Ivan the Terrible; or, Dark Deeds of Night — page 179: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

When safe inside the little old-fashionéd house Nobby ex- ae to the landlord the circumstances under which his iend received his wound, and all the worthy host’s sympathy was at once lavished on the sufferer. A room was got ready, and Ivan was placed in bed, receiving at the same time the assurancé of the landlord that no one would be able to discover his apartment. “You can make yourself happy as a prince here till you're IVAN THE TERRIBLE. 175 all right again,” said Councillor Nash, as he viewed the arrangements. “T fear I shall never be-all right again, of water,” said Ivan, faintly. _ The water was given him, and the landlord received a strict injunction to give the sufferer everything heerequired while Give mé a drink Nobby went in search of a doctor, (Zo be continued.) 4 A STORY ‘ THE IMPALEMENT: OF EASTERN LIFE. ( Concluded from page 168.) +} The means he had taken to effect the crime were as follows :— Sereski had a garden and kiosk at a short distance from Meilnik, on the Constantinople side of the town, which he was in the habit of visiting almost daily, and occasionally passing the night there. Having been apprised of Seid Mohamet’s arrival at Mielnik, and of the treasure he carried with him, he promptly took his measures to secure it to himself without attracting suspicion, and went, as was his custom, to his kiosk, where he passed the night. But just before daylight he and the Jew arose, and, “disguising themselves in Albanian dresses, armed with pistols and yataghans, they proceeded to the plain leading from Meilnik to Salonica, and took up their position under cover of a ruined mosque, Close to which is a fountain where travellers are in the habit of refreshing their horses. . They had not ny been in ambush when Seid Mohamet and his guide appeared in sight, and, approaching the mosque, dismounted. Seid Mobamet spread his praying carpet the ground, and disposing himself for his devotions, soon became absorbed in them ; while the servant praceeded to water tbe horses at the fountain. - At that instant, Sereski, taking a sure and deadly aim at the good Mussulman, shot him through the heart. The servant, alarmed by the report of the pistol, rushei towards his master, but was intercepted by Sereski, who, having quitted his concealment, threw himself upon the faithful man, and with his yatachan prostrated him on the earth. With the convulsive ferocity of a dying man’s last agony, the Tartar siezed the heel of the murderer in the grasp of his deadly jaws, and it was only bya severance of the head from the still throbbing body that liberation from the mortal’grip was effected. Meanwhile, the Jew was busied in rifling the baggage horses ; and having collected the treasure, and stripped the bodies of their victims of every article of value about them, they turned the horses loose upon the plain, and returned with their booty before sunrise to the kiosk, where they deposited it in a subterranean chamber ; and departing for Mielnik at the hour they were accustomed to do, made their entrance publicly some hours before tlle murder was discovered. The pasha listened with amazement; and ordering the Jew to show him the place of concealment, he proceeded thither with the cadi, and found, as the delinquent liad most truly stated, a subter- ranean chamber under the kiosk, in Which was concealed a quantity of money; and among tlie rest, the treasure of Seid Mohamet -untouchéd, and rolled up in the Albanian dresses that had been worn by Sereski and his servant when they committed the murder. These proofs of Sereski’s guilt were convincing to M ustapha Pasha. “ Detested hypocrite!” he exclaimed ; ‘‘ how have I been deceived in him! This is the man whom [ loyed, and in whose virtue I con- fided above all others, except Seid Mohamet! This is the man who. wept with me over his murder, and caJled for vengeance upon. his assassins ! The call shall be answered: he shall die the death, even though lie has been the friend of my bosow ; for I will break my heart ere I break my vow.”’ ‘It was nightfall before they returned to Mielnik, but Mustapha Pasha stopped not until steps had been taken to bring Sereski and his accomplice speedily to justice. MA 6 , _ They were tried according to the new laws ; and their guilt being fully established, their doom was sealéd. The Jew was sentenced to be hanged at his master’s door at daybreak, while the Armenian was reserved forthe more dreadful punishment of impalement alive. His property was to be divided into five parts, four of which were to be given to the family of Seid Mohamet, and the fifth to be re- served for his own child. As soon as the trial was over, Sereski demanded an andience of the pasha, in order, as he said, to make a further revelation to him ; ‘but the motive he assigned was merely a pretext to obtain an inter- view, which he knew would otherwise be refused to him. When admitted into-Mustapha’s presence, he cast himself at his feet, and, in the most abject terms, supplicated for life under any conditions. ““Tet me but live, oli, pasha !”’ said he, ‘‘and all that I possess shall be thine. I have wealth that is unknown to all, even to Ishmael the Jew, who has betrayed me.. But what is wealth com- — pared to life? Behold! for this boon I will beggar my child; and maimed, impoverished, and disgraced as I am, I will return with her to the land of my fathers, even into Armenia, and repent me of my sins during a’‘life of labour and privation. Hear my prayer, oh, Mustapha! Thou art all-powerful with the sultan : ask for mercy and it shall be granted. Behold! have I not already suffered in the body ?”—and he pointed to his mutilated feet—‘‘ and is not wy spirit crushed into the very dust? Sereski, the rich, the hon- oured, and, above all, the friend of Mustapha, whither has he fallen ?”” : The pasha listened without once interrupting him ; and when Sereski paused, and-raised his eyes and hands in agony towards Mustapha, he spurned him with his foot, and answered, “Thou hast fallen beneath my contempt—nay beneath my pity. Cruelty and cowardice were ever twin brothers. Dost thou believe the soul of Mustapha to be so base that, like thine own,’ it could barter all for gold? Tlie wealth of Stamboul should not tempt me . to spare one drop of thy blood!” “Nay, but,” persisted the unhappy Sereski, *® wilt thou render Irene, the child thou lovest, fatherless ? Who will protect her when I am gone?” ‘¢ Hast thou the bowels of a father,” replied the pasha, “‘ that even but this moment thou didst offer to make her a beggar, if I would give thee thy wretched life? Deg! thou art not worthy the name of father! But the innocent shall not suffer for the guilty; Irene shall not be fatherless ; henceforth she shall be unto me as a daughter.” ‘Thou wert ever great and noble,”’ resumed Sereski, ‘‘ be mer- ciful as thou art genérous, and so shalt thou surpass all other men. ‘¢ Bage‘wretch!”’ answered Mustapha, trembling with passion; ‘¢no bribes nor flattery shall serve. thee. Away with him,’’ he con- tinued, simmoning his guards; ‘‘I spit upon and defy him !’’ The agony of mind and the bodily torture which Sereski had under- gone had thrown him‘into a Violent fever, which caused the execution of his sentence to be delayed ; for the Turkish law forbids that crimi- nals should undergo its last extreme penalty while suffering from bodily illness. Sereski was conveyed to prison, where he was care- fully guarded, and attended by a physician of his own country, who was orderéd, on pain of death, to restore him to health. Every means thata barbarous humanity could devise were employed to heal his lacerated body, and with such success, that health had become quite re-established ; and the day following the one on which I had arrived at Mielnik had been fixed upon for his execution. During the period of his convalescence, Sereski had made a full admission of his guilt, and confessed that he had had recourse to those cruel and unlawful means of enriching himself, that he might leave great wealth to his daughter ; for which Heaven had punished him; by making that very child the instrument of bringing him to justice, Such was the substance of Pascal’s relation, and the cause of the sadn-ss in which I had found him. The execution was to take place on the spot where the murder had been committed: the pasha was to be present at it, and I immediately decided upon remaining another day at Mielnik, that I wigne witness the tragedy. On the morrow, at noon, the whole population of the town was to be seen thronging through the Salonica gate, towards the plain, on which stood the ruined mosque, near to which was to be seen a tall stake firmly planted in the ground, and tapering towards the summit, until it ogee as in a steel point, which ones re & lance in the sunbeams. Opposite to if, a fempor atform ha COMICHOOKSKE im Oim