THE ADVENTURES OF THE LADY PEKUAH.
“AT what time and in what manner I was forced away,” said Pekuah, “your
servants have told you. The suddenness of the event struck me with
surprise, and I was at first rather stupefied than agitated with any
passion of either fear or sorrow. My confusion was increased by the
speed and tumult of our flight, while we were followed by the Turks, who,
as it seemed, soon despaired to overtake us, or were afraid of those whom
they made a show of menacing.
“When the Arabs saw themselves out of danger, they slackened their
course; and as I was less harassed by external violence, I began to feel
more uneasiness in my mind. After some time we stopped near a spring
shaded with trees, in a pleasant meadow, where we were set upon the
ground, and offered such refreshments as our masters were partaking. I
was suffered to sit with my maids apart from the rest, and none attempted
to comfort or insult us. Here I first began to feel the full weight of
my misery. The girls sat weeping in silence, and from time to time
looked on me for succour. I knew not to what condition we were doomed,
nor could conjecture where would be the place of our captivity, or whence
to draw any hope of deliverance. I was in the hands of robbers and
savages, and had no reason to suppose that their pity was more than their
justice, or that they would forbear the gratification of any ardour of
desire or caprice of cruelty. I, however, kissed my maids, and
endeavoured to pacify them by remarking that we were yet treated with
decency, and that since we were now carried beyond pursuit, there was no
danger of violence to our lives.
“When we were to be set again on horseback, my maids clung round me, and
refused to be parted; but I commanded them not to irritate those who had
us in their power. We travelled the remaining part of the day through an
unfrequented and pathless country, and came by moonlight to the side of a
hill, where the rest of the troop was stationed. Their tents were
pitched and their fires kindled, and our chief was welcomed as a man much
beloved by his dependents.
“We were received into a large tent, where we found women who had
attended their husbands in the expedition. They set before us the supper
which they had provided, and I ate it rather to encourage my maids than
to comply with any appetite of my own. When the meat was taken away,
they spread the carpets for repose. I was weary, and hoped to find in
sleep that remission of distress which nature seldom denies. Ordering
myself, therefore, to be undressed, I observed that the women looked very
earnestly upon me, not expecting, I suppose, to see me so submissively
attended. When my upper vest was taken off, they were apparently struck
with the splendour of my clothes, and one of them timorously laid her
hand upon the embroidery. She then went out, and in a short time came
back with another woman, who seemed to be of higher rank and greater
authority. She did, at her entrance, the usual act of reverence, and,
taking me by the hand placed me in a smaller tent, spread with finer
carpets, where I spent the night quietly with my maids.
“In the morning, as I was sitting on the grass, the chief of the troop
came towards me. I rose up to receive him, and he bowed with great
respect. ‘Illustrious lady,’ said he, ‘my fortune is better than I had
presumed to hope: I am told by my women that I have a princess in my
camp.’ ‘Sir,’ answered I, ‘your women have deceived themselves and you;
I am not a princess, but an unhappy stranger who intended soon to have
left this country, in which I am now to be imprisoned for ever.’
‘Whoever or whencesoever you are,’ returned the Arab, ‘your dress and
that of your servants show your rank to be high and your wealth to be
great. Why should you, who can so easily procure your ransom, think
yourself in danger of perpetual captivity? The purpose of my incursions
is to increase my riches, or, more properly, to gather tribute. The sons
of Ishmael are the natural and hereditary lords of this part of the
continent, which is usurped by late invaders and low-born tyrants, from
whom we are compelled to take by the sword what is denied to justice.
The violence of war admits no distinction: the lance that is lifted at
guilt and power will sometimes fall on innocence and gentleness.’
“‘How little,’ said I, ‘did I expect that yesterday it should have fallen
upon me!’
“’Misfortunes,’ answered the Arab, ‘should always be expected. If the
eye of hostility could learn reverence or pity, excellence like yours had
been exempt from injury. But the angels of affliction spread their toils
alike for the virtuous and the wicked, for the mighty and the mean. Do
not be disconsolate; I am not one of the lawless and cruel rovers of the
desert; I know the rules of civil life; I will fix your ransom, give a
passport to your messenger, and perform my stipulation with nice
punctuality.’
“You will easily believe that I was pleased with his courtesy, and
finding that his predominant passion was desire for money, I began now to
think my danger less, for I knew that no sum would be thought too great
for the release of Pekuah. I told him that he should have no reason to
charge me with ingratitude if I was used with kindness, and that any
ransom which could be expected for a maid of common rank would be paid,
but that he must not persist to rate me as a princess. He said he would
consider what he should demand, and then, smiling, bowed and retired.
“Soon after the women came about me, each contending to be more officious
than the other, and my maids themselves were served with reverence. We
travelled onward by short journeys. On the fourth day the chief told me
that my ransom must be two hundred ounces of gold, which I not only
promised him, but told him that I would add fifty more if I and my maids
were honourably treated.
“I never knew the power of gold before. From that time I was the leader
of the troop. The march of every day was longer or shorter as I
commanded, and the tents were pitched where I chose to rest. We now had
camels and other conveniences for travel; my own women were always at my
side, and I amused myself with observing the manners of the vagrant
nations, and with viewing remains of ancient edifices, with which these
deserted countries appear to have been in some distant age lavishly
embellished.
“The chief of the band was a man far from illiterate: he was able to
travel by the stars or the compass, and had marked in his erratic
expeditions such places as are most worthy the notice of a passenger. He
observed to me that buildings are always best preserved in places little
frequented and difficult of access; for when once a country declines from
its primitive splendour, the more inhabitants are left, the quicker ruin
will be made. Walls supply stones more easily than quarries; and palaces
and temples will be demolished to make stables of granite and cottages of
porphyry.’”