The journey homewards was a sad one, for the spirits of the old sea king
were entirely broken. The captain of the watch tried all he could to
cheer him up. He drew in fancy a pleasing picture of the island home
they had left; of the contentment, prosperity, and happiness that
reigned there, and old Dogvane did not forget to lay on the colours. As
an artist in this line he was extremely good. As they left the domes and
minarets of the grand Turk behind them, Dogvane turned to his master and
said: "I cannot see why so good and great a man as my august master is,
should not be content to rest upon the laurels he has already earned."
Flattery is at all times acceptable, and to all people; the only
difference being that to suit the vulgar appetite you must lay it on
thick, while to the refined the touches must be delicate and smooth.
Dogvane, seeing the good effect that this kind of physic had upon his
master, administered a little more. "Now take this Egyptian woman's
case. See what you have done for her. You have tried to put down
slavery. You have set your face against the brutal lash. You have tried
at least to banish the evil-minded, blood-sucking Pasha, and in doing
all this you have spent millions of money, and have sacrificed many of
your bravest sons. One, even, we immolated at the shrine of the great
god Necessity. We placed him in a pit even as Joseph was placed in a
pit; but alas! Joseph was more fortunate; our offering was slain. Think
you, sir, that in return for all this you will receive gratitude?"
"Master Dogvane, Egypt has always been of great interest to me, and
through her lands I consider I have a right-of-way. Thus I have done
very much for her, and if for nothing else, she ought to thank me for
putting down that most barbarous of all things, the traffic in human
beings."
"Sir, look rather for your reward in the righteousness of the cause. The
man--"
"Stay, Master Dogvane; if you are going to give me another sentiment,
spare me I beseech you."
"I was merely going to observe, sir, that the man who places the
smallest faith in a woman's constancy, digs a pit for himself, into
which he is sooner or later sure to fall."
Dogvane, for reasons best known to himself, was decidedly against this
visit to Egypt. He seemed to be in some doubt as to the reception he
would receive; but all his endeavours to dissuade his master were of no
avail. The Buccaneer himself thought that Egypt must needs consider
herself under the greatest obligation to him; but the best of men, and
even the wisest, are often deceived, more especially as regards
themselves. The poor man wanted consolation, and he was ready to go
anywhere to obtain it.
There was no greater enemy in the world to the slave-dealer than was
this great Buccaneer and fighting trader. He was forever going about,
trying to put a stop to the degrading traffic, more especially when the
wretched victims were black. His ships of war had strict orders to chase
and capture all slavers found on the High Seas. His missionaries
preached against the heinous trade. Both watches condemned it, and all
the people of every description of belief, held up their hands in pious
horror at the barter in flesh and blood. All, from the schoolboy just
breeched, to the old man, whose tottering steps were leading him to the
grave, were lovers of freedom, and the sworn enemies of slavery.
But, strange to say, when Jonathan attempted to put down slavery, the
Buccaneer's sympathies were on the side of the slave-owner. Stranger
still, though he was forever trying to put down slavery amongst other
people, he allowed it to be practised to a very large extent amongst his
own. Of course it was clothed in fine garments of rich words, so the
sinfulness of the thing was hidden from his own eyes; but the whole of
his society was little better than a huge market, where white slaves
were bought and sold every day. Sold by heartless and mercenary mothers,
to whom a rich equipage and a good social position was of far more
consideration than any foolish and antiquated feelings of the heart, all
of which are mere matters of sentiment, and weigh as light as air in
comparison to the many advantages that gold can buy. It was no uncommon
thing to see a fair, and perchance a blushing maiden, sold for a price
to some withered piece of humanity. Their shameless mothers gave their
daughters as they parted with them the kiss of Judas, and bedewed their
fair young cheeks with the tears of hypocrisy, and then hastened to
their churches to thank their God that they were not as others,
doubters, perhaps, and unbelievers.
This inhuman traffic in human souls found its moral in one of the
Buccaneer's law courts, the proceedings of which were emptied out
amongst the people, and eagerly devoured by them. It must be owned that
the victims of this trade bore their misfortunes with becoming
fortitude. Having been well schooled by their mothers the degradation
was not altogether clear to them, nor the narrow space that divided them
from their less fortunate and despised sisters.
Like many other highly civilised communities the social atmosphere of
the Buccaneer's island was largely impregnated with sham. Everything lay
upon the surface, there was no depth. There was not only a greed for
money, but there was a great greed for excitement, and a passionate
desire on the part of the rich and vulgar nobodies to scramble up into a
position higher than that to which they were either entitled, or fit
for, and not unfrequently people who had the entry into what was called
good society, let themselves out for a consideration to these upstarts,
who would consider it a great condescension to be kicked down-stairs by
one of noble birth. It was all this that perhaps gave a colouring to the
sayings of those who declared that our bold Buccaneer was about the
biggest humbug and hypocrite that ever walked upon the face of the
earth.
Our two travellers occupied themselves with many pious speculations on
their way to the land of the Pharaohs, for Dogvane for a sailor, was
well up in the Scriptures, and his knowledge of the Old Testament was
considerable. They compared the past with the present, and wandered
through many flowery fields of thought, until the land they sought came
up out of the sea before them.