen" his treasures; he had not "defrauded" him of Noemi, nor "got rid of" Theodor, but on the whole he could not entirely deny the charges. He had played a false game, and thereby got mixed up in every sort of crime.
The deserter continued: "When we were lying in the Gulf of Rio Grande do Sul, yellow fever broke out on board our ship. My father caught it, and lay in the death agony beside me on the bench--no one removed him. It is not the custom; a galley-slave must die where he is chained. This was a horrible situation for me. The old man shivered with ague the whole day, he swore and gnashed his teeth. He was unbearable with his continual curses on the Blessed Virgin, which he always uttered in Hungarian. Why did he not swear in Spanish? It sounds so fine, and then the rest would have understood; and why should he swear at the Madonna? I could not put up with it--there were plenty of other saints he could have maligned; it is not the thing for an educated man, a gentleman, to speak ill of the ladies. This caused a coolness between me and my old man. Not his deadly fever, which I might catch, merely his insufferable language. Strong as were the ties which united father and son, I decided to sever them, and succeeded in escaping in company with two others. We filed our chains at night, struck down the overseer, who had seen our proceedings, and threw him into the sea; then we launched the small boat and set off. It was very rough and our boat was swamped; one of my companions could not swim, and got drowned; the other could swim, but not so well as the shark which pursued him. I only knew by his shrieks that the sea-devil had caught him and bitten him in two. I swam ash.o.r.e. How I obtained this naval uniform and the arms and money requisite for my pa.s.sage, I will tell you some other day over a gla.s.s of wine, when we have plenty of time. But now let us conclude our business; for you know we have to settle our account together."
The outcast put his hand up to the handkerchief over his eye. The slowly healing wound seemed to be an unpleasant reminder. The severe cold to which he had been exposed had not done it any good.
"I tried to get to Komorn, where I knew you had your permanent home, and went to visit you. They said in your office that you had not yet come from abroad; what country you were in no one knew. Very well, thought I, then I will wait till he returns. To pa.s.s the time, I went to the cafes, and made acquaintance with officers to whom my uniform was an introduction, and then I visited the theaters. There I saw that exquisitely beautiful lady with the marble face and the melancholy eyes--you can guess whom I mean. With her was always another fair lady--oh! what murderous eyes that one has; she is a corsair in petticoats. I began to feel my way. Once I contrived to get a seat close by the wicked angel, and paid her attentions which she received graciously: when I asked leave to wait upon her, she referred to her mistress, on whom everything depended. I spoke admiringly of that awe-inspiring Madonna, and remarked that I had known her family in Turkey, and that she resembled her mother very strongly.
""What," said the lovely lady, "you knew her mother? she died very young." "I have only seen her portrait," said I. "It portrayed just such a pale, sad face, surrounded with a double row of diamonds of great value." "You too have seen the splendid ornament then?" said she. "My mistress showed it me when Herr Timar von Levetinczy gave it to her.""
Timar clinched his fists in impotent rage.
"Aha! now we know all about it," continued the adventurer, turning to the tortured man with a cruel smile. "You gave Ali Tschorbadschi"s daughter the treasures you stole from her father. In that case the rest of the jewels must have fallen into your hands, for they were with the picture. You can no longer deny it. . . . And now we are on a level: we need not scruple to talk openly."
Timar sat there paralyzed before the man into whose hands fate had delivered him. It was unnecessary to keep his gun from him: Timar had not strength to stand.
"You kept me waiting a long time, my friend, and I began to get anxious about you; besides, my pocket-money was coming to an end. My rich aunt"s remittances, the advices from my steward, my bankers, and the admiralty, for which I daily inquired at the post-office, failed to arrive--for excellent reasons. You were highly respected wherever I went: an upright merchant, a great genius, a benefactor to the poor. Your exemplary private life was described; you were the model husband; wives would burn your body when you died and dose their husbands with your ashes. Ha!
ha!"
Timar turned away his face.
"But perhaps I weary you? Well, I am coming to business. One day I was in a bad temper, because you would not come home, and when some one mentioned you at the officers" cafe, I could not refrain from casting a doubt on the possibility of one man"s uniting so many good qualities.
Then a ruffian replied with a slap in the face: I confess I was not prepared for this; but my cheek deserved it--why had it not kept my tongue quiet? I was as sorry as a dog that I ventured to let fall a disrespectful word, and took the lesson to heart. I will never slander you again. If the box on the ear had been all, I should not so much have cared--I"m used to that; but the insolent fellow forced me to go out with him, because I had attacked your good name. As I soon learned, this madman was a lover of your Madonna when she was a girl, and now he was fighting for the honor of the Madonna"s husband. That is a piece of good luck which could only happen to you, you man of gold. But I owe you no thanks for your good fortune; again it was I who had to pay for it: I got a cut over the head right down to the eyebrow. Look!"
He thrust aside the silken bandage, under which was visible a long scar with a dirty plaster over it, the inflamed skin showing that the wound was not healed. Timar looked at it with a shudder.
Krisstyan drew the bandage over it again, and said with cynical humor, "That is _souvenir_ number three which your friendship has bestowed on me. Well, there is all the more standing to my credit. I could not remain any longer in Komorn after this; but "Stay," said I--"I know where to have him; I know where the foreign country is whither he goes in the interest of his fatherland: it is not in any unknown land--it is none other than the ownerless island. I will follow him there.""
At this Timar cried furiously, "What! you went to the island?" He trembled with rage and fear.
"Don"t jump up, young friend!" said the felon, soothingly. "This gun is loaded; if you move it might go off, and I could not answer for the consequences. Besides, calm yourself. It did you no harm for me to go there, only myself; I always have to pay the piper when you go to the ball--it"s as certain as if it were one of the ten commandments--you dance and I pay. You get into my bed, and it"s me that they throw out of window. Why did I go to the ownerless island? only to look for you. But when I got there you had left, and I found no one but Noemi and a little brat . . . oh, fy, friend Michael! who would have thought it of you?
. . . but hush! we mustn"t tell anybody. . . . Dodi he"s called, isn"t he? A fine, forward boy; but how frightened he was of me, because I had my eye bound up! It is true that Noemi was startled too, for the two were quite alone on the island. It grieved me to hear that good Mamma Therese was dead; she was so kind, she would have received me differently. Just fancy--this Noemi would not even let me come in and sit down: she said she was afraid of me, and Dodi still more so, because they were alone. "That"s just why I have come, that you may have a man in the house to protect you." By the bye, what potion have you given the girl that she has grown so pretty? Really she has become a splendid creature--it makes one"s heart laugh to look at her; I never stopped telling her so. Then she tried to make ugly faces at me; I began to jest with her. "Is it right," said I, "to make grimaces at your bridegroom?"
That did not answer; she called me a vagrant, and turned me out. "All right," I said, "I would go and take her with me," and then I put my arm round her waist." Timar"s eyes flashed fire. "Sit still, comrade; _you_ need not jump up, but I had to, for the girl fetched me a box on the ear--just about twice as hard as the one I got from the major. To be accurate, I must acknowledge that she chose the other cheek, so as to make it equal."
Timar"s face brightened.
"Then I did get angry. I am well known to be an admirer of the fair s.e.x, but this insult demanded satisfaction. "Well, I will just show you that you will come with me, if you don"t allow me to stop here. You will follow me of your own accord"--and with that I took little Dodi"s hand to lead him away.
"Devil!" cried Timar.
"Gently, gently, we can"t both speak at once; your turn will come, and then you can talk as much as you like--but hear me out. I was not quite right when I said there were only two on the island--there were three; that confounded beast Almira was there. The dog had been lying under the bed, and seemed not to notice me, but when the child began to cry, the great brute flew out at me without being asked. I had my eye on her, drew out my pistol quickly, and shot her through the body."
"Murderer!" groaned Timar.
"Nonsense! If I had no more on my conscience than that dog"s blood! and the beast was not even crippled by the ball; she made nothing of it. She only flew at me more furiously than ever, bit me in the arm, threw me down, and held me so that I could not move: in vain I tried to get at my second pistol--she held my arm in her teeth like a tiger. At last I entreated Noemi to set me free; she tried to get the beast away, but the raging fiend only sent her teeth deeper in. Then Noemi said, "Ask the child--the dog will obey him." I begged Dodi"s help. The boy is kind-hearted; he had pity on me, and put his arms round Almira; then the dog let go, and the child kissed her." A tear ran down Timar"s cheek.
"So I was provided with another memento," said Theodor Krisstyan, as he pushed his dirty, blood-stained shirt-sleeve down from his shoulder.
"Look at the mark of the dog"s bite; all three fangs went to the bone: that is memorial number four, for which I have to thank you. I bear on my skin a whole alb.u.m of wounds which I owe to you: the brand, the chain-sore, the sword-cut, and the dog"s bite--all are remembrances of your friendship. And now say, what shall I do to you that our account may be balanced?"
As the escaped prisoner said to Timar, "And now say what shall I do to you?" he stood entirely undressed before him, and Timar had to look at all the horrible wounds with which he was scarred from head to foot . . . and naked, too, the wretch"s soul stood there, and it too was full of loathsome wounds inflicted by Timar"s hand.
The man knew that Timar had played a bold game with him; and now he was at his mercy: even physically he had not power to cope with him; his limbs were as feeble as those of a man overcome with sleep. The sight of the scarred form had the unnerving effect of an evil spell. The adventurer knew it, and no longer took precautions against him. Rising from his chair, he leaned the gun in the corner and spoke over his shoulder to Timar, "Now, then, for the toilet; while I dress you you can think over your answer to my question, what I shall do with you."
With that he tossed his ragged clothes one after another into the fire, where they flared crackling up, so that the flame rushed up the chimney.
Then he began to put on Timar"s clothes in a leisurely way. On the mantel-piece he found Timar"s watch: this he put in his waistcoat-pocket, and inserted Timar"s studs in his shirt-front, finding time to arrange his hair in the gla.s.s. When he was quite ready, he threw up his head, and placed himself before the fire with outstretched legs and folded arms. "Well; now then, comrade."
Timar began to speak. "What do you require of me?"
"Aha! at last I have loosed your tongue! How if I were to say an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth? go and have a gallows-brand burned on you; wander by land and sea among sharks, Indians, jaguars, rattlesnakes, and secret police; be cut over the head by your wife"s lover, be bitten by your mistress"s dog--and then we shall begin to share alike. But you see I am not so hard on you; I won"t talk about my wounds--a dog"s bones soon mend--I will be kinder than you. I must disappear for a time; for I am wanted not only because of your money--my escape from the galleys, and the overseer I threw overboard, are not yet forgiven. Your money will do me no good till I get rid of the burn and the scar on the chin.
I shall get rid of the one with vitriol, and for the other mineral baths will be of service. I am not afraid of your putting my pursuers on my track--you are too wise for that; but foresight is the mother of wisdom.
In spite of our close friendship, it might happen that some one should give me a knock on the head in the dark, or some convenient brigands might shoot me, or a friendly gla.s.s of wine might send me the same road as Ali Tschorbadschi. No, my dear fellow, I would not even venture to ask you to fill me this wine-flask again, not even if you drank first. I shall always be on my guard."
"What do you want then?"
"How formally you talk! my company is too low for you. But first let us ask what the n.o.ble lord wants on his side. Probably that I should hold my tongue over all the secrets I have got hold of. The n.o.ble lord would perhaps not be disinclined to settle on me in return an income of a hundred thousand francs in government stock."
Timar without hesitation replied, "Yes."
The vagabond laughed. "I require no such heavy sacrifice, your honor. I told you money was no use to me at present. Such a gallows-bird, with so many bad habits, would be arrested anywhere, and then what good should I get of my income? What I want is, as I said, rest, and a place where I can remain hidden for a considerable time, and where I should meanwhile enjoy a comfortable, easy life; that is reasonable enough surely?"
With that he took the gun up again, sat down on the chair, and held the gun before him in both hands, so as to be ready to fire at any moment.
"I do not ask the hundred thousand francs at present; I only demand--the ownerless island."
Timar felt as if struck by lightning; these words roused him from his stupor. "What do you want with it?"