Ivan the Terrible; or, Dark Deeds of Night — page 180: what you’re looking at

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

176 been erected, upon which carpets and cushions were spread for the pasha and his suite. J I placed myself as near to that spot asthe guards would permit me ; and shortly after I had stationed myself there, Mustapha and his retinue arrived on horseback. He dismounted at the foot of the platform, and, ascending the steps, seated himself upon his cushions ; his master of the ceremonies stood at his right hand, while his standard-bearer, cup- bearer, pipe-bearers, secretaries, and the numerous other attendants inseparable from Turkish authorities, ranged themselves in a semicircle behind him, his guards surrounding <the foot of the scaffolding. Mustaph and ashade of stern sorrow passed over his countenance. He then turned his eyes upon the fatal stake, and a sombre fire flashed from them as they measured it from the sharp point to the widening base, and appeared to calculate the mortal agonies which that brief space would soon exhibit. Then, concentrating his emotions, he remained in silence and ap-- parent indifference, awaiting the opening of the bloody scene. A rumour in the crowd soon announced the approach of the criminal, who, clothed in his richest vestments, his hands bound behind his back, his tottering steps supported on each side by the executioner’s assistants, drew near to the fatal spot. The wretched man cast one shuddering glance at the instruments of death, and sunk motionless to the earth. At that moment two ladders were placed against the stake, and the executioner and his assistants surrounding the culprit quickly stripped him of his clothing. An awful and almost breathless still- ness pervaded the crowd ; every voice was hushed ; every eye was turned toward the group at the foot of the ladders, and soon we beheld the executioner lightly ascend one of them, and await at the summit, while his assistants guided, or rather forced upwards, the unhappy Sereski. At last the topmost step was attained, the officials closed around lim—for a moment they raised him above their heads—the next instant a scream of agony resounded through the air, and the men, displacing the ladders, clung to the shaft of the stake, and, sliding down with the velocity of thought, left for the thousands assembled an unobstructed view of the wretched Armenian’s horrible con- vulsions. ! My heart sickened at the spectacle, and turning my eyes from it, I bent them upou the countenance of Mustapha. He had drawh his fez cap over his eyes—was it to shade them from the sun, or to hide some trace of human emotion lurking there? His lips were closely compressed, his countenance pale but composed, and with unsbaken firmness he listened to the horrible execrations aud blasphemies which the fierce torments of Sereski wrung from him. In his mortal agony, he had burst the cords that bound his hands, and with desperate struggles he menanced the pasha. “* Accursed be the day I saw thee, O pasha of evil!” he cried - ** accursed be the hour that thou didst enter my house! accursed be the child that has betrayed me! accursed be God for permitting it t accursed ————-;” but a death-rattle checked his utterance. Water, water !”” he gasped at last, in a fainting tone. Now, a single drop of water administered to an impaled <riminal produces instantaneous death; and, therefore, in cases of such executions in Turkey, guards are placed round the stake to prevent such a coup de grace being afforded to the sufferer, who sometimes mite In torments for two days, if a vital part has not been pierced. The pasha, however, motioning to his cupbearer, said, _ “ Let the wretch drink and die !” 7 The cupbearer immediately approached the writhing sufferer, and presented a goblet of iced water to his lips ; but Sereski, collecting all his energies at that moment, snatched the goblet from the slave’s hand, hurled it at the pasha’s head, and yelling out, Not from thee, accursed one!” his arm3 fell powerless by his side, his head sunk upon his bosom, and with that last malediction the soul of the murderer passed into eternity ! The pasha’s guards then clearing a passage through the crowd, Tenetapha descended from the platform with a firm step, and ; mounting his horse, returned with his whole retinue to Mielnik. The multitude dispersed, and I followed with them into the town pot bbl a the pour of Pascal, at the door of which was a araba drawn i te departure wn by oxen, and a few people assembled to witness 1en ushered into the presence of Pascal, and after I had oi him asketch of the horrid scene I had just. witnessed, I faulted the mencun oF ane e yee at the door. . ustapha Pasha’s araba,’’ he replied, “ come t away Irene, the child of Sereski, whom, i etiadh Benes “of his ancient promise to her father, he has adopted as his own vaue A d He has given the fifth share of Sereski’s possessions (whic a cast his eyes upon the ruined mosque and the fountain, _ THE IMPALEMENT; A STORY OF EASTERN LIFE. devolved to her) to bé distributed among the poor, and will endow the maiden with a noble portion from his own wealth. Irene was brought to my house last evening, her father’s habitation having been rased to the ground the night by the pasha’s order. Thus, you . see, Mustaphahas kept his vow of benevolence as well as his vow of vengeance; and although the one might serve as a pretext for ‘the non-performance of the other, he has observed them both with Turkish scrupul»usness.”’ At that moment, the shuffling of footsteps, and the sound of Women’s voices in the inner court, diverted his attention from me, ‘¢ It is Irene who departs,’ said Pascal; ‘‘I. must bid her farewell.” ; I followed him, and we reached the door just as the young Armenian, wrapped in a dark ferigee, and closely veiled, appeared, followed by several Turkish women. Pascal raised her in his arms, kissed her eyes, and placed her in the araba ; the women took their seats beside her, the lattices were closed, and the cumbrous vehicle drove away. *¢ Poor child !’’ said Pascal ; “‘ to tbe last her father refused to see her. She is ignorant of his fate, and of the share she had in bringing it to pass ; the pasha hascommanded that it should never be made known to her. She believesthat Sereski had gone to Constanti- nople upon business, and that he died there unexpectedly ; and she is now going cheerfully to place herself under the protection of her new father.” © Will he fulfil the trust with kindness ?” I inquired. ‘* T would stake my life upon his doing so,” answered Pascal ; ‘€ and it will be the maiden’s own fault if Mustapha Pasha does not remain her-firm friend for life.” The next morning, as I departed from Mielnik, I passed through the street where Sereski had resided, and found that a heap of ruins alone marked the spot where his house had stood. An hour’s ride brought me from the Salonica gate to the theatre of the preceding day’s tragedy. The stake was still,there, covered with blood; the head of Sereski, severed from his body, had been placed upon its summit, and the vulture that was wheeling in the air above it, had evidently made its m@al from its eyeleas sockets. A little further on, the dismembered limbs, scattered on} the plain, had already become the prey of numerous chacals, who, scared by the approach of our horses, for 4 moment quitted their repast to return to it with renewed voracity. Three weeks afterwards, when returning from Salonica, I passed by the same spot. The unburied hones of Sereski were bleaching in the wind ! and thus to their fullest extent—nay, to the very letter— were fulfilled the Pasha’s vows of VENGEANCE and BENEYo- LENCE. ™~ NOTICE.—In our next Number will be commenced a new and highly in- teresting Story, entitled, THE PRINCE AND THE FISHERMAN; A NEAPOLITAN STORY. NOTICE! NOTICE! TWO MAGNIFICENT ENGRAVINGS AND A SUPPLEMENT, GRATIS, EVERY WEEK, WITH THE WORK GIRLS OF LONDON; THEIR TRIALS AND TEMPTATIONS. With Number 1 will be presented Number 2, in a Neat Wrapper, and a MAGNIFICENT ENGRAVING of é THE WORK GIRL, HER PROTECTOR, AND LORD DUNDREARY. ood With Number 3 will be given another LARGE ENGRAVING of ~ THE WORK GIRL’S DREAM OF THE FUTURE. And with Number 4 will be presented a SUPPLEMENT, Containing the opening Chaptews of a New and Startling Tale, entitled, THE CRUSADER; OR, THE WITCH OF FINCHLEY, ~ Which has been for some months in preparation, and which will be issued, Gratis, with each Number of the “ WoRK GIRLS OF LONDON” until com- pleted, forming TWO,.NUMBERS AND TWO DEEPLY INTERESTING NOVELS, WEEKLY, FOR ONE PENNY! ARLY TO SECURE COPIES OF THE ENGRAVINGS. GComicbooks.com