Books: A Modern Telemachus
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Charlotte M. Yonge >> A Modern Telemachus
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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.
CHAPTER XIII--CHRYSEIS AND BRISEIS
'The child
Restore, I pray, her proffered ransom take,
And in His priest, the Lord of Light revere.
Then through the ranks assenting murmurs rang,
The priest to reverence, and the ransom take.'
HOMER (DERBY).
For one moment, before emerging from the forest, looking through an
opening in the trees, down a steep slope, a group of children could be
seen on the grass in front of the huts composing the adowara, little
brown figures in scanty garments, lying about evidently listening
intently to the figure, the gleam of whose blonde hair showed her
instantly to be Estelle de Bourke.
However, either the deputation had been descried, or Eyoub may have
made some signal, for when the calvalcade had wound about through the
remaining trees, and arrived among the huts, no one was to be seen.
There was only the irregular square of huts built of rough stones and
thatched with reeds, with big stones to keep the thatch on in the
storm; a few goats were tethered near, and there was a rush of the
great savage dogs, but they recognised Eyoub and Lanty, and were
presently quieted.
'This is the chief danger,' whispered Lanty.
'Pray heaven the rogues do not murder them rather than give them up!'
The Sunakite, beginning to make strange contortions and mutterings in a
low voice, seemed to terrify Eyoub greatly. Whether he pointed it out
or not, or whether Eyoub was induced by his gestures to show it, was
not clear to Arthur's mind; but at the chief abode, an assemblage of
two stone hovels and rudely-built walls, the party halted, and made a
loud knocking at the door, Hadji Eseb's solemn tones bidding those
within to open in the name of Allah.
It was done, disclosing a vista of men with drawn scimitars. The
Marabout demanded without ceremony where were the prisoners.
'At yonder house,' he was answered by Yakoub himself, pointing to the
farther end of the village.
'Dog of a liar,' burst forth the Sunakite. 'Dost thou think to blind
the eyes of the beloved of Allah, who knoweth the secrets of heaven and
earth, and hath the sigil of Suleiman Ben Daoud, wherewith to penetrate
the secret places of the false?'
The ferocious-looking guardians looked at each other as though under
the influence of supernatural terror, and then Hadji Eseb spoke:
'Salaam Aleikum, my children; no man need fear who listens to the will
of Allah, and honours his messengers.'
All made way for the dignified old man and his suite, and they advanced
into the court, where two men with drawn swords were keeping guard over
the captives, who were on their knees in a corner of the court.
The sabres were sheathed, and there was a shuffling away at the
advance of the Marabouts, Sheyk Yakoub making some apology about having
delayed to admit such guests, but excusing himself on the score of
supposing they were emissaries sent by those whose authority he so
defied that he had sworn to slaughter his prisoners rather than
surrender them.
Hadji Eseb replied with a quotation from the Koran forbidding cruelty
to the helpless, and sternly denounced wrath on the transgressors,
bidding Yakoub draw off his savage bodyguard.
The man was plainly alarmed, more especially as the Sunakite broke out
into one of his wild wails of denunciation, waving his hands like a
prophet of wrath, and predicting famine, disease, pestilence, to these
slack observers of the law of Mohammed.
This completed the alarm. The bodyguard fled away pell-mell, Yakoub
after them. His women shut themselves into some innermost recesses,
and the field was left to the Marabouts and the prisoners, who, not
understanding what all this meant, were still kneeling in their corner.
Hadji Eseb bade Arthur and the interpreter go to reassure them.
At their advance a miserable embrowned figure, barefooted and half clad
in a ragged haik, roped round his waist, threw himself before the fair-
haired child, crying out in imperfect Arabic, 'Spare her, spare her,
great Lord! much is to be won by saving her.'
'We are come to save her,' said Arthur in French. 'Maitre Hebert, do
you not know me?'
Hubert looked up. 'M. Arture! M. Arture! Risen from the dead!' he
cried, threw himself into the young man's arms, and burst out into a
vehement sob; but in a second he recovered his manners and fell back,
while Estelle looked up.
'M. Arture,' she repeated. 'Ah! is it you? Then, is my mamma alive
and safe?'
'Alas! no,' replied Arthur; 'but your little brother is safe and well
at Algiers, and this good man, the Marabout, is come to deliver you.'
'My mamma said you would protect us, and I knew you would come, like
Mentor, to save us,' said Estelle, clasping her hands with ineffable
joy. 'Oh, Monsieur! I thank you next to the good God and the saints!'
and she began fervently kissing Arthur's hand. He turned to salute the
Abbe, but was shocked to see how much more vacant the poor gentleman's
stare had become, and how little he seemed to comprehend.
'Ah!' said Estelle, with her pretty, tender, motherly air, 'my poor
uncle has never seemed to understand since that dreadful day when they
dragged him and Maitre Hebert out into the wood and were going to kill
them. And he has fever every night. But, oh, M. Arture, did you say
my brother was safe?' she repeated, as if not able to dwell enough upon
the glad tidings.
'And I hope you will soon be with him,' said Arthur. 'But,
Mademoiselle, let me present you to the Grand Marabout, a sort of
Moslem Abbe, who has come all this way to obtain your release.'
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