Andy too looked doubtful, and said, “It’s true that I’ve been compared to Samson-though far be it from me to vie with any holy man of Scripture-and Samson, they say, brought down the walls of Jericho by blowing a horn. But I have no such horn and humbly beg you to find some worthier man for the task.”
But Grand Vizier Ibrahim said, “You shall not be alone in Vienna, for I’ve chosen and bribed a dozen men from among the German prisoners, and I shall send them two at a time into the city on the same errand as yourselves. You too must dress like German
He paused for breath, but presently continued, “I’ve litde confidence in the Germans I have bribed, but you I trust and I shall ask a certain loyal Jew named Aaron to help you. You will find him in a quarter called by Christians the City of Affliction, where the Jewish inhabitants of Vienna are penned up behind boards and barricades. Embittered by Christian persecution Aaron pins his faith on the Sultan whom he regards as his deliverer. Therefore he will certainly help you if you show him this ring.”
The Seraskier raised his shapely hand and spread out his fingers to choose one of the splendid rings upon them. From his little finger he drew a diamond no larger than the tip of a child’s finger, but so pure and brilliant as to emit blue fires as he turned and twisted it in the light.
“Aaron knows this stone. He can give you no active help for fear of injuring his fellows, for Christians commonly visit the fault of a single Jew on all others in the city and sometimes on those of other cities as well. But he will advise you and if need be hide you. Tell him I will gladly redeem the ring for two thousand ducats. You shall wear German clothes and be escorted with blows to the prisoners’ enclosure. Go in peace, then, and be assured of my favor if you succeed and I find you alive among the charred ruins of Vienna.”
But now both Andy and I spoke with firmness, and I told Ibrahim that if he were so anxious to be rid of a faithful servant he would do better to strike off my head at once. Ibrahim saw he would gain nothing by that, and after vain attempts at persuasion he said, “Very well, let it be as you wish. But why do you think I spared you circumcision if not to send you on just such an errand as this? Since you refuse, I can no longer delay the fulfillment of my religious obligations and must have the matter attended to at once.”
So saying he clapped his hands for the guard and sent him to fetch a surgeon. He then expressed satisfaction that Sinan the Builder had drawn his attention to a circumstance which his many duties and cares had caused him to forget. Andy and I had barely time to exchange a despairing glance before the surgeon appeared with a tube and a knife, which he began to sharpen, assuring us meanwhile that all would be over in a moment and that we should find it no more painful than the extraction of a tooth. Yet I felt the most intense repugnance to the operation and to the loss of my last link with Christendom, where I might yet seek refuge were disaster to overtake me in the Sultan’s domains. Andy also fidgeted and at last said, “I think I prefer to serve Islam by going into Vienna, so long as there may be no further talk of mutilation if I survive. Good Moslem though I am, I cannot believe that on the Last Day Allah will have nothing better to look at than-”
I said quickly that as ever I would share my foster brother’s fate for good or ill, and as for circumcision, I would defer it until I felt it a matter of conscience, and then submit to it of my own free will.
The Grand Vizier dismissed the disappointed surgeon and said smiling that he relied upon us and was persuaded that we should do our best like honest men. He then handed each of us one hundred German and Hungarian gold ducats, in the worn leather purses common among mercenaries. In his presence we changed into clothes taken from fallen Germans, and as soon as Andy had drawn on the familiar striped breeches the old German oaths rose unbidden to his lips and he was aware once more of the unassuageable thirst of the mercenary. The wine that the Grand Vizier then offered us sustained us under the blows and buffets with which we were driven into the pen of captives, though our escort seemed to me overconscientious in obeying Ibrahim’s order to treat us like the rest and thus allay suspicion.
So it was that I had a black eye and a swollen lip when in the raw morning mist we broke out and stumbled over the familiar battlefield to the Carinthian Gate, and there cried piteously in the name of God to be admitted. Many of our fellow prisoners had been almost too weak to stand, far less escape, but at least a dozen women pressed through the gap that Andy had made in the fence and followed us, screaming. Hearing the noise of these poor women, who seemed to imagine that the louder they shrieked the faster they could run, the sentinels on the walls made ready for us and lowered ropes and ladders, at the same time discharging a swarm of arrows at our pursuers, whom the mist concealed.
Trembling and dizzy we crawled up the walls, and friendly hands helped us over the top. We were thumped on the back and offered bread and wine, and as we ate we helped to haul up the women who with screams and flapping petticoats emerged like distracted hens from the sea of mist.
These women were fairly young and handsome, for the akindshas on their raids chose always the best for the slave market and slew the rest. Both Germans and Bohemians yelled with delight at the sight of them and welcomed them as a gift from heaven. Having helped them from the wall they at once threw them down on the bare ground, all breathless as they were from their flight, and raped them so quickly that they hardly understood what was happening.
This lively scene was interrupted by a red-haired ensign who came dashing from the guardhouse to beat his men on their hinder parts with the flat of his sword and revile them shrilly for being worse whoremongers than the Turks. He then ordered them back to their posts lest the enemy should gain possession of the gate by a surprise attack.
The seasoned veterans, with their bloodstained bandages, singed beards, and blackened cheeks, laughed in the stripling’s face and invited him to kiss this and that. But they let the women go and hauling up their breeches returned to the watch tower. The ensign now addressed us in harsh tones and threatened to hang us with his own hands if we proved to be Turkish spies. He pointed to a number of German-clad bodies dangling from gallows at the top of the wall, and declared we should suffer the same fate unless we at once made full confession.
But Andy knew how to handle such young cockerels as this. He stepped up to him, belched wine fumes in his face and said he would teach him how to treat the Emperor’s loyal servants, who escaped in peril of their lives and rescued a flock of Christian women from the fate awaiting them in Turkish harems. So convincing was his eloquence that the young man blenched, addressed him as sir, and assured us that for his own part he had no suspicions, but that his duty required him to be strict. He begged us therefore to comply with regulations by making water before him and giving our names, and the names of our regiment and commanding officer. When he had entered these particulars in his guard book we could obtain passes from the town hall.
We could not refuse so moderate a request, and when we had given him the visible proof he asked for that we were not Moslems, Andy explained that we belonged to the advance guard of the
The ensign listened open mouthed and protested eagerly that the name of Bock von Teufelsburg was familiar to him. He repeated his instructions to report at once to the town hall for further interrogation. Then he seemed to hesitate; he bit his lip in some embarrassment and said, “The prosecutor and provost marshal are somewhat severe, as is natural, in view of Turkish cunning. They would rather hang ten innocent men than allow one suspect to escape. Nor are deserters kindly received, and as a good Christian I warn you that you’ll be imprisoned in any case until you can find someone to vouch for you. Failing this you will be hanged.”
Then in a burst of candor he went on, “You and your comrade would be wise to shun the town hall and the provost marshal’s men like the plague until the Turks have withdrawn. You’ll have no difficulty, for there are many other deserters hiding in taverns and in the lodgings of softhearted women. Go in peace and fortune go with you. Drink a cup now and then to my health and success.”
With that the good-natured boy threw us a silver schilling and left us. Andy and I slipped away into the October mist.
I was for seeking out Aaron at once, but Andy, holding my arm negligently between finger and thumb, trudged along the filthy streets under the blank gaze of charred, roofless houses, and as he went he sniffed the air. Just as a compass needle quivers to the north, so Andy amid the desolation of this city made unerringly for a tavern, whither
