The Wanderer (39 page)

Meanwhile the questioning went on, and to the people’s great delight two deserters found skulking in a tavern were hanged at once. Five suspects who had been too free with their money were put to the torture. Their howling penetrated the massive stone walls and could be heard out in the market place. It was not long before proclamation was made from the doors of the town hall that these five had confessed to having been bribed by the Aga of Janissaries to return

and fire the city, and in the confusion open the gates to the Turks.

To pacify the people the five men were dragged into the market place—for they could no longer walk—to be broken on the wheel and then quartered; their dismembered bodies were then impaled on stakes in the sight of all. When these stakes were set up I felt very cold and spewed up my wine, and in a faint voice I pleaded with Andy to take me away.

But the crowd was now in an ugly mood. Men looked askance at one another and soldiers began shouting that the Jews must be in league with the Sultan since they had crucified our Lord. They set upon a terrified Jew who had strayed by chance into the market place, stoning him and hurling him to the ground to kick his yellow face,. before streaming away toward the ghetto.

Heedless of my pitiable state Andy gripped my arm and soon we found ourselves before the barred gate of the City of Affliction, which from what we could see well deserved its name. Sunlight could never penetrate the stinking alleyways, all doors and windows were shut, and not a living soul was to be seen. As soon as the soldiers began breaking into the houses the rabbis and elders who had fled to the cellars sent a swift messenger by secret ways to the Christian duke, to offer him the customary protection money.

When the officers had allowed their men to wreck the houses, throw out and smash the furniture, and violate two luckless Jewesses, they sent mounted men to put an end to the tumult and drive the excited mob back into the city. The horsemen took their time over this and addressed the pillagers in a friendly tone, explaining that while they would not seem to defend the butchers of Christ, yet it was wise to let them survive because they were useful, and a Christian could always squeeze a few coins from them at need. Meanwhile Andy and I hid ourselves under some straw in a stable, and having emptied the last drops from a little Hungarian keg he had brought with him from camp, we sank into the deep sleep of exhaustion.

It was night when we woke, but the Jews were still singing songs of lamentation and strewing ashes in their hair as they examined their ravaged dwellings. So mournful and eerie was the sound in the darkness of night that cold shudders ran down my spine, but Andy said, “That’s an old song. I’ve heard it in every Christian city where Imperial troops have been quartered. Let us seek out Aaron, for hunger rumbles in my belly.”

I went with him to the house whence came the terrible lamentation, but the singing died away when we appeared among the crouching figures and asked for Aaron. I believe they were accustomed to the sudden arrival of strangers in their midst at night, for they were not at all alarmed. Having assured themselves that we were to be trusted they opened a secret trap door and took us down into a cellar, from which through evil-smelling underground passages we came to Aaron’s house.
 

Aaron was an emaciated man with an expression of suffering. He seemed unsurprised at the sight of Ibrahim’s ring, but kissed it reverently. Bowing deeply before us, he said, “We hoped for a miracle from Jehovah and believed that the new Solomon would ride into the city on a white horse; we would have welcomed him with green boughs, as a conqueror. But Jehovah would not have it so.”
 

He rubbed the diamond against the sleeve of his black kaftan and admired its brilliance in the light of a smoking oil lamp. Then he sighed, “Keep the ring, if you think it safer with you than with me. I should only send it back to the Grand Vizier, for I can do nothing in this matter.”
 

We spent the night in Aaron’s house and the following day also, for we did not know what else to do. But with the approach of night—the night which the Grand Vizier had appointed for the fire—Andy said, “I should like to do at least something to deserve the ring that Aaron refuses to take, and am weary of being cooped up in this miserable house. Let us go back into the city, brother Michael, and inspect the King’s powder magazine and grain
store. Perhaps we could manage at least a small fire, though the Grand Vizier can have little use for it now.”
 

To avoid the soldiers posted at the gates of the ghetto, we crept out of the place through the sewers, according to Aaron’s directions. I should mention that this honest Jew refused to take a penny for his help and protection, and merely begged us to speak a good word for him to the Grand Vizier. We found that the powder magazine and the duke’s stables were guarded by numerous sentries; we had no chance, therefore, of starting even the most innocent little fire and so fulfilling in part our promise to the Seraskier.
 

In the market place a great crowd of women had assembled about the cooking pots from which compassionate monks were distributing food to the fugitives, who would otherwise have perished from hunger. But on the doorstep of a deserted house I saw a young girl; she had thrown her petticoat over her head and was rocking silently to and fro. Her mute distress so moved me that I spoke to her and offered alms; but she looked up and retorted sharply that she was no trollop to be bought with money. I was startled to see how beautiful she was and to learn that she was one of those who thanks to Andy had escaped from the Turkish camp. She recognized us too, and with a cry of surprise asked how we had come off with our lives, when all other escaped prisoners had been hanged for deserters.

I begged her to be silent for the love of God, and not attract the attention of the guards, for our lives were now in her hands. She was very lovely, though her hair was soaked with rain and her clothes tattered and muddy. We learned that she and her parents had fled from Hungary—where her father owned an estate near the Transil- vanian border—to join King Ferdinand, but during their flight to Vienna the akindshas slew all the household save herself, whom they led away into slavery.

When she told her name and sought protection with the military authorities in Vienna, she was received with scorn and her dead father reviled as a rebellious Hungarian. Every Hungarian herd maid, they told her, who escaped from the Turks became a nobleman’s daughter as soon as she entered Vienna. However, for her beauty’s sake one of the court gentlemen promised to take pity on her and sleep with her regularly, provided she would enroll herself among the prostitutes and earn her bread honestly like other fugitives. Twice, because of her hunger, she had spoken to soldiers in the street and begged them for the love of God to give her food and shelter. But these men, having eagerly promised their help, merely led her into some side alley to debauch her, and then left her lying in the mire. She said, “I would give anything to return to my home and seek the protection of the Turks and King Zapolya.
Perhaps he would let me keep my father’s estate since I am the only survivor, and then marry me to one of his followers. Not even Turks could treat me as badly as Christians do.”
 

Just then heavy raindrops began falling. Andy looked up at the murky clouds and said, “We’re in for a sharp storm, so let’s seek shelter. There we can discuss the matter further, my fair young lady, for your youth and your distress have cut me to the heart.”
 

But the poor girl crossed herself and vowed that never again would she go with strange men into alleyways, but would rather perish of cold and hunger where she sat. But we reassured her so earnestly and the rain came down so hard that after anguished hesitation she agreed to go with us. With lowered eyes she told us in a faint voice that her name was Eva, and gave her family name also, but it was one of those heathen Hungarian words that no one can pronounce. We knocked at the doors of many houses but no one would let us in. Fortunately we met one of the hucksters who supplied the
landsfaechts,
pushing his handcart along the street and looking about for shelter. He sold us bread, meat, and cheese and told us of a respectable brothel—the only place where we could be safe from the provost marshal’s men, as the mistress of it paid the marshal a substantial sum to be allowed to carry on her business in peace.
 

The brothel keeper received us cordially as soon as she saw that we were well supplied with money, nor did she try to foist her own girls upon us. Judging by the noise, they were busy enough already. She gave us a clean attic room with the assurance that no one would disturb us before the morning; she even lit the fire so that we might dry our clothes. In return, and to ensure that she would not inform against us, we bought a pitcher of wine from her at an exorbitant price. Brothel keepers are as trustworthy in business matters as Jews, and for the same reason—their lives depend upon it. Not that fools cannot lose their money there as easily as anywhere else, and even be thrown into the street in their underclothes with a chamber pot over them for good measure. Such things must happen when one fails to observe the customs of the house.

We ate, drank, and warmed ourselves, and when Andy and I had removed our clothes to dry them at the stove, our companion ventured to do the same, retaining only one of her petticoats. Although her clothes were torn I saw that they were of durable and costly stuff, which went far to strengthen my belief in her story. I lent her my comb, and now that wine had brought color to her cheeks I saw that she was an unusually charming, bright-eyed, and clear-skinned beauty. Andy, too, when he had eaten, gazed long at her while the rain drummed on the roof above our heads. At length he said, “Your other petticoats will be dry by now, and you’d better put them on. The Scriptures tell us not to lead one another into temptation, and I should be loath for my thoughts to go astray because of your bare shoulders.”

Yet he gazed with ever increasing rapture at the lovely girl, who had evidently been well brought up, for she kept her long-lashed eyes modestly lowered and ate very delicately. As he gazed his eyes grew rounder and he began to fidget and breathe heavily. I had never seen Andy so discomposed in the presence of a woman. He drummed on his knees, clawed at his neck, or scratched his back; for a time he strove to keep his hands demurely folded and when all else failed he thrust them resolutely beneath him and sat upon them with all his weight. Feeling that he had eaten and rested enough I said, “I fancy I hear the vesper bell, so now is our last chance to carry out our plans.”

At that moment a violent thunderclap resounded above our heads; heaven’s sluice gates were opened and hailstones the size of pigeons’ eggs clattered upon the dripping roofs and flooded streets. After listening to this din for a while Andy said with a sigh of relief, “It was not Allah’s will. This deluge would quench the fiercest fire in a moment and had we foreseen it we need never have come to this devil-ridden city.”

The storm showed no sign of abating, and indeed grew more violent. For some reason I was beginning to feel much irked by Andy’s presence, and I said, “Perhaps it would be well if you stood guard outside the door, for this shy and charming girl would no doubt like to discuss with me in private how best we may help in her great need.”

I believe my intentions were of the best, but the girl misunderstood me, and catching Andy by the arm with both hands she cried in a fright, “Dear Master Andrew, I beg you not to leave me alone with your brother, for he glares at me like a wolf and I trust no one any more.”

Andy reddened, shook his fist at me, and then lifting the girl gently on to his knee he put his forefinger under her chin and said, “Have no fear, noble Mistress Eva. Trust me, and if Allah wills it I will take you safely back to your homeland. I should tell you that my brother and I are in the Turkish service and we too are trying to get away from this vile city.”

The girl did not struggle in his embrace, but looked straight into his round gray eyes and said, “Though you were kalmucks, devils, or sorcerers I would go with you rather than stay here. The Turks have treated me more mercifully than the Christians, and in these few days I’ve conceived such a loathing of Christendom that I can well understand how a brave man might rather serve the Sultan than King Ferdinand. I’ve admired you since I first saw you among the prisoners, for your strength and chivalry and kind heart. You’re no doubt of noble German birth, since you speak that hateful language so well.”

Drops of sweat stood on Andy’s brow as he replied, “I learned the language on my campaigns, and only your kindness could call my camp talk good German. I was born in the wilds, in a land of fir trees and wolves and bears, and no prince ever had the wit to bestow on me the spurs of knighthood. Yet in the Sultan’s army I wear the heron’s feather plume of the master gunner, which surely more than equals a pair of gilded spurs.”

Mistress Eva, gladdened by these words, leaned her dark head trustfully on Andy’s shoulder. Presently he lifted her from his knee and laid her gently on the edge of the bed, where he stood for a time bending over her and sighing.

“Ah, how warm you were in my arms, Mistress Eva! Your rosy cheeks are smooth and downy as peaches and to me you’re fairer than the moon.”

Mistress Eva lowered her eyes and said in deprecation, “No, I’m not beautiful. I’m but a helpless orphan, and not even at King Zapolya’s court have I any protector to win back for me my father’s estates.”

Andy pressed both hands to his chest and quivered like a tree about to fall.

“Allah be gracious to me!” he whispered. “This must have been written in the book of fate long before my birth. Tell me, how big are your estates? How many horses and cattle have you? Are the buildings in good repair? And what is the soil?”

Horrified at the turn things were taking I prepared to leave them, beseeching Andy in our own language to have his way with her at once rather than commit himself with such rash talk. But he implored me to remain, saying that he had known nothing like this before and was at a loss what to say to her, and that I must be his spokesman. Mistress Eva looked at us in bewilderment, but meekly replied to Andy’s questions. “My father told me little of his affairs, but our estates were big enough for modest landed gentry like ourselves to live upon. We had wet and dry soil, clay and sand. We had forests, and game in plenty. It took a day and a night to travel from end to end of our land, though my father was constantly going to law with his neighbors whom he accused of shifting the boundary stones and allowing their flocks to graze on his pastures. I suppose we had some hundred thousand sheep, a thousand horses, and a few cattle. At any rate my father’s Jewish intendant gave him money whenever he asked for it.”