THE CAVERN.
The shores of Austrian Dalmatia south of the port of Fiume, are of so
rugged and dangerous a nature, that although broken into numerous creeks
and bays, there are but few places where vessels, even of small dimensions,
dare to approach them, or indeed where it is possible to effect a landing.
A long experience of the coast, and of the adjacent labyrinth of islands
which block up the gulf of Carnero, is necessary in order to accomplish in
safety the navigation of the shallow rocky sea; and even when the mariner
succeeds in setting foot on land, he not unfrequently finds his progress
into the interior barred by precipices steep as walls, roaring torrents,
and yawning ravines.
It was on a mild evening of early spring, and a few days after the
incidents recorded in the preceding chapter, that a group of wild-looking
figures was assembled on the Dalmatian shore, opposite the island of
Veglia. The sun was setting, and the beach was so overshadowed by the
beetling summits of the high chalky cliffs, that it would have been
difficult to discover much of the appearance of the persons in question,
but for an occasional streak of light that shot out of a narrow ravine
opening among the rocks in rear of the party, and lit up some dark-bearded
visage, or flashed on the bright barrel of a long musket. High above the
ravine, and standing out against the red stormy-looking sky behind it, the
outline of a fortress was visible, and in the hollow beneath might be
distinguished the small closely-built mass of houses known as the town of
Segna.
This castle, which, by natural even more than artificial defences, was
deemed impregnable, especially on its sea face, was the stronghold of a
handful of hardy and desperate adventurers, who, although their numbers
never exceeded seven hundred men, had yet, for many years preceding the
date of this narrative, made themselves a name dreaded throughout the
whole Adriatic. The inhabitants of the innumerable Dalmatian islands, the
subjects of the Grand Turk, the people of Ancona--all, in short, who
inhabited the shores of the Adriatic, and were interested in its commerce,
or in the countless merchant vessels that skimmed over its
waters--trembled and turned pale when the name of these daring freebooters
was mentioned in their hearing. In vain was it that the Sultan, who in his
sublimity scarcely deigned to know the names of some of the great European
powers, had caused his pachas to take the field with strong armaments for
the extermination of this nest of pirates. These expeditions were
certainly not disadvantageous to the Porte, which seized the opportunity
of annexing to its dominions some large slices of Hungarian and Venetian
territory; but their ostensible object remained unaccomplished, and the
proverbial salutation of the time, "God save you from the Uzcoques!" was
still on the lips of every one.
The word "Uzcoque," by which this dreaded people was known, had grown into
a sound of mourning and panic to the inhabitants of the shores and islands
of the Adriatic. At the utterance of that fearful name, young girls
crowded together like frightened doves; the child hid its terrified face
in its mother's lap; the eyes of the matron overflowed with tears as the
images of murdered sons and outraged daughters passed before her mind's
eye, and, like Banquo's ghost, filled the vacant seats at the table; while
the men gazed anxiously out, expecting to see their granaries and
store-houses in flames. Nor were the seaman's apprehensions less lively,
when night surprised him with some valuable cargo in the neighbourhood of
the pirates' haunts. Every rock, each tree, and bush became an object of
dread; the very ripple of the waves on the shingle a sound of alarm. To
his terrified fancy, a few leafless and projecting branches assumed the
appearance of muskets, a point of rock became the prow of one of those
light, sharp-built boats in which the Uzcoques were wont to dart like
seabirds upon their prey; and, invoking his patron saint, the frightened
sailor crossed himself, and with a turn of the rudder brought his vessel
yet nearer to the Venetian galleys that escorted the convoy.
At the cry "Uzcoque" the slender active Albanian grasped his fire-lock,
with rage and hatred expressed on his bearded countenance: the phlegmatic
Turk sprang in unwonted haste from his carpet; his pipe and coffee were
neglected, his women and treasures secured in the harem, while he shouted
for the Martellossi,[3] and slipping them like dogs from a leash, sent
them to the encounter of their foes on the devastated plains of Cardavia.
In the despatches from Madrid, from the ministers of that monarch on whose
dominions the sun never set, to his ambassadors, the name of these seven
hundred outlaws occupied a frequent and prominent place. But by none were
the Uzcoques more feared and detested than by the greyheaded doge and
senators of the Ocean Queen, the sea-born city, before whose cathedral the
colours of three kingdoms fluttered from their crimson flagstaffs; and the
few young Venetians in whose breasts the remembrance of their heroic
ancestors yet lived, blushed for their country's degradation when they
beheld her rulers braved and insulted by a band of sea-robbers.
[3] The Turks, finding their own troops not well adapted to the
irregular and desperate kind of warfare waged by the Uzcoques, and
also unable to compete with them in the rapidity of their movements,
formed a corps expressly for the pursuit of the freebooters, which
was composed of men as wild and desperate as themselves. With these
_Martellossi_, as they were called, the Uzcoques had frequent and
sanguinary conflicts. Minucci says of the Martellossi, in his
_Historia degli Uscochi_, that they were "Scelerati barbari anco
'ordine de' medesime Scochi."
To this band belonged the wild figures, whose appearance on the shore has
been noticed, and who were busily employed in rummaging a number of sacks
and packages which lay scattered on the ground. They pursued their
occupation in profound silence, except when the discovery of some object
of unusual value elicited an exclamation of delight, or a disappointment
brought a grumbling curse to their lips. They seemed carefully to avoid
noise, lest it should draw down upon them the observation of the castle
that frowned above their heads, and at the embrasures and windows of which
they cast frequent and frightened glances, although the darkness of the
ravine, at the entrance of which they had stationed themselves, and the
rapidly deepening twilight, rendered it almost impossible to discover them.
"By the beard of the prophet, Hassan!" exclaimed in a suppressed tone a
young Turk, who lay bound hand and foot at a short distance from the
pirates, "why do these mangy curs keep us lying so long on the wet grass?
Why do they not seek their kennel up yonder?"
The person addressed was a little, round, oily-looking Turk, a Levant
merchant, whose traffic had called him to one of the neighbouring islands,
and who had been laid hold of on his passage by the Uzcoques. He was
sitting up, being less strictly manacled than his more youthful and
energetic-looking companion; and his comical countenance wore a most
desponding expression, as, in reply to the question put to him, he shook
his head slowly from side to side, at the same time gravely stroking his
beard.
"By Allah!" exclaimed the young man impatiently, as he saw the pirates
rummaging more eagerly than ever, and now and then concealing something of
value under their cloaks, "could not the greedy knaves wait till they got
home before they shared the plunder? May their fathers' souls burn!"
"What saith the sage Oghuz?" quoth old Hassan slowly, "'As people grow
rich their maw widens.'"
"Silence, unbelieving hound!" exclaimed a harsh voice behind him, and a
thump between the shoulders warned the old Turk to keep his proverbs for a
more fitting season. The pirate was about to repeat the blow, when
suddenly his hand fell, and the curses died away upon his lips.
The clouds that had hitherto veiled the setting sun had suddenly broken,
and a broad stream of golden light poured down the ravine, flashing upon
the roofs and gables of the town, and making the castle appear like a huge
and magnificent lantern. The ravine was lighted up as though by
enchantment, and the unexpected illumination caused an alarm among the
group of pirates, not unlike that of an owl into whose gloomy
roosting-place a torch is suddenly intruded. Terror was depicted upon
their countenances as they gazed up at the castle. For a moment all was
still and hushed as the grave, and the Uzcoques scarcely seemed to breathe
as they drew their greedy hands in silent haste out of the sacks; then,
suddenly recovering from their stupefaction, they snatched up their
muskets and crowded into a dark cavern in the rock, which the beams of the
setting sun had now for the first time rendered visible, without, however,
lighting up its deep and dark recesses. In their haste and alarm, more
than one of the freebooters had his tattered mantle caught by the thorny
arms of some of the bushes scattered over the shore, and turned in terror,
thinking himself in the grasp of a foe. A few only had the presence of
mind to throw their cloaks over the varied and glittering plunder that lay
scattered about on the ground; and strange was the contrast of the
sparkling jewellery, the rich stuffs, and embroidered robes, strewed on
the beach, with the mean and filthy garments that partially concealed them,
and the wild and squalid figures of their present possessors.
A number of the Uzcoques now threw themselves with brutal violence upon
the two prisoners, muffled their heads in cloaks to prevent their crying
out, and carried them with the speed of light into the cave, in the
innermost recess of which they bestowed them. They then rejoined their
companions, who were grouped together at the entrance of the cavern like a
herd of frightened deer, and gazing anxiously up at the castle. After the
lapse of a very few minutes, the bright glow again faded away, the
fortress reassumed its black and frowning aspect, the roofs of Segna
relapsed into their dull grey hue, and shadows, deeper than before,
covered the ravine.
Reviving under the influence of the darkness, so congenial to their habits
and occupations, the Uzcoques began to recover from their alarm, and the
murmur of voices was again heard as they seized the sacks, and hastily
filled them with the various objects lying on the beach. Every thing being
collected, the pirates commenced toiling their way up the steep mountain
path leading to the castle, with the exception of a few who still lingered
at the entrance of the cavern, and whom the prisoners could hear disputing
about some point on which there seemed to exist much difference of opinion.
"Hell and the devil!" at last exclaimed an impatient voice, in a louder
tone than had yet been employed. "There's little chance that we have not
been seen from the castle; for the warder would expect us back about this
time, and doubtless was on the look-out. These Turkish hounds have seen
every thing, and might easily betray us. Let us leave them here till
to-morrow, till I have spoken to the warder, and arranged that they be
sent on at once to Gradiska without coming to speech of the captain. I
will join the escort myself to make it still surer."
After some slight opposition on the part of the others, this proposal was
adopted, and the remaining pirates took their departure. The sound of
their footsteps along the rocky path had scarcely died away on the ears of
the anxiously listening captives, when loud acclamations and cries of joy
announced the arrival of the first detachment at the castle. The heavy
gates of the fortress were opened with much din and rattle; after a short
space they were again slammed to, the portcullis fell, and then no further
sound broke the deep silence that reigned in the ravine.
The collection of the plunder, the discussion among the pirates, and their
departure, had passed so rapidly, that the young Turk had scarcely had
time to recover from the giddy, half-stunned state into which the rough
usage he had received had thrown him, when he found himself alone with his
old fellow-captive.
"Well, Hassan," said he at last, in a voice of suppressed fury, "what
think you of all this?"
The old man made no verbal reply, but merely stroked his beard, shrugged
his shoulders, and opened his eyes wider than before, as much as to say,
"I don't think at all; what do you think?"
"It is not the prospect of passing the night in this damp hole, bound hand
and foot, that chafes me to madness, and makes my very blood boil in my
veins," resumed the young man after a pause. "That is a small matter,
but"--
"A small matter!" interrupted Hassan with unusual vivacity. "That is,
because you have forgotten the most dreadful part of our position. Bound
hand and foot as we are, we can expect nothing less than to fall, ere
cock-crow, into the power of Satan."
"Of Satan!" repeated the other. "Has terror turned thy brain?"
"Of a truth, the Evil One has already tied the three fatal nooses which he
hangs over the head of the sleeping believer," replied the old Mahometan
in a lachrymose tone. "He who awakes and forthwith invokes the holy name
of Allah, is thereby delivered from the first noose; by performing his
ablutions, the second becomes loosened; and by fervent prayer he unties
the third. Our bonds render it impossible for us to wash, and the second
noose, therefore, will remain suspended over our devoted heads."
"Runs it so in the Koran, old man?" asked the youth.
"In the Koran! What Mussulman are you? It is the hundred and forty-ninth
passage of the Suna."
"The Suna!" repeated the other, in a tone of indifference. "If that is all,
it will not break my slumbers."
"Allah protect me!" exclaimed the old man, as he made an attempt to pluck
out his beard, which the shackles on his wrists rendered ineffectual.
"Allah protect me! Is it not enough that I have fallen into captivity? Am
I also doomed to pass the night under the same roof with an unbeliever,
even as the Nazarenes are?"
"May the bolt of Heaven fall on thy lying tongue!" exclaimed the youth in
great wrath. "I an unbeliever! I, Ibrahim, the adopted son of Hassan,
pacha of Bosnia!"
In deepest humility did the old merchant bow his head, and endeavour to
lay hold of the hem of the young man's crimson caftan, in order to carry
it to his lips.
"Enough! enough!" said Ibrahim, whose good temper had returned. "You spoke
in haste and ignorance. I am well pleased when I break no commandment of
the Koran; and trouble my head little about the sayings of those babbling
greybeards, the twelve holy Imaums."
"But the nooses," expostulated Hassan, not a little scandalized by his
companion's words.
"You have nothing to do but to sleep all night without awaking," replied
the young Turk laughing. "Then you will have no need either to wash or
pray."
The superstitious old man turned his face to the wall in consternation and
anguish of spirit.
"This night have I seen with my own eyes what we have hitherto refused to
believe," resumed Ibrahim after a pause, and in a tone of indignation that
echoed through the cavern. "I am now convinced that the shameless
scoundrels do not rob on their own account, since they are obliged to
pilfer and conceal a part of their plunder in order to get a profit from
their misdeeds. Marked you not, Hassan, how they trembled when the sun lit
up the ravine, lest their tricks should be espied by some sentry on the
battlements; and how their panic fear made them carry every thing up to
the castle?"
The old Turk bowed his head assentingly.
"Glory be to God and the Sultan!" continued the youth. "Before the bright
countenance of the prophet's vicegerent, who reigneth in Stamboul, no
misdeed can remain hidden that occurs in the remotest corner of his vast
dominions. Nay, much of what happens in the land of the Giaour is also
manifest to his penetrating vision. Witness the veil of turpitude and
cunning which has long been seen through by the clear eyes of our holy
mollahs, and of the council at the Seraglio, and which has just now been
torn away from before me, like a mist dispersing in the sunshine of truth.
Truly spoke the Christian maiden, whom but a few weeks back I took captive
in a fight with the Uzcoques, but who was shortly after rescued by another
band of those raging fiends."
"Saw you the maiden," exclaimed Hassan, "the good maiden that accompanies
the pirates, like an angel walking among demons?"
"What know you of the Houri?" eagerly demanded the youth, in vain
endeavouring to raise his head from the damp stones.
"That it was the hand of Allah that rescued her from you," replied the
other. He chastiseth his creatures with rods, but even in his chastisemcnt
is mercy. "How many more had not the dogs and the ravens devoured, had the
Christian maiden been taken from among the Uzcoques? She belongs to them,
she is the daughter of their leader, the terrible Dansowich, beside whom
she is ever to be found, instilling the musk and amber of mildness into
his fierce soul, and pouring healing into the wounds he makes. I know her
not, but often have I heard the Christians, with whom my traffic brought
me acquainted, include her in the prayers they addressed to their God."
"Her eyes were as brilliant stars, and they blinded my very soul,"
exclaimed Ibrahim impetuously; "the honey of her words dropped like balm
into my heart! As the sound of bubbling fountains, and the rustle of
flowery groves to the parched wanderer in the desert, fell her sweet voice
upon my ear. So gentle and musical were its tones, that I thought not of
their meaning, and it is only to-day that I understand them."
"I know not," quoth Hassan, "what you may have seen; but doubtless, Satan,
who wished to inspire you with an unholy desire for a Nazarene woman,
began by blinding you. According to all I have heard, the Uzcoque maiden
is good and compassionate, but as ugly as night."
"Ugly!" cried Ibrahim, "Then there must be two of them; for the one I saw
was blooming as the spring, her eyes like the morning star, and her cheeks
of velvet. Oh, that I could again behold her! In that hope it was that I
pressed so rashly forward in the fight, and was made prisoner; but yet
have I not beheld the pearl of mine eyes."
"She cannot be amongst them," said Hassan; "and thence comes it that the
pirates have this year committed greater cruelties than ever, and done
deeds that cry out to Allah for vengeance."
"Instead of her silver tones," continued Ibrahim, "I hear the shrieks of
the tortured; instead of her words of peace and blessing, the curses of
the murderer."
"But what did the maiden tell you?" enquired Hassan, who was getting
impatient at the transports of the enamoured youth.
"Her words flowed like a clear stream out of the well of truth. It is not
the Uzcoques alone," said she, "who are to blame for the horrors that"--
"Hark!" interrupted the old Turk.
A clamour of voices and splashing of oars became audible, a keel grated on
the beach, and then hurried footsteps were heard in the ravine.
"It is another vessel with Uzcoques!" exclaimed Ibrahim; "but these are
not laden with plunder, their movements are too rapid."
As he spoke, the tumult and murmur of voices and trampling of feet
increased, and above all a noise like distant musketry was heard.
"Holy Virgin!" suddenly exclaimed a clear and feminine voice, apparently
close to the mouth of the cavern. "They are already at the castle--the
gates, no doubt, are shut, the drawbridge raised. Before they could come
down it would be too late."
The young Turk started.
"It is she, Hassan!" he exclaimed. "It is Strasolda, the Christian maiden!"
"Oh, my father!" cried the same voice in tones of heart-rending anguish.
"How shall we deliver thee? Alas! alas! who can tell the tortures they
will make thee suffer in their dreadful dungeons?"
The noise of the musketry became more and more distinct. Some of the newly
arrived Uzcoques who had hurried up the winding path, were soon heard
clamouring furiously for admittance at the castle gates.
"They will be too late!" exclaimed the maiden, wringing her hands in
despair. The next moment a sudden thought seemed to flash across her mind,
lending her fresh hope and energy.
"Gracious Heaven!" she exclaimed in joyful tones. "Have we not here the
cave, from which, invoked by fire, the storm and the hurricane, the north
wind and the tempest, come forth and shatter the most stately vessels
against our iron-bound coast.[4] Up, Uzcoques, and fire the cavern! Let
the elements do battle for us. Perchance by their aid the bark of your
leader Dansowich may yet escape its foes and reach the haven."
[4] In Minucci's History of the Uzcoques, continued by Paola Sarpi,
we find the following:--"Segna, through its position on a cragged
rock, was unapproachable by carts or horses, and consequently by
artillery. The harbour appertaining to it, however, was tolerably
good, but exceedingly difficult of access on account of the north
wind, (vento di Buora,) which blew almost incessantly in the
channel leading to it. According to popular belief, the Segnarese
had the power of causing this wind to blow at will, by merely
kindling a fire in a certain hollow of the cliffs. The mysterious
operation of this fire was to heat the veins of the earth, which
then, through pain or fury, sent out the raging hurricanes that
rendered those narrow seas in the highest degree dangerous, and
indeed untenable."
Immediately after these words, which made the two Moslems quail, the
pirate's daughter hastily entered the cavern with a blazing torch, the
flashes of which awakened from slumber into life and glow the various tints
of mosses, lichens, and stalactites innumerable that studded the ample
vault. In this flitting and singular illumination, the appearance of the
Uzcoque maiden was awful. Above the common stature of woman, and finely
formed, she was attired in a white woollen garment, carelessly adjusted
and confined at the waist by broad red girdle, from which it fell in long
and graceful folds to her feet. Her face was a perfect oval; her features
of regular and striking beauty; her complexion, naturally of that clear
rich brown, which lends more lustre to the eyes than the purest red and
white, was now ghastly with intense alarm; and this death-like paleness
imparted a more prominent and commanding character to her well-defined,
jet-black brows, and the full, dark, humid eyes, which gleamed like
brilliants through their long lashes. Heavy tresses of raven hair,
escaping beneath her turban-like head-dress, streamed out like a sable
banner as she rushed into the cavern, then fell and flowed in waving
luxuriance over neck and shoulders to her girdle. The Turks in the
interior of the cavern, gazed in speechless wonder at this beautiful
apparition standing erect in the strong red light. Waving her torch with
energetic and graceful action, she appeared like an antique sybil at the
moment of inspiration, or some Arabian enchantress preparing for an
incantation. Their admiration, however, yielded to alarm, when they beheld
her dash the torch upon the ground, and her attendants pile upon it straw
and fagots, which blazed up instantly to the cavern roof, emitting volumes
of smoke that made the captives invisible, and by its suffocating
influence deprived them erelong of all power of utterance.
The evening was serene and still, with scarcely a breath of wind stirring,
and the flames blazed upward to the cavern roof; only now and then a light
breeze from the sea wafted them on one side, and, at the sane time,
dispersing the smoke, gave the Turks a momentary glimpse of the maiden,
standing with uplifted hands, expectation, anxiety, and grief, depicted on
her speaking countenance, as she invoked the spirit of the storm, while
around her stood the few remaining Uzcoques, with sorrowing and downcast
faces.
"They come not!" she exclaimed after a pause, during which the fire began
to burn low for lack of fuel, and the noise of the musketry diminished and
finally ceased. "Uzcoques!" she cried in a louder voice, and with
inspiration in her thrilling tones--"Take heed and warning, for your hour
is come. Your crags and caverns, your rocky shores and howling storms,
refuse you further service!"
She paused, and at that moment was heard the rush of a rapidly approaching
boat.
"Speak not, ye messengers of evil!" exclaimed Strasolda in piercing
accents. "Utter not a word. You have left Dansowich in the hands of the
Venetians."
There was no reply to her half frantic exclamation, and the deep silence
was only broken by the footsteps of the new-comers, as with dejected looks
they joined their companions. Just then some damp branches that had lain
smouldering and smoking on the fire, burned brightly up, and by their
light Ibrahim and Hassan beheld the maiden kneeling in the midst of the
pirates, her tearful face covered by her fair and slender fingers. The
next moment she raised her head and gazed into the cavern.
As she did so, the sorrowful expression of her features changed, and her
countenance was lighted up with a look of rapture, while a loud cry burst
from her lips. Through the opening in the smoke, the prisoners became
visible to her as they lay motionless in the interior of the cave, the
light from the flames glowing on their red garments, and giving them the
appearance of two statues of fire. In the handsome countenance of one of
the figures thus suddenly revealed to her, Strasolda recognized the young
Moslem, whose prisoner she had been, and whose noble person and bearing,
courteous manners, and gentle treatment, had more than once since the day
of her captivity, occupied the thoughts and fancy of the Uzcoque maiden.
Unaware of Ibrahim's capture, Strasolda did not for an instant suppose
that she beheld him in flesh and blood before her. To her excited and
superstitious imagination, the figures of the Turks appeared formed out of
fire itself, and she doubted not that the spirits of the cave had chosen
this means of presenting to her, as in a prophetic mirror, a shadowy
fore-knowledge of future and more favourable events.
While she yet gazed eagerly on what she deemed a supernatural appearance,
the rent in the veil of smoke suddenly closed, the flame sank down, and
again all was gloom and darkness in the cavern. The thick stifling vapour
of the damp wood, augmenting as the flame diminished, was now so
overpowering that the Turks were in imminent danger of suffocation. In
their extremity, making a violent effort, their pent up voices found vent
in a cry of such startling wildness, that the Uzcoques, struck with terror,
sprang back from the mouth of the cave, hurrying the maiden with them. The
cry was not repeated, for the Turks had lost all consciousness from the
stifling effects of the smoke.
"Banish your fears, Uzcoques!" exclaimed Strasolda, staying the fugitives.
"The voice that to you is a sound of dismay, gives me hope and confidence.
I see the golden crescent rising in irresistible might, and shedding its
rays over all the lands of the earth. Happy they on whom it casts its mild
and favouring beams, and truer far the safeguard it affords to those who
serve it, than that which is found beneath the shadow of the cross. Better
the sharp cimeter and plighted word of the Moslem, than the fair promises
of the lying Christian, who, in the hour of peril, abandons those by whose
courage he has profited. But enough!" cried she in an altered tone. "Our
first duty is to rescue my father from the hands of the Venetians. Go not
into Segna. There are traitors there who might reveal what we most wish
kept secret. The Venetians know not the person of Dansowich, and that may
save him if no time be lost in plotting his deliverance. Let none even of
our own people hear of his captivity. Now to the castle!"
She led the way, and in silence and sadness the pirates followed the
daughter of their captive chief.
The fire was quite out, the smoke had cleared away, the moon poured its
silvery light into the cavern, and the stillness was unbroken, save by the
ripple of the waves on the beach, when Ibrahim recovered from the state of
insensibility into which he had been thrown by the suffocating influence
of the smoke, and heard his companion snoring at his side. For some time
the young Turk lay, revolving in his mind the eventful scene he had
witnessed, and the strange and startling circumstances that had come to
his knowledge during the few preceding hours. The capture of Dansowich was
an event of much importance; nor was there less weight in the discovery
Ibrahim had made of the dependence of the Uzcoques upon a higher power,
which, in secret, aided and profited by their depredations. Although
Austria had been frequently accused of abetting the piracies of the
Uzcoques, the charge had never been clearly proved, and to many appeared
too improbable to obtain credence. Ibrahim had hitherto been among the
incredulous; but what he had this day seen and heard, removed every doubt,
and fully convinced him of the justice of those imputations.
Turning in disgust from the contemplation of the labyrinth of crime and
treachery to which he had seized the clue; the young Moslem sought and
found a far pleasanter subject of reflection in the remembrance of the
maiden, whose transcendent beauty and touching devotion to her captive
parent, shone out the more brightly from their contrast with the vice and
degradation by which she was surrounded. With much interest did he
endeavour to solve the problem, and explain what appeared almost
miraculous, how so fair a creature--such a masterpiece of Heaven's
handiwork--could have passed her childhood and youth amongst the refuse of
humanity assembled on the island, and yet have retained the spotless
purity which was apparent in every look and gesture. But, however
interesting these reflections were to the enamoured Ibrahim, his recent
fatigues had been too great for nature not to assert her claims, and the
wearied body finished by triumphing over the rebellious restlessness of
the excited spirit. The graceful form of Strasolda, and the wild figures
of the Uzcoques, swam more and more indistinctly before his closing eyes,
until he sank at last into a deep and refreshing slumber.