Books: A Modern Telemachus
C >>
Charlotte M. Yonge >> A Modern Telemachus
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 | 4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13
It was a beautiful evening which the little Genoese vessel left the
harbour and Cette receded in the distance, looking fairer the farther
it was left behind. The children were put to bed as soon as they could
be persuaded to cease from watching the lights in the harbour and the
phosphorescent wake of the vessel in the water.
That night and the next day were pleasant and peaceful; there was no
rough weather, and little sickness among the travellers. Madame de
Bourke congratulated herself on having escaped the horrors of the
Pyrenean journey, and the Genoese captain assured her that unless the
weather should change rapidly, they would wake in sight of the Spanish
coast the next morning. If the sea were not almost too calm, they
would be there already. The evening was again so delightful that the
children were glad to hear that they would have again to return by sea,
and Arthur, who somewhat shrank from his presentation to the Count,
regretted that the end of the voyage was so near, though Ulysse assured
him that 'Mon papa would love him, because he could tell such charming
stories,' and Lanty testified that 'M. le Comte was a mighty friendly
gentleman.'
Arthur was lying asleep on deck, wrapped in his cloak, when he was
awakened by a commotion among the sailors. He started up and found
that it was early morning, the sun rising above the sea, and the
sailors all gazing eagerly in that direction. He eagerly made his way
to ask if they were in sight of land, recollecting, however, as he made
the first step, that Spain lay to the west of them--not to the east.
He distinguished the cry from the Genoese sailors, 'Ii Moro--Il Moro,'
in tones of horror and consternation, and almost at the same moment
received a shock from Maitre Hebert, who came stumbling against him.
'Pardon, pardon, Monsieur; I go to prepare Madame! It's the accursed
Moors. Let me pass--misericorde, what will become of us?'
Arthur struggled on in search of such of the crew as could speak
French, but all were in too much consternation to attend to him, and he
could only watch that to which their eyes were directed, a white sail,
bright in the morning light, coming up with a rapidity strange and
fearful in its precision, like a hawk pouncing on its prey, for it did
not depend on its sails alone, but was propelled by oars.
The next moment Madame de Bourke was on deck, holding by the Abbe's
arm, and Estelle, her hair on her shoulders, clinging to her. She
looked very pale, but her calmness was in contrast to the Italian
sailors, who were throwing themselves with gestures of despair,
screaming out vows to the Madonna and saints, and shouting
imprecations. The skipper came to speak to her. 'Madame,' he said, 'I
implore you to remain in your cabin. After the first, you and all
yours will be safe. They cannot harm a French subject; alas! alas
would it were so with us.'
'How then will it be with you?' she asked.
He made a gesture of deprecation.
'For me it will be ruin; for my poor fellows slavery; that is, if we
survive the onset. Madame, I entreat of you, take shelter in the
cabin, yourself and all yours. None can answer for what the first rush
of these fiends may be! Diavoli! veri diavola! Ah! for which of my
sins is it that after fifty voyages I should be condemned to lose my
all?'
A fresh outburst of screams from the crew summoned the captain. 'They
are putting out the long-boat,' was the cry; 'they will board us!'
'Madame! I entreat of you, shut yourself into the cabin.'
And the four maids in various stages of deshabille, adding their cries
to those of the sailors, tried to drag her in, but she looked about for
Arthur. 'Come with us, Monsieur,' she said quietly, for after all her
previous depressions and alarms, her spirit rose to endurance in the
actual stress of danger. 'Come with us, I entreat of you,' she said.
'You are named in our passports, and the treaties are such that neither
French nor English subjects can be maltreated nor enslaved by these
wretches. As the captain says, the danger is only in the first
attack.'
'I will protect you, Madame, with my life,' declared Arthur, drawing
his sword, as his cheeks and eyes lighted.
'Ah, put that away. What could you do but lose your own?' cried the
lady. 'Remember, you have a mother--'
The Genoese captain here turned to insist that Madame and all the women
should shut themselves instantly into the cabin. Estelle dragged hard
at Arthur's hand, with entreaties that he would come, but he lifted her
down the ladder, and then closed the door on her, Lanty and he being
both left outside.
'To be shut into a hole like a rat in a trap when there's blows to the
fore, is more than flesh could stand,' said Lanty, who had seized on a
hand-spike and was waving it about his head, true shillelagh fashion,
by hereditary instinct in one who had never behold a faction fight, in
what ought to have been his native land.
The Genoese captain looked at him as a madman, and shouted in a
confused mixture of French and Italian to lay down his weapon.
'Quei cattivi--ces scelerats were armed to the teeth--would fire. All
lie flat on the deck.'
The gesture spoke for itself. With a fearful howl all the Italians
dropped flat; but neither Scotch nor Irish blood brooked to follow
their example, or perhaps fully perceived the urgency of the need, till
a volley of bullets were whistling about their ears, though happily
without injury, the mast and the rigging having protected them, for the
sail was riddled with holes, and the smoke dimmed their vision as the
report sounded in their ears. In another second the turbaned,
scimitared figures were leaping on board. The Genoese still lay flat
offering no resistance, but Lanty and Arthur stood on either side of
the ladder, and hurled back the two who first approached; but four or
five more rushed upon them, and they would have been instantly cut
down, had it not been for a shout from the Genoese, 'Franchi!
Franchi!' At that magic word, which was evidently understood, the
pirates only held the two youths tightly, vituperating them no doubt in
bad Arabic,--Lanty grinding his teeth with rage, though scarcely
feeling the pain of the two sabre cuts he had received, and pouring
forth a volley of exclamations, chiefly, however, directed against the
white-livered spalpeens of sailors, who had not lifted so much as a
hand to help him. Fortunately no one understood a word he said but
Arthur, who had military experience enough to know there was nothing
for it but to stand still in the grasp of his captor, a wiry-looking
Moor, with a fez and a striped sash round his waist.
The leader, a sturdy Turk in a dirty white turban, with a huge sabre in
his hand, was listening to the eager words, poured out with many
gesticulations by the Genoese captain, in a language utterly
incomprehensible to the Scot, but which was the lingua Franca of the
Mediterranean ports.
It resulted in four men being placed on guard at the hatchway leading
to the cabin, while all the rest, including Arthur, Hebert, Laurence,
were driven toward the prow, and made to understand by signs that they
must not move on peril of their lives. A Tuck was placed at the helm,
and the tartane's head turned towards the pirate captor; and all the
others, who were not employed otherwise, began to ransack the vessel
and feast on the provisions. Some hams were thrown overboard, with
shouts of evident scorn as belonging to the unclean beast, but the wine
was eagerly drank, and Maitre Hebert uttered a wail of dismay as he saw
five Moors gorging large pieces of his finest pate.
CHAPTER IV--WRECKED
'They had na sailed upon the sea
A day but barely three,
When the lift grew dark and the wind blew cauld
And gurly grew the sea.
'Oh where will I find a little wee boy
Will tak my helm in hand,
Till I gae up to my top mast
And see for some dry land.'
SIR PATRICK SPENS.
It was bad enough on the deck of the unfortunate Genoese tartane, but
far worse below, where eight persons were shut into the stifling
atmosphere of the cabin, deprived of the knowledge of what was going on
above, except from the terrific sounds they heard. Estelle, on being
shut into the cabin, announced that the Phoenician ship was taken by
the vessels of Sesostris, but this did not afford any one else the same
satisfaction as she appeared to derive from it. Babette and Rosette
were echoing every scream of the crew, and quite certain that all would
be massacred, and little Ulysse, wakened by the hubbub, rolled round in
his berth and began to cry.
Madame de Bourke, very white, but quite calm, insisted on silence and
then said, 'I do not think the danger is very great to ourselves if you
will keep silence and not attract attention. But our hope is in
Heaven. My brother, will you lead our prayers? Recite our office.'
Obediently the Abbe fell on his knees, and his example was followed by
the others. His voice went monotonously on throughout with the Latin.
The lady, no doubt, followed in her heart, and she made the responses
as did the others, fitfully; but her hands and eyes were busy, looking
to the priming of two small pistols, which she took out of her jewel
case, and the sight of which provoked fresh shrieks from the maids.
Mademoiselle Julienne meantime was dressing Ulysse, and standing guard
over him, Estelle watching all with eager bright eyes, scarcely
frightened, but burning to ask questions, from which her uncle's
prayers debarred her.
At the volley of shot, Rosette was reduced to quiet by a swoon, but
Victorine, screaming that the wretches would have killed Laurent, would
have rushed on deck, had not her mistress forcibly withheld her. There
ensued a prodigious yelling and howling, trampling and scuffling, then
the sounds of strange languages in vituperation or command, steps
coming down the ladder, sounds of altercation, retreat, splashes in the
sea, the feeling that the ship was put about--and ever the trampling,
the wild cries of exultation, which over and over again made the
prisoners feel choked with the horror of some frightful crisis close at
hand. And all the time they were in ignorance, their little window in
the stern showed them nothing but sea; and even if Madame de Bourke's
determination had not hindered Victorine from peeping out of the cabin,
whether prison or fortress, the Moorish sentries outside kept the door
closed.
How long this continued was scarcely to be guessed. It was hours by
their own feelings; Ulysse began to cry from hunger, and his mother
gave him and Estelle some cakes that were within reach. Mademoiselle
Julienne begged her lady to share the repast, reminding her that she
would need all her strength. The Abbe, too, was hungry enough, and
some wine and preserved fruits coming to light all the prisoners made a
meal which heartened most of them considerably; although the heat was
becoming terrible, as the sun rose higher in the sky, and very little
air could be obtained through the window, so that poor Julienne could
not eat, and Rosette fell into a heavy sleep in the midst of her sighs.
Even Estelle, who had got out her Telemaque, like a sort of oracle in
the course of being verified, was asleep over it, when fresh noises and
grating sounds were board, new steps on deck, and there were steps and
voices. The Genoese captain was heard exclaiming, 'Open, Madame! you
can do so safely. This is the Algerine captain, who is bound to
protect you.'
The maids huddled together behind their lady, who stood forward as the
door opened to admit a stout, squarely-built man in the typical dress
of a Turk,--white turban, purple coat, broad sash crammed with weapons,
and ample trousers,--a truculent-looking figure which made the maids
shudder and embrace one another with suppressed shrieks, but which
somehow, even in the midst of his Eastern salaam, gave the Countess a
sense that he was acting a comedy, and carried her involuntarily back
to the Moors whom she had seen in the Cid on the stage. And looking
again, she perceived that though brown and weather-beaten, there was a
certain Northern ruddiness inherent in his complexion; that his eyes
were gray, so far as they were visible between the surrounding puckers;
and his eyebrows, moustache, and beard not nearly so dark as the hair
of the Genoese who stood cringing beside him as interpreter. She
formed her own conclusions and adhered to them, though he spoke in bad
Arabic to the skipper, who proceeded to explain that El Reis Hamed
would offer no injury to Madame la Comtesse, her suite or property,
being bound by treaty between the Dey and the King of France, but that
he required to see her passport. There was a little blundering in the
Italian's French rendering, and Madame de Bourke was quick to detect
the perception of it in the countenance of the Reis, stolid though it
was. She felt no doubt that he was a renegade of European birth, and
watched, with much anxiety as well as curiosity, his manner of dealing
with her passports, which she would not let out of her own hand. She
saw in a moment that though he let the Genoese begin to interpret them,
his eyes were following intelligently; and she hazarded the
observation, 'You understand, sir. You are Frank.'
He turned one startled glance towards the door to see if there were any
listeners, and answered, 'Hollander, Madame.'
The Countess had travelled with diplomatists all her life, and knew a
little of the vernacular of most languages, and it was in Dutch--broken
indeed, but still Dutch--that she declared that she was sure that she
might rely on his protection--a security which in truth she was far
from feeling; for while some of these unfortunate men, renegades only
from weakness, yearned after their compatriots and their lost home and
faith, others out-heroded the Moors themselves in ferocity, especially
towards the Christian captives; nor was a Dutchman likely to have any
special tenderness in his composition, above all towards the French.
However, there was a certain smile on the lips of Reis Hamed, and he
answered with a very hearty, 'Ja! ja! Madame. Upon my soul I will let
no harm come to you or the pretty little ones, nor the young vrouwkins
either, if they will keep close. You are safe by treaty. A Reis would
have to pay a heavy reckoning with Mehemed Dey if a French ambassador
had to complain of him, and you will bear me witness, Madame, that I
have not touched a hair of any of your heads!'
'I am sure you wish me well, sir,' said Madame de Bourke in a dignified
way, 'but I require to be certified of the safety of the rest of my
suite, my steward, my lackey, and my husband's secretary, a young
gentleman of noble birth.'
'They are safe, Madame. This Italian slave can bear me witness that no
creature has been harmed since my crew boarded this vessel.'
'I desire then that they may be released, as being named in my
passport.'
To this the Dutchman consented.
Whereupon the skipper began to wring his hands, and piteously to
beseech Madame to intercede for him, but the Dutchman cut him short
before she could speak. 'Dog of an Italian, the lady knows better!
You and your fellows are our prize--poor enough after all the trouble
you have given us in chasing you.'
Madame de Bourke spoke kindly to the poor man, telling him that though
she could do nothing for him now, it was possible that she might when
she should have rejoined her husband, and she then requested the Reis
to land her and her suite in his long-boat on the Spanish coast, which
could be seen in the distance, promising him ample reward if he could
do so.
To this he replied: 'Madame, you ask what would be death to me.'
He went on to explain that if he landed her on Christian ground,
without first presenting her and her passport to the Dey and the French
Consul, his men might represent him as acting in the interests of the
Christians, and as a traitor to the Algerine power, by taking a bribe
from a person belonging to a hostile state, in which case the bowstring
would be the utmost mercy he could expect; and the reigning Dey,
Mehemed, having been only recently chosen, it was impossible to guess
how he might deal with such cases. Once at Algiers, he assured Madame
de Bourke that she would have nothing to fear, as she would be under
the protection of the French Consul; and she had no choice but to
submit, though much concerned for the continued anxiety to her husband,
as well as the long delay and uncertainty of finding him.
Still, when she perceived that it was inevitable, she complained no
more, and the Dutchman went on with a certain bluff kindness--as one
touched by her courtesy--to offer her the choice of remaining in the
tartane or coming on board his larger vessel. The latter he did not
recommend, as he had a crew of full two hundred Turks and Moors, and it
would be necessary to keep herself and all her women as closely as
possible secluded in the cabins; and even then, he added, that if once
seen he could hardly answer for some of those corsairs not endeavouring
to secure a fair young Frank girl for his harem; and as his eye fell on
Rosette, she bridled and hid herself behind Mademoiselle Julienne.
He must, he said, remove all the Genoese, but he would send on board
the tartane only seven men on whom he could perfectly depend for
respectful behaviour, so that the captives would be able to take the
air on deck as freely as before. There was no doubt that he was in
earnest, and the lady accepted his offer with thanks, all the stronger
since she and all around her were panting and sick for want of fresh
air.
It was a great relief when he took her on deck with him that she might
identify the three men whom she claimed as belonging to her suite.
Arthur, Lanty, and Hebert, who, in their vague knowledge of the
circumstances, had been dreading the oar for the rest of their lives,
could hardly believe their good fortune when she called them up to her,
and the Abbe gripped Lanty's arm as if he would never let him go again.
The poor Italians seemed to feel their fate all the harder for the
deliverance of those three, and sobbed, howled, and wept so piteously
that Arthur wondered how strong men could so give way, while Lanty's
tears sprang forth in sympathy, and he uttered assurances and made
signs that he would never cease to pray for their rescue.
'Though,' as he observed, 'they were poor creatures that hadn't the
heart of a midge, when there was such a chance of a fight while the
haythen spalpeens were coming on board.'
Here Lanty was called on to assist Hebert in identifying his lady's
bales of goods, when all those of the unfortunate Genoese were put on
board the corsair's vessel. A sail-cloth partition was extended across
the deck by the care of the Dutchman, 'who'--as Lanty said--'for a
haythen apostate was a very dacent man.' He evidently had a strong
compassion and fellow-feeling for the Christian lady, and assured her
that she might safely take the air and sit on deck as much as she
pleased behind its shelter; and he likewise carefully selected the
seven of his crew whom he sent on board to work the ship, the chief
being a heavy-looking old Turk, with a chocolate-coloured visage
between a huge white beard and eyebrows, and the others mere lads,
except one, who, from an indefinable European air about him, was
evidently a renegade, and could speak a sort of French, so as to hold
communication with the captives, especially Lanty, who was much quicker
than any of the rest in picking up languages, perhaps from having from
his infancy talked French and English (or rather Irish), and likewise
learnt Latin with his foster-brother. This man was the only one
permitted to go astern of the partition, in case of need, to attend to
the helm; but the vessel was taken in tow by the corsair, and needed
little management. The old Turk seemed to regard the Frankish women
like so many basilisks, and avoided turning a glance in their
direction, roaring at his crew if he only saw them approaching the
sail-cloth, and keeping a close watch upon the lithe black-eyed youths,
whose brown limbs carried them up the mast with the agility of monkeys.
There was one in especial--a slight, well-made fellow about twenty,
with a white turban cleaner than the rest--who contrived to cast
wonderful glances from the masthead over the barrier at Rosette, who
actually smiled in return at ce pauvre garcon, and smiled the more for
Mademoiselle Julienne's indignation. Suddenly, however, a shrill shout
made him descend hastily, and the old Turk's voice might be heard in
its highest key, no doubt shrieking out maledictions on all the
ancestry of the son of a dog who durst defile his eyes with gazing at
the shameless daughters of the Frank. Little Ulysse was, however,
allowed to disport himself wherever he pleased; and after once, under
Arthur's protection, going forward, he found himself made very welcome,
and offered various curiosities, such as shells, corals, and a curious
dried little hippocampus or seahorse.
This he brought back in triumph, to the extreme delight of his sister's
classical mind. 'Oh mamma, mamma,' she cried, 'Ulysse really has got
the skeleton of a Triton. It is exactly like the stone creatures in
the Champs Elysees.'
There was no denying the resemblance, and it so increased the confusion
in Estelle's mind between the actual and the mythological, that Arthur
told her that she was looking out for the car of Amphitrite to arise
from the waters. Anxiety and trouble had made him much better
acquainted with Madame de Bourke, who was grateful to him for his
kindness to her children, and not without concern as to whether she
should be able to procure his release as well as her own at Algiers.
For Laurence Callaghan she had no fears, since he was born at Paris,
and a naturalised French subject like her husband and his brother; but
Arthur was undoubtedly a Briton, and unless she could pass him off as
one of her suite, it would depend on the temper of the English Consul
whether he should be viewed as a subject or as a rebel, or simply left
to captivity until his Scottish relations should have the choice of
ransoming him.
She took a good deal of pains to explain the circumstances to him as
well as to all who could understand them; for though she hoped to keep
all together, and to be able to act for them herself, no one could
guess how they might be separated, and she could not shake off that
foreboding of misfortune which had haunted her from the first.
The kingdom of Algiers was, she told them, tributary to the Turkish
Sultan, who kept a guard of Janissaries there, from among whom they
themselves elected the Dey. He was supposed to govern by the consent
of a divan, but was practically as despotic as any Eastern sovereign;
and the Aga of the Janissaries was next in authority to him. Piracy on
the Mediterranean was, as all knew, the chief occupation of the Turks
and Moors of any spirit or enterprise, a Turk being in authority in
each vessel to secure that the Sultan had his share, and that the
capture was so conducted as not to involve Turkey in dangerous wars
with European powers. Capture by the Moors had for several centuries
been one of the ordinary contingencies of a voyage, and the misfortune
that had happened to the party was not at all an unusual one.
In 1687, however, the nuisance had grown to such a height that Admiral
Du Quesne bombarded the town of Algiers, and destroyed all the
fortifications, peace being only granted on condition that a French
Consul should reside at Algiers, and that French ships and subjects
should be exempt from this violence of the corsairs.
The like treaties existed with the English, but had been very little
heeded by the Algerines till recently, when the possession of Gibraltar
and Minorca had provided harbours for British ships, which exercised a
salutary supervision over these Southern sea-kings. The last Dey, Baba
Hali, had been a wise and prudent man, anxious to repress outrage, and
to be on good terms with the two great European powers; but he had died
in the spring of the current year, 1718, and the temper of his
successor, Mehemed, had not yet been proved.
Madame de Bourke had some trust in the Dutch Reis, renegade though he
was. She had given him her beautiful watch, set with brilliants, and
he had taken it with a certain gruff reluctance, declaring that he did
not want it,--he was ready enough to serve her without such a toy.
Nevertheless the lady thought it well to impress on each and all, in
case of any separation or further disaster, that their appeal must be
to the French Consul, explaining minutely the forms in which it should
be made.
'I cannot tell you,' she said to Arthur, 'how great a comfort it is to
me to have with me a gentleman, one of intelligence and education to
whom I can confide my poor children. I know you will do your utmost to
protect them and restore them to their father.'
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 | 4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13