For several hours Francisco and his son sat on the bundle of straw
listening intently to every sound, being naturally filled with anxiety
as to the success of Bacri in his efforts to aid Mariano. At last they
heard a loud knocking at the street door, which, after being repeated
impatiently once or twice, was followed by a thunderous noise, as if the
house were being entered by violence.
"The janissaries have returned," said Francisco, with a serious look.
"We had better put out the light," suggested Lucien, as a crashing sound
announced the bursting in of the door.
"Do, lad.--Stay, let me get hold of this crowbar; it is better than
nothing if it comes to--. Now, out with it!"
A moment more and they were in total darkness, while the trampling of
feet overhead and the shouts of many voices told that the mob had
entered the Jew's dwelling.
Every moment the two prisoners expected to see the trap-door of their
retreat wrenched open, but no one seemed to have discovered it, and they
were beginning to breathe more freely, and to hope that they should
escape, when there came a sudden and violent stamping just overhead.
Then there was a sound of breaking timber, and presently the edge of the
trap-door began to lift and creak under the pressure of some powerful
instrument. Another moment and it flew open and a man looked in, but of
course could see nothing. Descending the steps, he called loudly for a
light, and one of his comrades brought a lantern, with which he was
about to descend, but, missing his footstep, he fell to the ground and
extinguished it.
At that moment Lucien and his father drew back into the darkest part of
the cellar, in the shadow of a small projection.
"Fetch another light!" shouted the soldiers.
"Now's our time," whispered Lucien, grasping his scimitar and preparing
for a dash.
"Not yet," replied his father, laying a strong grasp on his arm.
It was well that Lucien was restrained, for, while the soldiers were
clamouring for a light, their comrades above gave a shout as though
something new and surprising had been discovered. Full of curiosity,
the soldiers in the cellar darted out.
"Now!" whispered Francisco.
Lucien at once sprang up the ladder, but looked out cautiously; for the
sudden change in the sounds above apprised him that the robbers had left
the apartment.
He saw them busy ransacking a cupboard in which the Jew had placed a
large quantity of plate, a little of which was solid, and a large
portion showy, but comparatively valueless. It had been arranged by him
in such a way as to make a superb show of wealth, in the hope that it
might tempt any who should take a fancy to rob his house to expend much
of their labour and energy on that horde, thereby creating an important
diversion from much more valuable deposits made elsewhere.
So busy were the plunderers that they left the room above the cellar
quite unguarded.
"The coast is clear," whispered Lucien, looking back. "We must act out
our part of janissary and slave, father. Quick! Shoulder this small
chest."
Francisco obeyed almost mechanically, laid down the crowbar, threw a
light chest that chanced to be near at hand on his shoulder, and
followed his son silently up the staircase to the entrance-hall of the
house, where they found two janissaries guarding the door.
"Pretend to stumble, father," whispered Lucien, on observing them.
Francisco not only pretended to, but, in his zealous obedience, actually
did stumble with such good will that he fell with a heavy crash on the
marble pavement, sending the chest violently out at the door into the
street, much to the amusement of the two sentinels.
"Scoundrel!" cried Lucien furiously, in Turkish, at the same time
flourishing his scimitar and bestowing on his submissive parent a most
unmerciful kick. "Up, out with you, and shoulder it! See that you mind
your feet better, else the bastinado shall make them tingle!"
He brushed so savagely past the sentinels that they had not time to stop
him, even if so disposed, then turning suddenly back, said--
"Your lantern, friend; one will serve you well enough, and I shall need
the other with so awkward a slave."
"Here it is, comrade," replied the man; "but who and what hast thou got
there?"
"Waste not your time in questions," said Lucien hastily; "they have
discovered heavy treasure inside, and require the aid of one of you.
Surely it needs not two to guard a Jew's door!"
He hurried off without awaiting a reply.
In perfect silence they traversed several narrow streets without meeting
any one. It was nearly dark at the time, and it was evident that the
rioters had been restrained by the new Dey, for their shouts were now
heard in only two or three of the main thoroughfares.
During his service as scribe to Achmet, Lucien had visited all parts of
the town, and was familiar with its main outlines, if not with its
details. He therefore knew how to avoid the frequented parts, and yet
take a pretty direct course for Bab-Azoun. But he was sorely perplexed
as to how he should now act, for it was much too early in the night to
make an attempt to get over the city walls.
In this dilemma he retired into the deep shadow of an old doorway, and
covered up the lantern, while he held a whispered consultation with his
father.
"It seems to me, my son," said Francisco, sitting down on the chest
which he had hitherto carried, "that we have only got out of the
frying-pan into the fire; for it is not reason to expect that all the
janissaries we chance to meet will let us pass without question, and I
fear that you have no sufficient ground of excuse for wandering about
the city at such hours in disturbed times in charge of a slave on whose
countenance submission sits with so bad a grace."
"True, father," answered Lucien, much perplexed; "perhaps it would be
well to remain where we are till a later hour. If any one seeks to
enter this dismal staircase, we can easily avoid observation by getting
into one of its dark corners, and--"
He was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps, and
immediately retired with his father into one of the corners referred to.
"It is only two streets further on," said a low voice, which sounded
familiar in the ears of the listeners. "There you shall be safe, for
Jacob Mordecai is a trusty friend, and I will go see how it fares with
our--"
"'Tis Bacri," whispered Lucien, as the voice died away in the distance.
"We must not lose sight of him," said Francisco, darting out.
Lucien outran his father, and quickly overtook Bacri and another man,
who was completely enveloped in the folds of a burnous, such as was
then, and still is, worn by the Bedouin Arabs.
On hearing the footsteps in pursuit, Bacri and his companion had
commenced to run, but perceiving that only two men followed them, they
turned and stood in an attitude of defence. He who wore the burnous
flung back the hood, and, freeing his sword-arm from its folds,
displayed to the astonished gaze of Lucien and Francisco the face and
form of Mariano.
"Father!" he exclaimed; "Lucien!"
"Mariano!" cried Francisco, throwing his arms round his younger son and
giving him a hearty kiss on each cheek.
"Hist! be quiet," said Bacri, seizing Francisco by the arm in his
powerful grasp and dragging him along.
The interference of the Jew was not a moment too soon, for several
soldiers who were patrolling the streets at the time overheard the sound
of their voices and hurried towards them.
They ran now, in good earnest, and quickly reached the door of Jacob
Mordecai's house, which Bacri opened with a key, and shut gently after
letting his friends pass, so that the soldiers lost sight of them as if
by a magical disappearance.
"Your house is plundered," said Francisco to Bacri, after Jacob Mordecai
had conducted them to the skiffa of his dwelling.
"I guessed as much. But how came you to escape?" asked Bacri.
Lucien related the circumstances of their escape, while his father
dipped his head in the fountain, for the purpose, as he remarked, of
cooling his brains.
"And what is now to be done?" asked Mariano, with a look of perplexity.
"Bacri has been kind enough to get me out of that horrible Bagnio just
in time to save me from torture of some sort; but here we are in the
heart of a city in a state of insurrection, with almost every
street-corner guarded, and bands of men, that appear to me to be devils
in turbans, going about seeking for subjects on whom to exercise their
skill."
"The insurrection is over--at least _this_ one is over," said Jacob
Mordecai sadly, "though it may well be that another insurrection shall
follow close on its heels; but it is probable that there will be some
degree of peace now for a time, and the guarded condition of the town
will favour your escape."
"How so, Signor Mordecai?" asked Francisco; "it has hitherto been my
belief as well as experience that a town in a state of siege was the
reverse of favourable to anything implying freedom of action."
"Thou art right, friend," returned Jacob, with a smile, "and that
absence of freedom will keep the streets clear of all who might
otherwise interrupt thee, while, as to the guarded corners, my brother
Bacri knows a variety of passages above and under ground, through which
he will guide you past them to the city wall."
"Then let us be gone without delay," urged Francisco, "for, good sirs,
my neck has for some time past felt sundry twinges, as though the
bow-string were already around it."
"Half an hour must elapse ere we can venture forth with safety," said
Bacri. "'Tis well that you have brought the knotted rope with you.
Mariano knows how to use it. He will explain the mode of escape which
you must follow, while I hold private converse with my brother."
So saying the kindly Jew bowed his tall form to his friends with the air
of a king, and accompanied Jacob Mordecai into an inner room.
At the end of the time specified--which had appeared an age to the
impatient trio--Bacri returned to the skiffa with two coarse burnouses
similar to the one worn by Mariano. He directed Francisco and Lucien to
put these on, after exchanging their varied habiliments for the jacket,
short drawers, and red fez or cap, worn by Moors of the middle class.
He then produced some brown ochre, with which he stained their hands and
their legs below the knee--these latter parts being usually uncovered in
Moors who did not belong to the wealthy classes.
"Why not paint our faces too?" asked Mariano, amused at the figure they
cut, despite the dangers which rendered the disguise necessary.
"Because neither the painting of your faces," replied Bacri, "nor the
shaving of your heads--which latter would be essential to the converting
of you into genuine Moors--would constitute any disguise were your
voices to be heard or your features to be scrutinised. You must be
careful to pull the hoods of your burnouses well forward on your faces.
All that you can hope to gain by your costume is to avoid attracting the
attention of any whom you should chance to meet, or whom you may have to
pass at a distance. If any one speaks to you after you reach the open
country, refuse to answer. If he should insist on it, you must either
run or fight, for which latter purpose I provide you with these short
swords, which you will find better suited to your hands than the curved
weapons of the Turks."
"Signor Bacri," said Francisco, examining the straight short weapon
handed to him, "I thank thee for all thy kindness to me and my boys--
especially for these swords, for assuredly unless thou canst also
furnish me with a pair of young and active legs, I am like to have more
of fighting than running hereafter. However, let us not waste more time
in speech, for, as I have said, my neck already itches most
uncomfortably."
In deference to Francisco's anxiety to be out of the city, which he was
wont to style with great emphasis the Pirates' Nest, Bacri hastened his
preparations, and soon led them to the roof of the house of Jacob
Mordecai, from which they scrambled to that of a friendly neighbour, and
crossed over, with the care of burglars and the quiet steps of cats, to
the other side. Here a difficulty met them, in the shape of a leap
which was too long for Francisco's heavy person to venture.
He might, indeed, have taken it with ease on level ground and in
daylight; but, like his son Mariano on a somewhat similar occasion, he
felt it difficult to screw up his courage to the point of springing
across a black chasm, which he was aware descended some forty or fifty
feet to the causeway of the street, and the opposite parapet, on which
he was expected to alight like, a bird, appeared dim and ghostly in the
uncertain light.
Twice did the courageous man bend himself to the leap, while the blood
rushed with apoplectic violence to his bald head; and twice did his
spirit fail him at the moment of need!
"Oh, Bacri!" he said in a hoarse whisper, wiping the perspiration from
his brow, as he stood on the giddy height, "if there were only a damsel
in distress on the opposite side, or a legion of Turks defying me to
come on, I could go over, methinks, like a rocket, but to be required to
leap in cold blood upon next to nothing over an unfathomable abyss,
really--. Hast never a morsel of plank about thee, Jacob?"
Fortunately for all parties, Jacob had a flower stand on his roof, to
which he returned with Mariano, who wrenched a plank therefrom, and
brought it to the point of difficulty.
After this they met with no serious obstruction. Sometimes descending
below the streets and passing through cellars, at others crossing roofs
or gliding along the darkest sides of dark walls and passages, they
traversed the town without being challenged, and gained the southern
wall near the point at which Mariano had crossed it on a former
occasion.
Here the Jew bade them God-speed, and left them.
"I hope thou art sure of the road, Mariano?" said Francisco anxiously.
"Trust me, father; I know it well. Only have a care that you tread
lightly and make no noise.--Come."
Leading them to the point on the ramparts where poor Castello's head
still stood withering in the night-wind, Mariano bade them remain in
shadow while he attached the rope to the spike.
The sentinel could be dimly seen, for there was no moon, pacing to and
fro within two hundred yards of them. They watched and lay still while
he sauntered towards them, and glided noiselessly and quickly to the
rope while his back was turned.
Thus one by one they descended the wall, crossed the ditch, ascended the
slope on the other side, without having been observed, and, ere long,
were safe among the rocks and fastnesses of the Sahel hills.