ONE FRIENDLY FACE
The man who on pretence of paying Nahma's passage-money had in reality
bought him was a well-known London fur-dealer, who had visited the
ship to appraise her cargo. The young fellow who had extended to our
forlorn lad the hand of friendship, and who, but for lack of ready
means, would have redeemed him from a threatened slavery, was a Mr.
Edward Winslow. He was the youngest son of a well-to-do Devon family,
who had taken a degree at Oxford and was now reading law in the Temple.
He was intensely interested in America and everything pertaining to it.
Thus, on hearing that a ship just arrived from the New World was in the
Thames, he hastened to board her, that he might converse with those who
had so recently trod the shores he longed to visit. Nahma was the first
American he had ever seen, and he regarded him with a lively curiosity
that was changed to pity at sight of his hopeless face. Now he turned
fiercely on the Jew who by payment of a paltry sum of money had become
master of the young stranger's fate.
"What do you intend to do with him?" he asked.
"Vat vould you have done mit him yourself had your purse been as full
as your stomach?" asked the other, impudently.
"I would have found for him a home in which he might be taught
Christianity and civilization, and then I would have taken the first
opportunity for sending him back to his own land."
"Mayhap those be the very things I also vould do by the young heathen;
who knows?" replied the furrier, with a leer. "At any rate, I have
charge of him now, and vill take him at once to my happy home. You may
set him ashore for me, captain."
"Not I," responded Captain Dermer. "I have no longer aught to do with
him. Take him ashore yourself."
Thus confronted with his new responsibility, the man approached Nahma
and, seizing him roughly by an arm, said, "Come mit me, heathen."
With a quick motion the young Indian wrenched himself free and faced
his new master with so fierce a look that the latter involuntarily
quailed beneath it and stepped back.
"Ah!" he snarled, "that's your game, is it? Ve'll see who comes out
best."
With this he called to some men of his employ who were hoisting out
bales of furs and bade them come to him, bringing a stout cord.
"Hold!" cried Winslow, stepping beside the young Indian. "See you not
that he is desperate, and that if you try to bind him there will be
bloodshed? He will surely kill you, if he dies for it the next moment.
Leave him to me and I will guarantee to take him where you may desire,
only I give you warning to treat him decently and without violence."
Thus saying the speaker held out his hand to Nahma, and by signs
intimated that he was to accompany him.
By instinct the young American had recognized this youth as a friend,
and now he unhesitatingly left the ship in his company.
As a mob would have been attracted by the appearance of an American
Indian in the crowded streets, a covered cart belonging to the furrier
was procured, and in it our lad was driven to a rear entrance of his
master's shop, which fronted on a fashionable thoroughfare, while the
others reached the same place on foot.
During that bewildering ride Nahma sat with stolid face but with keen
eyes, taking in all the marvellous details of his surroundings. Next to
the throngs of people hurrying to and fro along the narrow, crooked,
and ill-paved streets, the appearance of horses most impressed him, for
never had he seen beasts at once so large and so completely under the
control of man.
No word passed between Winslow and the furrier until their destination
was reached. Then the latter asked, sneeringly,--
"Now, me lud, vat vill your 'ighness do next?"
"I will go inside and see him disposed," replied the young man, calmly.
"Oh, vell, come in and view the royal apartments," said the other,
willing to have Winslow continue his responsibility until the new
acquisition was safely housed.
So the young Indian was taken from the cart and led into the shop,
causing a buzz of excitement among the few who saw him climbing a
narrow back stairway. He was finally guided to a small chamber directly
beneath the roof and lighted by a single window that could not be
opened. Had it not been for Winslow's reassuring presence, Nahma would
have refused to ascend those stairs, which, being the first he had ever
encountered, filled him with dismay.
After Winslow had seen the stranger in whom he took so great an
interest thus safely placed for the present and the furrier had locked
the door on his captive, the two descended again to the shop.
"What will you now do with him?" asked the former.
"It may be I vill train him to my business and send him out to America
as a fur-buyer," answered the other. "Maybe I vill keep him as a
curiosity. I have not yet decided; but vatever I do is no concern of
yours."
"Will you sell him to me?"
"Maybe so ven I see your money."
With this Winslow was forced to be content, and he departed with the
hope of redeeming his newly made friend and of carrying out his vaguely
formed intentions concerning him. Although twenty pounds was not a
large sum, it would embarrass him to procure it, since his family,
though well-to-do, were not people of wealth, and he was living on a
monthly allowance so small as barely to support him in gentility.
In the mean time Nahma, left to his own melancholy company, gazed from
his window over the roofs and chimney-pots of London, feeling that no
greater evils could possibly befall him, and yet wondering vaguely what
would happen next. Food was brought to him and water, but no change in
his situation took place until the following morning.
Then his master appeared accompanied by a coarse-featured man of
evident strength, whom the furrier had engaged to be keeper of his
new treasure. By them the young Indian was taken down to the shop,
where a small platform had been prepared for him. It was covered and
surrounded with costly furs, and here Nahma was seated with a fur robe
draped across his shoulders. Close at hand stood his keeper to see that
he neither escaped nor did injury to any about him. With the tableau
arranged, a stout 'prentice lad took a stand just outside the street
entrance and cried in lusty tones the novel attraction to be seen
within.
"Step this way, lords and ladies. Come all ye gentlefolk, attend the
reception of his Highness, a native American cannibal prince just
arrived from the New World. Look within! Look within! Under the sign of
the Ermine Royal sits he. Free of charge are all gentlefolk invited to
meet him. This way, lords and ladies. Look within!"
To this novel reception none but the well-dressed and evidently
well-to-do were admitted, since the poor could not be expected to
purchase furs then any more than now. And there would have been no
room for them in the limited space of the dingy little shop even had
they been admitted, for ere long it was crowded with fashionable folk
eager to be entertained by a novelty, while their retainers filled the
street. The spectators stared at Nahma and listened with credulous
ears to the marvellous tales told concerning him by the furrier, who,
clad in gorgeous raiment, acted the parts of host and showman. Also
many of them purchased furs, which was more to the purpose. Never had
the Ermine Royal done such a business, and never had its proprietor
greater reason to be satisfied with a venture.
Amid all came Edward Winslow with his twenty pounds, which he proffered
to the Jew in return for Nahma's release. But the latter laughed him to
scorn.
"For twenty pund did you think to get him, me lud? Nay, that was the
price I paid, as you vell know, and I must at least double my money.
Forty pund is my lowest offer, and fifty if he continues to attract
trade as at present. Speech mit him? I have no objection, only have a
care that you seek not to seduce him from my service, or a thing might
happen not to your liking."
Keenly disappointed at this result of his undertaking, the young man
pushed his way through the crowd until he stood close to the platform,
when he called, softly,--
"Massasoit."
Instantly a glad light flashed into the eyes of the dejected figure
thus set up for a show, and, turning eagerly in that direction, he
exclaimed,--
"Winslow."
Then the two friends clasped hands, and Winslow managed to convey the
information that he would come again on the morrow.
He kept his promise; and, though he had not succeeded in securing the
money necessary to redeem the young Indian, his visit brought much
comfort. For many days thereafter he came regularly, often bringing
some little thing that he thought might give pleasure; and these daily
glimpses of a friendly face were the only rays of light penetrating the
unhappy darkness of Nahma's captivity. He was never allowed to leave
the building, and was only marched to and fro up and down those weary
stairs between the den in which he lived and the hated platform on
which he was exhibited to gaping customers.
At the end of three weeks Winslow, having received his month's
allowance and so raised the necessary forty pounds, tendered it to the
fur-dealer for the release of his slave, only to be told that the
price had again been doubled.
Upon this the young man flew into a rage and there was an exchange of
bitter words, that ended in Winslow being told to mind his own affairs
and not attempt an interference with those that did not concern him.
As several 'prentice lads had gathered near during this quarrel and
stood eagerly awaiting their master's permission to pounce upon the
stranger, he realized the weakness of his position, and prudently ended
the affair by withdrawing from the scene. At the same time he was as
determined as ever to effect Nahma's deliverance, and that speedily.
For this purpose he invited a number of the more reckless of his Temple
companions to a dinner, at which he told the story of Massasoit and
enlisted their sympathies in his behalf. Then he proposed a rescue, to
which they enthusiastically agreed.
According to this plan they were to meet near the furrier's shop at
the busiest hour of the second day from then, each man wearing his
sword, and prepared to use it if necessary. There they were to mingle
with the sight-seers and resist any attempts at interference with the
movements of Winslow. The latter undertook to spirit the young Indian
out of the same rear entrance through which he had first been brought,
into an unfrequented alley, while one of his friends should for a
moment distract the attention of the keeper.
To perfect the details of this scheme and provide a safe retreat for
him whom they proposed to rescue occupied two days, and then all was
in readiness. At this point the would-be rescuers were confronted
by an unforeseen and insurmountable obstacle. The young Indian had
disappeared. He was no longer an inmate of the furrier's shop, and no
one could or would give the slightest information concerning him.