Books: A Modern Telemachus

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However, his own position was a matter of much more anxious care,
although he had more hope of discovering what it really was.

He had, however, to be patient. The sunrise orisons were no sooner
paid than there was a continual resort to the tent of the merchant, who
was found sitting there calmly smoking his long pipe, and ready to
offer the like, also a cup of coffee, to all who came to traffic with
him. He seemed to have a miscellaneous stock of coffee, tobacco,
pipes, preparations of sugar, ornaments in gold and silver, jewellery,
charms, pistols, and a host of other articles in stock, and to be ready
to purchase or barter these for the wax, embroidered handkerchiefs,
yarn, and other productions and manufactures of the place. Not a
single purchase could be made on either side without a tremendous
haggling, shouting, and gesticulating, as if the parties were on the
verge of coming to blows; whereas all was in good fellowship, and a
pleasing excitement and diversion where time was of no value to
anybody. Arthur began to despair of ever gaining attention. He was
allowed to wander about as he pleased within the village gates, and
Ulysse was apparently quite happy with the little children, who were
beautiful and active, although kept dirty and ragged as a protection
from the evil eye.

Somehow the engrossing occupation of every one, especially of the only
two creatures with whom he could converse, made Arthur more desolate
than ever. He lay down under an ilex, and his heart ached with a sick
longing he had not experienced since he had been with the Nithsdales,
for his mother and his home--the tall narrow-gabled house that had
sprung up close to the grim old peel tower, the smell of the sea, the
tinkling of the burn. He fell asleep in the heat of the day, and it
was to him as if he were once more sitting by the old shepherd on the
braeside, hearing him tell the old tales of Johnnie Armstrong or Willie
o' the wudspurs.

Actually a Scottish voice was in his ears, as he looked up and saw the
turbaned head of Yusuf the merchant bending over him, and saying--'Wake
up, my bonny laddie; we can hae our crack in peace while these folks
are taking their noonday sleep. Awed, and where are ye frae, and how
do you ca' yersel'?'

'I am from Berwickshire,' responded the youth, and as the man started--
'My name is Arthur Maxwell Hope of Burnside.'

'Eh! No a son of auld Sir Davie?'

'His youngest son.'

The man clasped his hands, and uttered a strange sound as if in the
extremity of amazement, and there was a curious unconscious change of
tone, as he said--'Sir Davie's son! Ye'll never have heard tell of
Partan Jeannie?' he added.

'A very old fishwife,' said Arthur, 'who used to come her rounds to our
door? Was she of kin to you?'

'My mither, sir. Mony's the time I hae peepit out on the cuddie's back
between the creels at the door of the braw house of Burnside, and
mony's the bannock and cookie the gude lady gied me. My minnie'll no
be living thae noo,' he added, not very tenderly.

'I should fear not,' said Arthur. 'I had not seen or heard of her for
some time before I left home, and that is now three years since. She
looked very old then, and I remember my mother saying she was not fit
to come her rounds.'

'She wasna that auld,' returned the merchant gravely; 'but she had led
sic a life as falls to the lot of nae wife in this country.'

Arthur had almost said, 'Whose fault was that?' but he durst not offend
a possible protector, and softened his words into, 'It is strange to
find you here, and a Mohammedan too.'

'Hoots, Maister Arthur, let that flea stick by the wa'. We maun do at
Rome as Rome does, as ye'll soon find'--and disregarding Arthur's
exclamation--'and the bit bairn, I thocht ye said he was no Scot, when
I was daundering awa' at the French yestreen.'

'No, he is half-Irish, half-French, eldest son of Count Burke, a good
Jacobite, who got into trouble with the Prince of Orange, and is high
in the French service.'

'And what gars your father's son to be secretaire, as ye ca'd it, to
Frenchman or Irishman either?'

'Well, it was my own fault. I was foolish enough to run away from
school to join the rising for our own King's--'

'Eh, sirs! And has there been a rising on the Border side against the
English pock puddings? Oh, gin I had kenned it!'

Yusuf's knowledge of English politics had been dim at the best, and he
had apparently left Scotland before even Queen Anne was on the throne.
When he understood Arthur's story, he communicated his own. He had
been engaged in a serious brawl with some English fishers, and in fear
of the consequences had fled from Eyemouth, and after casting about as
a common sailor in various merchant ships, had been captured by a
Moorish vessel, and had found it expedient to purchase his freedom by
conversion to Islam, after which his Scottish shrewdness and thrift had
resulted in his becoming a prosperous itinerant merchant, with his
headquarters at Bona. He expressed himself willing and anxious to do
all he could for his young countryman; but it would be almost
impossible to do so unless Arthur would accept the religion of his
captors; and he explained that the two boys were the absolute property
of the tribe, who had discovered and rescued them when going to the
seashore to gather kelp for the glass work practised by the Moors in
their little furnaces.

'Forsake my religion? Never!' cried Arthur indignantly.

'Saftly, saftly,' said Yusuf; 'nae doot ye trow as I did that they are
a' mere pagans and savage heathens, worshipping Baal and Ashtaroth, but
I fand myself quite mista'en. They hae no idols, and girn at the
blinded Papists as muckle as auld Deacon Shortcoats himsel'.'

'I know that,' threw in Arthur.

'Ay, and they are a hantle mair pious and devout than ever a body I hae
seen in Eyemouth, or a' the country side to boot; forbye, my minnie's
auld auntie, that sat graning by the ingle, and ay banned us when we
came ben. The meneester himsel' dinna gae about blessing and praying
over ilka sma' matter like the meenest of us here, and for a' the din
they make at hame about the honorable Sabbath, wha thinks of praying
five times the day? While as for being the waur for liquor, these
folks kenna the very taste of it. Put yon sheyk down on the wharf at
Eyemouth, and what wad he say to the Christian folk there?'

A shock of conviction passed over Arthur, though he tried to lose it in
indignant defence; but Yusuf did not venture to stay any longer with
him, and bidding him think over what had been said, since slavery or
Islam were the only alternatives, returned to the tents of merchandise.

First thoughts with the youth had of course been of horror at the bare
idea of apostacy, and yet as he watched his Moorish hosts, he could not
but own to himself that he never had dreamt that to be among them would
be so like dwelling under the oak of Mamre, in the tents of Abraham.
From what he remembered of Partan Jeannie's reputation as a being only
tolerated and assisted by his mother, on account of her extreme misery
and destitution, he could believe that the ne'er-do-weel son, who must
have forsaken her before he himself was born, might have really been
raised in morality by association with the grave, faithful, and
temperate followers of Mohammed, rather than the scum of the port of
Eyemouth.

For himself and the boy, what did slavery mean? He hoped to understand
better from Yusuf, and at any rate to persuade the man to become the
medium of communication with the outside world, beyond that
'dissociable ocean,' over which his wistful gaze wandered. Then the
ransom of the little Chevalier de Bourke would be certain, and, if
there were any gratitude in the world, his own. But how long would
this take, and what might befall them in the meantime?

Ulysse all this time seemed perfectly happy with the small Moors, who
all romped together without distinction of rank, of master, slave or
colour, for Yusuf's little negro was freely received among them. At
night, however, Ulysse's old home self seemed to revive; he crept back
to Arthur, tired and weary, fretting for mother, sister, and home; and
even after he had fallen asleep, waking again to cry for Julienne.
Poor Arthur, he was a rough nurse, but pity kept him patient, and he
was even glad to see that the child had not forgotten his home.

Meantime, ever since the sunset prayer, there had been smoking of pipes
and drinking of coffee, and earnest discussion between the sheyk and
the merchant, and by and by Yusuf came and sat himself down by Arthur,
smiling a little at the young man's difficulty in disposing of those
long legs upon the ground.

'Ye'll have to learn this and other things, sir,' said he, as he
crossed his own under him, Eastern fashion; but his demeanour was on
the whole that of the fisher to the laird's son, and he evidently
thought that he had a grand proposal to make, for which Master Arthur
ought to be infinitely obliged.

He explained to Arthur that Sheyk Abou Ben Zegri had never had more
than two sons, and that both had been killed the year before in trying
to recover their cattle from the Cabeleyzes, 'a sort of Hieland
caterans.'

The girl whom Arthur had noticed was the widow of the elder of the two,
and the child was only a daughter. The sheyk had been much impressed
by Arthur's exploit in swimming or floating round the headland and
saving the child, and regarded his height as something gigantic.
Moreover, Yusuf had asserted that he was son to a great Bey in his own
country, and in consequence Abou Ben Zegri was willing to adopt him as
his son, provided he would embrace the true faith, and marry Ayesha,
the widow.

'And,' said Yusuf, 'these women are no that ill for wives, as I ken
owre weel'--and he sighed. 'I had as gude and douce a wee wifie at
Bona as heart culd wish, and twa bonny bairnies; but when I cam' back
frae my rounds, the plague had been there before me. They were a'
gone, even Ali, that had just began to ca' me Ab, Ab, and I hae never
had heart to gang back to the town house. She was a gude wife--nae
flying, nae rampauging. She wad hae died wi' shame to be likened to
thae randy wives at hame. Ye might do waur than tak' such a fair
offer, Maister Arthur.'

'You mean it all kindly,' said Arthur, touched; 'but for nothing--no,
for nothing, can a Christian deny his Lord, or yield up his hopes for
hereafter.'

'As for that,' returned Yusuf, 'the meneester and Beacon Shortcoats,
and my auld auntie, and the lave of them, aye ca'ed me a vessel of
destruction. That was the best name they had for puir Tam. So what
odds culd it mak, if I took up with the Prophet, and I was ower lang
leggit to row in a galley? Forbye, here they say that a man who prays
and gies awmous, and keeps frae wine, is sicker to win to Paradise and
a' the houris. I had rather it war my puir Zorah than any strange
houri of them a'; but any way, I hae been a better man sin' I took up
wi' them than ever I was as a cursing, swearing, drunken, fechting
sailor lad wha feared neither God nor devil.'

'That was scarce the fault of the Christian faith,' said Arthur.

'Aweel, the first answer in the Shorter Carritch was a' they ever
garred me learn, and that is what we here say of Allah. I see no
muckle to choose, and I KEN ane thing,--it is a hell on earth at ance
gin ye gang not alang wi' them. And that's sicker, as ye'll find to
your cost, sir, gin ye be na the better guided.'

'With hope, infinite hope beyond,' said Arthur, trying to fortify
himself. 'No, I cannot, cannot deny my Lord--my Lord that bought me!'

'We own Issa Ben Mariam for a Prophet,' said Yusuf.

'But He is my only Master, my Redeemer, and God. No, come what may, I
can never renounce Him,' said Arthur with vehemence.

'Wed, awed,' said Yusuf, 'maybe ye'll see in time what's for your gude.
I'll tell the sheyk it would misbecome your father's son to do sic a
deed owre lichtly, and strive to gar him wait while I am in these parts
to get your word, and nae doot it will be wiselike at the last.'

CHAPTER VII--MASTER AND SLAVE

'I only heard the reckless waters roar,
Those waves that would not hear me from the shore;
I only marked the glorious sun and sky
Too bright, too blue for my captivity,
And felt that all which Freedom's bosom cheers,
Must break my chain before it dried my tears.'
BYRON (The corsair).

At the rate at which the traffic in Yusuf's tent proceeded, Arthur Hope
was likely to have some little time for deliberation on the question
presented to him whether to be a free Moslem sheyk or a Christian
slave.

Not only had almost every household in El Arnieh to chaffer with the
merchant for his wares and to dispose of home-made commodities, but
from other adowaras and from hill-farms Moors and Cabyles came in with
their produce of wax, wool or silk, to barter--if not with Yusuf, with
the inhabitants of El Arnieh, who could weave and embroider, forge
cutlery, and make glass from the raw material these supplied. Other
Cabyles, divers from the coast, came up, with coral and sponges, the
latter of which was the article in which Yusuf preferred to deal,
though nothing came amiss to him that he could carry, or that could
carry itself--such as a young foal; even the little black boy had been
taken on speculation--and so indeed had the big Abyssinian, who, though
dumb, was the most useful, ready, and alert of his five slaves. Every
bargain seemed to occupy at least an hour, and perhaps Yusuf lingered
the longer in order to give Arthur more time for consideration; or it
might be that his native tongue, once heard, exercised an irresistible
fascination over him. He never failed to have what he called a 'crack'
with his young countryman at the hour of the siesta, or at night,
perhaps persuading the sheyk that it was controversial, though it was
more apt to be on circumstances of the day's trade or the news of the
Border-side. Controversy indeed there could be little with one so
ignorant as kirk treatment in that century was apt to leave the
outcasts of society, nor had conversion to Islam given him much
instruction in its tenets; so that the conversation generally was on
earthly topics, though it always ended in assurances that Master Arthur
would suffer for it if he did not perceive what was for his good. To
which Arthur replied to the effect that he must suffer rather than deny
his faith; and Yusuf, declaring that a wilful man maun have his way,
and that he would rue it too late, went off affronted, but always
returned to the charge at the next opportunity.

Meantime Arthur was free to wander about unmolested and pick up the
language, in which, however, Ulysse made far more rapid progress, and
could be heard chattering away as fast, if not as correctly, as if it
were French or English. The delicious climate and the open-air life
were filling the little fellow with a strength and vigour unknown to
him in a Parisian salon, and he was in the highest spirits among his
brown playfellows, ceasing to pine for his mother and sister; and
though he still came to Arthur for the night, or in any trouble, it was
more and more difficult to get him to submit to be washed and dressed
in his tight European clothes, or to say his prayers. He was always
sleepy at night and volatile in the morning, and could not be got to
listen to the little instructions with which Arthur tried to arm him
against Mohammedanism into which the poor little fellow was likely to
drift as ignorantly and unconsciously as Yusuf himself.

And what was the alternative? Arthur himself never wavered, nor indeed
actually felt that he had a choice; but the prospect before him was
gloomy, and Yusuf did not soften it. The sheyk would sell him, and he
would either be made to work in some mountain-farm, or put on board a
galley; and Yusuf had sufficient experience of the horrors of the
latter to assure him emphatically that the gude leddy of Burnside would
break her heart to think of her bonny laddie there.

'It would more surely break her heart to think of her son giving up his
faith,' returned Arthur.

As to the child, the opinion of the tribe seemed to be that he was just
fit to be sent to the Sultan to be bred as a Janissary. 'He will come
that gate to be as great a man as in his ain countree,' said Yusuf;
'wi' horse to ride, and sword to bear, and braws to wear, like King
Solomon in all his glory.'

'While his father and mother would far rather he were lying dead with
her under the waves in that cruel bay,' returned Arthur.

'Hout, mon, ye dinna ken what's for his gude, nor for your ain
neither,' retorted Yusuf.

'Good here is not good hereafter.'

'The life of a dog and waur here,' muttered Yusuf; 'ye'll mind me when
it is too late.'

'Nay, Yusuf, if you will only take word of our condition to Algiers, we
shall--at least the boy--be assuredly redeemed, and you would win a
high reward.'

'I am no free to gang to Algiers,' said Yusuf. 'I fell out with a loon
there, one of those Janissaries that gang hectoring aboot as though the
world were not gude enough for them, and if I hadna made the best of my
way out of the toon, my pow wad be a worricow on the wa's of the
tower.'

'There are French at Bona, you say. Remember, I ask you to put
yourself in no danger, only to bear the tidings to any European,'
entreated Arthur.

'And how are they to find ye?' demanded Yusuf. 'Abou Ben Zegri will
never keep you here after having evened his gude-daughter to ye. He'll
sell you to some corsair captain, and then the best that could betide
ye wad be that a shot frae the Knights of Malta should make quick work
wi' ye. Or look at the dumbie there, Fareek. A Christian, he ca's
himsel', too, though 'tis of a by ordinar' fashion, such as Deacon
Shortcoats would scarce own. I coft him dog cheap at Tunis, when his
master, the Vizier, had had his tongue cut out--for but knowing o' some
deed that suld ne'er have been done--and his puir feet bastinadoed to a
jelly. Gin a' the siller in the Dey's treasury ransomed ye, what gude
would it do ye after that?'

'I cannot help that--I cannot forsake my God. I must trust Him not to
forsake me.'

And, as usual, Yusuf went off angrily muttering, 'He that will to Cupar
maun to Cupar.'

Perhaps Arthur's resistance had begun more for the sake of honour, and
instinctive clinging to hereditary faith, without the sense of heroism
or enthusiasm for martyrdom which sustained Estelle, and rather with
the feeling that inconstancy to his faith and his Lord would be base
and disloyal. But, as the long days rolled on, if the future of toil
and dreary misery developed itself before him, the sense of personal
love and aid towards the Lord and Master whom he served grew upon him.
Neither the gazelle-eyed Ayesha nor the prosperous village life
presented any great temptation. He would have given them all for one
bleak day of mist on a Border moss; it was the appalling contrast with
the hold of a Moorish galley that at times startled him, together with
the only too great probability that he should be utterly incapable of
saving poor little Ulysse from unconscious apostacy.

Once Yusuf observed, that if he would only make outward submission to
Moslem law, he might retain his own belief and trust in the Lord he
seemed so much to love, and of whom he said more good than any Moslem
did of the Prophet.

'If I deny Him, He will deny me,' said Arthur.

'And will na He forgive ane as is hard pressed?' asked Yusuf.

'It is a very different thing to go against the light, as I should be
doing,' said Arthur, 'and what it might be for that poor bairn, whom
Cod preserve.'

'And wow! sir. 'Tis far different wi' you that had the best of gude
learning frae the gude leddy,' muttered Yusuf. 'My minnie aye needit
me to sort the fish and gang her errands, and wad scarce hae sent me to
scule, gin I wad hae gane where they girned at me for Partan Jeannie's
wean, and gied me mair o' the tawse than of the hornbook. Gin the
Lord, as ye ca' Him, had ever seemed to me what ye say He is to you,
Maister Arthur, I micht hae thocht twice o'er the matter. But there's
nae ganging back the noo. A Christian's life they harm na, though they
mak' it a mere weariness to him; but for him that quits the Prophet,
tearing the flesh wi' iron cleeks is the best they hae for him.'

This time Yusuf retreated, not as usual in anger, but as if the bare
idea he had broached was too terrible to be dwelt upon. He had by the
end of a fortnight completed all his business at El Arnieh, and Arthur,
having by this time picked up enough of the language to make himself
comprehensible, and to know fully what was set before him, was called
upon to make his decision, so that either he might be admitted by
regular ritual into the Moslem faith, and adopted by the sheyk, or else
be advertised by Yusuf at the next town as a strong young slave.

Sitting in the gate among the village magnates, like an elder of old,
Sheyk Abou Ben Zegri, with considerable grace and dignity, set the
choice before the Son of the Sea in most affectionate terms, asking of
him to become the child of his old age, and to heal the breach left by
the swords of the robbers of the mountains.

The old man's fine dark eyes filled with tears, and there was a pathos
in his noble manner that made Arthur greatly grieved to disappoint him,
and sorry not to have sufficient knowledge of the language to qualify
more graciously the resolute reply he had so often rehearsed to
himself, expressing his hearty thanks, but declaring that nothing could
induce him to forsake the religion of his fathers.

'Wilt thou remain a dog of an unbeliever, and receive the treatment of
dogs?'

'I must,' said Arthur.

'The youth is a goodly youth,' said the sheyk; 'it is ill that his
heart is blind. Once again, young man, Issa Ben Mariam and slavery, or
Mohammed and freedom?'

'I cannot deny my Lord Christ.'

There was a pause. Arthur stood upright, with lips compressed, hands
clasped together, while the sheyk and his companions seemed struck by
his courage and high spirit. Then one of them--a small, ugly fellow,
who had some pretensions to be considered the sheyk's next heir--cried,
'Out on the infidel dog!' and set the example of throwing a handful of
dust at him. The crowd who watched around were not slow to follow the
example, and Arthur thought he was actually being stoned; but the
missiles were for the most part not harmful, only disgusting, blinding,
and confusing. There was a tremendous hubbub of vituperation, and he
was at last actually stunned by a blow, waking to find himself alone,
and with hands and feet bound, in a dirty little shed appropriated to
camels. Should he ever be allowed to see poor little Ulysse again, or
to speak to Yusuf, in whom lay their only faint hope of redemption? He
was helpless, and the boy was at the mercy of the Moors. Was he
utterly forsaken?

It was growing late in the day, and he had had no food for many hours.
Was he to be neglected and starved? At last he heard steps
approaching, and the door was opened by the man who had led the assault
on him, who addressed him as 'Son of an old ass--dog of a slave,' bade
him stand up and show his height, at the same time cutting the cords
that bound him. It was an additional pang that it was to Yusuf that he
was thus to exhibit himself, no doubt in order that the merchant should
carry a description of him to some likely purchaser. He could not
comprehend the words that passed, but it was very bitter to be handled
like a horse at a fair--doubly so that he, a Hope of Burnside, should
thus be treated by Partan Jeannie's son.

There ensued outside the shrieking and roaring which always accompanied
a bargain, and which lasted two full hours. Finally Yusuf looked into
the hut, and roughly said in Arabic, 'Come over to me, dog; thou art
mine. Kiss the shoe of thy master'--adding in his native tongue, 'For
ance, sir. It maun be done before these loons.'

Certainly the ceremony would have been felt as less humiliating towards
almost anybody else, but Arthur endured it; and then was led away to
the tents beyond the gate.

'There, sir,' said Yusuf, 'it ill sorts your father's son to be in sic
a case, but it canna be helpit. I culd na leave behind the bonny Scots
tongue, let alane the gude Leddy Hope's son.'

'You have been very good to me, Yusuf,' said Arthur, his pride much
softened by the merchant's evident sense of the situation. 'I know you
mean me well, but the boy--'

'Hoots! the bairn is happy eno'. He will come to higher preferment
than even you or I. Why, mon, an Aga of the Janissaries is as good as
the Deuk himsel'.'

'Yusuf, I am very grateful--I believe you must have paid heavily to
spare me from ill usage.'

'Ye may say that, sir. Forty piastres of Tunis, and eight mules, and
twa pair of silver-mounted pistols. The extortionate rogue wad hae had
the little dagger, but I stood out against that.'

'I see, I am deeply beholden,' said Arthur; 'but it would be tenfold
better if you would take him instead of me!'

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