When Colonel Langley's star descended, as has been described, his
household was, of course, scattered to the winds. Those who were
slaves, meekly--or otherwise--awaited their orders, which were various,
according to their condition. Some of them were sent to toil at the
fortifications, others to carry material into the town. Those who were
free betook themselves to their kindred, and their favourite
employments. A few members of the household joined the army of defence.
Among these latter was our friend Rais Ali, who, being a Moor, and
having been a pirate, and still being young and strong, was deemed a fit
subject to defend his hearth and home.
His hearth, by the way, was defended pretty well by the Moorish lady
whom we introduced at the beginning of this volume, with the able
assistance of a small negro whom Rais had purchased for a few shillings
in the slave-market.
It must not be supposed that Rais Ali was a willing defender of his
home. If he could have delegated that duty to others, he would have
preferred it. Had it been possible for him to have retired into a
distant part of the Zahara, and there dwelt at ease, while daily
telegrams were forwarded to him of the progress of events, he would have
considered himself supremely happy; but such was not his fortune, and,
being of a philosophical turn of mind, he wisely succumbed to the
inevitable.
It was so fated that Rais Ali was ordered to serve as a gunner at the
Fish Market battery, just in front of the mosque Djama Djedid. Bravely
did our interpreter proceed daily to his duties, and intensely did he
hope that there might never be any occasion for his services.
But whatever fate might decree for him, Rais Ali had a peculiar knack of
decreeing a few things for himself which neither fate nor anything else
appeared to be able to deprive him of. One of these decrees was that,
come what might, he should have his morning cup of coffee; another, that
he should have a daily shave; a third, that he should have a bath at
least once a week.
As one of the occasions on which he fulfilled his destiny and carried
out his own fatal decrees bears on our tale, we will follow him.
Having begun the day, at a very early hour, with his cup of coffee, he
proceeded in a leisurely way to a certain street in the town where was
kept a Turkish bath. This was not an Anglified Turkish bath, good
reader, but a real one; not an imitation, but the actual thing itself
fresh from Turkey, managed by Turks, or Moors who were at least half
Turks, and conducted in accordance with the strictest rules of Turkish
etiquette.
Approaching the door of the bath, he observed a tall dignified and very
powerful Arab sauntering in front of it.
Rais Ali seemed troubled by the sight of him, paused, advanced, halted,
and again advanced, until the tall Arab, catching sight of him, stalked
forward with solemn dignity and held out his hand.
"What for yoo comes here?" demanded Rais rather testily.
The tall Moor slowly bent his hooded head and whispered in his
ear--"Faix, it's more than I rightly know mesilf."
"Yoo's mad," said Rais, drawing the tall Arab into the porch of the
bath, where they could avoid the observation of passers-by. "Did not I
tell yoo for to keep close?"
"So ye did, Rais Ally," said Ted Flaggan, for it was he, "and it's close
I kep' as long as I cu'd, which was aisy enough, seeing that ye brought
me purvisions so riglar--like a good feller as ye are; but body o' me,
man, I cudn't live in a cave all me lone for iver, an' I got tired o'
lookin' out for that British fleet that niver comes, so I says to mesilf
wan fine evenin', `Go out, Ted me boy, an' have a swim in the say--it'll
do 'ee good, and there's not much chance of any wan troublin' ye here.'
No sooner said than done. Out I wint round beyont the Pint Pescade, an'
off wid me close an' into the say. Och! but it _was_ plisint! Well,
just as I was coming out, who should I see on the rocks above me but a
big thief of an Arab? I knew at wance that if I was to putt on close
he'd guess, maybe, who I was, so I came out o' the wather an' ran
straight at him naked--meanin' to frighten him away like. An' sure
enough he tuk to his heels like a Munster pig. I don't know how it is,
but I have always had a strong turn for huntin'. From the time whin I
was a small gosoon runnin' after the pigs an' cats, I've bin apt to give
chase to anything that runned away from me, an' to forgit myself. So it
was now. After the Arab I wint, neck an crop, an' away he wint like the
wind, flingin' off his burnous as he ran; but I was light, bein' naked,
d'ye see, an' soon overhauled him. For a starn-chase it was the
shortest I remember. When I came up wid him I made a grab at his head,
an his hake--is that what ye calls it?--comed away in me hand, leaving
his shaved head open to view, wid the tuft o' hair on the top of it.
"I laughed to that extint at this that he got away from me, so I gave
him a finishin' Irish howl, by way o' making him kape the pace goin',
an' thin stopped and putt on the hake. By and by I comes to where the
burnous was, and putts it on too, an faix, ye couldn't have towld me
from an Arab, for the bare legs an' feet and arms was all right, only
just a taste over light in colour, d'ee see? Thinks I to mesilf, Ted,
me boy, ye cudn't do better than remain as ye are. Wid a little brown
dirt on yer face an' limbs, yer own mother wouldn't know ye. An' troth,
Rais, I did it; an' whin I lucked at mesilf in a smooth pool on the
baich, it was for all the world as if somebody else was luckin' at me.
To be short wid ye, I've bin wanderin' about the country for the last
three or four days quite free an' aisy."
"Nobody see yoo?" asked Rais in great surprise.
"Och! lots o' people, but few of 'em tuk a fancy to spake to me, an'
whin they did I shuck me head, an' touched me lips, so they thought I
was dumb."
"But why you comes to town?" asked Rais Ali, in a remonstrative tone.
"Just bekaise I'm hungry," replied the seaman, with a smile. "Ye see,
Ally Babby, the gale of day before yesterday sint a breaker into the
cave that washed away all the purvisions ye brought me last, so it was
aither come here and look for 'ee or starve--for the British fleet has
apparently changed its mind, and ain't goin' to come here after all. I
meant to go d'rec' to yer house, but knowin' yer fondness for baths, and
rememberin' that this was yer day, I thought it betther to cruise about
here till you hove in sight."
While Ted Flaggan was relating all this, his friend's countenance
expressed alternately doubt, disapproval, anxiety, amusement, and
perplexity.
When he had finished, Rais informed him that instead of the fleet having
changed its mind, there was great probability of its sudden appearance
at any moment. He also mentioned the arrest of the British consul and
the boat's crew of the "Prometheus," and explained that the most
energetic measures were being taken to place the city in a state of
defence.
"Oho!" exclaimed Flaggan, in a low tone, "that clears up wan or two
things that's been puzzlin' me. I've bin thinkin' that the ship I saw
lave the port was British, but the weather bein' thick I cudn't quite
make out her colours. Then, I've been sore perplexed to account for the
flocks of armed Arabs that have bin steerin' into the town of late, an'
whin I passed the gates this mornin' I was troubled too, to make out
what was all the bustle about. It's all clare as ditch-wather now.--But
what's to be done with _me_, Rais? for if the cownsl an' the British
gin'rally are in limbo, it's a bad look-out for Ted Flaggan, seein' that
I'm on the black list already."
Rais Ali appeared to ponder the case for a few seconds.
"Come an' have one bath," he said, with sudden animation; "after that we
go brikfast togidder."
"Av we cud `brikfust' _fust_, Ally Babby, it would be plisinter,"
returned the hungry seaman; "but, I say, I dursn't go into the bath,
'cause what would they think of a man wid dark-brown arms, legs, an'
face, an' a pink body? Sure, they'd take me for a spy or a madman, an'
hand me over to the p'leece!"
"Wash here, fust," said Rais, leading his friend to a small fountain in
a retired angle of the court. "Ebbery body here too bizzy 'joyin'
theirselfs to look to yoo. An' des corner dark. Me stan' 'tween you
an' dem."
"But who ever heard of a white Moor?" objected Ted.
"Oh, lots of 'em--'alf-castes, almost white as you," said Rais.
"But I ain't got a shaved skull with a top knot," returned the seaman,
still objecting.
"Nebber mind; sailors of France, Denmark, an' odder places what hav
consuls here, when waitin' for ship carry dem home comes here for fun--"
"Ay, but they don't come disguised as Moors," said Flaggan, "and I niver
was inside a Turkish bath before. Don't know more nor a child what to
do."
"Yoo don' go in bath dressed--go naked," returned Rais, growing
impatient. "Do noting in bath, only let 'em do what dey pleases to
yoo."
"Very good, plaze yersilf, Ally Babby," said Ted, resignedly plunging
his arms into the cistern; "only remimber, I give ye fair warnin', av
the spalpeens attempts to take me prisoner, I'll let fly into their
breadbaskets right an' left, an' clear out into the street, naked or
clothed, no matter which,--for I've said it wance, an' I means to stick
to it, they'll niver take Ted Flaggan alive."
"All right," returned Rais Ali, "yoo wash yours faces an' holds your
tongue."
After removing as much as possible of the brown earth from his visage
and limbs, the seaman drew the hood of his burnous well over his face,
and--having assiduously studied the gait of Moors--strode with Oriental
dignity into the outer court, or apartment, of the bath, followed his
friend into an unoccupied corner and proceeded to undress.
"Musha! it's like a house-full of Turkish corpses," whispered Ted as he
surveyed the recumbent figures in white around him.
There were some differences between this genuine Turkish bath and our
British imitation of it which merit notice.
The court or hall in which the friends unrobed served the purpose of a
drying-chamber as well as a dressing-room. Hence those bathers who
entered to commence the operation of undressing had to pass between rows
of the men who had gone through the bath, and were being gradually
cooled down. They were all swathed from head to foot in white sheets,
with large towels or pieces of linen tied turban-fashion round their
heads, and as they lay perfectly straight and still, their resemblance
to Turkish corpses was disagreeably strong. This idea was still further
carried out in consequence of the abominable smell which pervaded the
place, for Algerines were at that time utterly indifferent to
cleanliness in their baths. Indeed, we may add, from personal
experience, that they are no better at the present time than they were
then! A few of the corpses, however, possessed sufficient life to
enable them to smoke and sip tea or coffee.
This outer court was the immediate vestibule to the bath, or
stewing-room--if we may be allowed the name. There was no passing, as
with us, from a private undressing-box, through a mild cooling room, and
thence into the hot and the hottest rooms. The Moors were bold, hardy
fellows. The step was at once made from the cooling into the hot room,
or bath, and in taking the step it was necessary to pass over one of the
open sewers of the town--to judge from the smell thereof. But this last
was a mere accidental circumstance connected with the bath, not an
essential part of it. Thus it will be seen there were but two
apartments in the establishment, with an outer lobby.
When the two friends had unrobed and wrapped a piece of striped calico
round their loins, they were led by a young Moor in similar costume
towards the stewing-room.
"Don' be frighted," whispered Rais Ali; "it's pretty hottish."
"I'll _try_ to be aisy," replied the seaman with a quiet smile, "an' av
I can't be aisy I'll be as aisy as I can."
Although he treated the idea of being frightened with something of
contempt, he was constrained to admit to himself that he was powerfully
surprised when he stepped suddenly into a chamber heated to an extent
that seemed equal to a baker's oven.
The apartment was octagonal, and very high, with a dome-shaped roof,
from which it was dimly lighted by four small and very dirty windows.
Water trickled down the dirty dark-brown walls; water and soap-suds
floated over the dirty marble floor. In the centre of the floor was a
mass of masonry about three feet high and seven feet square. This was
the core of the room, as it were--part of the heating apparatus. It was
covered with smooth slabs of stone, on which there was no covering of
any kind. There is no knowing how much lurid smoke and fire rolled
beneath this giant stone ottoman.
It chanced that only two men were in the place at the time. They had
advanced to a certain stage of the process, and were enjoying
themselves, apparently lifeless, and in sprawling attitudes, on the hot
sloppy floor. The attendant of one had left him for a time. The
attendant of the other was lying not far from his temporary owner, sound
asleep. One of the Moors was very short and fat, the other tail and
unusually thin; both had top-tufts of hair on their shaven crowns, and
both would have looked supremely ridiculous if it had not been for the
horrible resemblance they bore to men who had been roasted alive on the
hot ottoman, and flung carelessly aside to die by slow degrees.
"Do as I doos," said Rais to Flaggan, as he stretched himself on his
back on the ottoman.
"Surely," acquiesced Ted, with a gasp, for he was beginning to feel the
place rather suffocating. He would not have minded the heat so much, he
thought, if there had only been a _little_ fresh air!
Rais Ali's bath-attendant lay down on the slab beside him. Flaggan's
attendant looked at him with a smile, and pointed to the ottoman.
"Och, surely," said Ted again, as he sat down. Instantly he leaped up
with a subdued howl.
"W'y, what wrong?" asked Rais, looking up.
"It's red-hot," replied Flaggan, rubbing himself.
"Nonsense!" returned Rais; "you lie down queek. Soon git use to him.
Always feel hottish at fust."
Resolved not to be beaten, the unfortunate Irishman sat down again, and
again started up, but, feeling ashamed, suddenly flung himself flat on
his back, held his breath, and ground his teeth together. He thought of
gridirons; he thought of the rack; he thought of purgatory; he thought
of the propriety of starting up and of tearing limb from limb the
attendant, who, with a quiet smile, lay down beside him and shut his
eyes; he thought of the impossibility of bearing it an instant longer;
and then he suddenly thought that it felt a little easier. From this
point he began to experience sensations that were slightly pleasurable,
and a profuse perspiration broke out over his whole body.
Evidently his attendant was accustomed to deal occasionally with white
men, for he watched his huge charge out of the corner of a wicked eye
for some time. Seeing, however, that he lay still, the fellow went off
into a peaceful slumber.
"'Tis an amazin' place intirely," observed Ted, who felt inclined to
talk as he began to enjoy himself. "If it wasn't so dirty that an Irish
pig of proper breedin' would object to come into it, I'd say it was
raither agreeable."
Rais Ali being in the height of enjoyment, declined to answer, but the
seaman's active mind was soon furnished with food for contemplation,
when one of the attendants entered and quietly began, to all appearance,
to put the tall thin Moor to the torture.
"Have I to go through _that_?" thought Flaggan; "well, well, niver say
die, owld boy, it's wan comfort that I'm biggish, an' _uncommon_ tough."
It would be tedious to prolong the description of the Irishman's bathe
that morning. Suffice it to say that, after he had lain on the ottoman
long enough to feel as if the greater part of him had melted away, he
awoke his attendant, who led him into a corner, laid him on the sloppy
floor, and subjected him to a series of surprises. He first laid Ted's
head on his naked thigh, and rubbed his face and neck tenderly, as
though he had been an only son; he then straightened his limbs and baked
them as though he had been trained to knead men into loaves from
infancy; after that he turned him on his back and on his face; punched
and pinched and twisted him; he drenched him with hot water, and soused
him with soap-suds from head to foot, face and all, until the stout
mariner resembled a huge mass of his native sea-foam; he stuck his hair
up on end, and scratched his head with his ten nails; and tweaked his
nose, and pulled his fingers and toes till they cracked again!
All this Ted Flaggan, being tough, bore with passing fortitude,
frequently saying to the Moor, internally, for soap forbade the opening
of his lips--
"Go ahead, me lad, an' do yer worst!"
But although his tormentor utterly failed to move him by fair means, he
knew of a foul method which proved successful. He crossed Ted's arms
over his breast, and attempted to draw them as far over as possible,
with the view, apparently, of tying them into a knot.
"Pull away, me hearty!" thought Flaggan, purposely making himself as
limp as possible.
The Moor did pull; and while his victim's arms were stretched across
each other to the uttermost, he suddenly fell upon them, thereby almost
forcing the shoulder-joints out of their sockets.
"Och! ye spalpeen!" shouted Ted, flinging him off as if he had been a
feather. Then, sinking back, he added, "Come on; you'll not ketch me
slaipin' again, me honey!"
The amused Moor accepted the invitation, and returned to the charge. He
punched him, baked him, boxed him, and battered him, and finally,
drenching him with ice-cold water, swathed him in a sheet, twisted a
white turban on his head, and turned him out like a piece of brand-new
furniture, highly polished, into the drying-room.
"How yoos like it?" asked Rais Ali, as they lay in the Turkish-corpse
stage of the process, calmly sipping tea.
"It's plis'nt," replied Ted, "uncommon plis'nt, but raither surprisin'."
"Ha," responded Rais.
At this point their attention was turned to the little fat Moor who had
been their fellow-bather, and to whom Ted in his undivided attention to
the thin Moor had paid little regard.
"Musha!" whispered Ted, "it's the capting of the port."
The captain of the port it was, and if that individual had known who it
was that lay cooling within a few yards of him, he would probably have
brought our nautical hero's days to a speedy termination. But although
he had seen Ted Flaggan frequently under the aspect of a British seaman,
he had never before seen him in the character of a half-boiled Moor.
Besides, having been thoroughly engrossed and lost in the enjoyment of
his own bath, he had paid no attention to those around him.
"Turn yoos face well to de wall," whispered Rais Ali. "He great hass;
hims no see yoo."
"Great `hass,' indade; he's not half such a `hass' as I am for comin' in
here," muttered the sailor, as he huddled on his Arab garments, keeping
his face carefully turned away from the captain of the port, who lay
with his eyes shut in a state of dreamy enjoyment.
In a few minutes the two friends paid for their bath, and went out.
"I feels for all the world like a bird or a balloon," said Ted, as his
companion hurried him along; "if I don't git some ballast soon in the
shape o' grub, I'll float away intirely."
Rais Ali made no reply, but turned into a baker's shop, where he
purchased two rolls. Then hurrying on down several narrow streets, the
houses of which met overhead, and excluded much of the light of day, he
turned into a small Moorish coffee-house, which at first seemed to the
sailor to be absolutely dark, but in a few minutes his eyes became
accustomed to it, and he saw that there were several other customers
present.
They were nearly all in Arab costume, and sat cross-legged on two
benches which ran down either side of the narrow room. Each smoked a
long pipe, and sipped black coffee out of a very diminutive cup, while
the host, a half negro, stood beside a charcoal fire, in the darkness of
the far interior, attending to an array of miniature tin coffee-pots,
which exactly matched the cups in size. A young Moor, with a red fez,
sat twanging a little guitar, the body of which was half a cocoa-nut,
covered with parchment.
This musician produced very dismal tones from its two strings, but the
Arabs seemed content, and sat in silent, not to say dignified, enjoyment
of it.
"Eat away now," whispered Rais to Flaggan, as they entered--"cross yoo
legs, look solemn, an' hold yoos tongue. Me goes git shave."
Obedient to instructions--as British seamen always are--Ted took his
place on one of the narrow benches, and, crossing his legs _a la Turk_,
began with real zest to eat the rolls which his friend had provided for
him, and to sip the cup, or thimbleful, of coffee which mine host
silently, by order of the same friend, placed at his side.
Meanwhile, Rais Ali submitted himself to the hands of the host, who was
also a barber, and had his head and face shaved without soap--though a
little cold water was used.
During this operation a boy ran hastily into the cafe and made an
announcement in Arabic, which had the surprising effect of startling the
Arabs into undignified haste, and induced Rais Ali to overturn his
coffee on the barber's naked feet, while he seized a towel and dried
himself violently.
"What's to do, old feller?" demanded Flaggan, with a huge bite of bread
almost stopping up his mouth.
"De British fleet am in sight!" shrieked Rais Ali.
"Ye don't mean that?" cried Ted, in his turn becoming excited. "Then
it's time that _I_ was out o' the city!"
"Yis, away! go to yous cave! Only death for Breetish in Algiers--off!
away!"
The Moor dashed out and hastened to his post on the ramparts, while Ted
Flaggan, drawing his burnous well round him, made straight for the
northern gate of the town, casting an uneasy glance at his now white
legs, of which at least the ankles and beginning of the brawny calves
were visible. We use the term "white" out of courtesy, and in reference
to the distinct difference between the bold seaman's limbs and those of
the brown-skinned Arabs. In reality they were of a very questionable
neutral tint, and covered with a large quantity of hair.
Their appearance, however, signified little, for by that time the whole
town was in an uproar of active preparation and excitement.
Men of various colours--black, brown, and yellow, with every
intermediate shade, and in many different garbs--were hastening to the
ramparts, while anxious women of the lower orders, and frightened
children, were rushing to and fro, either engaged in some duties
connected with the defence, or simply relieving their feelings by
violent action: while bodies of janissaries were hastening to their
various stations, or came trooping in from all the outposts of the
surrounding country.
In the midst of such confusion our tall Arab attracted no notice. He
passed through the streets unmolested, and out at the Bab-el-Oued gate
unchallenged.
It was little more than daybreak at the time, for Arabs are early risers
at all times, and on the present occasion they had reason to be earlier
than usual.
The moment our tar caught sight of the sea, his heart gave a wild bound
of exultation, for on the horizon appeared a few white specks, like
sea-mews, which he now knew to be the British fleet.
Without any definite intention as to what he meant to do, Flaggan sped
along the road leading to his cave at Point Pescade, his chief feeling
being a strong desire to get out of the sight of natives, that he might
meditate alone on his future movements, which he felt must be prompt and
decisive.
Before quite reaching his destination fortune favoured him. Coming
round a rocky point of the coast, he observed a boat with one man in it
rowing close inshore.
"That'll do," whispered Ted to himself, as he went behind a rock and
hastily smeared his face and limbs with earth.
When the boat approached he went to the edge of the sea and made signs
to the fisherman, for such he was, to approach, at the same time
pretending to take something out of a wallet at his side, to which he
pointed with eager interest, as though he had something important to say
about it.
The man lay on his oars a moment, and then pulled in, but cautiously,
for he suspected the stranger. When within about four or five yards of
the rocks the man again stopped.
"Arrah come on, won't 'ee?" exclaimed the impatient Irishman,
gesticulating wildly.
The fisherman had evidently seen and heard enough, for he at once dipped
his oars with the intention of rowing off, when Ted made a sudden
spring, and went with a heavy plunge into the water within a yard of the
boat, which was a very small one.
Unfortunately for the fisherman, instead of pulling away he raised an
oar with the intention of striking Flaggan when he should rise. It was
a fatal mistake. He did indeed strike him, and on the head too; but
that was the most invulnerable part of the Irishman's body. Ted grasped
the oar, caught the gunwale of the boat, and in a moment overturned it
and its occupant on his shoulders.
Diving clear, he rose and watched for his adversary. The man also rose
a moment later, and Ted, who was a splendid swimmer, went at him like a
small steamboat, caught him by the neck, and half throttled him; then
dragging him ashore, untwisted his turban, and therewith tied his arms
and legs fast, after which he carried him into a small cave near at
hand, and left him to his meditations.
This accomplished, he returned to the little boat, swam off and righted
her, baled her out, shipped the oars, and rowed straight out to sea.