The Prince of India; Or, Why Constantinople Fell - Volume 01

he night they had heard a medley of noises peculiar to a multitude at work with all their might; now, just out of range

an enemy bodily present, it seemed like the world being pared down to the smallest dimensions; while their associate veterans, to whom they na

ight-still the hordes out on the campania multiplied, and the horizon line w

and still

ng, here and there at intervals, ill-defined mounds of earth were seen so much in advance of the intrenched line that, by a general order, a fire of stones and dar

ain-and

evening

f course was wi

as alive with a creaking of wheels burdened by machinery, and a shouting of ox-drivers;

king order and well manned, every sort of engine known in sieges from Alexander to the Crusade

lery parlance, finding the range. Many minutes often intervened between shots, and as the preliminary object on the part of the besie

s with derision. "Apprentices," they would say, "nothing but apprentices."... "See those fellows by the big springal there turning the winch the wrong w

dred feet of flooded ditch! There will be merry Christmas in the next century before the Mahounds

first to draw the enemy's ire, and then along the inner, the Emperor

n can lay a finger on the face of one of them, and say, 'Here Chosroes left a scar.' So Amurath, sometimes called Murad, this young man's father, wasted months

under arms began to be accustomed to the us

main on the right hand; and finding Justiniani on the roof, he said to him: "This fighting, if it may be so called, Captain, is without heart.

slope of the rise, yet in position to meet a sally, we would discover the royal tent not unwisely pitched, if, as I surmise, this gate is indeed his point of main attack. And besides here are none of the old-time machines as elsewhere along our front; not a catapult, or bricole, or bible-as some, with wicked facetiousness, have named a certain invention for casting huge stones; nor

?" Constan

have a new les

ce, visible under his r

old Christian empire should be lost through folly o

se observing him with

train. Would I furnish him the materials, and a place, with appliances for the work such as he would name, I might collect the machines in my arsenal, and burn them or throw them into the sea. I might even level my walls, and in their stead throw up ramparts of common earth, and by mounting his guns upon them secure my capital against the combined powers of the world. He refused to give me details of his processes. I asked him what reward he wanted,

does not hold us accountable for errors of judgment. There is not a monarch in Europe who would have accepted the m

cking of whips. Presently a train of buffaloes, yoked and tugging laboriously at something almost too heavy for them, appeared on the swell

id Constantine. "They are

standing by the machines:

gerly, and discharged a shower of miss

, my men-m

increased; still t

the guns!" shou

ounted on high wheels, and each shooting half a dozen balls of lead large

noese, from a merlon. "Give t

The second volley also failed. Then

op the planting of the gun ther

One of us on the wall is worth a score of them in the fi

lied: "Your Maj

elabored trains, until the monster at last threat

t a bad engineer,

planting o

n on each flank of the first monster three other glistening yellow logs lay on their carriages in a like dub

on, was naturally disposed to be careful, so much, in his view, depended on the right placement of the guns; but Mahommed, on foot, and whi

owder, and a bullet, for when the sun goes down thou shalt fire the great gun. Demur not. By the sword of Sol

ll was next rolled into the muzzle, then pushed nakedly down on the bag. Of a truth there was need of measureless stren

is ready,

e.... Aim at the gate-this one before us-and if thou hit i

y the day down with it. The Sultan, from his tent of many annexes Bedouin fashion,

!" he

nelt be

Lord plea

ould I

is da

smiled

ce trained

; but

eve thee a dog not less than an un

it and sputter, he cast it off. His experts fled. Only Mahommed remained with him; and no feat of daring in battle could ha

e a little aside? He can

cepted the

line with the

wheels obedient to the recoil of the gun-a sound thunder in volume, but with a crackle sharper than any th

whether the report of the gun died on the heights of Galata or across the Bosphorus at Scutari. He saw the blackened sphere pass

ll on hi

my Lord,

And when it was so reported, he called to Kalil, the Vizier, now come up: "Give the

th and curtain the gun, and right afterward they heard the huge ball go tearing past them, like an invisible meteor. Their eyes pursued the sound-where t

r us now but the sal

Justiniani. "We mus

o and arr

of further firing, the two

in order to avoid the accomplishment of a prediction which announced that the Emperor Frederick would enter Constantinople through it.... But before the siege by Mahommed the exit was restored, and it was through it the Turks passed into the city.-VON HAMMER, Hist. de l'Empire Ottoman.] Count Corti,

. By this time it had become a general report that the net about his neck was a favor of the Princess Irene, and his battle cry confirmed it-For God and Irene! Bursting through the hal

ance with the operation known to moderns as "spiking a piece," would have enabled him to make the blow irreparable. The loss o

his assailant, and pluck the banderole from its place. At sight of the moon with the cross on its fac

in course of the siege, b