CHAPTER XIII

"So long as you keep your sovereign word to me you will be regarded as a Sovereign in my camp." This was Timur Lenk's promise to his opponent. Whichever direction Bajazet took, he was received with the honours paid to a Sovereign, and imperial pomp surrounded his tent. Overnight, whilst the captive Sultan was walking in front of his camp, he found a screw of parchment lying before him, on which the following words were written:

"MY SULTAN,--Your sons are coming with fresh forces against Tamerlan; Jacob Bey will break upon Angora. The Waiwode is returning with reinforcements. Be prepared. We are making a subterranean way from the Bakery which will lead into your tent. To-night all will be ready. Be ready yourself also. At daybreak disguise yourselves as bakers, and you can escape with your wife and sons into the open, where you will find your horses awaiting you. Be ready!

"YOUR FRIENDS!"

This letter was too tempting for Bajazet, and he eagerly seized the opportunity offered. It was indeed a fact that a subterranean way was made to his tent, but it was Tamerlan's workmen who constructed it! At midnight the hammering of the subterranean poleaxes let the Sultan know that his rescuing body of moles were coming! The earth gave way under his feet, and from a narrow passage human heads rose up from the earth before him. "Come!" whispered the head which ascended from the earth's depths. "Come!" And the Sultan followed the enticer, taking with him Maria and his son Muza. They could only proceed in bent form along the footpath, holding one another's hands. Finally the neck of the cavernous way became visible. The extreme end was the Bakery oven. When Bajazet was going to step out from the low opening, some one put out a hand to assist him, and when he emerged he who had given him a helping hand did not release his own. The Sultan looked at him. Timur Lenk stood before him!

"What! Is this your sovereign word?" he softly demanded of the terrified Bajazet.

The Sultan saw that he was trapped. Timur threw away his hand from him:

"This is not the hand of a Sovereign. It is the hand of a slave."

So saying, he turned away and left him to himself. Bajazet saw only the executioners before him, carrying chains and iron rods in their hands!