BOOK VII: THE EMPIRE OF THE AIR
FROM THE REPORT OF CRISTOFEROS, WAR-SCRIBE TO THE NATIONAL COUNCIL.
July 7, 1907.
When the Gospodar Rupert and Captain Rooke came within hailing
distance of the strange ship, the former hailed her, using one after
another the languages of England, Germany, France, Russia, Turkey,
Greece, Spain, Portugal, and another which I did not know; I think it
must have been American. By this time the whole line of the bulwark
was covered by a row of Turkish faces. When, in Turkish, the
Gospodar asked for the Captain, the latter came to the gangway, which
had been opened, and stood there. His uniform was that of the
Turkish navy--of that I am prepared to swear--but he made signs of
not understanding what had been said; whereupon the Gospodar spoke
again, but in French this time. I append the exact conversation
which took place, none other joining in it. I took down in shorthand
the words of both as they were spoken:
THE GOSPODAR. "Are you the Captain of this ship?"
THE CAPTAIN. "I am."
GOSPODAR. "To what nationality do you belong?"
CAPTAIN. "It matters not. I am Captain of this ship."
GOSPODAR. "I alluded to your ship. What national flag is she
under?"
CAPTAIN (throwing his eye over the top-hamper). "I do not see that
any flag is flying."
GOSPODAR. "I take it that, as commander, you can allow me on board
with my two companions?"
CAPTAIN. "I can, upon proper request being made!"
GOSPODAR (taking off his cap). "I ask your courtesy, Captain. I am
the representative and accredited officer of the National Council of
the Land of the Blue Mountains, in whose waters you now are; and on
their account I ask for a formal interview on urgent matters."
The Turk, who was, I am bound to say, in manner most courteous as
yet, gave some command to his officers, whereupon the companion-
ladders and stage were lowered and the gangway manned, as is usual
for the reception on a ship of war of an honoured guest.
CAPTAIN. "You are welcome, sir--you and your two companions--as you
request."
The Gospodar bowed. Our companion-ladder was rigged on the instant,
and a launch lowered. The Gospodar and Captain Rooke--taking me with
them--entered, and rowed to the warship, where we were all honourably
received. There were an immense number of men on board, soldiers as
well as seamen. It looked more like a warlike expedition than a
fighting-ship in time of peace. As we stepped on the deck, the
seamen and marines, who were all armed as at drill, presented arms.
The Gospodar went first towards the Captain, and Captain Rooke and I
followed close behind him. The Gospodar spoke:
"I am Rupert Sent Leger, a subject of his Britannic Majesty,
presently residing at Vissarion, in the Land of the Blue Mountains.
I am at present empowered to act for the National Council in all
matters. Here is my credential!" As he spoke he handed to the
Captain a letter. It was written in five different languages--
Balkan, Turkish, Greek, English, and French. The Captain read it
carefully all through, forgetful for the moment that he had seemingly
been unable to understand the Gospodar's question spoken in the
Turkish tongue. Then he answered:
"I see the document is complete. May I ask on what subject you wish
to see me?"
GOSPODAR. "You are here in a ship of war in Blue Mountain waters,
yet you fly no flag of any nation. You have sent armed men ashore in
your boats, thus committing an act of war. The National Council of
the Land of the Blue Mountains requires to know what nation you
serve, and why the obligations of international law are thus broken."
The Captain seemed to wait for further speech, but the Gospodar
remained silent; whereupon the former spoke.
CAPTAIN. "I am responsible to my own--chiefs. I refuse to answer
your question."
The Gospodar spoke at once in reply.
GOSPODAR. "Then, sir, you, as commander of a ship--and especially a
ship of war--must know that in thus violating national and maritime
laws you, and all on board this ship, are guilty of an act of piracy.
This is not even piracy on the high seas. You are not merely within
territorial waters, but you have invaded a national port. As you
refuse to disclose the nationality of your ship, I accept, as you
seem to do, your status as that of a pirate, and shall in due season
act accordingly."
CAPTAIN (with manifest hostility). "I accept the responsibility of
my own acts. Without admitting your contention, I tell you now that
whatever action you take shall be at your own peril and that of your
National Council. Moreover, I have reason to believe that my men who
were sent ashore on special service have been beleaguered in a tower
which can be seen from the ship. Before dawn this morning firing was
heard from that direction, from which I gather that attack was made
on them. They, being only a small party, may have been murdered. If
such be so, I tell you that you and your miserable little nation, as
you call it, shall pay such blood-money as you never thought of. I
am responsible for this, and, by Allah! there shall be a great
revenge. You have not in all your navy--if navy you have at all--
power to cope with even one ship like this, which is but one of many.
My guns shall be trained on Ilsin, to which end I have come inshore.
You and your companions have free conduct back to port; such is due
to the white flag which you fly. Fifteen minutes will bring you back
whence you came. Go! And remember that whatever you may do amongst
your mountain defiles, at sea you cannot even defend yourselves."
GOSPODAR (slowly and in a ringing voice). "The Land of the Blue
Mountains has its own defences on sea and land. Its people know how
to defend themselves."
CAPTAIN (taking out his watch). "It is now close on five bells. At
the first stroke of six bells our guns shall open fire."
GOSPODAR (calmly). "It is my last duty to warn you, sir--and to warn
all on this ship--that much may happen before even the first stroke
of six bells. Be warned in time, and give over this piratical
attack, the very threat of which may be the cause of much bloodshed."
CAPTAIN (violently). "Do you dare to threaten me, and, moreover, my
ship's company? We are one, I tell you, in this ship; and the last
man shall perish like the first ere this enterprise fail. Go!"
With a bow, the Gospodar turned and went down the ladder, we
following him. In a couple of minutes the yacht was on her way to
the port.
FROM RUPERT'S JOURNAL.
July 10, 1907.
When we turned shoreward after my stormy interview with the pirate
Captain--I can call him nothing else at present, Rooke gave orders to
a quartermaster on the bridge, and The Lady began to make to a little
northward of Ilsin port. Rooke himself went aft to the wheel-house,
taking several men with him.
When we were quite near the rocks--the water is so deep here that
there is no danger--we slowed down, merely drifting along southwards
towards the port. I was myself on the bridge, and could see all over
the decks. I could also see preparations going on upon the warship.
Ports were opened, and the great guns on the turrets were lowered for
action. When we were starboard broadside on to the warship, I saw
the port side of the steering-house open, and Rooke's men sliding out
what looked like a huge grey crab, which by tackle from within the
wheel-house was lowered softly into the sea. The position of the
yacht hid the operation from sight of the warship. The doors were
shut again, and the yacht's pace began to quicken. We ran into the
port. I had a vague idea that Rooke had some desperate project on
hand. Not for nothing had he kept the wheel-house locked on that
mysterious crab.
All along the frontage was a great crowd of eager men. But they had
considerately left the little mole at the southern entrance, whereon
was a little tower, on whose round top a signal-gun was placed, free
for my own use. When I was landed on this pier I went along to the
end, and, climbing the narrow stair within, went out on the sloping
roof. I stood up, for I was determined to show the Turks that I was
not afraid for myself, as they would understand when the bombardment
should begin. It was now but a very few minutes before the fatal
hour--six bells. But all the same I was almost in a state of
despair. It was terrible to think of all those poor souls in the
town who had done nothing wrong, and who were to be wiped out in the
coming blood-thirsty, wanton attack. I raised my glasses to see how
preparations were going on upon the warship.
As I looked I had a momentary fear that my eyesight was giving way.
At one moment I had the deck of the warship focussed with my glasses,
and could see every detail as the gunners waited for the word to
begin the bombardment with the great guns of the barbettes. The next
I saw nothing but the empty sea. Then in another instant there was
the ship as before, but the details were blurred. I steadied myself
against the signal-gun, and looked again. Not more than two, or at
the most three, seconds had elapsed. The ship was, for the moment,
full in view. As I looked, she gave a queer kind of quick shiver,
prow and stern, and then sideways. It was for all the world like a
rat shaken in the mouth of a skilled terrier. Then she remained
still, the one placid thing to be seen, for all around her the sea
seemed to shiver in little independent eddies, as when water is
broken without a current to guide it.
I continued to look, and when the deck was, or seemed, quite still--
for the shivering water round the ship kept catching my eyes through
the outer rays of the lenses--I noticed that nothing was stirring.
The men who had been at the guns were all lying down; the men in the
fighting-tops had leaned forward or backward, and their arms hung
down helplessly. Everywhere was desolation--in so far as life was
concerned. Even a little brown bear, which had been seated on the
cannon which was being put into range position, had jumped or fallen
on deck, and lay there stretched out--and still. It was evident that
some terrible shock had been given to the mighty war-vessel. Without
a doubt or a thought why I did so, I turned my eyes towards where The
Lady lay, port broadside now to the inside, in the harbour mouth. I
had the key now to the mystery of Rooke's proceedings with the great
grey crab.
As I looked I saw just outside the harbour a thin line of cleaving
water. This became more marked each instant, till a steel disc with
glass eyes that shone in the light of the sun rose above the water.
It was about the size of a beehive, and was shaped like one. It made
a straight line for the aft of the yacht. At the same moment, in
obedience to some command, given so quietly that I did not hear it,
the men went below--all save some few, who began to open out doors in
the port side of the wheel-house. The tackle was run out through an
opened gangway on that side, and a man stood on the great hook at the
lower end, balancing himself by hanging on the chain. In a few
seconds he came up again. The chain tightened and the great grey
crab rose over the edge of the deck, and was drawn into the wheel-
house, the doors of which were closed, shutting in a few only of the
men.
I waited, quite quiet. After a space of a few minutes, Captain Rooke
in his uniform walked out of the wheel-house. He entered a small
boat, which had been in the meantime lowered for the purpose, and was
rowed to the steps on the mole. Ascending these, he came directly
towards the signal-tower. When he had ascended and stood beside me,
he saluted.
"Well?" I asked.
"All well, sir," he answered. "We shan't have any more trouble with
that lot, I think. You warned that pirate--I wish he had been in
truth a clean, honest, straightforward pirate, instead of the measly
Turkish swab he was--that something might occur before the first
stroke of six bells. Well, something has occurred, and for him and
all his crew that six bells will never sound. So the Lord fights for
the Cross against the Crescent! Bismillah. Amen!" He said this in
a manifestly formal way, as though declaiming a ritual. The next
instant he went on in the thoroughly practical conventional way which
was usual to him:
"May I ask a favour, Mr. Sent Leger?"
"A thousand, my dear Rooke," I said. "You can't ask me anything
which I shall not freely grant. And I speak within my brief from the
National Council. You have saved Ilsin this day, and the Council
will thank you for it in due time."
"Me, sir?" he said, with a look of surprise on his face which seemed
quite genuine. "If you think that, I am well out of it. I was
afraid, when I woke, that you might court-martial me!"
"Court-martial you! What for?" I asked, surprised in my turn.
"For going to sleep on duty, sir! And the fact is, I was worn out in
the attack on the Silent Tower last night, and when you had your
interview with the pirate--all good pirates forgive me for the
blasphemy! Amen!--and I knew that everything was going smoothly, I
went into the wheel-house and took forty winks." He said all this
without moving so much as an eyelid, from which I gathered that he
wished absolute silence to be observed on my part. Whilst I was
revolving this in my mind he went on:
"Touching that request, sir. When I have left you and the Voivode--
and the Voivodin, of course--at Vissarion, together with such others
as you may choose to bring there with you, may I bring the yacht back
here for a spell? I rather think that there is a good deal of
cleaning up to be done, and the crew of The Lady with myself are the
men to do it. We shall be back by nightfall at the creek."
"Do as you think best, Admiral Rooke," I said.
"Admiral?"
"Yes, Admiral. At present I can only say that tentatively, but by
to-morrow I am sure the National Council will have confirmed it. I
am afraid, old friend, that your squadron will be only your flagship
for the present; but later we may do better."
"So long as I am Admiral, your honour, I shall have no other flagship
than The Lady. I am not a young man, but, young or old, my pennon
shall float over no other deck. Now, one other favour, Mr. Sent
Leger? It is a corollary of the first, so I do not hesitate to ask.
May I appoint Lieutenant Desmond, my present First Officer, to the
command of the battleship? Of course, he will at first only command
the prize crew; but in such case he will fairly expect the
confirmation of his rank later. I had better, perhaps, tell you,
sir, that he is a very capable seaman, learned in all the sciences
that pertain to a battleship, and bred in the first navy in the
world."
"By all means, Admiral. Your nomination shall, I think I may promise
you, be confirmed."
Not another word we spoke. I returned with him in his boat to The
Lady, which was brought to the dock wall, where we were received with
tumultuous cheering.
I hurried off to my Wife and the Voivode. Rooke, calling Desmond to
him, went on the bridge of The Lady, which turned, and went out at
terrific speed to the battleship, which was already drifting up
northward on the tide.
FROM THE REPORT OF CRISTOFEROS, SCRIBE OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE
LAND OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS.
July 8, 1907.
The meeting of the National Council, July 6, was but a continuation
of that held before the rescue of the Voivodin Vissarion, the members
of the Council having been during the intervening night housed in the
Castle of Vissarion. When, in the early morning, they met, all were
jubilant; for late at night the fire-signal had flamed up from Ilsin
with the glad news that the Voivode Peter Vissarion was safe, having
been rescued with great daring on an aeroplane by his daughter and
the Gospodar Rupert, as the people call him--Mister Rupert Sent
Leger, as he is in his British name and degree.
Whilst the Council was sitting, word came that a great peril to the
town of Ilsin had been averted. A war-vessel acknowledging to no
nationality, and therefore to be deemed a pirate, had threatened to
bombard the town; but just before the time fixed for the fulfilment
of her threat, she was shaken to such an extent by some sub-aqueous
means that, though she herself was seemingly uninjured, nothing was
left alive on board. Thus the Lord preserves His own! The
consideration of this, as well as the other incident, was postponed
until the coming Voivode and the Gospodar Rupert, together with who
were already on their way hither.
THE SAME (LATER IN THE SAME DAY).
The Council resumed its sitting at four o'clock. The Voivode Peter
Vissarion and the Voivodin Teuta had arrived with the "Gospodar
Rupert," as the mountaineers call him (Mr. Rupert Sent Leger) on the
armoured yacht he calls The Lady. The National Council showed great
pleasure when the Voivode entered the hall in which the Council met.
He seemed much gratified by the reception given to him. Mr. Rupert
Sent Leger, by the express desire of the Council, was asked to be
present at the meeting. He took a seat at the bottom of the hall,
and seemed to prefer to remain there, though asked by the President
of the Council to sit at the top of the table with himself and the
Voivode.
When the formalities of such Councils had been completed, the Voivode
handed to the President a memorandum of his report on his secret
mission to foreign Courts on behalf of the National Council. He then
explained at length, for the benefit of the various members of the
Council, the broad results of his mission. The result was, he said,
absolutely satisfactory. Everywhere he had been received with
distinguished courtesy, and given a sympathetic hearing. Several of
the Powers consulted had made delay in giving final answers, but
this, he explained, was necessarily due to new considerations arising
from the international complications which were universally dealt
with throughout the world as "the Balkan Crisis." In time, however
(the Voivode went on), these matters became so far declared as to
allow the waiting Powers to form definite judgment--which, of course,
they did not declare to him--as to their own ultimate action. The
final result--if at this initial stage such tentative setting forth
of their own attitude in each case can be so named--was that he
returned full of hope (founded, he might say, upon a justifiable
personal belief) that the Great Powers throughout the world--North,
South, East, and West--were in thorough sympathy with the Land of the
Blue Mountains in its aspirations for the continuance of its freedom.
"I also am honoured," he continued, "to bring to you, the Great
Council of the nation, the assurance of protection against unworthy
aggression on the part of neighbouring nations of present greater
strength."
Whilst he was speaking, the Gospodar Rupert was writing a few words
on a strip of paper, which he sent up to the President. When the
Voivode had finished speaking, there was a prolonged silence. The
President rose, and in a hush said that the Council would like to
hear Mr. Rupert Sent Leger, who had a communication to make regarding
certain recent events.
Mr. Rupert Sent Leger rose, and reported how, since he had been
entrusted by the Council with the rescue of the Voivode Peter of
Vissarion, he had, by aid of the Voivodin, effected the escape of the
Voivode from the Silent Tower; also that, following this happy event,
the mountaineers, who had made a great cordon round the Tower so soon
as it was known that the Voivode had been imprisoned within it, had
stormed it in the night. As a determined resistance was offered by
the marauders, who had used it as a place of refuge, none of these
escaped. He then went on to tell how he sought interview with the
Captain of the strange warship, which, without flying any flag,
invaded our waters. He asked the President to call on me to read the
report of that meeting. This, in obedience to his direction, I did.
The acquiescent murmuring of the Council showed how thoroughly they
endorsed Mr. Sent Leger's words and acts.
When I resumed my seat, Mr. Sent Leger described how, just before the
time fixed by the "pirate Captain"--so he designated him, as did
every speaker thereafter--the warship met with some under-sea
accident, which had a destructive effect on all on board her. Then
he added certain words, which I give verbatim, as I am sure that
others will some time wish to remember them in their exactness:
"By the way, President and Lords of the Council, I trust I may ask
you to confirm Captain Rooke, of the armoured yacht The Lady, to be
Admiral of the Squadron of the Land of the Blue Mountains, and also
Captain (tentatively) Desmond, late First-Lieutenant of The Lady, to
the command of the second warship of our fleet--the as yet unnamed
vessel, whose former Captain threatened to bombard Ilsin. My Lords,
Admiral Rooke has done great service to the Land of the Blue
Mountains, and deserves well at your hands. You will have in him, I
am sure, a great official. One who will till his last breath give
you good and loyal service."
He had sat down, the President put to the Council resolutions, which
were passed by acclamation. Admiral Rooke was given command of the
navy, and Captain Desmond confirmed in his appointment to the
captaincy of the new ship, which was, by a further resolution, named
The Gospodar Rupert.
In thanking the Council for acceding to his request, and for the
great honour done him in the naming of the ship, Mr. Sent Leger said:
"May I ask that the armoured yacht The Lady be accepted by you, the
National Council, on behalf of the nation, as a gift on behalf of the
cause of freedom from the Voivodin Teuta?"
In response to the mighty cheer of the Council with which the
splendid gift was accepted the Gospodar Rupert--Mr. Sent Leger--
bowed, and went quietly out of the room.
As no agenda of the meeting had been prepared, there was for a time,
not silence, but much individual conversation. In the midst of it
the Voivode rose up, whereupon there was a strict silence. All
listened with an intensity of eagerness whilst he spoke.
"President and Lords of the Council, Archbishop, and Vladika, I
should but ill show my respect did I hesitate to tell you at this the
first opportunity I have had of certain matters personal primarily to
myself, but which, in the progress of recent events, have come to
impinge on the affairs of the nation. Until I have done so, I shall
not feel that I have done a duty, long due to you or your
predecessors in office, and which I hope you will allow me to say
that I have only kept back for purposes of statecraft. May I ask
that you will come back with me in memory to the year 1890, when our
struggle against Ottoman aggression, later on so successfully brought
to a close, was begun. We were then in a desperate condition. Our
finances had run so low that we could not purchase even the bread
which we required. Nay, more, we could not procure through the
National Exchequer what we wanted more than bread--arms of modern
effectiveness; for men may endure hunger and yet fight well, as the
glorious past of our country has proved again and again and again.
But when our foes are better armed than we are, the penalty is
dreadful to a nation small as our own is in number, no matter how
brave their hearts. In this strait I myself had to secretly raise a
sufficient sum of money to procure the weapons we needed. To this
end I sought the assistance of a great merchant-prince, to whom our
nation as well as myself was known. He met me in the same generous
spirit which he had shown to other struggling nationalities
throughout a long and honourable career. When I pledged to him as
security my own estates, he wished to tear up the bond, and only
under pressure would he meet my wishes in this respect. Lords of the
Council, it was his money, thus generously advanced, which procured
for us the arms with which we hewed out our freedom.
"Not long ago that noble merchant--and here I trust you will pardon
me that I am so moved as to perhaps appear to suffer in want of
respect to this great Council--this noble merchant passed to his
account--leaving to a near kinsman of his own the royal fortune which
he had amassed. Only a few hours ago that worthy kinsman of the
benefactor of our nation made it known to me that in his last will he
had bequeathed to me, by secret trust, the whole of those estates
which long ago I had forfeited by effluxion of time, inasmuch as I
had been unable to fulfil the terms of my voluntary bond. It grieves
me to think that I have had to keep you so long in ignorance of the
good thought and wishes and acts of this great man.
"But it was by his wise counsel, fortified by my own judgment, that I
was silent; for, indeed, I feared, as he did, lest in our troublous
times some doubting spirit without our boundaries, or even within it,
might mistrust the honesty of my purposes for public good, because I
was no longer one whose whole fortune was invested within our
confines. This prince-merchant, the great English Roger Melton--let
his name be for ever graven on the hearts of our people!--kept silent
during his own life, and enjoined on others to come after him to keep
secret from the men of the Blue Mountains that secret loan made to me
on their behalf, lest in their eyes I, who had striven to be their
friend and helper, should suffer wrong repute. But, happily, he has
left me free to clear myself in your eyes. Moreover, by arranging to
have--under certain contingencies, which have come to pass--the
estates which were originally my own retransferred to me, I have no
longer the honour of having given what I could to the national cause.
All such now belongs to him; for it was his money--and his only--
which purchased our national armament.
"His worthy kinsman you already know, for he has not only been
amongst you for many months, but has already done you good service in
his own person. He it was who, as a mighty warrior, answered the
summons of the Vladika when misfortune came upon my house in the
capture by enemies of my dear daughter, the Voivodin Teuta, whom you
hold in your hearts; who, with a chosen band of our brothers, pursued
the marauders, and himself, by a deed of daring and prowess, of which
poets shall hereafter sing, saved her, when hope itself seemed to be
dead, from their ruthless hands, and brought her back to us; who
administered condign punishment to the miscreants who had dared to so
wrong her. He it was who later took me, your servant, out of the
prison wherein another band of Turkish miscreants held me captive;
rescued me, with the help of my dear daughter, whom he had already
freed, whilst I had on my person the documents of international
secrecy of which I have already advised you--rescued me whilst I had
been as yet unsubjected to the indignity of search.
"Beyond this you know now that of which I was in partial ignorance:
how he had, through the skill and devotion of your new Admiral,
wrought destruction on a hecatomb of our malignant foes. You who
have received for the nation the splendid gift of the little warship,
which already represents a new era in naval armament, can understand
the great-souled generosity of the man who has restored the vast
possessions of my House. On our way hither from Ilsin, Rupert Sent
Leger made known to me the terms of the trust of his noble uncle,
Roger Melton, and--believe me that he did so generously, with a joy
that transcended my own--restored to the last male of the Vissarion
race the whole inheritance of a noble line.
"And now, my Lords of the Council, I come to another matter, in which
I find myself in something of a difficulty, for I am aware that in
certain ways you actually know more of it than even I myself do. It
is regarding the marriage of my daughter to Rupert Sent Leger. It is
known to me that the matter has been brought before you by the
Archbishop, who, as guardian of my daughter during my absence on the
service of the nation, wished to obtain your sanction, as till my
return he held her safety in trust. This was so, not from any merit
of mine, but because she, in her own person, had undertaken for the
service of our nation a task of almost incredible difficulty. My
Lords, were she child of another father, I should extol to the skies
her bravery, her self-devotion, her loyalty to the land she loves.
Why, then, should I hesitate to speak of her deeds in fitting terms,
since it is my duty, my glory, to hold them in higher honour than can
any in this land? I shall not shame her--or even myself--by being
silent when such a duty urges me to speak, as Voivode, as trusted
envoy of our nation, as father. Ages hence loyal men and women of
our Land of the Blue Mountains will sing her deeds in song and tell
them in story. Her name, Teuta, already sacred in these regions,
where it was held by a great Queen, and honoured by all men, will
hereafter be held as a symbol and type of woman's devotion. Oh, my
Lords, we pass along the path of life, the best of us but a little
time marching in the sunlight between gloom and gloom, and it is
during that march that we must be judged for the future. This brave
woman has won knightly spurs as well as any Paladin of old. So is it
meet that ere she might mate with one worthy of her you, who hold in
your hands the safety and honour of the State, should give your
approval. To you was it given to sit in judgment on the worth of
this gallant Englisher, now my son. You judged him then, before you
had seen his valour, his strength, and skill exercised on behalf of a
national cause. You judged wisely, oh, my brothers, and out of a
grateful heart I thank you one and all for it. Well has he justified
your trust by his later acts. When, in obedience to the summons of
the Vladika, he put the nation in a blaze and ranged our boundaries
with a ring of steel, he did so unknowing that what was dearest to
him in the world was at stake. He saved my daughter's honour and
happiness, and won her safety by an act of valour that outvies any
told in history. He took my daughter with him to bring me out from
the Silent Tower on the wings of the air, when earth had for me no
possibility of freedom--I, that had even then in my possession the
documents involving other nations which the Soldan would fain have
purchased with the half of his empire.
"Henceforth to me, Lords of the Council, this brave man must ever be
as a son of my heart, and I trust that in his name grandsons of my
own may keep in bright honour the name which in glorious days of old
my fathers made illustrious. Did I know how adequately to thank you
for your interest in my child, I would yield up to you my very soul
in thanks."
The speech of the Voivode was received with the honour of the Blue
Mountains--the drawing and raising of handjars
