The Turkish fleet, supplemented by many French galleys4, accordingly set sail for the Bay of Eze, carrying with it irregular troops, both French and Turkish, to the number, it is said, of 2,000. Now Barbarossa, being a finished pirate of ripe experience, would be aware that the taking of Eze from the sea was—as a military project—quite impossible. Eze stood on a cone8 of rock 1,400 feet above the level of the Mediterranean9 and could only be reached from the shore by a narrow path which was actually precipitous. To bring cannon10 to bear upon the town from any point, high or low, on either side of it, was impracticable. It could only be taken by a body of infantry11 and to the attacks of such a force Eze was impregnable.
Still Redbeard the pirate sailed on with complete content. He was not only content; he was happy. He had a treasure in his galley3, a treasure in the form of a man who was probably sitting alone in the pirate’s cabin, deep in thought. Barbarossa would take a peep at him now and then, rub his hands and smile. The name of this man was Gaspard de Ca?s and he was one of the most poisonous scoundrels that had ever lived. He was a native of the country the admiral was proceeding12 to invade. He was a loathsome13 traitor14 who had gone over to the French and, for a certain sum, had engaged to betray his country and the town of Eze together with friends among whom he had spent his youth. The bribe15 might have been large but, valued as a really corrupt16 ruffian, Gaspard was beyond price.
When the Bay of Eze was reached this sneaking17 hound was landed with a few French and Italian soldiers—Italian because they spoke18 a language more akin7 to the speech of Eze. Barbarossa would like to have kicked the knave19 off the boat but he was not a censor20 of morals and he wanted to take the town.
De Ca?s and his small company proceeded to climb up to Eze. It was September and, therefore, one of the hottest months of the year. What with the heat and the burden of his conscience Gaspard must have found the ascent21 trying; for even in modern times with a modern path the clamber up to the town from the shore is a feat22 of endurance that the hardiest23 tourist will scarcely undertake twice.
In due course the perspiring24 traitor reached the gate of Eze—the identical gate that stands before the entrance of the town to this day. He would be stopped by the guard and asked his business. Mopping his face he would reply, with a smile, that he wished a word with the governor. After some delay the governor, attended by an officer or two, appeared and Gaspard, greeting him as an old comrade, whispered in his ear that the Turkish fleet was in the Bay and would attempt to take the town. This was possibly the only time that Gaspard ever spoke the truth; for, in fact, the fleet was below and the admiral did undoubtedly25 desire to capture the town. De Ca?s then lapsed26 into lying which became him better. He explained that as a patriot27 and a lover of Eze he had come to warn the governor of the peril28 ahead and to place his poor services and those of his humble29 followers30 at the disposal of the garrison31. “Would he come in?” He came in.
Now it must be explained that Gaspard had as a friend and co-partner in crime no less a person than his fellow countryman, the Lord of Gorbio. This prince was known by the unpleasing name of the Bastard32 of Gorbio for he was a disreputable scion33 of the noble house of Grimaldi. He was, if possible, a more contemptible34 rogue35 than Gaspard. He had confederates in Eze and a number of traitorous36 men in his pay hidden among the rocks about the entrance.
As soon as Gaspard de Ca?s and his companions were well within the gate they suddenly drew their swords and, with a shout, fell like madmen upon the unsuspecting guard who were still standing37 at attention. This was a signal to the Bastard and to his friends within and without the town. These worthies38 all rushed to the gate and in a few moments the governor and the gallant39 guard of Eze were dead or dying.
All this time the Turks, in single file, were crawling up the zigzag40 path from the boats, like a great brown serpent, a mile long, gliding41 up out of the water. They poured in through the gate, panting and yelling, and continued to pour in for hours. Barbarossa now could laugh aloud and did no doubt guffaw42 heartily43 enough for Eze the impregnable was taken with scarcely the loss of a man.
What followed is, in the language of novelists, “better imagined than described”; simply because it is easy to imagine but difficult to describe.
Eze the betrayed became the scene of a blurred44 orgy of house burning, murder and pillage45. The town with all that was in it was to be wiped off the face of the earth. The order could not have been carried out more thoroughly46 or more heartily if it had been executed by the Germans of the present day. There was no resistance. There was to be no quarter and no prisoners. Everything went “according to plan.”
The narrowness of the lanes rendered the process of hacking47 a population to death cramped48, slow and very horrible. Every street and alley5 was soon blocked with the dead and the dying. The first clatter49 of hurrying feet was soon hushed; for those who pressed on and those who fled trod upon yielding bodies. A whole family would be lying dead in an entry; the man at the front, the baby and the mother behind.
Here would be the corpse50 of a Turk sprawling51 over the bundle of loot he was in the act of carrying away. Here would be a woman’s dead hand cut off at the wrist, but still clinging to the handle of a door. Here a disembowelled man, still alive, trying to crawl into a cellar and there a half-charred body dangling52 from the window of a burning house.
It is always customary to say, in the account of scenes like this, that “the streets ran with blood,” but it is not so. The state is far more hideous53, since blood clots54 so soon that it will not run.
The noise must have been peculiarly dreadful, an awful medley55 of the shouts of men, the shrieks56 of the butchered, the moans of the dying, mingled57 with the roaring of flames and the fall of blazing timbers. Now and then, among the din6, would be heard the crash of an axe58 upon a skull59, the crack of a sword upon the tense bones of a bent60 back, the muffled61 thud of a dagger62, the hammer-blow of a club.
The sunlight and the blue of heaven were shut off by a pall63 of smoke; while suffocating64 clouds filled many a lane with the blackness of night.
Such fortifications as could be destroyed were levelled to the ground, and the castle that crowned the hill was blown up by its own magazine. The gate—the fatal gate—was untouched and stands to this day to testify to the supreme65 villainy of the traitor, Gaspard de Ca?s.
The work was well done. Redbeard the pirate may have had his faults, but in the business details of town-sacking he was thorough and singularly expert. When he beached his galleys in the bay, Eze was a prosperous and busy town, living at ease and confident in its strength. When the pirate left it, it was a black, smouldering ruin, empty and helpless, stripped of all that it possessed66 and occupied only by the dead, by such wounded as survived and by the few who, hidden in vaults67 and secret places, had escaped death from suffocation68. There was no need to leave a guard in the town for there was nothing to guard. Eze, as a stronghold had ceased to exist.
After all was over the Turks and their ruffianly allies rattled69 down the hill to the boats, tired no doubt, blood-bespattered and blackened by smoke, but jubilant and disposed to bellow70 and sing. Every man was laden71 with loot like a pack-horse. Even the wounded would grab the shoulder of a friend with one hand and a bundle of booty with the other. They chattered72 as they stumbled along, chuckling73 over the “fun” they had had and announcing what they would have done if only they had had more time. Others would be appraising74 the value of their respective spoils, would draw strange articles half out of their pockets for inspection75, or would rub a sticky mess of blood and hair from a vase to see better the fineness of its moulding. They reached the sea without further adventure, boarded their galleys and sailed away towards the East, a proud and happy company, pleased with their day’s work and grateful to Allah for his abounding76 mercies.
It only remains77 to tell what happened to Gaspard de Ca?s and his friend from Gorbio with the unpleasant title. They were, of course, overjoyed by the result of their labours and must have congratulated one another fervently78 with hearty79 slaps upon the shoulder. They did not go down the hill to join the ships. They had either been paid in advance for their distinguished80 service or had got enough loot out of Eze to reward them for their efforts. They had done with Barbarossa and were disposed to do a little now on their own account.
Their action at Eze had been attended with such excellent results that they proposed to try the same man?uvre at the gate of La Turbie. So Gaspard and the Lord of Gorbio started in high spirits for this well-to-do little town. They were to approach it as friends. They were to warn the governor that the Turks were coming and were to offer their patriotic81 services as they had done at Eze. They had with them a substantial body of men—blackguards all of the first water—among whom were no doubt some of Barbarossa’s crew who had reached the hill too late to make a really good bag. Indeed La Turbie was to be Eze over again.
The two gentle traitors82, having hidden their men near by, advanced to the gate of the town as the night was falling. Unhappily for them the governor had been secretly warned of their coming and of their methods for helping83 their fellow countrymen. The result was that they were received, not with gratitude84, but with bullets and stones.
They fled and, as it was dark, made good their escape. The Bastard of Gorbio took refuge in a church. There he was found and seized by two brave priests, Gianfret Mossen of Eze and Marcellino Mossen of Villefranche. Gaspard de Ca?s hid in a cave. He also was discovered and arrested. Very probably his colleague from Gorbio revealed his hiding place to those who were in pursuit. Anyhow these two snivelling ruffians were both marched off to the Castle at Nice where they were tried for high treason, convicted and sentenced to death.[30]
According to one account Gaspard was drawn85 and quartered and the Bastard of Gorbio was hanged; while another record states that De Ca?s was broken on the wheel and that his friend committed suicide in his cell. It matters little which account is true. They both came to a fitting end and passed out into the darkness with the curses of their countrymen ringing in their ears.
With the sacking and massacre86 of 1543 the story of Eze comes to an end. It ceased to be a town to reckon with, to be cajoled or threatened, to be bought or sold. It became a place of no account and has remained humble and unhonoured ever since. The walls were not restored, the fortifications were not remade and the castle was allowed to crumble87 into dust. He who was Lord of Eze was lord over a hollow heap of tainted88 ruins and his title was as much a shadow as was his town.
The new Eze, which in course of time came into being, had its foundations set upon the ruins of 1543. The castle appears to have been more completely dismantled89 in 1604. On February 23rd, 1887, the earthquake which destroyed Castillon—a place singularly like Eze in its position—did some damage to the hapless town and also to its castle. But it would seem as if the forces of both heaven and earth were conspiring90 to rid the world of this battered91 and ill-omened house, for in the terrific storm of May, 1887, its remaining walls were so split by lightning that the arrogant92 old stronghold was reduced to the mean condition in which it is found to-day.
[30]
“Mentone,” by Dr. George Müller, London, 1910. Durante’s “History of Nice,” Vol. 2, p. 313.
A STREET IN EZE.
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1
citadel
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| n.城堡；堡垒；避难所 | |
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besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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galleys
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| n.平底大船，战舰( galley的名词复数 )；（船上或航空器上的）厨房 | |
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alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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akin
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| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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cone
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| n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果 | |
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Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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loathsome
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| adj.讨厌的，令人厌恶的 | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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bribe
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| n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通 | |
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corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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sneaking
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| a.秘密的，不公开的 | |
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18
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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knave
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| n.流氓；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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censor
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| n./vt.审查，审查员；删改 | |
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ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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23
hardiest
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| 能吃苦耐劳的，坚强的( hardy的最高级 )； （植物等）耐寒的 | |
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24
perspiring
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| v.出汗，流汗( perspire的现在分词 ) | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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lapsed
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| adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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bastard
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| n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子 | |
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scion
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| n.嫩芽，子孙 | |
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contemptible
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| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
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rogue
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| n.流氓；v.游手好闲 | |
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traitorous
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| adj. 叛国的, 不忠的, 背信弃义的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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worthies
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| 应得某事物( worthy的名词复数 )； 值得做某事； 可尊敬的； 有（某人或事物）的典型特征 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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zigzag
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| n.曲折，之字形；adj.曲折的，锯齿形的；adv.曲折地，成锯齿形地；vt.使曲折；vi.曲折前行 | |
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41
gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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42
guffaw
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| n.哄笑；突然的大笑 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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44
blurred
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| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
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45
pillage
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| v.抢劫；掠夺；n.抢劫，掠夺；掠夺物 | |
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46
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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47
hacking
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| n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动 | |
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48
cramped
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| a.狭窄的 | |
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49
clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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50
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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51
sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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52
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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53
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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54
clots
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| n.凝块( clot的名词复数 )；血块；蠢人；傻瓜v.凝固( clot的第三人称单数 ) | |
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55
medley
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| n.混合 | |
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56
shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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57
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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58
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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59
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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60
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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61
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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62
dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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63
pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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64
suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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65
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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66
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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67
vaults
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| n.拱顶( vault的名词复数 )；地下室；撑物跳高；墓穴 | |
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suffocation
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| n.窒息 | |
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69
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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70
bellow
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| v.吼叫，怒吼；大声发出，大声喝道 | |
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71
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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72
chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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73
chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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74
appraising
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| v.估价( appraise的现在分词 )；估计；估量；评价 | |
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75
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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76
abounding
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| adj.丰富的，大量的v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的现在分词 ) | |
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77
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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78
fervently
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| adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地 | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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80
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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81
patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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82
traitors
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| 卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人 | |
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83
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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84
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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85
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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massacre
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| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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87
crumble
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| vi.碎裂，崩溃；vt.弄碎，摧毁 | |
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tainted
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| adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏 | |
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dismantled
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| 拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消 | |
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conspiring
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| 密谋( conspire的现在分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致 | |
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battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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arrogant
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的 | |
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