Janizaries

“ The uniform or clothing of a janizary is a dolimaun, or long robe with short sleeves. It is tied round the middle with a striped girdle of different colors, fringed at the ends with gold or silver. They wear over the dolimaun, a saphi, or blue surtout, in the same loose manner that Europeans wear great coats or cloaks.
Instead of a turban the janizaries have their heads covered with a zarcola, or cap made of felt, from which hangs a long hood of the same stuff, that reaches to their shoulders, and is worn on parade days. ”

“ The old Latin chronicles of the monk Marinus Barletius—who records the deeds of Castriot in thirteen volumes—assign this honorable distinction to the Janizary, Ballaban Badera. In six campaigns this redoubtable warrior desolated Albania. From Thessaly, northward over the land, poured the Moslem tide, but it stayed itself at the waters of Skadar; and, as if fate had approved the prophecy of the aged stranger at the nuptials of Constantine and Morsinia, the castle of De Streeses 404 during all these terrible years, looked down upon bloodless fields. ”

“ I calculate those that wait at home suffer more than those that actually see battle, murder, [Pg 98] and sudden death. But your father, Janice, may be already on his way home. You can't tell. You got to have patience."
"But I ought to go to him, Elder Concannon," she said.
"Not to be thought of! Not to be thought of!" he repeated. "What? A gal like you going clear down there to Mexico? Preposterous!"
That is what Uncle Jason said later, when his niece broached the subject to him. Indeed, Janice found nobody would listen to her or agree to such a project. ”

“ The Janissary answered,62 “O seeker! although thou art a faithful lover, thou art not yet ripe, but wantest much of perfection, and must still undergo many trials; but as, notwithstanding my rebuffs, thou followedst me with unabated zeal, I will now bring thee to an old man, in whose company thou shalt remain forty days without opening thy lips or asking concerning any men or things that shall pass under thine eye.” He then, in that solitary place, knocked at a low and dirty gate, which was opened by an old camel-lipped negro, who pushed them both into the house. ”

“ I do not like to hear of women slaves pining to death,” said the young Janissary, in a softened tone, “particularly when they are young. Amurath should have ransomed her, or he might have given her to one of his officers, or any young fellow that had particularly distinguished himself.” And so, twirling his mustachios, and flinging down his piastre, the young Janissary strutted out of the coffee-house. ”

“ Janice counted her loose cash and looked up her bank balance. The latter was down to fifty dollars; she had not much more than ten dollars in her pocketbook.
She could not ask Uncle Jason for money. Nor Nelson. She could depend upon nobody to help her in this emergency, for they were all against her.
Those words were ever before her mental vision; [Pg 106] "I must go!" Determination grew hourly in her heart. No matter what others thought or said her duty lay far off there to the southwest—over the Border in battle-ridden Mexico! ”

“ A ranching country, slopes up to the Sierras. It is in the foothills of the Sierras that the Alderdice Mine is situated. Why, Janice! you are actually just as near to your father—at least news of him—here in Polktown as you would be down there on the Border, for there all wires and other lines of communication are cut. There is [Pg 100] no safe way of getting beyond the Rio Grande at the present time."
"Jefers-pelters!" ejaculated Walky Dexter, who was present at the conference. "Broxton Day might's well be in Chiny."
"You are right, Walky, for once," declared Uncle Jason. ”

“ I agree, but I would know his name. Is he whom you desire fit for the post?"
"We want Kurshid," explained Kara Makan, perceiving that the Sultan had not read the document.
"And the Janissaries demand other rewards for themselves. 'Tis only natural: I grant them. They cannot be expected to storm the Seraglio for nothing. The chief treasurer will pay you whatever you require. This third article, too, I see, demands the capture of Janina. Be it so. I grant it. Most probably the whole Janissary host will want to go against Ali Pasha." ”

“ Uncle Jason had begun to take pride in his fields and in his crops. Nobody in all Poketown, or thereabout, had such a garden as the Days this spring. Janice and Mrs. Day attended to it after it was planted. Mr. Day had bought a man-weight hoe and seeding machine, and the garden mould was so fine and free from filth that the "women folks" could use the machine with ease.
Yes, the Jason Days were more prosperous than ever before. And all their prosperity did not arise from that twenty dollars a month that came regularly for Janice's board. ”

“ The several thousand miles that separate us seem very short indeed when I sit down to write my little Janice. I can see her standing right before me in this barren, corrugated-iron shack—which would have been burned the last time a bunch of the Constitutionalists swept through these hills, only iron will not burn. If a party of Federal troops come along they may try to destroy our plant, too. Just at the present time the foreigner, and his property, are in no great favor with either party of belligerents. The cry is 'Mexico for the Mexicans'—and one can scarcely blame them. ”

“ Have you a large farm, Uncle Jason?"
"It's big enough, Janice," grumbled Jason. "Does seem as though—most years—it's too big for us to manage. If Marty, here, warn't so triflin'——"
"I don't see no medals on you for workin' hard," whispered the boy, loud enough for Janice to hear.
"This was a right good farm, onc't," said Aunt 'Mira. "B'fore Jason got his mis'ry we use ter have good crops. That's when we was fust married."
"But that's what broke my health all down," interposed Uncle Jason. "Don't pay a man to work so hard when he's young. He has ter suffer for it in the end." ”

“ As soon as it became dark, Janshah and his men took to flight Night dv.and fled along the heart of the valley till the morning. With the break of day, the apes were upon them, which when the prince saw, he cried out to his men, saying, ‘Smite with your swords.’ So they drew their swords and laid about them right and left, till there ran at one of them an ape, with tusks like an elephant, and smote him and cut him in sunder. Then the apes redoubled upon Janshah and he fled with his followers into the lower part of the valley, where he saw a vast river and by its side, a great host of ants. ”

“ She sleeps like the dead," admitted Uncle Jason. "Only the dead don't snore."
"Will you do it?"
"Oh, well! I'll see how I feel in the morning," half promised Uncle Jason, and with this Janice had to be content. She did not, however, lose heart. She was determined to stir the sluggish waters in and about the old Day house, if such a thing could be done!
Uncle Jason was rather sombre that evening, and even Marty did not feel equal to stirring the quiet waters of the family pool. Janice stole away early to bed. Aunt Almira was always the last person in the household to retire. ”

“ Why, Nelson! there is nobody down there with any special interest in daddy. The men who are engaged in the mining enterprise with him are all in the North here."
"Yes, yes," Nelson cried. "But what can be done? What can I do? What can any of us do, my dear Janice?"
"I don't know that anybody can do anything—up here. But I mean to go down there—yes, I do! I am going to find my father, Nelson."
She began to sob hysterically and the schoolmaster patted her hand with soothing intent. "Of course you can't do that, Janice. A girl like you could do nothing down there in Mexico." ”

“ This pious wish, I inferred, related not to the ass but to Fray Antonio.
"And how dost thou live, Pablo?" I asked.
"By bringing water from the Spring of the Holy Children, señor. It is two leagues away, the Ojo de los Santos Niños, and El Sabio and I make thither two journeys daily. We bring back each time four jars of water, which we sell here in the city—for it is very good, sweet water—at three tlacos the jar. You see, I make a great deal of money, señor—three reales a day! If it were not for one single thing, I should soon be rich." ”

“ The Janissary, much annoyed, cultivated a dislike for Avram and a thirst for revenge.
It happened that a Jew one day came to the Janissary and said to him: "Do you want to make a fortune? if so, you have the means of doing this, provided you will agree to halve with me whatever is made." ”

“ When the school teacher, in his delirium, had seemed to ask for Annette, Janice was smitten to the quick. She could fight the other girl no further. If Nelson’s mind turned to the city girl in its beclouded state, he must be very fond of her indeed. ”

“ The hero of the strange and terrible drama, or, rather, series of dramas, unfolded with such spirit, skill, and vividness in Janicsárok végnapjai, is Ali Pasha of Janina, certainly one of the most brilliant, picturesque, and, it must be added, capable ruffians that even Turkish history can produce. ”

“ It's fun," declared Janice, brightly.
"What's the good?" demanded the boy.
"Why, the folks in Greensboro vie with each other to see who shall have the best-looking yard. Your mother hasn't many flowers——"
"Them dratted hens scratch up all the flowers I plant," sighed Aunt 'Mira. "I give up all hopes of havin' posies till Jason mends the henyard fence."
"Now you say yourself the hens only lay when they're rangin' around,
'Mira," observed Uncle Jason, mildly.
"Ya-as. They lay," admitted Aunt 'Mira. "But I don't git more'n ha'f of what they lay. They steal their nests so. ”

“ AT LA GUARDA
Janice and Marty, clinging together on the rough platform of Manuel's wagon for fear of falling off, saw very little of the country through which they traveled that evening. That the way was rough they knew, and that sparse trees bordered it on either hand was likewise apparent even in the dusk. But they saw no habitations and no light save the distant stars.
The mules rattled on at a jog-trot, while Manuel beguiled the way with untranslatable songs in the vernacular. ”

“ The men folk sat before the base-burner in the sitting-room and talked about other severe storms while Janice and her aunt cleared the table and washed the supper dishes. By and by there was a great stamping and blowing on the porch.
“Marty,” said his father, taking the pipe from his mouth, “that’s either a whale come aboard, or Walky Dexter. Go give him a hand with the broom. Your mother won’t want all that fresh snow on her clean kitchen floor.” ”

“ The first English settlement in the United States was made at this place in 1608, but nothing now remains but a few ruins. The forces of Wayne and Lord Cornwallis had an engagement near here in 1781.
Jangar. A kind of ponton constructed of two boats with a platform laid across them, which is used by the natives in the East Indies to convey horses, cattle, etc., across rivers.
Janissar-Agasi. Commander-in-chief of the Janissaries.
Janissaries (Turk, ieni tcheri, “new soldiers”) . An order of infantry in the Turkish army: originally prisoners trained to arms ”

“ Richard Jannaway who was responsible for the whole trouble. He was always a bad hat; in fact, the only decent thing he ever did in his life was to die without making a will. I know he was in South America for years, and it looks to me as if he'd managed to run up pretty badly against your uncle. He probably played the old boy some dog's trick, and Señor de Roda, being a gentleman of spirit, naturally determined to get level with him. ”

“ Janice hid behind the great lilac bush until Marty had gone grumblingly down the hill. Then she heard some loud language from the barnyard and knew that her uncle had come in from the fields. After a little hesitation she made straight for the barn.
"Uncle Jason! won't you please mend the pump? Mr. Pringle has cut you a good-pump leather."
"Goodness me, Janice! I'm druv to death. All this young corn to cultivate, an' not a soul to help me. Other boys like Marty air some good; but I can't trust him in the field with a hoss."
"But you don't work in the field all day long, Uncle," pleaded Janice. ”

“ One day, as Janice was sitting under a cypress tree, a handsome Knight came down the road, mounted on a splendid black horse. The stranger wore a blue satin jerkin, black knee-breeches, and stockings of blue. There was gold braid on his suit and a golden tassel dangling on his hat. From the brim waved a lovely grey-blue [87] plume. Very straight he rode, and dignified, looking neither to right nor left. As he passed the cottage Janice looked up and saw that the black horse was very tired. ”

“ The next occurrence in the life of Ali was one of those to which the Sea-wolves were subjected from time to time, and which do not seem to have caused them much trouble or anxiety. This was a mutiny of the Janissaries in Algiers, who very reasonably objected to being left without their pay. A mutiny of the Janissaries, however, was somewhat a serious matter, as they were accustomed to the enjoyment of many privileges, and were, as we have said elsewhere, a picked corps who had it in their power even to coerce the Sultan himself upon occasions. ”

“ You see," explained Rosita, "they were all the pants poor Uncle Tio own, and he now have to wear serape only. Only poor Indians appear without pants—yes, huh!"
Janice gazed at the niñito and tried to imagine the dignity attached in the peon's mind to a pair of trousers. However, the meal was before her and although the main dish was beans, as Marty had foretold, they were savory and the girl found them good.
These frijoles were soft and well seasoned and the cakes, tortillas, were tender, too. ”