The Pirate City: An Algerine Tale

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER FIVE.

  SHOWS THE LIGHT IN WHICH CONSULS WERE REGARDED BY PIRATES, AND TELLS OFA CRUEL SEPARATION AND A STUNNING BLOW.

  Seated on a throne in a recess of the audience-chamber of the palace,Achmet Pasha at length condescended to receive Don Pedro, therepresentative of Spain.

  The Dey was robed in barbaric splendour, and absolutely shone with goldembroidery and precious stones. Centuries of robbery on the high seashad filled the treasury of the pirates' nest to overflowing, not onlywith hard cash, but with costly gems of all kinds, hence there was alavish expenditure of jewellery on the costumes of the Dey and his wivesand courtiers.

  The recess in which he sat had a dome-ceiling, of workmanship soelaborate that there was not a square inch of unadorned stucco on anypart of it. It was lighted partly from the roof by means of four minutewindows, of yellow, crimson, green, and blue glass. The walls weredecorated with coloured china tiles, and the floor was paved with whitemarble.

  In front of the throne or elevated dais couched the magnificent lionwhich we have already mentioned. It was the Dey's whim to use thisanimal as a footstool on all public occasions, much to the annoyance ofhis courtiers and household, who felt, although they did not dare toexpress it, considerable anxiety lest it should take a sudden fancy tofeed on human flesh.

  Behind the Dey stood several guards, two of whom were negroes.

  Don Pedro bowed low on being admitted, and the lion, raising his head,uttered a low growl, which had something distantly thunderous in thetone. Being apparently satisfied that the Don was a friend, it againlaid its chin on its paws and appeared to go to sleep.

  The Spanish consul was a fine-looking, dignified man, with a nosesufficiently prominent to account for the irreverent reference made toit by Hadji Baba, the story-teller.

  In a few words he stated his case touching the female captives recentlybrought in by Sidi Hassan, and claimed that, as Spanish subjects, theyshould be set free and placed under his care.

  "What proof can you give," demanded the Dey, "that these ladies arereally the subjects of Spain?"

  "Alas!" replied Don Pedro, "I have no means of verifying what I say; butI feel assured that your highness will not doubt my word, when I saythat, while in my own land, I knew the family to which they belong."

  "That is not sufficient," returned the Dey. "From all that I can learn,their father lived and died and they were born, in Sicily, and theeldest is the wife of an Italian merchant, who will doubtless be glad topay a good ransom to get her and his little infant back. As to thesister, we can find room for her in the palace, if she be not ransomed.Besides, Monsieur le Console,"--here the Dey spoke sternly--"your wordis not a good guarantee. Did you not give me your word three months agothat your government would pay the six thousand dollars which are stilldue to us? Why has not this promise been fulfilled?"

  "It grieves me, your highness," replied Don Pedro, with a mortifiedlook, "that this debt has not yet been discharged, but I can assure youthat I have communicated with my Sovereign on the subject and have nodoubt that a satisfactory explanation and reply will be sent to youwithout delay."

  "It is to be hoped that such may be the case, for I give you _my_ word--and you may safely rely on _it_--that if the cash is not sent to meimmediately I will send you to work in chains in the quarries with theother slaves.--Go, let your Sovereign know my intention as speedily asmay be."

  Lest the reader should be surprised to hear of any consul being thuscavalierly treated, it may be well to explain that the barbarians, whowere thus unworthily honoured in being recognised by the European powersat all, were grossly ignorant of the usages of civilised nations, and ofthe sacred character in which the persons and families of consuls areheld. The Deys of Algiers were constantly in the habit of threateningthe consuls themselves with flagellation and death, in order to obtainwhat they desired from their respective governments, and sometimes evencarried their threats into execution--as an instance of which we maycite the well-authenticated fact that when the French Admiral Duquesnebombarded Algiers, the consul and twenty-two other Frenchmen were sentout to the fleet in small pieces--blown from the mouths of cannon!True, this was in the year 1683, but up to the very end of their bloodyand ferocious domination, the Deys maintained their character forignorance and barbarity--evidence of which shall be given in the sequelof our tale.

  When Don Pedro had been thus ignominiously dismissed, Sidi Hassan wassent for by the Dey. This man was one of the most turbulent charactersin the city, and the Dey thought it his wisest policy to secure hisfriendship if possible by mingling kindness with severity. In the eventof this course failing, he comforted himself with the reflection that itwould not be difficult to get rid of him by the simple, and toofrequently used, process of strangulation. The knowledge that Hassanwas a favourite among the Turkish troops prevented his at once adoptingthe latter method.

  He was all urbanity and smiles, therefore, when the pirate captainobeyed his summons. He thanked him for the two pretty slave-girls hehad brought in, commended him for his success in taking prizes, andadded that he had appointed him to fill the office of attendantjanissary upon the British consul.

  Up to this point Sidi Hassan had listened with satisfaction, but theappointment just offered seemed to him so contemptible that he haddifficulty in dissembling his feelings. The knowledge, however, thathis despotic master held his life in his hand, induced him to bow andsmile, as if with gratitude.

  "And now," said the Dey, "I have a commission for you. Go to theBritish consul, tell him of your appointment, and present him with mycompliments and with the eldest slave-girl and her infant as a gift fromme. Paulina is her name, is it not?"

  "Yes, your highness--Paulina Ruffini, and the sister's name is AngelaDiego."

  "Good. Angela you may keep to yourself," continued the Dey, as coollyas if he had been talking of a silver snuff-box.

  Hassan again bowed and smiled, and again had to constrain hiscountenance to express gratification, though he was not a littledisgusted with Achmet's indifference to the captive girls.

  Leaving the palace in a state of high indignation, he resolved to sellAngela in the public market, although by so doing he could not hope togain so much as would have been the case were he to have disposed of herby private bargain. Thus, with strange perversity, does an angry manoften stand in the way of his own interests.

  We need scarcely say that, when their fate was announced to the unhappysisters, they were plunged into a state of wild grief, clung to eachother's necks, and refused to be separated.

  Little did Sidi Hassan care for their grief. He tore them asunder,locked Paulina up with her infant, and led the weeping Angela to theslave-market, which was in the immediate neighbourhood of one of thelargest mosques of the city.

  This mosque, named Djama Djedid, still stands, under the name of theMosquee de la Pecherie, one of the most conspicuous and picturesquebuildings in Algiers. It was built in the seventeenth century by aGenoese architect, a slave, who, unfortunately for himself built it inthe form of a cross, for which he was put to death by the reigning Dey.In front of the northern door of this mosque the narrow streets of thecity gave place to a square, in which was held the market for Christianslaves.

  Here might be seen natives of almost every country--men and women andchildren of all ages and complexions, civilised and uncivilised, gentleand simple--exposed for sale; while turbaned Turks, Moors in broad-clothburnouses and gay vestments, Jews in dark costume, Arabs from thedesert, and men of nondescript garments and character, moved about,criticising, examining, buying, and selling.

  Just as Sidi Hassan reached the market, a gang of Christian slaves werehalted near the door of the mosque. It was evening. They had beentoiling all day at the stone-quarries in the mountains, and were now ontheir way, weary, ragged, and foot-sore, to the Bagnio, or prison, inwhich were housed the public slaves--those not sold to privateindividuals, but retained by government and set to labour on the publicworks.

>   A few of these slaves wore ponderous chains as a punishment for havingbeen unruly--the others were unshackled. Among them stood ourunfortunate friends Francisco Rimini and his sons Lucien and Mariano--but ah! how changed! Only two days had elapsed since their arrival, yettheir nearest friends might have failed to recognise them, sodishevelled were they, and their faces so covered with dust andperspiration. For their own garments had been substituted ragged shirtsand loose Turkish drawers reaching to below the knee. Old straw hatscovered their heads, but their lower limbs and feet were naked; wherenot stained by blood and dust, the fairness of their skins showed howlittle they had been used to such exposure. Lucien's countenance worean expression of hopeless despair; that of his father, which was wont tolook so bluff and hearty, now betrayed feelings of the tenderest pity,as if he had forgotten his own sufferings in those of his children.Mariano, on the contrary, looked so stubborn and wicked that no onecould have believed it possible he had ever been a gay, kindly,light-hearted youth! Poor fellow! his high spirit had been severelytried that day, but evidently not tamed, though the blood on the back ofhis shirt showed that his drivers had made vigorous attempts to subduehim. During the heat of the day Lucien had grown faint from toil andhunger, and had received a cruel lash from one of their guardians. Thishad roused Mariano. He had sprung to avenge the blow, had been seizedby three powerful men, lashed until he became insensible, and, onrecovering, had been forced to continue his toil of carrying stonesuntil not only all the strength, but apparently all the spirit, wastaken out of him.

  From this condition he was reviving slightly when he reached themarket-place, and, as his strength returned, the firm pressure of hislips and contraction of his brows increased.

  The slave-drivers were not slow to observe this, and two of them tookthe precaution to stand near him. It was at this critical moment thatthe poor youth suddenly beheld Angela Diego led into the market--moreinteresting and beautiful than ever in her sorrow--to be sold as aslave.

  Mariano had been deeply touched by the sorrow and sad fate of thesisters when he first saw them on board the pirate-vessel. At thissight of the younger sister, prudence, which had retained but a slighthold of him during the day, lost command altogether. In a burst ofuncontrollable indignation he sent one of his guards crashing throughthe open doorway of the mosque, drove the other against the corner of aneighbouring house, rushed towards Sidi Hassan, and delivered on thebridge of that hero's nose a blow that instantly laid him flat on theground. At the same moment he was seized by a dozen guards, throwndown, bound, and carried off to the whipping-house, where he wasbastinadoed until he felt as if bones and flesh, were one mass oftingling jelly. In this state, almost incapable of standing or walking,he was carried to the Bagnio, and thrown in among the other prisoners.

  While Mariano was being conveyed away, Sidi Hassan arose in ahalf-stupefied condition from the ground. Fortunately he was ignorantof who had knocked him down, and why he had been so treated, or he mighthave vented his wrath on poor Angela.

  Just at that moment he was accosted by Bacri the Jew--a convenient button whom to relieve himself; for the despised Israelites were treatedwith greater indignity in Algiers at that time than perhaps in any otherpart of the earth.

  "Dog," said he fiercely, "hast thou not business enough of thine own infleecing men, that thou shouldst interfere with me?"

  "Dog though I may be," returned Bacri, with gravity, but without a touchof injured feeling, "I do not forget that I promised you four thousanddollars to spare the Christians, and it is that which induces me tointrude on you now."

  "Humph!" ejaculated Hassan, somewhat mollified; "I verily believe thatthou hast some interested and selfish motive at the bottom. However,that business is thine, not mine."

  "Whether my motive be interested or not you are well able to judge,"returned Bacri gently, "for the slaves are poor and helpless; they arealso Christians, and you know well that the Jews have no love for theChristians; in which respect it seems to me that they bear someresemblance to the men of other creeds."

  Sidi Hassan felt that there was an intended sarcasm in the last remark,but the thought of the dollars induced him to waive further discussion.

  "Do you wish to sell the girl?" said Bacri in a casual way, as though ithad just occurred to him.

  "Ay, but I must have a good price for her," replied the Turk.

  "Name it," said the Jew; "my wife has need of a handmaiden just now."

  Hassan named a sum much larger than he had any expectation the Jew wouldgive. To his surprise, the other at once agreed to it.

  "Why, Bacri," he said, with a smile, as with his right hand he tenderlycaressed his injured nose, "you must have been more than usuallysuccessful in swindling of late."

  "God has recently granted me more than deserved prosperity," returnedthe other.

  Without further palaver the bargain was struck. Hassan accompanied theJew to his residence in one of the quaint Moorish houses of the oldtown. Angela was handed over to Bacri's wife, a pleasant-visaged womanof forty, and Hassan returned home with his pockets well lined, his nosemuch swelled, and his temper greatly improved.

  Bethinking him of the Dey's commands, he set out with Paulina and herinfant for the residence of the British consul, which lay a shortdistance outside the northern wall of the town, not far from the bluffheight on which, at the present day, towers the picturesque pile ofNotre-Dame d'Afrique.