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the alternation was as rapid. His white teeth would glitter, and his mouth assume all of the merriment of joyous laughter. During this time, the group would intuitively draw nearer; they elevated their arms, shouted aloud, then sunk their heads, and sorrowfully ejaculated, "Alla! Alla!"

This individual was called Merari, the poet and story-teller. I returned to my parents, thinking that Merari's eloquence would charm them into forgetfulness of their fatigue, and found that my father had employed a hired servant to attend him as groom, and was purchasing from hucksters, who had already spread out a furnished bazaar, every necessary for our supper. His very neat tent was pitched beneath the beautiful palm, at the base of which wo had alighted.

I passed into the tent, and found my mother sitting on one of her handsome carpets, awaiting the return of my father, and the imaum, Al Alpso, telling over his rosary of date-stones.

When my father entered the tent, he brought with him the renegade, Phirouz. His appearance was always unpleasant to me, particularly a squint in both of his eyes, which gave him a barbarous look. He was tall and brawny, with a club-foot, on which he walked as if badly crippled.

"Well, brother," said my father to the renegade, "glad am I to find thee here. What brought thee off from Antioch ?"

"Only to gratify the governor of the city," he replied, pointing towards the tent-door.

"And is he with the caravan ?" inquired my father.

"Indeed, he is," responded the renegade, Phirouz. "You will recognize him in this crowd of two thousand souls-may the Prophet guard them!-by an elephant he travels on: it is white, and covered with fringed-silk hangings; above the canopy, under which he is seated, there are flags; the head of the elephant is dressed with ostrich feathers; and he has two lieutenants stationed by the animal, with drawn swords; twenty skilful archers follow him, and twenty precede him. He takes a letter from Sultan Kilidge Arslan, which he has to read to a divan upon reaching Antioch. You must recollect to teach Hásan the usual observances on these occasions.

"Hasan," continued he, "you must not sit with your back towards that green tent surmounted by a golden crescent; the sultan's letter alone occupies it, and you see it is guarded by a soldier with a drawn scimitar. It was taken, a short time previously to your arrival, from the elephant on which the governor rides, with sounding trumpets and thundering drums."

(Sword lion), son of Suleiman, cousin of Sultan Malek

Shah.

CHAPTER III.

Ox the following morning, as the sun was reddening the east, and birds of the dawn were singing glad anthems, as they shook the dew-drops from their plumage, I was roused by the cry of the muezzin; and, as soon as our orisons were performed, I saw all in motion for our departure.

The order of march was as follows: A mule was placed at the head of the caravan, and fastened to him were fifty camels in a string, one before another, on which riders, merchandise, and luggage were placed; then, after the ceremonies already mentioned, the green and gold tent was struck, and the sultan's letter placed with the governor on the elephant; now followed another mule and fifty more camels, and in the centre, not far from the governor, came Merari, the poet and story-teller; near him was my father's party, with the renegade. We were with the second mule and fifty camels. After this followed many on foot and on mules. When, however, a cloud of dust was perceived, or voices heard, the rider in advance, who was mounted on the foremost mule, placed his thumbs at the back of his ears, and uttered a shrill cry; it was conveyed, from one to another, to the extremity of the caravan, which instantly formed a dense square, the valuables and defenceless occupying the centre, while the armed and strong closed the front, the rear, and the wings. In this way, we travelled pleasantly and safely, until we reached the towering walls of the mountain which border the north side of the city of Antioch, and saw the glitter of the Orontes, as it dashed its billows on the massive walls of Antioch. They are of solid pieces of stone, so broad in diameter that a chariot and four horses might make a circuit of the city. Four hundred and fifty towers are built, at proper distances, on the walls, and on the south is situated the city castle. We passed, in the rear of the governor, through the bridge gate on the north of Antioch, while the caravan remained for the night in the suburbs, being on their journey to Palestine and Bassora.

The renegade, Phirouz, had ingratiated himself with the governor of this city, and was often intrusted with the secret measures of the divan. His residence was near the palace of Baghi Seyan, who, being sprung from the race of the Seljukian princes, was regarded by the reigning sultan with all of the respect due to one of his descent; and the emir's nature commanded respect, although he possessed but a small portion of the affection of his people. He lived in great splendor, and the renegade promised my father that, should he require patronage, he would say all within his power that was favorable to the governor for him.

My father was in possession of a handsome residence in the city; and, after bidding adieu to his acquaintances, he set forth in the direction of his

establishment, and was soon comfortably settled; while the imaum and myself carried on our investigation of parchment, with occasional introductions to the bastinado.

My father's profession was mercantile. He was soon installed in a part of the bazaar. As was his habit when residing in Tarsus, his business here had been carried on by agents; but now, although he employed many clerks, in accordance with the custom of other wealthy merchants, yet he chose to be a great deal in the establishment, and saw much of his large business transacted under his immediate inspection. I need not say that this added not a little to his wealth; and my mother's refined taste, and ample means of indulging her fancies, occasioned the appellation of Zenghi, the Guzel, or beautiful, by which his family were distinguished from two others of the same name in Antioch.

A Jew, known as Ben Joseph, was my father's homme d'affaires : indeed, all who undertook business of this nature invariably employed some one of these sons of Judah; their sagacity and attention to moneyed transactions were remarkable; and, indeed, what else could be expected from a people who saw that their only strength, so far as their fellow-men were considered, consisted in gold and silver. Ben Joseph was a small, thin man, with all of the national marks of his people; his beard was remarkably long, hanging to his girdle, and, being dyed of an orange color, with henna, according to their custom, as were his eyebrows, lent his aquiline nose and sharp eyes a peculiar expression.

I used to observe that, whenever Phirouz, the renegade, made his appearance, as he frequently did, to converse with my father, Ben Joseph was serious and distant. He appeared to withdraw himself within himself; and the renegade, after observing his reserve for some time, would touch his heart, and immediately turn his back, as if determined to show the Jew that he cared as little for his acquaintance as he appeared to do for him.

On one of these occasions, while Phirouz was sipping his sherbet, cooled by the snows of Caucasus, he said to my father

"Holy St. Gregory-I mean holy Prophet-what is to become, brother Zenghi, of trade and traffic, when we are situated as the antelope told in story, who, being on his journey to the forest, and having to pass a plain in which the cusa-grass of the Fireworshippers grew, found, from a burning coal dropped by a dervish, that the dry grass was kindling rapidly all around him. He deliberated in his dilemma, and bethought him of some expedient by which he could escape; but he found to remain was to be destroyed, and to fly was to be singed cruelly, if not to death. So, choosing the lesser of the two evils, he bounded off on his way home, carrying to his covey lacerated marks of his adventure. So, brother, is it with us; what with the Franks on one side, the marauding Arabs on the other, with

the contending factions of the Caliphate, we are hemmed in by fire and sword very like the poor antelope I have just related the legend of."

"You are right, Phirouz Beni Zerri," answered my father. "I trust we shall escape the scenes of war in this beautiful country. We have reason to hope that the infidels will confine their bloodshed to Lesser Asia; and, after satisfying that tyrant of a Greek, Alexius, by restoring those dominions he was too weak to keep in his possession, take shipping for Palestine. Jerusalem will be their headquarters. Our commerce, as you have observed, brother, is sadly tangled-ah, worse than the knot of Gordius, which the imaum taught Hásan the nature of in his morning's lesson. But to be free from the immediate scene of war, as the imaum also says, and truly, is to be free from the dwelling of Eblis." 'Ah," muttered Ben Joseph, "a worse fire burns for an apostate like thee!"

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When the renegade made his salaam and departed, my father turned to Ben Joseph, and said"Hear, Ben Joseph, hast thou received any tidings from thy tribe on the Rhine lately?"

"Ah," he replied, "these are times full of tribulation to the house of Jacob; the days of visitation are come. In the month Elul, at Worms and Treves, they were called on by those sworn to Baal to renounce the religion of the Hebrews; but, when they asked time for consideration, it was only to prepare for death, and their blood mingled by their own hands with that of their wives and children. The holy Rabbi Isaac was slain for the sanctification of the law his wisdom was as that of Asaph and Hymen. In Mentz and Spires-but why enumerate? How shall we drink the bitter cup? They have gone to dwell in the dew of light; may God, in his mercy, avenge their innocent blood!"

I felt for Ben Joseph when I saw him rend his garments and shower ashes on his clean turban, until that and his face were completely disfigured.

Those who have never witnessed this ancient mode of evincing grief can form no adequate idea of its solemnity; the forlorn and expressive countenance, the figure developing an utter disregard to any interest in appearances, and consequently abstracted from the things of time, appears as if the heart and soul of the individual had fled away, leaving only a melancholy representation of what it

once was.

I was engaged, while at Antioch, in close study with Al Alpso, during which time my life passed monotonously enough, with the exception of one or two visits, with my father and the renegade, to the outer court of the palace of Baghi Seyan. There my curiosity was roused by the accounts I heard of the great beauty of the expected bride of the governor. Baghi Seyan had never seen her; the negotiation of the marriage was carried on by his envoys and

* Crusaders.

the family of the lady. It was a political contract; and the dower of the intended bride was said to be the chief inducement with the governor in suing for her as his wife. She was to bring a dowry of eight ships of gold, silver, and jewels, armor and arms of the most approved temper, and splendid materials, wines, and oil, with seven hundred troops, two hundred of which were her body-guard, being accomplished archers.

At this period, I was one day solitarily engaged in angling on the bank of the Lake Ofrinus, north of the city, when one of those long, narrow caiques, with a prow projecting twenty-five feet, on which a golden swan in the act of flight was perched, glided by; at its extremity an awning of silk, supported by gilded pillars of beautiful proportion, interspersed with golden sashes and festooned with crimson silk fringed with gold, fluttered in the air; surmounting the whole, flashed the crescent of Mohammed. Twelve boatmen dipped harmonious oars in the limpid waters of the placid lake, and so softly did it move onward, that the liquid silver of the lake was scarcely ruffled.

I could not imagine the design of this: were it the intended bride, the lake would be stormy with caiques, and the shores embattled with troops, with waving banners, dancing, and music.

I placed my little basket on my arm, and set off for my home, which was near the water. My father was in his gallery, and I called his attention to the skiff. As it touched the strand, two figures, one a female all veiled, the other an elderly man, stepped from the slender and phantom-like caique, when a sound from the eastern side of the city electrified the inhabitants, causing those who were sleeping to spring on their feet, the actively-engaged artisan to sit, while he listened, as motionless as a statue; children rushed to their mothers' arms, and groups of men would whisper as they conversed together. As this mighty tempest came onward, the earth trembled beneath our feet, and banners, pennons, and lances darkened the east like black and spreading clouds. I am ashamed to acknowledge that my heart gladdened when I heard the neigh and tramp of horses, the peal of trumpets, and the thunder of the drums. Baghi Seyan had just returned from assisting Radvan, one of the sons of Tûtûsh, brother of Sultan Malek Shah, who, since the death of their father, had been alternately engaged in civil quarrels; and their relative, the Emir Baghi Seyan, Governor of Antioch, would, as his judgment directed, assist one or the other of the brothers, according to his peculiar position; and in this way he was, if we may be allowed the expression, a species of warlike umpire, when the necessity of either of the brothers required his presence, and thereby preserved a balance of power in their government and warfare.

The Turks build their houses with courts and open galleries all around them.

CHAPTER IV.

As the effendi, kyhaïas, and tefterdar passed on their way to the council, which was called immediately on the arrival of the emir, the renegade being with them, stepped in my father's gallery, and, taking him by the arm, hurried him off with them. The confusion rather added to a vertigo he was troubled with, and he left his turban on the mat he had been sitting on, which my mother presently observed, when she turned to me and said

"Run, Hásan, and take thy father's turban to him. Oh, how must Zenghi, the Guzel, look without it! He will be a subject of ridicule to all who see him."

I must say, in explanation, that my father, according to the fashion of some Mohammedans, shaved his beard entirely, leaving only a tuft of hair on the top of his head, for the convenience of the Prophet in lifting him into paradise.

I was soon admitted, when I said, at the audience door, that the renegade, Phirouz, would explain my business.

The grandson of Sultan Malek Shah, being newly arrived from a fatiguing march, and aged withal, required the luxury of his velvet cushions, and was sitting reposingly, with his kyhaïas on each side of him, when I entered. His court of audience was spacious enough for the accommodation of the prominent men of each regiment of his allies, including his own; and I saw, with delight, files of armed men enter the gateway, and lower their banners as they passed their chief. Turks in light armor, with fine white linen turbans, held bows and arrows, spears and scimitars, as if they were made of air. Arabs, swarthy, tall, and lean, with figures not unlike the long reed tipped with steel which they bore in their hands, their wild and restless look strikingly reminding the beholder of the denunciation, "His hand shall be against every man, and every man's against him." Tartars, with large heads, bronzed complexions, small, deep-set eyes, and flat noses, with longbows towering above their heads. Persians of majestic forms, their full beards forming a contrast to the scattering and stinted growth on the chins of the former.

I heard the effendi say to Baghi Seyan

"We had hoped, great emir, to have been now engaged in making preparations for thy marriage with the Startled Fawn of Cashmere.' How would she have shone as the full moon on thy magnificence! The poets of her country compare her movements to a branch of the tamarisk waving to the southern breeze.' She desired to appear privately; and, arriving at the borders of the Lake Ofrinus, took there a caique, which was held ready by her father, and landed but a few hours since. According to your directions, she was placed in the

'Hall of Perfumes,' and will be visited by the wife of Zenghi, the Guzel, who is a relative of hers."

"Out! out!" said the aged emir. "Tell me not of promised happiness; a prospect held before me as yon steel reflects the sunbeam, to dazzle and instantly disappear. We have only to look and think of resistance to those foreign and infidel dogs who are howling at our gates."

Many plans were formed for the defence of the city, and for sustaining the siege. The renegade was assigned the most important tower connected with the gate in front of the encampment of the Crusaders, and his son, Isamo, was selected as one of the spies to be sent among the Franks. I saw dissatisfaction in the countenances of those who occupied rank and office; for the renegade was no general favorite, and the circumstance of his apostasy rendered him additionally unpopular. His subtlety, daring, and strong discriminating powers elevated him with the governor, to whom he was often very useful.

Upon reaching home, we found the imaum in despair. His horror, upon finding Antioch besieged, severed for a time the strings of his tongue.

"Oh, wretched Antioch!" he exclaimed, "well would it have been had thy founder, Seleucus Nicator, styled the Victorious, been dead, ere he raised a corner-stone for thee! Oh, Antioch! thou hast been visited, indeed! Earthquakes, sword, and famine have been thy sisters! I had thought that thy strength and thy position would have given thee peace for years to come, and that thou wouldst have slept in thy flowery valleys uninterrupted but by the caravans and the laden caique of the Orontes and Ofrinus."

Al Alpso wept. He was not a man of the sword; and his thin beard was scattered about him, and his turban given to the winds, in the paroxysm of his grief.

As I have already stated, the castle was situated on the southern boundary of the city; its elevation was far above the walls, and its position on the rocky heights of the mountains afforded an extensive view of the descending ridges, which ran parallel with the Orontes, being branches of the Libanus, whose cedars furnished King Solomon with the fragrant materials of which the temple dedicated to the Most High was reared. There was only a perilous footway leading from the neighboring country to the portal of the castle; but the gentle slopes on the east of the city afforded sumptuous gardens, vineyards, and orchards, whose exhalations perfumed their declivities and valleys for leagues. On the opposite side of these mountains gush perpetually sweet and limpid waters, which were conveyed by subterraneous pipes to every part of the city.

It was immediately in this region that the Crusaders stretched their lines, and I was not long in discovering Prince Tancred's banner in the section

assigned his liege lord, the Prince of Tarentum, who, with his Normans, occupied the front of one of the city gates, called by them St. Paul's. Next was the camp of Robert of Flanders, Robert of Normandy, Stephen of Blois, and Hugh the Great, with Franks and Britons. Next came the Count of Toulouse, the Bishop of Puy, with Gascons, Provençals, and Burgundians. Then came the Duke of Lorraine, his brother Eustace, the Counts of Youl and Montague, with Lorrainers, Trisians, Swabians, Franconians, and Bavarians. Three hundred thousand of this Babel bore arms.

I do not know even now the policy of such measures, but at one time the governor, Baghi Seyan, determined in his council to put to the sword every Christian citizen of Antioch; he afterwards decided to keep as hostages for their good behavior, their wives, children, and property, while the men were allowed to visit the Croisers, provided they meddled not with the war. It may have been for the convenience of his spies, who were disguised as Christians of Antioch.

I was now fourteen years of age, and felt that there was something morally wrong in my visiting my friend, Valfrino, in the company of Isamo. Innocent curiosity prompted my first acquaintance with him; but now I saw Isamo regarded as a Christian, and knew that his views were insidious. I scorned to betray my own country; and my father, when he acceded to my going into the encampment, threatened me with torture, and even death, should I give any intimation of the spies or their measures, or, indeed, meddle at all with either's movements. I had no disposition to be treacherous; the scruples I felt in being with Isamo and Valfrino was an evidence of the purity of my feelings.

Isamo resembled his father, and possessed the same gifts of ingratiating himself. His fund of humor, equal temper, and quick perceptions rendered him highly conventional, and he possessed all of the prudence, hypocrisy, and craft necessary to the task assigned him.

When he first entered the encampment-without any directions from me-he went directly to the tent of Valfrino, and, with perfect self-possession, said

"Brother, let me introduce myself to thee. I am a Christian, a Syrian by birth, whose ancestors came originally as pilgrims from gay Normandy, and the ill-usage of the Turks rendered them too poor to return to their beloved country. Our oppressors were bad enough under the Turks of the house of Ortok, who were, fourteen years ago, expelled from Palestine by the Caliphs of Egypt. Those Saracens stripped us of all we possessed, and my father was even reduced to servitude. He made the best of what was inevitable, and, being truly a Christian, served uprightly and faithfully the man who held him captive, and so far won his confidence that he gave him his freedom, and would

have given his daughter to me in marriage, had we consented to become apostates for Mohammed."

Valfrino extended his hand, welcomed him gayly and affectionately, offered to place a cross on his shoulder, and give him a place in the ranks to which he belonged. But Isamo sighed, placed his hand on his heart, shook his head, and stated the determination of the divan to put every man's family to the sword who ventured to meddle with the war.

I could not enjoy myself; and it was only after seeing Isamo depart that I could throw my arms around Valfrino's neck, and tell him how glad I was to see him.

Ten days after this, I carried some fine grapes, which were now in perfection, to my friend, and, while he was regaling himself with them, I heard something fall heavily at the door of the tent. What was my horror upon discovering it to be a human head, shot by a longbow from the walls of the city. By the time Valfrino came to the spot, another and another was hurled. He turned away, saying

"Such is the fate of war! My own head, like these poor foragers, may be the next to roll in the sand, or perhaps be stuck on a spear in sight of the followers of the cross.

"Hasan, do you know," he said, turning to me, "that it is suspected that treason is in the camp; at least that many who appear as Christians are assuming the cross that they may more successfully carry on their investigations as spies? Yesterday, our liege lord Bohemond sent out a foraging party. They were surprised by some Antiocheans, and a conflict took place. The Crusaders returned with a hundred heads hanging at their saddle-bows, and two prisoners. They were saved for ransom; but I now understand that Prince Bohemond has commanded their execution, and has summoned all of the Syrian Christians, who came from Antioch into the encampment, to attend. You will be obliged, my son, to march with me to the scene of execution."

When we arrived at the appointed place, I saw Bohemond, Prince of Tarentum, for the first time. He was apparently fifty years of age, and one of the tallest and stoutest men I ever saw; even with a stoop in the shoulders, he towered over the crowd like a palm in the desert. There was determination, indeed cruelty, in his thin, compressed mouth and cold, blue eyes. He wore his hair so short as only to appear below his helmet, while all from his country were seen with long and flowing locks; his crest was vermilion, in unison with the field of his

arms.

I was struck with this descendant of Robert Guiscard, whose wonderful deeds of arms had been sung to me in my infancy as a lullaby; and, as he walked

to and fro before his pavilion, and passed alternately beneath the shadow of the banner of his ancestors planted before his encampment, I thought that he almost united the powers of the lion and tiger with that of the man.

A vast multitude were assembled by the blast of his trumpeter, and, among the Syrians, I saw Isamo, whose anxiety of countenance betrayed apprehension, from the dashes of red and alternate pallor which his bronzed face, and quick tremulous glances exhibited. A herald, with the arms of the prince blazoned on a small red flag, brayed three peals from a trumpet to which it was attached; and presently an executioner, with bare arms and head, in a crimson dress, appeared. He placed a hacked and blood-stained block on the sand, and laid upon it a broadaxe. He now disappeared, and in a short time returned, leading by iron chains the two prisoners taken by the foraging party. I felt keenly for my countrymen, who were only known to me by the ensigns of Baghi Seyan, being soldiers of his. I felt some relief from the calm spirit of the men, and turned to Valfrino, my only friend in this motley crowd. I suppose my face must have expressed great emotion, for he jerked me back and stood before me, so as to shield me from the scene of death. I heard the last shout of the victims, "Alla! Alla!" and each stroke of the axe as it severed their heads. My feelings were now beyond control, and I rushed from Valfrino's side just in time to see the heads held up in each hand of the executioner, as he pronounced, while they dropped and trickled gore with features convulsed in death

"Such awaits all who are enemies of the cross, and such awaits all who act as spies in the Christian camp."

I was hemmed in by armed men, and obliged to return to my friend to witness a scene still more horrible and revolting. Some of the beautiful shrubbery from the gardens, clothed with clinging vines and gay flowers, was brought and kindled into a fire by one of the prince's cooks; the aroma of these spicy boughs rose with the smoke, and perfumed the surrounding air. The bodies were stripped and laid before the fire, and I heard the head cook say to a subordinate

"Look, and mind ye that the heathens do not burn, as their souls are now doing; for they are to be daintily roasted for the prince's supper, so soon as he be returned from vespers."*

I had sickened and nearly fainted on the field of Tarsus, and, had I not witnessed the carnage there, I should never have remained sensible during this horrible tragedy.

* Such scenes were only, of course, designed for effect by the Crusaders.

(To be concluded.)

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