The Pirate City: An Algerine Tale
Page 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
TELLS OF RIOT AND REVOLUTION IN THE PIRATE CITY.
At the first sound of tumult, Achmet--who was seated at the time on hisaccustomed throne of judgment, ready to transact the ordinary businessof the morning--sprang up and roused his pet lion to a sudden andtowering pitch of fury by thrusting the point of his dagger into it.The result was that when the door burst open the huge creature spranginto the midst of the insurgents with a tremendous roar.
A volley of balls laid it low for ever, but the incident divertedattention for a moment from the Dey, and afforded him time to escapefrom the audience-chamber. Darting up a staircase, he gained thepalace-roof, from which he sprang to a neighbouring roof and descendedhastily to the street, throwing off some of his brilliant apparel as heran, and snatching up a common burnous in which he enveloped himself.
Every avenue to the palace had been carefully secured by Sidi Hamet, butit chanced that the one which Achmet selected was guarded by a youngsoldier, towards whom at some previous time he had shown acts ofkindness.
On seeing the Dey hastening towards him the soldier lowered his musket,but appeared undecided how to act. Achmet, at once taking advantage ofhis hesitation, went boldly up to him, and reminding him of what he hadformerly done for him, attempted to bribe him with a magnificent diamondring; but the soldier refused the ring. Placing his left hand on hiseyes he said hurriedly--
"Your servant can neither hear nor see."
The Dey at once took the hint and passed on, but the delay proved fatal,for a band of Janissaries who were traversing the narrow streets insearch of him came suddenly round a corner. Achmet instantly turnedback and fled, hotly pursued by the yelling soldiers. They were quicklyjoined by others, and ere long a surging crowd followed the footsteps ofthe fugitive as he darted from one to another of the intricate streets.The Dey was a cool and courageous as well as an active man, and for sometime eluded his pursuers, whose very eagerness to take his life causedthem to thwart each other by getting jammed in several of the narrowpassages.
At last Achmet gained the entrance to the palace of his wives. The doorwas already shut and secured, as well as guarded by two of the insurgentjanissaries. Rendered desperate and savage by the hopelessness of hiscase, he cleft the skulls of these men with his sword, and was about todash himself violently against the strong door, in the vain hope ofbursting it open, when he was checked by hearing an appalling shriekinside. Next moment the door was flung wide open, and his faithful wifeAshweesha appeared with a dripping dagger in her hand.
No word was uttered, because none was needed. The Dey leaped in andshut the door violently, just as his infuriated pursuers gained it,while Ashweesha, with cool precision, shot in the heavy bolts, and letdown the ponderous bars.
Achmet sank exhausted on one of the couches of the vestibule, regardlessof the din which was made by the mob outside in their vain endeavours tobatter down the strong oaken door.
"Do not give way," said Ashweesha, falling on her knees beside him, andresting his head tenderly on her shoulder, "there are many who love youin the city. Escape over the terraces to the house of Jacob the Jew.He has many hiding-places, and will assuredly aid you."
"I will try, for _your_ sake, Ashweesha," said Achmet, starting up; "Ihave little hope, it is true, for my enemies are too strong for me, butit were cowardly to fail for want of an effort. Allah bless thee, mywife!"
He kissed her, and immediately made for the staircase that led to theterrace.
Gaining the roof, he looked over the parapet, and the first glance wasenough to convince him that he must bid adieu to hope. The palace wascompletely surrounded by the insurgents, who set up a fierce shout onobserving him, and fired a volley of balls from many directions, all ofwhich, however, passed harmlessly over his head.
"Thou seest, Ashweesha," he said, with a sad smile, as the Sultanafollowed him to the terrace, "my time has come. It is fate. Allah haswilled it so--there is therefore no possibility of averting it."
"Say not so," cried Ashweesha earnestly; "the terrace of Jacob is easilygained; once there you can descend to some of the back streets where noone looks for you."
"I will make the attempt," said the Dey, sternly casting his eyes overthe city.
It was a sight that might well lull him with sad thoughts, for the roofsor terraces everywhere were covered with affrighted women--the houses ofthe Jews being especially distinguishable by the frantic manner in whichthe Jewesses wrung their hands, and otherwise displayed their grief andalarm.
A plank thrown from the parapet of his palace to that of the nearesthouse enabled Achmet to escape from those of his enemies who had gainedan entrance below, but it was only a momentary respite; while they weresearching for another plank to enable them to follow him, he attemptedto cross over to the house of the Jew above mentioned. He was at onceobserved, on the frail bridge that supported him, and a shout of angerrose from the populace like a hoarse roar.
During the whole time in which the Dey was thus endeavouring to escape,his proud spirit fought against him, urging him to turn and dare hisfoes to do their worst. At the moment when their roar burst upon hisear, all desire to escape seemed to vanish. He stopped suddenly, drewhimself up with his wonted look of dignified composure, and from hisperilous and elevated position looked down almost reproachfully on thosewho had been wont to bow at his footstool.
The act was followed by another roar. A hundred muskets belched forththeir deadly fire, and Achmet Dey fell headlong into the street.
The shattered body was instantly seized by the soldiers, and the head,severed from the trunk, was carried off to the palace, there to bepresented as a trophy to Sidi Hamet, the new Dey of Algiers.
So soon as the green standard of the Prophet was run up on theflag-staff of the palace, announcing that a new ruler had seated himselfon the throne, the period of recognised anarchy came to an end, andorder began to be in some measure restored. Still, most of the wealthyinhabitants kept in close retirement, having, of course, hidden awaymost of their valuables and cash. The Jews, especially, were very charyof showing themselves in public, and those of them who had fled forrefuge to the British consulate remained quiet, and were hospitablyentertained for several days.
Among the first who fled to that shelter was the valiant Rais Ali. Heentered with a trembling frame and pale visage about the time theincidents we have described were being enacted, and found ColonelLangley, with the aid of Ted Flaggan, engaged in preparing the variousrooms of the building for the reception of those who, from pastexperience, he expected to require them.
"Why, Rais! what ails you?" demanded Colonel Langley in surprise, notunmingled with anger, for he had, on leaving home, placed theinterpreter in charge of his family in his suburban villa.
"Oh! mass'r," said Ali piteously; "yous no know wat dangers me hab if dejanissary cotch me. Life not wuth wone buttin."
"Rascal!" exclaimed the Colonel, "did I not charge you to guard myhousehold? How dare you forsake your post? Are you not under myprotection?"
"Ah! yis, yis, mass'r; but--but--yous no know de greatness of medanger--"
"Go, scoundrel!" exclaimed the Colonel, losing all patience with him;"return to your duty as fast as your horse can carry you, else I shallhand you over to the janissaries."
"You hears what yer master says, don't 'ee?" said Ted Flaggan, whoviewed the infidelity and cowardice of the interpreter with supremedisgust, as he seized him by the nape of the neck and thrust him towardsthe door. "Git out, ye white-livered spalpeen, or I'll multiply everybone in yer body by two."
Rais Ali went with extreme reluctance, but there was no resisting thepersuasive violence of Ted's powerful arm, nor the emphatic kick of themuscular leg with which he propelled his Moorish friend into the street.He did not wait, however, to remonstrate, but immediately drew forwardthe hood of his burnous and hurried away.
Just then Bacri entered, conducting a number of women and children whosought sanctuary there.
"And they shall have it," said the consul, taking Bacri by thehand.--"See them attended to, Flaggan," he added, turning to the seaman.
"Ay, ay, sir.--This way, my dears," said Ted, waving his hand with afatherly air to the group of weeping women and children, and conductingthem to one of the large chambers of the house, where Mrs Langley andPaulina had already spread out bedding, and made further preparationsfor a large party.
"Do you think, Bacri," said the consul, as the other was about todepart, "that there is much chance of Hamet succeeding?"
"I do," answered the Jew. "Achmet is now become very unpopular. He istoo kind and generous to suit the tastes of the soldiers, and you areaware that the janissaries have it all their own way in this city."
This was indeed the case. The Turkish soldiers were extremely insolentand overbearing, alike to Moors and Jews, one of the privileges theyclaimed being to enter the gardens of the inhabitants whenever theypleased--not excepting those of the consuls--and eat and destroy fruitand vegetables at will.
"Achmet's party," added Bacri, "is not strong, while that of Hamet isnot only numerous but influential. I fear much that the sands of hisglass are nearly run out."
"It is a woeful state of things," observed the Colonel, while a slightflush mantled on his cheek--possibly at the thought of his having, asthe representative of a civilised power, to bow his head and recognisesuch barbarians. "And you, Bacri, will you not also stay here?"
"No. There are others of my people who require my aid. I go to jointhem. I trust that Hamet's promise--if he succeeds--will sufficientlyguard me from violence. It may be that they will respect my position.In any case I stay not here.--Farewell."
When the Jew had left, the consul turned to superintend the arrangementsof his house, which by this time had assumed the appearance of ahospital or prison--so numerous and varied were the people who had fledthither for refuge.
Chief among the busy ones there was the ebony damsel from beyond theZahara, whose tendency to damage Master Jim and to alarm Jim's mamma hasalready been remarked on more than once. Zubby's energies were, at thetime, devoted to Paulina, in whom she took a deep interest. She hadmade one little nest of a blanket for her baby Angelina, and anothersimilar nest for Master Jim, whose head she had bumped against the wallin putting him into it--without awaking him, however, for Jim was asound sleeper, and used to bumps. She was now tearfully regarding themeeting of Paulina with her sister Angela. The latter had been broughtto the consulate by Bacri, along with her mistress and some othermembers of the Jew's household, and the delight of the two sisters atthis unexpected meeting afforded the susceptible Zubby inexpressible--wemight almost say inconceivable--joy, as was evidenced by the rising ofher black cheeks, the shutting of her blacker eyes, and the display ofher gorgeous teeth--front and back--as well as her red gums.
"Oh! I'm _so_ glad," exclaimed Angela, sitting down on a mat beside hersister, and gazing through her tears.
"So am I, darling," responded Paulina, "and so would baby be if she wereawake and understood it."
Zubby looked as if she were on the point of awaking baby in order toenable her to understand it; fortunately she thought better of this.
"But I'm _so_ frightened," added Angela, changing rather suddenly from asmile to a look of horror.
"Why, dearest?" asked Paulina.
"Oh! you've no idea what awful things I have heard since I went to livewith the Jew, who is _very_ kind to me, Paulina. They said they weregoing to kill the Dey."
"Who said, dear?"
"The--the people--you know. Of course I don't know who all the peopleare that come to see us, and I don't like to ask; but some of them arebad--oh, _so_ bad!" she looked appallingly solemn here--"and thenMariano--"
"Ah! what of Mariano and Francisco and Lucien?" asked Paulina withincreasing interest, while Zubby became desperately intelligent.
"Oh, he was sent on _such_ a dangerous expedition," continued Angela,blushing slightly, and more than slightly crying, "and when he wascoming back he was caught in the streets, and carried off to thatdreadful Bagnio, about which he has told me such awful horrors. SoBacri told me on his return, for Bacri had tried to save him, butcouldn't, and was nearly lost himself.--But what is all the noise aboutoutside, sister--and the shooting off of guns?"
The noise referred to by the pretty Sicilian was caused by a party ofrioters who, returning from the slaughter of the Dey, were hurryingtowards the house of Bacri, intent on plunder. They were led by one ofthose big blustering men, styled bullies, who, in all lands, have atalent for taking the lead and talking loud when danger is slight, andmodestly retiring when it is great.
Waving a scimitar, which already dripped with blood, this man headed therushing crowd, and was the first to thunder for admittance at the Jew'sdoor. But no one answered his demands.
Shouting for a beam, he ran to a neighbouring pile of timber, and, withthe aid of some others, returned bearing a battering-ram, which wouldsoon have dashed in the door, if it had not been opened by Bacrihimself, who had returned just in time to attempt to save his house frombeing pillaged.
For a few seconds the rioters were checked by surprise at the cool, calmbearing of the Jew. Then they dropped the beam, uttered a yell ofexecration, and rushed upon him, but were unexpectedly checked by one oftheir own number suddenly turning round, and in a voice of sternauthority ordering the crowd to stand back.
The young janissary who acted thus unexpectedly was a tall handsome manof resolute bearing, but with a frame that rather denoted activity thanstrength. As he held a glittering sword threateningly in his righthand, his order was obeyed for a few seconds, and then it was observedthat he held in his left hand a rope, which was tied round the neck of aChristian slave. This slave was none other than our unfortunate friendFrancisco Rimini.
"Who art thou that issues commands so bravely?" demanded the bully,stepping forward.
"You must be aware, comrades," said the young soldier, addressing thecrowd rather than his interrogator, "that Sidi Hamet--now Dey ofAlgiers--has given strict orders that the houses of the Jews are to berespected. I am here to see these orders carried out."
"And who art thou? again I demand," said the bully, observing that hiscomrades showed a tendency to waver, "that dost presume to--"
"I am one," cried the young soldier, with a whirl of his gleaming bladeso close to the man's nose that he staggered back in alarm--"I am onewho knows how to fulfil his duty. Perchance I may be one who shall evenpresume some day to mount the throne when Hamet Dey is tired of it--inwhich case I know of a bully whose head shall grace the highest spike onBab-Azoun!"
The quiet smile with which the latter part of this speech was delivered,and the determined air of the youth, combined to make the soldierslaugh, so that the bully felt himself under the necessity of retiring.
Sheathing his sword with a business-like air, and rudely pushing hisprisoner into the house, whither Bacri had already retired, the youngsoldier entered and shut the door.
"Lucien!" exclaimed Bacri in surprise, as he grasped the hand of theyoung janissary, "thou hast managed this business well, considering thatthou art no Turk. How didst thou come to think of it?"
"I should never have thought of it, had not my worthy father suggestedthe idea," replied Lucien, with a smile, as he removed the rope from theneck of his sire.--"Forgive me, father, if I have played my part tooroughly--"
"Too roughly!" echoed the bluff merchant, with a laugh; "why, boy, dostthink that thine old father has lost all his youthful vigour? I trownot.--You see, Signor Bacri, we have had information of what wasimpending for some days past, and although we could do nothing to avertthe catastrophe, we thought it possible that we might manage to avoidthe massacre at the palace. Knowing from report that the janissariesran riot at such times, and being aware that my son Lucien--who is anoted linguist, Signor Bacri--spoke their langu
age almost as well as anative, I suggested that he should procure a uniform and personate ajanissary, while I should act the part of a runaway slave. Being afavourite with poor Achmet, as you know, Lucien had much influence amongthe domestics, and easily procured the disguise. The moment theinsurrection took place we fled from the palace, and, as you see, herewe are!"
"But why came you hither?" asked Bacri, with a troubled look.
"To whom else could we flee for shelter?" returned Lucien. "You are theonly friend we have in the city--except, indeed, the Padre Giovanni, whohas no power to save us."
"Alas!" returned the Jew, leading his friends into the skiffa, andseating himself on the edge of the fountain that played there, "you leanon a broken reed. My power is not sufficient to protect myself. Evennow the soldiers might have taken my life, and robbed my house withimpunity, had it not been for your courage, Lucien. My predecessor wasshot in cold blood by a man who for the murder was only transported. Ifhe had slain the poorest Turk, or even a Moor, he would have beenstrangled. We are a despised as well as persecuted race, and ourinfluence or power to protect you is very small. Indeed, if it wereknown that I had given you shelter, my life would be forfeited, as wellas yours. I have already placed it in great jeopardy in order to saveMariano--"
"Mariano!" exclaimed Francisco, turning an anxious gaze on the Jew; "ishe, then, in danger?"
"He is captured by the Turks," replied Bacri, "and is now in theBagnio."
"Where they will doubtless bastinado him to death," said Francisco,grinding his teeth and clenching his hands with suppressed passion."Bacri, I feel that in me which makes me long to run a-muck among theseTurks."
"I understand you not," said Bacri.
"Why, I will take the first opportunity that offers to cut the throatsof as many of these fiends as possible before they manage to cut mine.They say that vengeance is sweet. I will taste it and try," said themerchant, with a grim smile.
"`Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord,'" returned Bacrislowly; "says not your own Scripture so?"
"It may be so, but man's power of endurance is limited," retortedFrancisco gloomily.
"But God's power to aid and strengthen is _not_ limited," returned theJew. "Believe me, no good ever came of violence--at least fromrevengeful violence. No doubt a violent assault at the right time andwith a right motive has often carried the day; but violence given way tofor the mere purpose of gratifying the feelings is not only useless, itis hurtful and childish."
"Hast never given way to such thyself, Bacri?" demanded Francisco withsome asperity.
"I have," replied the Jew with humility, "and it is because I have doneso that I am enabled to speak with some authority as to the results.Your desire, I suppose, is to save Mariano. If you would attain thatend, you must learn to curb your passions and use the powers of judgmentwith which your Maker has endowed you."
"Well, well, we will let that point hang on its peg in the meantime,"returned Francisco impatiently; "but what wouldst thou advise? we are atyour mercy."
"I will do what I can to prove that a Jew is not ungrateful," answeredBacri. "If they leave us unmolested here till night-fall we may find away of escape for you, at all events from the city, but it is only suchas desperate men would choose to take."
"We _are_ desperate men," said Lucien quietly.
"Once outside the walls," continued the Jew, "you must keep perfectlyclose and still by day, for a diligent search will be made for you, andonly at night will you be able to creep out from your place of hiding tosteal what you can for food, and to attempt to gain the coast, whereyour only chance of escape lies in seizing one of the small feluccas inwhich the piracies of the Algerines are carried on, and putting off tosea without provisions,--with the certainty of being pursued, and theall but certainty of being overtaken."
"Such risks are better than death or slavery," answered Francisco. "Wethink not of danger. The only thing that gives me concern is how we areto get my poor son out of the Bagnio."
"I will manage that for you," said Bacri, "for my gold is at leastpowerful with menials; but in order to do this I shall have to leave thehouse for a time and must conceal you in a cellar."
"Do as you will, Bacri," said Francisco; "we are in your hands and placeimplicit confidence in you."
"Well, follow me!" said the Jew.
Rising and leaving the skiffa, he conducted them down a staircase into asmall cellar, which was almost too low to admit of their standing erect.Here he pointed out a shelf on which were a pot of water and a loaf,also a bundle of straw on which they might rest when so disposed.Having described carefully to them the manner of Mariano's escape overthe roof of the house and by the city wall, and having given them therope that had been used on that occasion, he said--
"Now I leave you. I must lock the trap-door that leads to this dungeon,and carry away the key, because if rioters were to break in and find thekey in it, they would at once discover your refuge."
"And what if you be killed, Bacri, and we be left here without a soul inthe world who knows of our whereabouts?" said Francisco, with a look ofanxiety. "I'd rather be bastinadoed to death than be buried alive afterall."
"If it goes ill with me, as may well be the case," answered the Jew,"you have only to make use of this crowbar and wrench off the lock ofthe door. But if rioters enter the house, be careful not to do it untilsome time after they are gone, and all is quiet. When free, you mustuse your own wisdom and discretion.--Farewell!"
Bacri ascended the trap-ladder and shut the door, leaving his friends indarkness which was made visible but not dispelled by a small lantern.They listened intently to his receding footsteps until the last faintecho left them in total silence.