Alroy, Benjamin Disraeli [red queen ebook .TXT] 📗

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."'

'Call forth the venerable Lord Bostenay,' said the captain of the gate, with chattering teeth. 'He will intercede for us.'

'And the gentle Lady Miriam,' said the sentinel. 'She is ever charitable.'

'I will head the procession,' said the black eunuch; 'I am accustomed to women.'

The procession of Mollahs shuffled back to their college with profane precipitation; the sun set, and the astounded Muezzin stood with their mouths open, and quite forgot to announce the power of their Deity, and the validity of their Prophet. The people all called out for the venerable Lord Bostenay and the gentle Lady Miriam, and ran in crowds to see who could first kiss the hem of their garments.

The principal gate of Hamadan opened into the square of the great mosque. Here the whole population of the city appeared assembled. The gates were thrown open; Jabaster and his companions mounted guard. The short twilight died away, the shades of night descended. The minarets were illumined,[57] the houses hung with garlands, the ramparts covered with tapestry and carpets.

A clang of drums, trumpets, and cymbals announced the arrival of the Hebrew army. The people shouted, the troops without responded with a long cheer of triumph. Amid the blaze of torches, a youth waving his scimitar, upon a coal-black steed, bounded into the city, at the head of his guards, the people fell upon their knees, and shouted 'Long live Alroy!'

A venerable man, leading a beauteous maiden with downcast eyes, advanced. They headed a deputation of the chief inhabitants of the city. They came to solicit mercy and protection. At the sight of them, the youthful warrior leaped from his horse, flung away his scimitar, and clasping the maiden in his arms, exclaimed, 'Miriam, my sister, this, this indeed is triumph!'

'Drink,' said Kisloch the Kourd to Calidas the Indian; 'you forget, comrade, we are no longer Moslemin.'

'Wine, methinks, has a peculiarly pleasant flavour in a golden cup,' said the Guebre. 'I got this little trifle to-day in the Bazaar,' he added, holding up a magnificent vase studded with gems.

'I thought plunder was forbidden,' grinned the Negro.

'So it is,' replied the Guebre; 'but we may purchase what we please, upon credit.'

'Well, for my part, I am a moderate man,' exclaimed Calidas the Indian, 'and would not injure even these accursed dogs of Turks. I have not cut my host's throat, but only turned him into my porter, and content myself with his harem, his baths, his fine horses, and other little trifles.'

'What quarters we are in! There is nothing like a true Messiah!' exclaimed Kisloch, devoutly.

'Nothing,' said Calidas; 'though to speak truth, I did not much believe in the efficacy of Solomon's sceptre, till his Majesty clove the head of the valiant Seljuk with it.'

'But now there's no doubt of it,' said the Guebre.

'We should indeed be infidels if we doubted now,' replied the Indian.

'How lucky,' grinned the Negro, 'as I had no religion before, that I have now fixed upon the right one!'

'Most fortunate!' said the Guebre. 'What shall we do to amuse ourselves to-night?'

'Let us go to the coffee-houses and make the Turks drink wine,' said Calidas the Indian.

'What say you to burning down a mosque?' said Kisloch the Kourd.

'I had great fun with some Dervishes this morning,' said the Guebre. 'I met one asking alms with a wire run through his cheek,[58] so I caught another, bored his nose, and tied them both together!'

'Hah! hah! hah!' burst the Negro.

Asia resounded with the insurrection of the Jews, and the massacre of the Seljuks. Crowds of Hebrews, from the rich cities of Persia and the populous settlements on the Tigris and the Euphrates, hourly poured into Hamadan.

The irritated Moslemin persecuted the brethren of the successful rebel, and this impolicy precipitated their flight. The wealth of Bagdad flowed into the Hebrew capital. Seated on the divan of Hassan Subah, and wielding the sceptre of Solomon, the King of Israel received the homage of his devoted subjects, and despatched his envoys to Syria and to Egypt. The well-stored magazines and arsenals of Hamadan soon converted the pilgrims into warriors. The city was unable to accommodate the increased and increasing population. An extensive camp, under the command of Abner, was formed without the walls, where the troops were daily disciplined, and where they were prepared for greater exploits than a skirmish in a desert.

Within a month after the surrender of Hamadan, the congregation of the people assembled in the square of the great mosque, now converted into a synagogue. The multitude was disposed in ordered ranks, and the terrace of every house was crowded. In the centre of the square was an altar of cedar and brass, and on each side stood a company of priests guarding the victims, one young bullock, and two rams without blemish.

Amid the flourish of trumpets, the gates of the synagogue opened, and displayed to the wondering eyes of the Hebrews a vast and variegated pavilion planted in the court. The holy remnant, no longer forlorn, beheld that tabernacle of which they had so long dreamed, once more shining in the sun, with its purple and scarlet hangings, its curtains of rare skins, and its furniture of silver and gold.

A procession of priests advanced, bearing, with staves of cedar, run through rings of gold, a gorgeous ark, the work of the most cunning artificers of Persia. Night and day had they laboured, under the direction of Jabaster, to produce this wondrous spectacle. Once more the children of Israel beheld the cherubim. They burst into a triumphant hymn of thanksgiving, and many drew their swords, and cried aloud to be led against the Canaanites.

From the mysterious curtains of the tabernacle, Alroy came forward, leading Jabaster. They approached the altar. And Alroy took robes from the surrounding priests, and put them upon Jabaster, and a girdle, and a breastplate of jewels. And Alroy took a mitre, and placed it upon the head of Jabaster, and upon the mitre he placed a crown; and pouring oil upon his head, the pupil anointed the master High Priest of Israel.

The victims were slain, the sin-offering burnt. Amid clouds of incense, bursts of music, and the shouts of a devoted people; amid odour, and melody, and enthusiasm, Alroy mounted his charger, and at the head of twenty thousand men, departed to conquer Media.

The extensive and important province of Aderbijan, of which Hamadan was the capital, was formed of the ancient Media. Its fate was decided by one battle. On the plain of Nehauend, Alroy met the hastily-raised levies of the Atabek of Kermanshah, and entirely routed them. In the course of a month, every city of the province had acknowledged the supremacy of the new Hebrew monarch, and, leaving Abner to complete the conquest of Louristan, Alroy entered Persia.

The incredible and irresistible progress of Alroy roused Togrul, the Turkish Sultan of Persia, from the luxurious indolence of the palaces of Nishapur. He summoned his emirs to meet him at the imperial city of Rhey, and crush, by one overwhelming effort, the insolent rebel.

Religion, valour, and genius, alike inspired the arms of Alroy, but he was, doubtless, not a little assisted by the strong national sympathy of his singular and scattered people, which ever ensured him prompt information of all the movements of his enemy. Without any preparation, he found agents in every court, and camp, and cabinet; and, by their assistance, he anticipated the designs of his adversaries, and turned even their ingenuity to their confusion. The imperial city of Rhey was surprised in the night, sacked, and burnt to the ground. The scared and baffled emirs who escaped, flew to the Sultan Togrul, tearing their beards, and prophesying the approaching termination of the world. The palaces of Nishapur resounded with the imprecations of their master, who, cursing the Jewish dogs, and vowing a pilgrimage to Mecca, placed himself at the head of a motley multitude of warriors, and rushed upon the plains of Irak, to exterminate Alroy.

The Persian force exceeded the Hebrew at least five times in number. Besides a large division of Seljuks, the Caucasus had poured forth its strange inhabitants to swell the ranks of the Faithful. The wild tribes of the Bactiari