Alroy
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Benjamin Disraeli >> Alroy
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'Trust in the Lord,' murmured Scherirah, bending his head, with his eyes
fixed on the ground.
A loud shout was heard throughout the city. Alroy started from his
carpet. The messenger had returned. Pale and haggard, covered with sweat
and sand, the faithful envoy was borne into the amphitheatre almost upon
the shoulders of the people. In vain the guard endeavoured to stem the
passage of the multitude. They clambered up the tiers of arches,
they filled the void and crumbling seats of the antique circus, they
supported themselves upon each other's shoulders, they clung to the
capitals of the lofty columns. The whole multitude had assembled to
hear the intelligence; the scene recalled the ancient purpose of the
building, and Alroy and his fellow-warriors seemed like the gladiators
of some old spectacle.
'Speak,' said Alroy, 'speak the worst. No news can be bitter to those
whom the Lord will avenge.'
'Ruler of Israel! thus saith Hassan Subah,' answered the messenger: 'My
harem shall owe their freedom to nothing but my sword. I treat not with
rebels, but I war not with age or woman; and between Bostenay and his
household on one side, and the prisoners of thy master on the other, let
there be peace. Go, tell Alroy, I will seal it in his best blood. And
lo! thy uncle and thy sister are again in their palace.'
Alroy placed his hand for a moment to his eyes, and then instantly
resuming his self-possession, he enquired as to the movements of the
enemy.
'I have crossed the desert on a swift dromedary[54] lent to me by
Shelomi of the Gate, whose heart is with our cause. I have not tarried,
neither have I slept. Ere to-morrow's sunset the Philistines will be
here, led by Hassan Subah himself. The Lord of Hosts be with us! Since
we conquered Canaan, Israel hath not struggled with such a power!'
A murmur ran through the assembly. Men exchanged enquiring glances, and
involuntarily pressed each other's arms.
'The trial has come,' said a middle-aged Hebrew, who had fought twenty
years ago with Jabaster.
'Let me die for the Ark!' said a young enthusiast of the band of Abner.
'I thought we should get into a scrape,' whispered Kisloch the Kourd to
Calidas the Indian. 'What could have ever induced us to give up robbing
in a quiet manner?'
'And turn Jews!' said the Guebre, with a sneer.
'Look at Scherirah,' said the Negro, grinning. 'If he is not kissing the
sceptre of Solomon!'
'I wish to heaven he had only hung Alroy the first time he met him,'
said Calidas.
'Sons of the Covenant!' exclaimed Alroy, 'the Lord hath delivered them
into our hands. To-morrow eve we march to Hamadan!'
A cheer followed this exclamation.
'It is written,' said Jabaster, opening a volume, '"Lo! I will defend
this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's
sake."
'"And it came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord went out,
and smote in the camp of the Assyrians, an hundred four score and five
thousand; and when they arose early in the morning, behold! they were
all dead corpses."
'Now, as I was gazing upon the stars this morn, and reading the
celestial alphabet known to the true Cabalist,[55] behold! the star of
the house of David and seven other stars moved, and met together, and
formed into a circle. And the word they formed was a mystery to me; but
lo! I have opened the book, and each star is the initial letter of each
line of the Targum that I have now read to you. Therefore the fate of
Sennacherib is the fate of Hassan Subah!'
'_"Trust in him at all times, ye people; pour out your heart before him."
god is a refuge for us. Selah!_'
At this moment a female form appeared on the very top of the
amphitheatre, upon the slight remains of the upper most tier of which
a solitary arch alone was left. The chorus instantly died away, every
tongue was silent, every eye fixed. Hushed, mute, and immovable, even
Kisloch and his companions were appalled as they gazed upon Esther the
Prophetess.
Her eminent position, her imposing action, the flashing of her immense
eyes, her beautiful but awful countenance, her black hair, that hung
almost to her knees, and the white light of the moon, just rising over
the opposite side of the amphitheatre, and which threw a silvery flash
upon her form, and seemed to invest her with some miraculous emanation,
while all beneath her was in deep gloom,-these circumstances combined
to render her an object of universal interest and attention, while in a
powerful but high voice she thus addressed them:
'They come, they come! But will they go? Lo! hear ye this, O house of
Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of
the waters of Judah! I hear their drum in the desert, and the voice of
their trumpets is like the wind of eve, but a decree hath gone forth,
and it says, that a mortal shall be more precious than fine gold, yea, a
man than the rich ore of Ophir.
'They come, they come! But will they go? I see the flash of their
scimitars, I mark the prancing of their cruel steeds; but a decree hath
gone forth, and it says, a gleaning shall be left among them, as in
the shaking of the olive-tree; two or three berries on the top of the
uppermost bough; four or five on the straggling branches.
'They come, they come! But will they go? Lo! a decree hath gone forth,
and it says, Hamadan shall be to thee for a spoil, and desolation shall
fall upon Babylon. And there shall the wild beasts of the desert lodge,
and howling monsters shall fill their houses, and there shall the
daughters of the ostrich dwell, and there shall the screech-owl pitch
her tent, and there shall the night-raven lay her eggs, and there shall
the satyrs hold their revels. And wolves shall howl to one another in
their palaces, and dragons in their voluptuous pavilions. Her time is
near at hand; her days shall not be prolonged; the reed and the lotus
shall wither in her rivers; and the meadows by her canals shall be as
the sands of the desert. For, is it a light thing that the Lord should
send his servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the
preserved of Israel? Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break
forth into singing, O mountains, for the Lord hath comforted his people,
and will have mercy upon his afflicted!'
She ceased; she descended the precipitous side of the amphitheatre with
rapid steps, vaulting from tier to tier, and bounding with wonderful
agility from one mass of ruin to another. At length she reached the
level; and then, foaming and panting, she rushed to Alroy, threw herself
upon the ground, embraced his feet, and wiped off the dust from his
sandals with her hair.
The assembly broke into long and loud acclamations of supernatural
confidence and sanguine enthusiasm. They beheld their Messiah wave his
miraculous sceptre. They thought of Hassan Subah and his Seljuks only
as of victims, and of to-morrow only as of a day which was to commence a
new era of triumph, freedom, and empire!
Hassan Subah after five days' forced marches pitched his sumptuous
pavilion in that beautiful Oasis, which had afforded such delightful
refreshment to Alroy when a solitary pilgrim. Around for nearly a mile,
were the tents of his warriors, and of the numerous caravan that had
accompanied him, laden with water and provisions for his troops. Here,
while he reposed, he also sought information as to the position of his
enemy.
A party of observation, which he had immediately despatched, returned
almost instantly with a small caravan that had been recently plundered
by the robbers. The merchant, a venerable and pious Moslem, was ushered
into the presence of the Governor of Hamadan.
'From the robbers' haunt?' enquired Hassan.
'Unfortunately so,' answered the merchant.
'Is it far?'
'A day's journey.'
'And you quitted it?'
'Yesterday morn.'
'What is their force?'
The merchant hesitated.
'Do they not make prisoners?' enquired the Governor, casting a
scrutinising glance at his companion.
'Holy Prophet! what a miserable wretch am I!' exclaimed the venerable
merchant, bursting into tears. 'A faithful subject of the Caliph, I am
obliged to serve rebels, a devout Moslem, I am forced to aid Jews! Order
me to be hanged at once, my lord,' continued the unfortunate merchant,
wringing his hands. 'Order me to be hanged at once. I have lived long
enough.'
'What is all this?' enquired Hassan; 'speak, friend, without fear.'
'I am a faithful subject of the Caliph,' answered the merchant; 'I am a
devout Moslem, but I have lost ten thousand dirhems.'
'I am sorry for you, sir; I also have lost something, but my losses are
nothing to you, nor yours to me.'
'Accursed be the hour when these dogs tempted me! Tell me, is it sin to
break faith with a Jew?'
'On the contrary, I could find you many reverend Mollahs, who will tell
you that such a breach is the highest virtue. Come! come, I see how it
is: you have received your freedom on condition of not betraying your
merciful plunderers. Promises exacted by terror are the bugbears of
fools. Speak, man, all you know. Where are they? What is their force?
Are we supposed to be at hand?'
'I am a faithful subject of the Caliph, and I am bound to serve him,'
replied the merchant; 'I am a devout Moslem, and 'tis my duty to destroy
all Giaours, but I am also a man, and I must look after my own interest.
Noble Governor, the long and the short is, these scoundrels have robbed
me of ten thousand dirhems, as my slaves will tell you: at least, goods
to that amount. No one can prove that they be worth less. It is true
that I include in that calculation the fifty per cent. I was to make
on my shawls at Hamadan, but still to me it is as good as ten thousand
dirhems. Ask my slaves if such an assortment of shawls was ever yet
beheld.'
'To the point, to the point. The robbers?' 'I am at the point. The
shawls is the point. For when I talked of the shawls and the heaviness
of my loss, you must know that the captain of the robbers--'
'Alroy?'
'A fierce young gentleman, I do not know how they call him: said the
captain to me, "Merchant, you look gloomy." "Gloomy," I said, "you would
look gloomy if you were a prisoner, and had lost ten thousand dirhems."
"What, is this trash worth ten thousand dirhems?" said he. "With the
fifty per cent. I was to make at Hamadan." "Fifty per cent.," said he;
"you are an old knave." "Knave! I should like to hear any one call me
knave at Bagdad." "Well, knave or not, you may get out of this scrape."
"How?" "Why you are a respectable-looking man," said he, "and are a good
Moslem into the bargain, I warrant." "That I am," said I, "although you
be a Jew: but how the faith is to serve me here I am sure I don't
know, unless the angel Gabriel, as in the fifty-fifth verse of the
twenty-seventh chapter of the Koran----"'
'Tush, tush!' exclaimed Hassan; 'to the point.'
'I always am at the point, only you put me out. However, to make it
as short as possible, the captain knows all about your coming, and is
frightened out of his wits, although he did talk big; I could easily see
that. And he let me go, you see, with some of my slaves, and gave me an
order for five thousand dirhems on one Bostenay, of Hamadan (perhaps
you know him; is he a good man?), on condition that I would fall in with
you, and, Mohammed forgive me, tell you a lie!'
'A lie!'
'Yes, a lie; but these Jewish dogs do not understand what a truly
religious man is, and when I began to tell the lie, I was soon put
out. Now, noble Hassan, if a promise to a Jew be not binding on a true
believer, and you will see me straight with the five thousand dirhems, I
will betray everything at once.'
'Be easy about the five thousand dirhems, good man, and tell me all.'
'You will see me paid?'
'My honour upon it.'
''Tis well! Know then, the infamous dogs are very weak, and terrified
at the news of your progress: one, whom I think they call Jabaster, has
departed with the great majority of the people into the interior of the
desert, about seven hundred strong. I heard so; but mind, I do not
know it. The young man, whom you call Alroy, being wounded in a recent
conflict, could not depart with them, but remains among the ruins with
some female prisoners, some treasure, and about a hundred companions
hidden in sepulchres. He gave me my freedom on condition that I should
fall in with you, and assure you that the dogs, full five thousand
strong, had given you the go-by in the night, and marched towards
Hamadan. They wanted me to frighten you; it was a lie, and I could not
tell it. And now you know the plain truth; and if it be a sin to break
faith with an infidel, you are responsible for it, as well as for the
five thousand dirhems, which, by-the-bye, ought to have been ten.'
'Where is your order?'
''Tis here,' said the merchant, drawing it from his vest, 'a very
business-like document, drawn upon one Bostenay, whom they described as
very rich, and who is here enjoined to pay me five thousand dirhems, if,
in consequence of my information, Hassan Subah, that is yourself, return
forthwith to Hamadan without attacking them.'
'Old Bostenay's head shall answer for this.'
'I am glad of it. But were I you, I would make him pay me first.'
'Merchant,' said Hassan, 'have you any objection to pay another visit to
your friend Alroy?'
'Allah forbid!'
'In my company?'
'That makes a difference.'
'Be our guide. The dirhems shall be doubled.'
'That will make up for the fifty per cent. I hardly like it; but in your
company that makes a difference. Lose no time. If you push on, Alroy
must be captured. Now or never! The Jewish dogs, to rifle a true
believer!'
'Oglu,' said Hassan to one of his officers. 'To horse! You need not
strike the tents. Can we reach the city by sunset, merchant?'
'An hour before, if you be off at once.' 'Sound the drums. To horse! to
horse!' The Seljuks halted before the walls of the deserted city. Their
commander ordered a detachment to enter and reconnoitre. They returned
and reported its apparent desolation. Hassan Subah, then directing
that a guard should surround the walls to prevent any of the enemy from
escaping, passed with his warriors through the vast portal into the
silent street. The still magnificence of the strange and splendid scene
influenced the temper even of this ferocious cavalry. They gazed around
them with awe and admiration. The fierceness of their visages was
softened, the ardour of their impulse stilled. A supernatural feeling
of repose stole over their senses. No one brandished his scimitar, the
fiery courser seemed as subdued as his lord, and no sound was heard but
the melancholy, mechanical tramp of the disciplined march, unrelieved
by martial music, inviolate by oath or jest, and unbroken even by the
ostentatious caracoling of any showy steed.
It was sunset; the star of eve glittered over the white Ionian fane that
rose serene and delicate in the flashing and purple sky.
'This way, my lord!' said the merchant guide, turning round to Hassan
Subah, who, surrounded by his officers, led the van. The whole of the
great way of the city was filled with the Seljukian warriors. Their ebon
steeds, their snowy turbans, adorned with plumes of the black eagle and
the red heron, their dazzling shawls, the blaze of their armour in
the sunset, and the long undulating perspective of beautiful forms and
brilliant colours, this regiment of heroes in a street of palaces. War
had seldom afforded a more imposing or more picturesque spectacle.
'This way, my lord!' said the merchant, pointing to the narrow turning
that, at the foot of the temple, led through ruined streets to the
amphitheatre.
'Halt!' exclaimed a wild shrill voice. Each warrior suddenly arrested
his horse.
'Who spoke?' exclaimed Hassan Subah.
'I!' answered a voice. A female form stood in the portico of the temple,
with uplifted arms.
'And who art thou?' enquired Hassan Subah, not a little disconcerted.
'Thine evil genius, Seljuk!'
Hassan Subah, pale as his ivory battle-axe, did not answer; every man
within hearing shuddered; still the dread woman remained immovable
within the porch of the temple.
'Woman, witch, or goddess,' at length exclaimed Hassan Subah, 'what
wouldst thou here?'
'Seljuk! behold this star. 'Tis a single drop of light, yet who even
of thy wild band can look upon it without awe? And yet thou worse than
Sisera, thou comest to combat against those for whom even "the stars in
their courses fought."'
'A Jewish witch!' exclaimed the Seljuk.
'A Jewish witch! Be it so; behold, then, my spell falls upon thee, and
that spell is Destruction.
'Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song; arise, Barak, and
lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam!'
Immediately the sky appeared to darken, a cloud of arrows and javelins
broke from all sides upon the clevoted Seljuks: immense masses of stone
and marble were hurled from all directions, horses were stabbed by
spears impelled by invisible hands, and riders fell to the ground
without a struggle, and were trampled upon by their disordered and
affrighted brethren.
'We are betrayed,' exclaimed Hassan Subah, hurling a javelin at the
merchant, but the merchant was gone. The Seljuks raised their famous war
cry.
'Oglu, regain the desert,' ordered the chieftain.
But no sooner had the guard without the walls heard the war cry of
their companions, than, alarmed, for their safety, they rushed to their
assistance. The retreating forces of Subah, each instant diminishing as
they retreated, were baffled in their project by the very eagerness of
their auxiliaries. The unwilling contention of the two parties increased
the confusion; and when the Seljuks, recently arrived, having at length
formed into some order, had regained the gate, they found to their
dismay that the portal was barricadoed and garrisoned by the enemy.
Uninspired by the presence of their commander, who was in the rear, the
puzzled soldiers were seized with a panic, and spurring their
horses, dispersed in all directions of the city. In vain Hassan Subah
endeavoured to restore order. The moment was past. Dashing with about
thirty men to an open ground, which his quick eye had observed in his
progress down the street, and dealing destruction with every blow, the
dreaded Governor of Hamadan, like a true soldier, awaited an inevitable
fate, not wholly despairing that some chance might yet turn up to
extricate him from his forlorn situation.
And now, as it were by enchantment, wild armed men seemed to arise from
every part of the city. From every mass of ruin, from every crumbling
temple and mouldering mansion, from every catacomb and cellar, from
behind every column and every obelisk, upstarted some desperate warrior
with a bloody weapon. The massacre of the Seljuks was universal. The
horsemen dashed wildly about the ruined streets, pursued by crowds of
footmen; sometimes, formed in small companies, the Seljuks charged and
fought desperately; but, however stout might be their resistance to the
open foe, it was impossible to withstand their secret enemies. They had
no place of refuge, no power of gaining even a moment's breathing time.
If they retreated to a wall it instantly bristled with spears; if they
endeavoured to form, in a court, they sank under the falling masses
which were showered upon them. Strange shouts of denunciation blended
with the harsh braying of horns, and the clang and clash of cymbals and
tambours sounded in every quarter of the city.
'If we could only mount the walls, Ibrahim, and leap into the desert!'
exclaimed Hassan Subah to one of his few remaining comrades; ''tis our
only chance. We die here like dogs! Could I but meet Alroy!'
Three of the Seljuks dashed swiftly across the open ground in front,
followed by several Hebrew horsemen.
'Smite all, Abner. Spare none, remember Amalek,' exclaimed their
youthful leader, waving his bloody scimitar.
'They are down; one, two, there goes the third. My javelin has done for
him.'
'Your horse bleeds freely. Where's Jabaster?'
'At the gates; my arm aches with slaughter. The Lord hath delivered them
into our hands. Could I but meet their chieftain!'
'Turn, bloodhound, he is here,' exclaimed Hassan Subah.
'Away, Abner, this affair is mine.'
'Prince, you have already slain your thousands.'
'And Abner his tens of thousands. Is it so? This business is for me
only. Come on, Turk.'
'Art thou Alroy?'
'The same.'
'The slayer of Alschiroch?'
'Even so.'
'A rebel and a murderer.'
'What you please. Look to yourself.'
The Hebrew Prince flung a javelin at the Seljuk. It glanced from the
breastplate; but Hassan Subah staggered in his seat. Recovering, he
charged Alroy with great force. Their scimitars crossed, and the blade
of Hassan shivered.
'He who sold me that blade told me it was charmed, and could be broken
only by a caliph,' said Hassan Subah. 'He was a liar.'
'As it may be,' said Alroy, and he cut the Seljuk to the ground. Abner
had dispersed his comrades. Alroy leaped from his fainting steed, and,
mounting the ebon courser of his late enemy, dashed again into the
thickest of the fight.
The shades of night descended, the clamour gradually decreased, the
struggle died away. A few unhappy Moslemin who had quitted their saddles
and sought concealment among the ruins, were occasionally hunted out,
and brought forward and massacred. Long ere midnight the last of the
Seljuks had expired.[56]
The moon shed a broad light upon the street of palaces crowded with
the accumulated slain and the living victors. Fires were lit, torches
illumined, the conquerors prepared the eager meal as they sang hymns of
praise and thanksgiving.
A procession approached. Esther the prophetess, clashing her cymbals,
danced before the Messiah of Israel, who leant upon his victorious
scimitar, surrounded by Jabaster, Abner, Scherirah, and his chosen
chieftains. Who could now doubt the validity of his mission? The
wide and silent desert rang with the acclamations of his enthusiastic
votaries.
Heavily the anxious hours crept on in the Jewish quarter of Hamadan.
Again and again the venerable Bostenay discussed the chances of success
with the sympathising but desponding elders. Miriam was buried in
constant prayer. Their most sanguine hopes did not extend beyond the
escape of their Prince.
A fortnight had elapsed, and no news had been received of the progress
of the expedition, when suddenly, towards sunset, a sentinel on a
watch-tower announced the appearance of an armed force in the distance.
The walls were instantly lined with the anxious inhabitants, the streets
and squares filled with curious crowds. Exultation sat on the triumphant
brow of the Moslemin; a cold tremor stole over the fluttering heart of
the Hebrew.
'There is but one God,' said the captain of the gate.
'And Mahomed is His prophet,' responded a sentinel.
'To-morrow we will cut off the noses of all these Jewish dogs.'
'The sceptre has departed,' exclaimed the despairing Bostenay.
'Lord, remember David!' whispered Miriam, as she threw herself upon the
court of the palace, and buried her face in ashes.
The Mollahs in solemn procession advanced to the ramparts, to shed their
benediction on the victorious Hassan Subah. The Muezzin ascended the
minarets to watch the setting sun, and proclaim the power of Allah with
renewed enthusiasm.
'I wonder if Alroy be dead or alive,' said the captain of the gate.
'If he be alive, he will be impaled,' responded a sentinel.
'If dead, the carcass will be given to the dogs,' rejoined the captain;
'that is the practice.'
'Bostenay will be hung,' said the sentinel.
'And his niece, too,' answered the captain.
'Hem!' said the sentinel. 'Hassan Subah loves a black eye.'
'I hope a true Moslem will not touch a Jewess,' exclaimed an indignant
black eunuch.
'They approach. What a dust!' said the captain of the gate.
'I see Hassan Subah!' said the sentinel.
'So do I,' said the eunuch, 'I know his black horse.'
'I wonder how many dirhems old Bostenay is worth,' said the captain.
'Immense!' said the sentinel.
'No plunder, I suppose?' said the eunuch.
'We shall see,' said the captain; 'at any rate, I owe a thousand to old
Shelomi. We need not pay now, you know.'
'Certainly not,' said the black eunuch. 'The rebels.'
A body of horsemen dashed forward. Their leader in advance reined in his
fiery charger beneath the walls.
'In the name of the Prophet, who is that?' exclaimed the captain of the
gate, a little confused.
'I never saw him before,' said the sentinel, 'although he is in the
Seljuk dress. 'Tis some one from Bagdad, I guess.'
A trumpet sounded.
'Who keeps the gate?' called out the warrior.
'I am the captain of the gate,' answered our friend.
'Open it, then, to the King of Israel.'
'To whom?' enquired the astonished captain.
'To King David. The Lord hath delivered Hassan Subah and his host into
our hands, and of all the proud Seljuks none remaineth. Open thy gates,
I say, and lose no time. I am Jabaster, a lieutenant of the Lord; this
scimitar is my commission. Open thy gates, and thou and thy people shall
have that mercy which they have never shown; but if thou delayest one
instant, thus saith the King our master, "I will burst open your portal,
and smite, and utterly destroy all that you have, and spare them not;
but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel
and ass."'
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