Nightmare Tales

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towards evening we were invaded in our hotel by the whole troop, every man of them with a more or less
mangy cur in his arms, which he tried to persuade me was my lost dog. The more I denied, the more solemnly
they insisted, one of them actually going down on his knees, snatching from his bosom an old corroded metal
image of the Virgin, and swearing a solemn oath that the Queen of Heaven herself had kindly appeared to
him to point out the right animal. The tumult had increased to such an extent that it looked as if Ralph's
disappearance was going to be the cause of a small riot, and finally our landlord had to send for a couple of
Kavasses from the nearest police station, and have this regiment of bipeds and quadrupeds expelled by main
force. I began to be convinced that I should never see my dog again, and I was the more despondent since the
porter of the hotel, a semi-respectable old brigand, who, to judge by appearances, had not passed more than
half-a-dozen years at the galleys, gravely assured me that all my pains were useless, as my spaniel was
undoubtedly dead and devoured too by this time, the Turkish dogs being very fond of their more toothsome
English brothers.
All this discussion had taken place in the street at the door of the hotel, and I was about to give up the search
for that night at least, and enter the hotel, when an old Greek lady, a Phanariote who had been hearing the
fracas from the steps of a door close by, approached our disconsolate group and suggested to Miss H---, one
of our party, that we should enquire of the dervishes concerning the fate of Ralph.
And what can the dervishes know about my dog? said I, in no mood to joke, ridiculous as the proposition
appeared.
"The holy men know all, Kyrea (Madam)," said she, somewhat mysteriously. "Last week I was robbed of my
new satin pelisse, that my son had just brought me from Broussa, and, as you all see, I have recovered it and
have it on my back now."
"Indeed? Then the holy men have also managed to metamorphose your new pelisse into an old one by all
appearances," said one of the gentlemen who accompanied us, pointing as he spoke to a large rent in the
back, which had been clumsily repaired with pins.
"And that is just the most wonderful part of the whole story," quietly answered the Phanariote, not in the least
disconcerted. "They showed me in the shining circle the quarter of the town, the house, and even the room in
which the Jew who had stolen my pelisse was just about to rip it up and cut it into pieces. My son and I had
THE LUMINOUS SHIELD 50
Nightmare Tales
barely time to run over to the Kalindjikoulosek quarter, and to save my property. We caught the thief in the
very act, and we both recognized him as the man shown to us by the dervishes in the magic moon. He
confessed the theft and is now in prison."
Although none of us had the least comprehension of what she meant by the magic moon and the shining
circle, and were all thoroughly mystified by her account of the divining powers of the "holy men," we still
felt somehow satisfied from her manner that the story was not altogether a fabrication, and since she had at
all events apparently succeeded in recovering her property through being somehow assisted by the dervishes,
we determined to go the following morning and see for ourselves, for what had helped her might help us
likewise.
The monotonous cry of the Muezzins from the tops of the minarets had just proclaimed the hour of noon as
we, descending from the heights of Pera to the port of Galata, with difficulty managed to elbow our way
through the unsavoury crowds of the commercial quarter of the town. Before we reached the docks, we had
been half deafened by the shouts and incessant ear-piercing cries and the Babel-like confusion of tongues. In
this part of the city it is useless to expect to be guided by either house numbers, or names of streets. The
location of any desired place is indicated by its proximity to some other more conspicuous building such as a
mosque, bath, or European shop; for the rest, one has to trust to Allah and his prophet.
It was with the greatest difficulty, therefore, that we finally discovered the British ship-chandler's store, at
the rear of which we were to find the place of our destination. Our hotel guide was as ignorant of the
dervishes' abode as we were ourselves; but at last a small Greek, in all the simplicity of primitive undress,
consented for a modest copper backsheesh to lead us to the dancers.
When we arrived we were shown into a vast and gloomy hall that looked like a deserted stable. It was long
and narrow, the floor was thickly strewn with sand as in a riding school, and it was lighted only by small
windows placed at some height from the ground. The dervishes had finished their morning performances, and
were evidently resting from their exhausting labours. They looked completely prostrated, some lying about in
corners, others sitting on their heels staring vacantly into space, engaged, as we were informed, in meditation
on their invisible deity. They appeared to have lost all power of sight and hearing, for none of them [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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