Precisely As I Had
Expected, The Guards And All The People Who Had Gathered About Them
Gave Way Under The Shock Produced By The Mere Sound Of Guns, And We
Were All Allowed To Disembark With The Least Molestation.
We immediately formed a little column, or rather, as I should have
called it, a procession, for we had no fighting aptitude in us, and
were only trying, as it were, how far we could go in frightening
full-grown children.
First marched the sailor with the Russian
flag of war bravely flying in the breeze, then came the general and
I, then our servants, and lastly, if I rightly recollect, two more
of the brigantine's crew. Our flag-bearer so exulted in his
honourable office, and bore the colours aloft with so much of pomp
and dignity, that I found it exceedingly hard to keep a grave
countenance. We advanced towards the castle, but the people had
now had time to recover from the effect of the six-pounders (only
of course loaded with powder), and they could not help seeing not
only the numerical weakness of our party, but the very slight
amount of wealth and resource which it seemed to imply. They began
to hang round us more closely, and just as this reaction was
beginning the General, who was perfectly unacquainted with the
Asiatic character, thoughtlessly turned round in order to speak to
one of the servants. The effect of this slight move was magical.
The people thought we were going to give way, and instantly closed
round us. In two words, and with one touch, I showed my comrade
the danger he was running, and in the next instant we were both
advancing more pompously than ever. Some minutes afterwards there
was a second appearance of reaction, followed again by wavering and
indecision on the part of the Pasha's people, but at length it
seemed to be understood that we should go unmolested into the
audience hall.
Constant communication had been going on between the receding crowd
and the Pasha, and so when we reached the gates of the citadel we
saw that preparations were made for giving us an awe-striking
reception. Parting at once from the sailors and our servants, the
General and I were conducted into the audience hall; and there at
least I suppose the Pasha hoped that he would confound us by his
greatness. The hall was nothing more than a large whitewashed
room. Oriental potentates have a pride in that sort of simplicity,
when they can contrast it with the exhibition of power, and this
the Pasha was able to do, for the lower end of the hall was filled
with his officers. These men, of whom I thought there were about
fifty or sixty, were all handsomely, though plainly, dressed in the
military frockcoats of Europe; they stood in mass and so as to
present a hollow semicircular front towards the upper end of the
hall at which the Pasha sat; they opened a narrow lane for us when
we entered, and as soon as we had passed they again closed up their
ranks. An attempt was made to induce us to remain at a respectful
distance from his mightiness. To have yielded in this point would
have have been fatal to our success, perhaps to our lives; but the
General and I had already determined upon the place which we should
take, and we rudely pushed on towards the upper end of the hall.
Upon the divan, and close up against the right hand corner of the
room, there sat the Pasha, his limbs gathered in, the whole
creature coiled up like an adder. His cheeks were deadly pale, and
his lips perhaps had turned white, for without moving a muscle the
man impressed me with an immense idea of the wrath within him. He
kept his eyes inexorably fixed as if upon vacancy, and with the
look of a man accustomed to refuse the prayers of those who sue for
life. We soon discomposed him, however, from this studied fixity
of feature, for we marched straight up to the divan and sat down,
the Russian close to the Pasha, and I by the side of the Russian.
This act astonished the attendants, and plainly disconcerted the
Pasha. He could no longer maintain the glassy stillness of the
eyes which he had affected, and evidently became much agitated. At
the feet of the satrap there stood a trembling Italian.
This man was a sort of medico in the potentate's service, and now
in the absence of our attendants he was to act as interpreter. The
Pasha caused him to tell us that we had openly defied his
authority, and had forced our way on shore in the teeth of his own
officers.
Up to this time I had been the planner of the enterprise, but now
that the moment had come when all would depend upon able and
earnest speechifying, I felt at once the immense superiority of my
gallant friend, and gladly left to him the whole conduct of this
discussion. Indeed he had vast advantages over me, not only by his
superior command of language and his far more spirited style of
address, but also in his consciousness of a good cause; for whilst
I felt myself completely in the wrong, his Excellency had really
worked himself up to believe that the Pasha's refusal to permit our
landing was a gross outrage and insult. Therefore, without
deigning to defend our conduct he at once commenced a spirited
attack upon the Pasha. The poor Italian doctor translated one or
two sentences to the Pasha, but he evidently mitigated their
import. The Russian, growing warm, insisted upon his attack with
redoubled energy and spirit; but the medico, instead of
translating, began to shake violently with terror, and at last he
came out with his non ardisco, and fairly confessed that he dared
not interpret fierce words to his master.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 83 of 87
Words from 84285 to 85285
of 89094