'Hold fast thy hope and Heaven will not
Forsake thee in thine hour.
Good angels will be near thee,
And evil ones will fear thee,
And Faith will give thee power.'
SOUTHEY.
The whole northern coast of Africa is inhabited by a medley of tribes,
all owning a kind of subjection to the Sultan, but more in the sense of
Pope than of King. The part of the coast where the tartane had been
driven on the rocks was beneath Mount Araz, a spur of the Atlas, and was
in the possession of the Arab tribe called Cabeleyze, which is said to
mean 'the revolted.' The revolt had been from the Algerine power, which
had never been able to pursue them into the fastnesses of the mountains,
and they remained a wild independent race, following all those Ishmaelite
traditions and customs that are innate in the blood of the Arab.
When Estelle awoke from her long sleep of exhaustion, she was conscious
of a stifling atmosphere, and moreover of the crow of a cock in her
immediate vicinity, then of a dog growling, and a lamb beginning to
bleat. She raised herself a little, and beheld, lying on the ground
around her, dark heaps with human feet protruding from them. These were
interspersed with sheep, goats, dogs, and fowls, all seen by the yellow
light of the rising sun which made its way in not only through the
doorless aperture, but through the reeds and branches which formed the
walls.
Close as the air was, she felt the chill of the morning and shivered. At
the same moment she perceived poor Maitre Hebert covering himself as best
he could with a dirty brown garment, and bending over her with much
solicitude, but making signs to make as little noise as possible, while
he whispered, 'How goes it with Mademoiselle?'
'Ah,' said Estelle, recollecting herself, 'we are shipwrecked. We shall
have to confess our faith! Where are the rest?'
'There is M. l'Abbe,' said Hebert, pointing to a white pair of the bare
feet. 'Poor Laurent and Victorine have been carried elsewhere.'
'And mamma? And my brother?'
'Ah! Mademoiselle, give the good God thanks that he has spared them our
trial.'
'Mamma! Ah, she was in the cabin when the water came in? But my
brother! I had hold of his hand, he came out with me. I saw M. Arture
swim away with him. Yes, Maitre Hebert, indeed I did.'
Hebert had not the least hope that they could be saved, but he would not
grieve the child by saying so, and his present object was to get her
dressed before any one was awake to watch, and perhaps appropriate her
upper garments. He was a fatherly old man, and she let him help her with
her fastenings, and comb out her hair with the tiny comb in her _etui_.
Indeed, _friseurs_ were the rule in France, and she was not unused to
male attendants at the toilette, so that she was not shocked at being
left to his care.
For the rest, the child had always dwelt in an imaginary world, a curious
compound of the Lives of the Saints and of Telemaque. Martyrs and heroes
alike had been shipwrecked, taken captive, and tormented; and there was a
certain sense of realised day-dream about her, as if she had become one
of the number and must act up to her part. She asked Hebert if there
were a Sainte Estelle, what was the day of the month, and if she should
be placed in the Calendar if she never complained, do what these
barbarians might to her. She hoped she should hold out, for she would
like to be able to help all whom she loved, poor papa and all. But it
was hard that mamma, who was so good, could not be a martyr too; but she
was a saint in Paradise all the same, and thus Estelle made her little
prayer in hope. There was no conceit or over confidence in the tone,
though of course the poor child little knew what she was ready to accept;
but it was a spark of the martyr's trust that gleamed in her eye, and
gave her a sense of exaltation that took off the sharpest edge of grief
and fear.
By this time, however, the animals were stirring, and with them the human
beings who had lain down in their clothes. Peace was over; the Abbe
awoke, and began to call for Laurent and his clothes and his beads; but
this aroused the master of the house, who started up, and threatening
with a huge stick, roared at him what must have been orders to be quiet.
Estelle indignantly flew between and cried, 'You shall not hurt my
uncle.'
The commanding gesture spoke for itself; and, besides, poor Phelim
cowered behind her with an air that caused a word and sign to pass round,
which the captives found was equivalent to innocent or imbecile; and the
Mohammedan respect and tenderness for the demented spared him all further
violence or molestation, except that he was lost and miserable without
the attentions of his foster-brother; and indeed the shocks he had
undergone seemed to have mobbed him of much of the small degree of sense
he had once possessed.
Coming into the space before the doorway, Estelle found herself the
object of universal gaze and astonishment, as her long fair hair gleamed
in the sunshine, every one coming to touch it, and even pull it to see if
it was real. She was a good deal frightened, but too high-spirited to
show it more than she could help, as the dark-skinned, bearded men
crowded round with cries of wonder. The other two prisoners likewise
appeared: Victorine looking wretchedly ill, and hardly able to hold up
her head; Lanty creeping towards the Abbe, and trying to arrange his
remnant of clothing. There was a short respite, while the Arabs, all
turning eastwards, chanted their morning devotions with a solemnity that
struck their captives. The scene was a fine one, if there had been any
heart to admire. The huts were placed on the verge of a fine forest of
chestnut and cork trees--and beyond towered up mountain peaks in every
variety of dazzling colour--red and purple beneath, glowing red and gold
where the snowy peaks caught the morning sun, lately broken from behind
them. The slopes around were covered with rich grass, flourishing after
the summer heats, and to which the herds were now betaking themselves,
excepting such as were detained to be milked by the women, who came
pouring out of some of the other huts in dark blue garments; and in
front, still shadowed by the mountain, lay the bay, deep, beautiful,
pellucid green near the land, and shut in by fantastic and picturesque
rocks--some bare, some clothed with splendid foliage, winter though it
was--while beyond lay the exquisite blue stretching to the horizon.
Little recked the poor prisoners of the scene so fair; they only saw the
remnant of the wreck below, the sea that parted them from hope, the
savage rocks behind, the barbarous people around, the squalor and dirt of
the adowara, as the hamlet was called.
{Estelle: p96.jpg}
Comparatively, the Moor who had swum ashore to reconnoitre seemed like a
friend when he came forward and saluted Estelle and the Abbe
respectfully. Moreover the _lingua Franca_ Lanty had picked up
established a very imperfect double system of interpretation by the help
of many gestures. This was Lanty's explanation to the rest: in French,
of course, but, like all his speech, Irish-English in construction.
'This Moor, Hassan, wants to stand our friend in his own fashion, but he
says they care not the value of an empty mussel-shell for the French, and
no more for the Dey of Algiers than I do for the Elector of Hanover. He
has told them that M. l'Abbe and Mademoiselle are brother and daughter to
a great Bey--but it is little they care for that. Holy Virgin, they took
Mademoiselle for a boy! That is why they are gazing at her so
impudently. Would that I could give them a taste of my cane! Do you see
those broken walls, and a bit of a castle on yonder headland jutting out
into the sea? They are bidding Hassan say that the French built that,
and garrisoned it with the help of the Dey; but there fell out a war, and
these fellows, or their fathers, surprised it, sacked it, and carried off
four hundred prisoners into slavery. Holy Mother defend us! Here are
all the rogues coming to see what they will do with us!'
For the open space in front of the huts, whence all the animals had now
been driven, was becoming thronged with figures with the haik laid over
their heads, spear or blunderbuss in hand, fine bearing, and sometimes
truculent, though handsome, browse countenances. They gazed at the
captives, and uttered what sounded like loud hurrahs or shouts; but after
listening to Hassan, Lanty turned round trembling. 'The miserables! Some
are for sacrificing us outright on the spot, but this decent man declares
that he will make them sensible that their prophet was not out-and-out as
bad as that. Never you fear, Mademoiselle.'
'I am not afraid,' said Estelle, drawing up her head. 'We shall be
martyrs.'
Lanty was engaged in listening to a moan from his foster-brother for
food, and Hebert joined in observing that they might as well be
sacrificed as starved to death; whereupon the Irishman's words and
gesticulations induced the Moor to make representations which resulted in
some dry pieces of _samh_ cake, a few dates, and a gourd of water being
brought by one of the women; a scanty amount for the number, even though
poor Victorine was too ill to touch anything but the water; while the
Abbe seemed unable to understand that the servants durst not demand
anything better, and devoured her share and a quarter of Lanty's as well
as his own. Meantime the Cabeleyzes had all ranged themselves in rows,
cross-legged on the ground, opposite to the five unfortunate captives, to
sit in judgment on them. As they kept together in one group, happily in
the shade of a hut, Victorine, too faint and sick fully to know what was
going on, lay with her head on the lap of her young mistress, who sat
with her bright and strangely fearless eyes confronting the wild figures
opposite.
Her uncle, frightened, though not comprehending the extent of his danger,
crouched behind Lanty, who with Hebert stood somewhat in advance, the
would-be guardians of the more helpless ones.
There was an immense amount of deafening shrieking and gesticulating
among the Arabs. Hassan was responding, and finally turned to Lanty,
when the anxious watchers could perceive signs as if of paying down coin
made interrogatively. 'Promise them anything, everything,' cried Hebert;
'M. le Comte would give his last sou--so would Madame la Marquise--to
save Mademoiselle.'
'I have told him so,' said Laurence presently; 'I bade him let them know
it is little they can make of us, specially now they have stripped us as
bare as themselves, the rascals! but that their fortunes would be
made--and little they would know what to do with them--if they would only
send M. l'Abbe and Mademoiselle to Algiers safe and sound. There! he is
trying to incense them. Never fear, Master Phelim, dear, there never was
a rogue yet, black or white, or the colour of poor Madame's frothed
chocolate, who did not love gold better than blood, unless indeed 'twas
for the sweet morsel of revenge; and these, for all their rolling eyes
and screeching tongues, have not the ghost of a quarrel with us.'
'My beads, my breviary,' sighed the Abbe. 'Get them for me, Lanty.'
'I wish they would end it quickly,' said Estelle. 'My head aches so, and
I want to be with mamma. Poor Victorine! yours is worse,' she added, and
soaked her handkerchief in the few drops of water left in the gourd to
lay it on the maid's forehead.
The howling and shrieking betokened consultation, but was suddenly
interrupted by some half-grown lads, who came running in with their hands
full of what Lanty recognised to his horror as garments worn by his
mistress and fellow-servants, also a big kettle and a handspike. They
pointed down to the sea, and with yells of haste and exultation all the
wild conclave started up to snatch, handle, and examine, then began
rushing headlong to the beach. Hassan's explanations were scarcely
needed to show that they were about to ransack the ship, and he evidently
took credit to himself for having induced them to spare the prisoners in
case their assistance should be requisite to gain full possession of the
plunder.
Estelle and Victorine were committed to the charge of a
forbidding-looking old hag, the mother of the sheyk of the party; the
Abbe was allowed to stray about as he pleased, but the two men were
driven to the shore by the eloquence of the club. Victorine revived
enough for a burst of tears and a sobbing cry, 'Oh, they will be killed!
We shall never see them again!'
'No,' said Estelle, with her quiet yet childlike resolution, 'they are
not going to kill any of us yet. They said so. You are so tired, poor
Victorine! Now all the hubbub is over, suppose you lie still and sleep.
My uncle,' as he roamed round her, mourning for his rosary, 'I am afraid
your beads are lost; but see here, these little round seeds, I can pierce
them if you will gather some more for me, and make you another set. See,
these will be the Aves, and here are shells in the grass for the Paters.'
The long fibre of grass served for the string, and the sight of the
Giaour girl's employment brought round her all the female population who
had not repaired to the coast. Her first rosary was torn from her to
adorn an almost naked baby; but the Abbe began to whimper, and to her
surprise the mother restored it to him. She then made signs that she
would construct another necklace for the child, and she was rewarded by a
gourd being brought to her full of milk, which she was able to share with
her two companions, and which did something to revive poor Victorine.
Estelle was kept threading these necklaces and bracelets all the wakeful
hours of the day--for every one fell asleep about noon--though still so
jealous a watch was kept on her that she was hardly allowed to shift her
position so as to get out of the sun, which even at that season was
distressingly scorching in the middle of the day.
Parties were continually coming up from the beach laden with spoils of
all kinds from the wreck, Lanty, Hebert, and a couple of negroes being
driven up repeatedly, so heavily burthened as to be almost bent double.
All was thrown down in a heap at the other end of the adowara, and the
old sheyk kept guard over it, allowing no one to touch it. This went on
till darkness was coming on, when, while the cattle were being collected
for the night, the prisoners were allowed an interval, in which Hebert
and Lanty told how the natives, swimming like ducks, had torn everything
out of the wreck: all the bales and boxes that poor Maitre Hebert had
secured with so much care, and many of which he was now forced himself to
open for the pleasure of these barbarians.
That, however, was not the worst. Hebert concealed from his little lady
what Lanty did not spare Victorine. 'And there--enough to melt the heart
of a stone--there lay on the beach poor Madame la Comtesse, and all the
three. Good was it for you, Victorine, my jewel, that you were not in
the cabin with them.'
'I know not,' said the dejected Victorine; 'they are better off than we?'
'You would not say so, if you had seen what I have,' said Lanty,
shuddering. 'The dogs!--they cut off Madame's poor white fingers to get
at her rings, and not with knives either, lest her blessed flesh should
defile them, they said, and her poor face was an angel's all the time.
Nay, nor that was not the worst. The villainous boys, what must they do
but pelt the poor swollen bodies with stones! Ay, well you may scream,
Victorine. We went down on our knees, Maitre Hebert and I, to pray they
might let us give them burial, but they mocked us, and bade Hassan say
they never bury dogs. I went round the steeper path, for all the load at
my back, or I should have been flying at the throats of the cowardly
vultures, and then what would have become of M. l'Abbe?'
Victorine trembled and wept bitterly for her companions, and then asked
if Lanty had seen the corpse of the little Chevalier.
'Not a sight of him or M. Arthur either,' returned Lanty; 'only the ugly
face of the old Turk captain and another of his crew, and them they
buried decently, being Moslem hounds like themselves; while my poor lady
that is a saint in heaven--' and he, too, shed tears of hot grief and
indignation, recovering enough to warn Victorine by no means to let the
poor young girl know of this additional horror.
There was little opportunity, for they had been appropriated by different
masters: Estelle, the Abbe, and Hebert to the sheyk, or headman of the
clan; and Lanty and Victorine to a big, strong, fierce-looking fellow, of
inferior degree but greater might.
This time Estelle was to be kept for the night among the sheyk's women,
who, though too unsophisticated to veil their faces, had a part of the
hut closed off with a screen of reeds, but quite as bare as the outside.
Hebert, who could not endure to think of her sleeping on the ground, and
saw a large heap of grass or straw provided for a little brown cow,
endeavoured to take an armful for her. Unluckily it belonged to Lanty's
master, Eyoub, who instantly flew at him in a fury, dragged him to a log
of wood, caught up an axe, and had not Estelle's screams brought up the
sheyk, with Hassan and one or two other men, the poor Maitre d'Hotel's
head would have been off. There was a sharp altercation between the
sheyk and Eyoub, while Estelle held the faithful servant's hand, saying,
'You did it for me! Oh, Hebert, do not make them angry again. It would
be beautiful to die for one's faith, but not for a handful of hay.'
'Ah! my dear _demoiselle_, what would my poor ladies say to see you
sleeping on the bare ground in a filthy hut?'
'I slept well last night,' returned Estelle; 'indeed, I do not mind! It
is only the more like the dungeon at Lyon, you know! And I pray you,
Hebert, do not get yourself killed for nothing too soon, or else we shall
not all stand out and confess together, like St. Blandina and St.
Ponticus and St Epagathius.'
'Alas, the dear child! The long names run off her tongue as glibly as
ever,' sighed Hebert, who, though determined not to forsake his faith, by
no means partook her enthusiasm for martyrdom. Hassan, however, having
explained what the purpose had been, Hebert was pardoned, though the
sheyk scornfully observed that what was good enough for the daughters of
a Hadji was good enough for the unclean child of the Frankish infidels.
The hay might perhaps have spared a little stiffness, but it would not
have ameliorated the chief annoyances--the closeness, the dirt, and the
vermin. It was well that it was winter, or the first of these would have
been far worse, and, fortunately for Estelle, she was one of those whom
suffocating air rather lulls than rouses.
Eyoub's hovel did not rejoice in the refinement of a partition, but his
family, together with their animals, lay on the rocky floor as best they
might; and Victorine's fever came on again, so that she lay in great
misery, greeted by a growl from a great white dog whenever she tried to
relieve her restless aching limbs by the slightest movement, or to reach
one of the gourds of water laid near the sleepers, like Saul's cruse at
his pillow.
Towards morning, however, Lanty, who had been sitting with his back
against the wall, awoke from the sleep well earned by acting as a beast
of burthen. The dog growled a little, but Lanty--though his leg still
showed its teeth-marks--had made friends with it, and his hand on its
head quieted it directly, so that he was able cautiously to hand a gourd
to Victorine. The Arabs were heavy sleepers, and the two were able to
talk under their breath; as, in reply to a kind word from Lanty, poor
Victorine moaned her envy of the fate of Rosette and Babette; and he,
with something of their little mistress's spirit, declared that he had no
doubt but that 'one way or the other they should be out of it: either get
safe home, or be blessed martyrs, without even a taste of purgatory.'
'Ah! but there's worse for me,' sighed Victorine. 'This demon brought
another to stare in my face--I know he wants to make me his wife! Kill
me first, Laurent.'
'It is I that would rather espouse you, my jewel,' returned a tender
whisper.
'How can you talk of such things at such a moment?'
''Tis a pity M. l'Abbe is not a priest,' sighed Lanty. 'But, you know,
Victorine, who is the boy you always meant to take.'
'You need not be so sure of that,' she said, the coy coquetry not quite
extinct.
'Come, as you said, it is no time for fooling. Give me your word and
troth to be my wife so soon as we have the good luck to come by a
Christian priest by our Lady's help, and I'll outface them all--were it
Mohammed the Prophet himself, that you are my espoused and betrothed, and
woe to him that puts a finger on you.'
'You would only get yourself killed.'
'And would not I be proud to be killed for your sake? Besides, I'll show
them cause not to kill me if I have the chance. Trust me, Victorine, my
darling--it is but a chance among these murdering villains, but it is the
only one; and, sure, if you pretended to turn the back of your hand to me
when there were plenty of Christian men to compliment you, yet you would
rather have poor Lanty than a thundering rogue of a pagan Mohammedan.'
'I hope I shall die,' sighed poor Victorine faintly. 'It will only be
your death!'
'That is my affair,' responded Lanty. 'Come, here's daylight coming in;
reach me your hand before this _canaille_ wakes, and here's this good
beast of a dog, and yonder grave old goat with a face like Pere Michel's
for our witnesses--and by good luck, here's a bit of gilt wire off my
shoulder-knot that I've made into a couple of rings while I've been
speaking.'
The strange betrothal had barely taken place before there was a stir, and
what was no doubt a yelling imprecation on the 'dog Giaours' for the
noise they made.
The morning began as before, with the exception that Estelle had
established a certain understanding with a little chocolate-coloured
cupid of a boy of the size of her brother, and his lesser sister, by
letting them stroke her hair, and showing them the mysteries of cat's
cradle. They shared their gourd of goat's-milk with her, but would not
let her give any to her companions. However, the Abbe had only to hold
out his hand to be fed, and the others were far too anxious to care much
about their food.
A much larger number of Cabeleyzes came streaming into the forum of the
adowara, and the prisoners were all again placed in a row, while the new-
comers passed before them, staring hard, and manifestly making personal
remarks which perhaps it was well that they did not understand. The
sheyk and Eyoub evidently regarded them as private property, stood in
front, and permitted nobody to handle them, which was so far a comfort.
Then followed a sort of council, with much gesticulation, in which Hassan
took his share. Then, followed by the sheyk, Eyoub, and some other
headmen, he advanced, and demanded that the captives should become true
believers. This was eked out with gestures betokening that thus they
would be free, in that case; while, if they refused, the sword and the
smouldering flame were pointed to, while the whole host loudly shouted
'Islam!'
Victorine trembled, sobbed, tried to hide herself; but Estelle stood up,
her young face lighted up, her dark eyes gleaming, as if she were
realising a daydream, as she shook her head, cried out to Lanty, 'Tell
him, No--never!' and held to her breast a little cross of sticks that she
had been forming to complete her uncle's rosary. Her gesture was
understood. A man better clad than the rest, with a turban and a broad
crimson sash, rushed up to her, seized her by the hair, and waved his
scimitar over her head. The child felt herself close to her mother. She
looked up in his face with radiant eyes and a smile on her lips. It
absolutely daunted the fellow: his arm dropped, and he gazed at her like
some supernatural creature; and the sheyk, enraged at the interference
with his property, darted forth to defend it, and there was a general
wrangling.
Seconded by their interpreter, Hassan, who knew that the Koran did not
prescribe the destruction of Christians, Hebert and Lanty endeavoured to
show that their conversion was out of the question, and that their
slaughter would only be the loss of an exceedingly valuable ransom, which
would be paid if they were handed over safe and sound and in good
condition.
There was no knowing what was the effect of this, for the council again
ended in a rush to secure the remaining pillage of the wreck. Hebert and
Lanty dreaded what they might see, but to their great relief those poor
remains had disappeared. They shuddered as they remembered the hyenas'
laughs and the jackals' howls they had heard at nightfall; but though
they hoped that the sea had been merciful, they could even have been
grateful to the animals that had spared them the sight of conscious
insults.
The wreck was finally cleared, and among the fragments were found several
portions of books. These the Arabs disregarded, being too ignorant even
to read their own Koran, and yet aware of the Mohammedan scruple which
forbids the destruction of any scrap of paper lest it should bear the
name of Allah. Lanty secured the greater part of the Abbe's breviary,
and a good many pages of Estelle's beloved Telemaque; while the steward
gained possession of his writing case, and was permitted to retain it
when the Cabeleyzes, glutted with plunder, had ascertained that it
contained nothing of value to them.
After everything had been dragged up to the adowara, there ensued a sort
of auction or division of the plunder. Poor Maitre Hebert was doomed to
see the boxes and bales he had so diligently watched broken open by these
barbarians,--nay, he had to assist in their own dissection when the
secrets were too much for the Arabs. There was the King of Spain's
portrait rent from its costly setting and stamped upon as an idolatrous
image. The miniature of the Count, worn by the poor lady, had previously
shared the same fate, but that happily was out of sight and knowledge.
Here was the splendid plate, presented by crowned heads, howled over by
savages ignorant of its use. The silver they seemed to value; but there
were three precious gold cups which the salt water had discoloured, so
that they were taken for copper and sold for a very small price to a Jew,
who somehow was attracted to the scene, 'like a raven to the slaughter,'
said Lanty.
This man likewise secured some of the poor lady's store of rich dresses,
but a good many more were appropriated to make sashes for the men, and
the smaller articles, including stockings, were wound turban fashion
round the children's heads.
Lanty could not help observing, 'And if the saints are merciful to us,
and get us out of this, we shall have stories to tell that will last our
lives!' as he watched the solemn old chief smelling to the perfumes,
swallowing the rouge as splendid medicine, and finally fingering a snuff-
box, while half a dozen more crowded round to assist in the opening, and
in another moment sneezing, weeping, tingling, dancing frantically about,
vituperating the Christian's magic.
This gave Lanty an idea. A little round box lay near, which, as he
remembered, contained a Jack-in-the-box, or Polichinelle, which the poor
little Chevalier had bought at the fair at Tarascon. This he contrived
to secrete and hand to Victorine. 'Keep the secret,' he said, 'and you
will find your best guardian in that bit of a box.' And when that very
evening an Arab showed some intentions of adding her to his harem,
Victorine bethought herself of the box, and unhooked in desperation. Up
sprang Punch, long-nosed and fur-capped, right in the bearded face.
Back the man almost fell; 'Shaitan, Shaitan!' was the cry, as the
inhabitants tumbled pell-mell out of the hovel, and Victorine and Punch
remained masters of the situation.
She heard Lanty haranguing in broken Arabic and _lingua Franca_, and
presently he came in, shaking with suppressed laughter. 'If ever we get
home,' said he, 'we'll make a pilgrimage to Tarascon! Blessings on good
St. Martha that put that sweet little imp in my way! The rogues think he
is the very genie that the fisherman let out of the bottle in
Mademoiselle's book of the Thousand and One Nights, and thought to see
him towering over the whole place. And a fine figure he would be with
his hook nose and long beard. They sent me to beg you fairly to put up
your little Shaitan again. I told them that Shaitan, as they call him,
is always in it when there's meddling between an espoused pair--which is
as true as though the Holy Father at Rome had said it--and as long as
they were civil, Shaitan would rest; but if they durst molest you, there
was no saying where he would be, if once you had to let him out! To
think of the virtue of that ugly face and bit of a coil of wire!'
Meantime Hebert, having ascertained that both the Jew and Hassan were
going away, the one to Constantina, the other to Algiers, wrote, and so
did Estelle, to the Consul at Algiers, explaining their position and
entreating to be ransomed. Though only nine years old, Estelle could
write a very fair letter, and the amazement of the Arabs was unbounded
that any female creature should wield a pen. Marabouts and merchants
were known to read the Koran, but if one of the goats had begun to write,
their wonder could hardly have been greater; and such crowds came to
witness the extraordinary operation that she could scarcely breathe or
see.
It seemed to establish her in their estimation as a sort of supernatural
being, for she was always treated with more consideration than the rest
of the captives, never deprived of the clothes she wore, and allowed to
appropriate a few of the toilette necessaries that were quite
incomprehensible to those around her.
She learnt the names for bread, chestnuts, dates, milk, and water, and
these were never denied to her; and her little ingenuities in nursery
games won the goodwill of the women and children around her, though
others used to come and make ugly faces at her, and cry out at her as an
unclean thing. The Abbe was allowed to wander about at will, and keep
his Hours, with Estelle to make the responses, and sometimes Hebert. He
was the only one that might visit the other two captives; Lanty was kept
hard at work over the crop of chestnuts that the clan had come down from
their mountains to gather in; and poor Victorine, who was consumed by a
low fever, and almost too weak to move, lay all day in the dreary and
dirty hut, expecting, but dreading death.
Some days later there was great excitement, shouting, and rage. It
proved that the Bey of Constantina had sent to demand the party,
threatening to send an armed force to compel their surrender; but, alas!
the hope of a return to comparative civilisation was instantly quashed,
for the sheyk showed himself furious. He and Eyoub stood brandishing
their scimitars, and with eyes flashing like a panther's in the dark,
declaring that they were free, no subjects of the Dey nor the Bey either;
and that they would shed the blood of every one of the captives rather
than yield them to the dogs and sons of dogs at Constantina.
This embassy only increased the jealousy with which the prisoners were
guarded. None of them were allowed to stir without a man with a halbert,
and they had the greatest difficulty in entrusting a third letter to the
Moor in command of the party. Indeed, it was only managed by Estelle's
coaxing of the little Abou Daoud, who was growing devoted to her, and
would do anything for the reward of hearing her sing life _Malbrook s'en
va-t'-n guerre_.
It might have been in consequence of this threat of the Bey, much as they
affected to despise it, that the Cabeleyzes prepared to return to the
heights of Mount Araz, whence they had only descended during the autumn
to find fresh pasture for their cattle, and to collect dates and
chestnuts from the forest.
'Alas!' said Hubert, 'this is worse than ever. As long as we were near
the sea, I had hope, but now all trace of us will be lost, even if the
Consul should send after us.'
'Never fear, Maitre Hubert,' said Estelle; 'you know Telemaque was a
prisoner and tamed the wild peasants in Egypt.'
'Ah! the poor demoiselle, she always seems as if she were acting a
comedy.'
This was happily true. Estelle seemed to be in a curious manner borne
through the dangers and discomforts of her surroundings by a strange
dreamy sense of living up to her part, sometimes as a possible martyr,
sometimes as a figure in the mythological or Arcadian romance that had
filtered into her nursery.