I certainly
thought that when I locked myself into my room in the hotel at Ilsin that
I would have at last a spell, however short, of quiet. All the time of
my prolonged negotiations with the various nationalities I had to be at
tension; so, too, on my homeward journey, lest something at the last
moment should happen adversely to my mission. But when I was safe on my
own Land of the Blue Mountains, and laid my head on my pillow, where only
friends could be around me, I thought I might forget care. But to wake with a rude hand over my mouth, and to feel myself grasped
tight by so many hands that I could not move a limb, was a dreadful
shock. All after that was like a dreadful dream. I was rolled in a
great rug so tightly that I could hardly breathe, let alone cry out. Lifted by many hands through the window, which I could hear was softly
opened and shut for the purpose, and carried to a boat. Again lifted
into some sort of litter, on which I was borne a long distance, but with
considerable rapidity. Again lifted out and dragged through a doorway
opened on purpose--I could hear the clang as it was shut behind me. Then
the rug was removed, and I found myself, still in my night-gear, in the
midst of a ring of men. There were two score of them, all Turks, all
strong-looking, resolute men, armed to the teeth. My clothes, which had
been taken from my room, were thrown down beside me, and I was told to
dress. As the Turks were going from the room--shaped like a vault--where
we then were, the last of them, who seemed to be some sort of officer,
said:

"If you cry out or make any noise whatever whilst you are in this Tower,
you shall die before your time!" Presently some food and water were
brought me, and a couple of blankets. I wrapped myself up and slept till
early in the morning. Breakfast was brought, and the same men filed in. In the presence of them all the same officer said:

"I have given instructions that if you make any noise or betray your
presence to anyone outside this Tower, the nearest man is to restore you
to immediate quiet with his yataghan. It you promise me that you will
remain quiet whilst you are within the Tower, I can enlarge your
liberties somewhat. Do you promise?" I promised as he wished; there was
no need to make necessary any stricter measure of confinement. Any
chance of escape lay in having the utmost freedom allowed to me. Although I had been taken away with such secrecy, I knew that before long
there would be pursuit. So I waited with what patience I could. I was
allowed to go on the upper platform--a consideration due, I am convinced,
to my captors' wish for their own comfort rather than for mine. It was not very cheering, for during the daytime I had satisfied myself
that it would be quite impossible for even a younger and more active man
than I am to climb the walls. They were built for prison purposes, and a
cat could not find entry for its claws between the stones. I resigned
myself to my fate as well as I could. Wrapping my blanket round me, I
lay down and looked up at the sky. I wished to see it whilst I could. I
was just dropping to sleep--the unutterable silence of the place broken
only now and again by some remark by my captors in the rooms below
me--when there was a strange appearance just over me--an appearance so
strange that I sat up, and gazed with distended eyes. Across the top of the tower, some height above, drifted, slowly and
silently, a great platform. Although the night was dark, it was so much
darker where I was within the hollow of the Tower that I could actually
see what was above me. I knew it was an aeroplane--one of which I had
seen in Washington. A man was seated in the centre, steering; and beside
him was a silent figure of a woman all wrapped in white. It made my
heart beat to see her, for she was figured something like my Teuta, but
broader, less shapely. She leaned over, and a whispered "Ssh!" crept
down to me. I answered in similar way. Whereupon she rose, and the man
lowered her down into the Tower. Then I saw that it was my dear daughter
who had come in this wonderful way to save me. With infinite haste she
helped me to fasten round my waist a belt attached to a rope, which was
coiled round her; and then the man, who was a giant in strength as well
as stature, raised us both to the platform of the aeroplane, which he set
in motion without an instant's delay. Within a few seconds, and without any discovery being made of my escape,
we were speeding towards the sea. The lights of Ilsin were in front of
us. Before reaching the town, however, we descended in the midst of a
little army of my own people, who were gathered ready to advance upon the
Silent Tower, there to effect, if necessary, my rescue by force. Small
chance would there have been of my life in case of such a struggle. Happily, however, the devotion and courage of my dear daughter and of her
gallant companion prevented such a necessity. It was strange to me to
find such joyous reception amongst my friends expressed in such a
whispered silence. There was no time for comment or understanding or the
asking of questions--I was fain to take things as they stood, and wait
for fuller explanation. This came later, when my daughter and I were able to converse alone. When the expedition went out against the Silent Tower, Teuta and I went
to her tent, and with us came her gigantic companion, who seemed not
wearied, but almost overcome with sleep. When we came into the tent,
over which at a little distance a cordon of our mountaineers stood on
guard, he said to me:

"May I ask you, sir, to pardon me for a time, and allow the Voivodin to
explain matters to you? She will, I know, so far assist me, for there is
so much work still to be done before we are free of the present peril. For myself, I am almost overcome with sleep. For three nights I have had
no sleep, but all during that time much labour and more anxiety. I could
hold on longer; but at daybreak I must go out to the Turkish warship that
lies in the offing. She is a Turk, though she does not confess to it;
and she it is who has brought hither the marauders who captured both your
daughter and yourself. It is needful that I go, for I hold a personal
authority from the National Council to take whatever step may be
necessary for our protection. And when I go I should be clear-headed,
for war may rest on that meeting. I shall be in the adjoining tent, and
shall come at once if I am summoned, in case you wish for me before
dawn." Here my daughter struck in:

"Father, ask him to remain here. We shall not disturb him, I am sure, in
our talking. And, moreover, if you knew how much I owe to him--to his
own bravery and his strength--you would understand how much safer I feel
when he is close to me, though we are surrounded by an army of our brave
mountaineers." "But, my daughter," I said, for I was as yet all in ignorance, "there are
confidences between father and daughter which none other may share.