'We cannot miss him. He doth make our fire,
Fetch in our wood, and serve in offices
That profit us.'
_Tempest_.
Bugia, though midway on the 'European lake,' is almost unknown to modern
travellers, though it has become a French possession.
It looked extremely beautiful when the French tartane entered it, rising
from the sea like a magnificent amphitheatre, at the foot of the
mountains that circled round it, and guarded by stern battlemented
castles, while the arches of one of the great old Roman aqueducts made a
noble cord to the arc described by the lower part of the town.
The harbour, a finer one naturally than that of Algiers, contained
numerous tartanes and other vessels, for, as Ibrahim Aga, who could talk
French very well, informed Arthur, the inhabitants were good workers in
iron, and drove a trade in plough-shares and other implements, besides
wax and oil. But it was no resort of Franks, and he insisted that Arthur
should only come on shore in a Moorish dress, which had been provided at
Algiers. Thanks to young Hope's naturally dark complexion, and the
exposure of the last month, he might very well pass for a Moor: and he
had learnt to wear the white caftan, wide trousers, broad sash, and
scarlet fez, circled with muslin, so naturally that he was not likely to
be noticed as a European.
The city, in spite of its external beauty, proved to be ruinous within,
and in the midst of the Moorish houses and courts still were visible
remnants of the old Roman town that had in past ages flourished there.
Like Algiers, it had narrow climbing streets, excluding sunshine, and
through these the guide Ibrahim had secured led the way; while in single
file came the interpreter, Arthur, two black slaves bearing presents for
the Marabout, and four men besides as escort. Once or twice there was a
vista down a broader space, with an awning over it, where selling and
buying were going on, always of some single species of merchandise.
Thus they arrived at one of those Moorish houses, to whose beauty Arthur
was becoming accustomed. It had, however, a less luxurious and grave
aspect than the palaces of Algiers, and the green colour sacred to the
Prophet prevailed in the inlaid work, which Ibrahim Aga told him
consisted chiefly of maxims from the Koran.
No soldiers were on guard, but there were a good many young men wholly
clad in white--neophytes endeavouring to study the fifty sciences, mostly
sitting on the ground, writing copies, either of the sacred books, or of
the treatises on science and medicine which had descended from time
almost immemorial; all rehearsed aloud what they learnt or wrote, so as
to produce a strange hum. A grave official, similarly clad, but with a
green sash, came to meet them, and told them that the chief Marabout was
sick; but on hearing from the interpreter that they were bearers of a
letter from the Dey, he went back with the intelligence, and presently
returned salaaming very low, to introduce them to another of the large
halls with lacework ceilings, where it was explained that the Grand
Marabout was, who was suffering from ague. The fit was passing off, and
he would be able to attend of the coffee and the pipes which were
presented to his honoured guests so soon as they had partaken them.
After a delay, very trying to Arthur's anxiety, though beguiled by such
coffee and tobacco as he was never likely to encounter again, Hadji Eseb
Ben Hassan, a venerable-looking man, appeared, with a fine white beard
and keen eyes, slenderly formed, and with an air of very considerable
ability--much more so than the Dey, in all his glittering splendour of
gold, jewels, and embroidery, whereas this old man wore the pure white
woollen garments of the Moor, with the green sash, and an emerald to
fasten the folds of his white turban.
Ibrahim Aga prostrated himself as if before the Dey, and laid before the
Marabout, as a first gift, a gold watch; then, after a blessing had been
given in return, he produced with great ceremony the Dey's letter, to
which every one in the apartment did obeisance by touching the floor with
their foreheads, and the Grand Marabout further rubbed it on his brow
before proceeding to read it, which he chose to do for himself, chanting
it out in a low, humming voice. It was only a recommendation, and the
other letter was from the French Consul containing all particulars. The
Marabout seemed much startled, and interrogated the interpreter. Arthur
could follow them in some degree, and presently the keen eye of the old
man seemed to detect his interest, for there was a pointing to him, an
explanation that he had been there, and presently Hadji Eseb addressed a
question to him in the vernacular Arabic. He understood and answered,
but the imperfect language or his looks betrayed him, for Hadji Eseb
demanded, 'Thou art Frank, my son?'
Ibrahim Aga, mortally afraid of the consequences of having brought a
disguised Giaour into these sacred precincts, began what Arthur perceived
to be a lying assurance of his having embraced Islam; and he was on the
point of breaking in upon the speech, when the Marabout observed his
gesture, and said gravely, 'My son, falsehood is not needed to shield a
brave Christian; a faithful worshipper of Issa Ben Mariam receives honour
if he does justice and works righteousness according to his own creed,
even though he be blind to the true faith. Is it true, good youth, that
thou art--not as this man would have me believe--one of the crew from
Algiers, but art come to strive for the release of thy sister?'
Arthur gave the history as best he could, for his month's practice had
made him able to speak the vernacular so as to be fairly comprehensible,
and the Marabout, who was evidently a man of very high abilities, often
met him half way, and suggested the word at which he stumbled. He was
greatly touched by the account, even in the imperfect manner in which the
youth could give it; and there was no doubt that he was a man of enlarged
mind and beneficence, who had not only mastered the fifty sciences, but
had seen something of the world.
He had not only made his pilgrimage to Mecca more than once, but had been
at Constantinople, and likewise at Tunis and Tripoli; thus, with powers
both acute and awake, he understood more than his countrymen of European
Powers and their relation to one another. As a civilised and cultivated
man, he was horrified at the notion of the tenderly-nurtured child being
in the clutches of savages like the Cabeleyzes; but the first difficulty
was to find out where she was; for, as he said, pointing towards the
mountains, they were a wide space, and it would be hunting a partridge on
the hills.
Looking at his chief councillor, Azim Reverdi, he demanded whether some
of the wanderers of their order, whom he named, could not be sent through
the mountains to discover where any such prisoners might be; but after
going into the court in quest of these persons, Azim returned with
tidings that a Turkish soldier had returned on the previous day to the
town, and had mentioned that on Mount Couco, Sheyk Abderrahman was almost
at war with his subordinates, Eyoub and Ben Yakoub, about some
shipwrecked Frank captives, if they had not already settled the matter by
murdering them all, and, as was well known, nothing would persuade this
ignorant, lawless tribe that nothing was more abhorrent to the Prophet
than human sacrifices.
Azim had already sent two disciples to summon the Turk to the presence of
the Grand Marabout, and in due time he appeared--a rough, heavy,
truculent fellow enough, but making awkward salaams as one in great awe
of the presence in which he stood--unwilling awe perhaps--full of
superstitious fear tempered by pride--for the haughty Turks revolted
against homage to one of the subject race of Moors.
His language was only now and then comprehensible to Arthur, but Ibrahim
kept up a running translation into French for his benefit.
There were captives--infidels--saved from the wreck, he knew not how
many, but he was sure of one--a little maid with hair like the unwound
cocoon, so that they called her the Daughter of the Silkworm. It was
about her that the chief struggle was. She had fallen to the lot of Ben
Yakoub, who had been chestnut-gathering by the sea at the time of the
wreck; but when he arrived on Mount Couco the Sheyk Abderrahman had
claimed her and hers as the head of the tribe, and had carried her off to
his own adowara in the valley of Ein Gebel.
The Turk, Murad, had been induced by Yakoub to join him and sixteen more
armed men whom he had got together to demand her. For it was he who had
rescued her from the waves, carried her up the mountains, fed her all
this time, and he would not have her snatched away from him, though for
his part Murad thought it would have been well to be quit of them, for
not only were they Giaours, but he verily believed them to be of the race
of Jinns. The little fair-haired maid had papers with strange signs on
them. She wrote--actually wrote--a thing that he believed no Sultana
Velide even had ever been known to do at Stamboul. Moreover, she twisted
strings about on her hands in a manner that was fearful to look at. It
was said to be only to amuse the children, but for his part he believed
it was for some evil spell. What was certain was that the other, a woman
full grown, could, whenever any one offended her, raise a Jinn in a cloud
of smoke, which caused such sneezing that she was lost sight of. And yet
these creatures had so bewitched their captors that there were like to be
hard blows before they were disposed of, unless his advice were taken to
make an end of them altogether. Indeed, two of the men, the mad Santon
and the chief slave, had been taken behind a bush to be sacrificed, when
the Daughter of the Silkworm came between with her incantations, and fear
came upon Sheyk Yakoub. Murad evidently thought it highly advisable that
the chief Marabout should intervene to put a stop to these doings, and
counteract the mysterious influence exercised by these strange beings.
High time, truly, Arthur and Ibrahim Aga likewise felt it, to go to the
rescue, since terror and jealousy might, it appeared, at any time impel
_ces barbares feroces_, as Ibrahim called them, to slaughter their
prisoners. To their great joy, the Marabout proved to be of the same
opinion, in spite of his sickness, which, being an intermitting ague,
would leave him free for a couple of days, and might be driven off by the
mountain air. He promised to set forth early the next day, and kept the
young man and the interpreter as his guests for the night, Ibrahim going
first on board to fetch the parcel of clothes and provisions which M.
Dessault had sent for the Abbe and Mademoiselle de Bourke, and for an
instalment of the ransom, which the Hadji Eseb assured him might safely
be carried under his own sacred protection.
Arthur did not see much of his host, who seemed to be very busy
consulting with his second in command on the preparations, for probably
the expedition was a delicate undertaking, even for him, and his
companions had to be carefully chosen.
Ibrahim had advised Arthur to stay quietly where he was, and not venture
into the city, and he spent his time as he best might by the help of a
_narghile_, which was hospitably presented to him, though the strictness
of Marabout life forbade the use alike of tobacco and coffee.
Before dawn the courts of the house were astir. Mules, handsomely
trapped, were provided to carry the principal persons of the party
wherever it might be possible, and there were some spare ones, ridden at
first by inferiors, but intended for the captives, should they be
recovered.
It was very cold, being the last week in November, and all were wrapped
in heavy woollen haiks over their white garments, except one wild-looking
fellow, whose legs and arms were bare, and who only seemed to possess one
garment of coarse dark sackcloth. He skipped and ran by the side of the
mules, chanting and muttering, and Ibrahim observed in French that he was
one of the Sunakites, or fanatic Marabouts, and advised Arthur to beware
of him; but, though dangerous in himself, his presence would be a
sufficient protection from all other thieves or vagabonds. Indeed,
Arthur saw the fellow glaring unpleasantly at him, when the sun summoned
all the rest to their morning devotions. He was glad that he had made
the fact of his Christianity known, for he could no more act Moslem than
_be_ one, and Hadji Eseb kept the Sunakite in check by a stern glance, so
that no harm ensued.
Afterwards Arthur was bidden to ride near the chief, who talked a good
deal, asking intelligent questions. Gibraltar had impressed him greatly,
and it also appeared that in one of his pilgrimages the merchant vessel
he was in had been rescued from some Albanian pirates by an English ship,
which held the Turks as allies, and thus saved them from undergoing
vengeance for the sufferings of the Greeks. Thus the good old man felt
that he owed a debt of gratitude which Allah required him to pay, even to
the infidel.
Up steep roads the mules climbed. The first night the halt was at a
Cabyle village, where hospitality was eagerly offered to persons of such
high reputation for sanctity as the Marabouts; but afterwards habitations
grew more scanty as the ground rose higher, and there was no choice but
to encamp in the tents brought by the attendants, and which seemed to
Arthur a good exchange for the dirty Cabyle huts.
Altogether the journey took six days. The mules climbed along wild paths
on the verge of giddy precipices, where even on foot Arthur would have
hesitated to venture. The scenery would now be thought magnificent, but
it was simply frightful to the mind of the early eighteenth century,
especially when a constant watch had to be kept to avoid the rush of
stones, or avalanches, on an almost imperceptible, nearly perpendicular
path, where it was needful to trust to the guidance of the Sunakite, the
only one of the cavalcade who had been there before.
On the last day they found themselves on the borders of a slope of pines
and other mountain-growing trees, bordering a wide valley or ravine where
the Sunakite hinted that Abderrahman might be found.
The cavalcade pursued a path slightly indicated by the treading of feet
and hoofs, and presently there emerged on them from a slighter side track
between the red stems of the great pines a figure nearly bent double
under the weight of two huge faggots, with a basket of great solid fir-
cones on the top of them. Very scanty garments seemed to be vouchsafed
to him, and the bare arms and legs were so white, as well as of a length
so unusual among Arabs or Moors, that simultaneously the Marabout
exclaimed, 'One of the Giaour captives,' and Arthur cried out, 'La
Jeunesse! Laurence!'
There was only just time for a start and a response, 'M. Arture! And is
it yourself?' before a howl of vituperation was heard--of abuse of all
the ancestry of the cur of an infidel slave, the father of tardiness--and
a savage-looking man appeared, brandishing a cudgel, with which he was
about to belabour his unfortunate slave, when he was arrested by
astonishment, and perhaps terror, at the goodly company of Marabouts.
Hadji Eseb entered into conversation with him, and meanwhile Lanty broke
forth, 'O wirrah, wirrah, Master Arthur! an' have they made a haythen
Moor of ye? By the powers, but this is worse than all. What will
Mademoiselle say?--she that has held up the faith of every one of us,
like a little saint and martyr as she is! Though, to be sure, ye are but
a Protestant; only these folks don't know the differ.'
'If you would let me speak, Laurence,' said Arthur, 'you would hear that
I am no more a Moslem than yourself, only my Frank dress might lead to
trouble. We are come to deliver you all, with a ransom from the French
Consul. Are you all safe--Mademoiselle and all? and how many of you?'
'Mademoiselle and M. l'Abbe were safe and well three days since,' said
Lanty; 'but that spalpeen there is my master and poor Victorine's, and
will not let us put a foot near them.'
'Where are they? How many?' anxiously asked Arthur.
'There are five of us altogether,' said Lanty; 'praise be to Him who has
saved us thus far. We know the touch of cold steel at our throats, as
well as ever I knew the poor misthress' handbell; and unless our Lady,
and St. Lawrence, and the rest of them, keep the better watch on us, the
rascals will only ransom us without our heads, so jealous and
bloodthirsty they are. The Bey of Constantina sent for us once, but all
we got by that was worse usage than the very dogs in Paris, and being
dragged up these weary hills, where Maitre Hubert and I carried
Mademoiselle every foot of the way on our backs, and she begging our
pardon so prettily--only she could not walk, the rocks had so bruised her
darlin' little feet.'
'This is their chief holy man, Lanty. If any one can prevail on these
savages to release you it is he.'
'And how come you to be hand and glove with them, Masther Arthur--you
that I thought drownded with poor Madame and the little Chevalier and the
rest?'
'The Chevalier is not drowned, Laurent. He is safe in the Consul's house
at Algiers.'
'Now heaven and all the saints be praised! The Chevalier safe and well!
'Tis a very miracle!' cried Lanty, letting fall his burthen, as he
clasped his hands in ecstasy and performed a caper which, in spite of all
his master Eyoub's respect for the Marabouts, brought a furious yell of
rage, and a tremendous blow with the cudgel, which Lanty, in his joy,
seemed to receive as if it had been a feather.
Hadji Eseb averted a further blow; and understanding from Arthur that the
poor fellow's transport was caused by the tidings of the safety of his
master's son, he seemed touched, and bade that he and Eyoub should lead
the way to the place of durance of the chief prisoners. On the way
Ibrahim Aga interrogated both Eyoub in vernacular Arabic and Lanty in
French. The former was sullen, only speaking from his evident awe of the
Marabouts, the latter voluble with joy and hope.
Arthur learnt that the letter he had found under the stone was the fourth
that Estelle and Hebert had written. There had been a terrible journey
up the mountains, when Lanty had fully thought Victorine must close her
sufferings in some frightful ravine; but, nevertheless, she had recovered
health and strength with every day's ascent above the close, narrow
valley. They were guarded all the way by Arabs armed to the teeth to
prevent a rescue by the Bey of Constantina.
On their arrival at the valley, which was the headquarters of the tribe,
the sheyk of the entire clan had laid claim to the principal captives,
and had carried off the young lady and her uncle; and in his dwelling she
had a boarded floor to sleep on, and had been made much more comfortable
than in the squalid huts below. Her original master, Yakoub, had,
however, come to seize her, with the force described by Murad. Then it
was that again there was a threat to kill rather than resign them; but on
this occasion it was averted by Sheyk Abderrahman's son, a boy of about
fourteen, who threw himself on his knees before Mademoiselle, and prayed
his father earnestly for her life.
'They spared her then,' said Lanty, 'and, mayhap, worse still may come of
that. Yakoub, the villain, ended by getting her back till they can have
a council of their tribe, and there she is in his filthy hut; but the
gossoon, Selim, as they call him, prowls about the place as if he were
bewitched. All the children are, for that matter, wherever she goes. She
makes cats' cradles for them, and sings to them, and tells them stories
in her own sweet way out of the sacred history--such as may bring her
into trouble one of these days. Maitre Hebert heard her one day telling
them the story of Moses, and he warned her that if she went on in that
fashion it might be the death of us all. "But," says she, "suppose we
made Selim, and little Zuleika, and all the rest of them, Christians?
Suppose we brought all the tribe to come down and ask baptism, like as
St. Nona did in the _Lives of the Saints_?" He told her it was more like
that they would only get her darling little head cut off, if no worse,
but he could not get her to think that mattered at all at all. She would
have a crown and a palm up in heaven, and after her name in the Calendar
on earth, bless her.'
Then he went on to tell that Yakoub was furious at the notion of
resigning his prize, and (Agamemnon-like) declared that if she were taken
from him he should demand Victorine from Eyoub. Unfortunately she was
recovering her good looks in the mountain air; and, worse still, the
spring of her 'blessed little Polichinelle' was broken, though happily no
one guessed it, and hitherto it had been enough to show them the box.