CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
THE DARK CLOUDS BEGIN TO THICKEN--A RESCUE ATTEMPTED--MASTER JIM PLAYS ACONSPICUOUS PART.
In the course of a few days the rumour reached Algiers that England wasin right earnest about sending a fleet to bombard the city, and at thesame time Colonel Langley learned, through information privatelyconveyed to him, that the report of Padre Giovanni was to some extentincorrect. The old man had misunderstood the message given to him, andrepresented the fleet as being in the offing, whereas it had not at thattime left England.
The caution, however, was useful, inasmuch as it put the British consulon his guard.
It was at the end of one of the Mohammedan festivals when the newsreached the Dey's ears. He was engaged at the time in celebrating thefestival, surrounded by his courtiers and those of the consuls whochanced to be in favour. The tribute due by Denmark and Spain nothaving been paid, their respective representatives were not present, andthe Dey was debating in his mind the propriety of sending them to workin irons with the slaves.
Among other entertainments there was a wrestling match about to takeplace in the skiffa of the palace. Before proceeding to the skiffa,Omar had shown his guests his menagerie, which contained some remarkablyfine specimens of the black-maned lion, with a variety of panthers,jackals, monkeys, and other animals. This was rather a trying ordealfor the nerves of the timid, because the animals were not in cages,being merely fastened by ropes to rings in the walls--all save one,called the "Spaniard," who was exhibited as the roarer of the tribe, andhad to be stirred up to partial madness occasionally to show his powersof lung; he was therefore prudently kept in a wooden cage.
Entering the skiffa, the Dey took his seat on a throne, and ordered thewrestlers to begin.
In the centre of the court was a pile of sawdust, surmounted by a flag.At a given signal two naked and well-oiled Moors of magnificentproportions rushed into the court and scattered the sawdust on thefloor, after which they seized each other round their waists, and beganan exciting struggle, which ended after a few minutes in one--of thembeing thrown. Another champion then came forward, and the scene wasrepeated several times, until one came off the conqueror, and obtainedfrom the Dey a purse of gold as his reward. The unsuccessful athleteswere consoled by having a handful of silver thrown into the arena to bescrambled for. It seemed as if more enjoyment was got by the spectatorsfrom the scramble than from the previous combats. After this a quantityof food was thrown to the athletes, for which another scramble ensued.
In the midst of this scene an officer of the palace was observed towhisper in the ear of the Dey, who rose immediately and left the skiffa,bringing the amusements to an abrupt close.
Thus was sounded the first clap of the thunder storm which was about todescend on the city.
The effect of it was great, and, to some of the actors in our tale, mostimportant.
All the executions of slaves which had been ordered to take place werecountermanded, except in the cases of one or two who had renderedthemselves particularly obnoxious, and a few others who were unfit forlabour. This was done because Omar determined to put forth all hisavailable power to render the fortifications of the place as strong aspossible. All the slaves were therefore set to work on them, but thosewho had been under sentence of death were kept from too great a reboundof spirits at the reprieve, by being told that the moment the work wasfinished their respective punishments should be inflicted. Our poorfriend Mariano was thus assailed by the horrible thought, while workingat the blocks of concrete, which he mixed from morning till night, thatin one such block he should ere long find a living tomb.
We need scarcely add that the thought drove him to desperation; but,poor fellow, he had by that time learned that the violence of despaircould achieve nothing in the case of one on whose limbs heavy irons wereriveted, and whose frame was beginning to break down under theprotracted and repeated tortures to which it had been exposed.
Ah! how many wretched men had learned the same bitter lesson in the sameaccursed city in days gone by--whose groans and cries, though unrecordedby the pen of man, have certainly been inscribed in the book of God'sremembrance, and shall yet be brought into a brighter light than that ofterrestrial day!
Omar Dey was a man of energy and decision. The instant it became knownto him that England was at last stirred up to resent the insults whichhad been heaped upon her and other nations by the Algerines, he setabout making preparations for defence on the vastest possible scale.
It was a sight worth seeing--though we cannot afford space to describeit in detail--the hundreds of camels, horses, mules, and donkeys thattrooped daily into the city with provisions and _materiel_ of everykind; the thousands of Arabs who by command flocked in from thesurrounding country to defend the city, and the hundreds of Christiancaptives who, collected from the quarries, as well as from the fields,gardens, and stables of their respective owners, were made to swarm likebees upon the already formidable walls.
Some of the slaves were fettered; most of them, having been tamed, werefree. Some were strong, others were weak, not a few were dying, but allwere made to work and toil day and night, with just sufficient rest toenable them to resume labour each morning. It was a woeful sight! Asight which for centuries had been before the eyes of Europeanstatesmen, but European statesmen had preferred that European peoplesshould go on cutting each other's throats, and increasing their nationaldebts, rather than use their power and wealth to set their captivebrethren free; and it was not until the nineteenth century that England,the great redresser of wrongs, put forth her strong hand to crush thePirate City.
While these busy preparations were going on, a terrible gale arose,which did a good deal of damage to the harbour and shipping of Algiers,and, among other peculiar side-influences, inscribed the name of theFrench consul in the Dey's black book. Indeed, nearly all the consulshad their place in that book now, for Omar had been chafed by the cloudof little worries that surrounded him, not having been long enough onthe throne to regard such with statesman-like equanimity.
The gale referred to had the effect of driving several Moorish vesselsclose under the walls of the town, just in front of the mosque DjamaDjedid. During its progress a French privateer, (in other words, alicensed pirate!) which chanced to be in port at the time,unintentionally fouled a Moorish vessel, and sank it.
Next day a divan was held, at which Omar demanded payment of the Frenchconsul. Not feeling himself bound to pay for the misdeeds of aprivateer, the consul refused, whereupon the privateer was seized, andall her crew sent in chains to work at the fortifications.
It chanced, about the same time, that news came of an English frigatehaving seized an Algerine vessel, and carried her off to Gibraltar.This sent Colonel Langley still deeper into Omar's black book, so thathe felt himself and family to be in great danger of being also put inchains and sent to the Marina, if not worse. He therefore hastened thesecret packing of his valuables, intending to avail himself of the firstopportunity that should offer of leaving the city.
Such an opportunity soon occurred, at least so thought the consul, inthe arrival of the "Prometheus," a British war-vessel of 18 guns, butColonel Langley found, as many have discovered before him, that "thereis many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip," for the Dey suddenly took ahigh position, and absolutely refused to allow the British consul todepart.
Captain Dashwood, the commander of the "Prometheus," on his firstinterview with the Dey, saw that there was no chance whatever of gettingoff the consul by fair means, for Omar treated him with studied hauteurand insolence.
"I know perfectly well," said he, at the conclusion of the conference,"that your fleet, which report tells me has already left England, isdestined for Algiers. Is it not so?"
"I have no official information, your highness," replied CaptainDashwood. "If you have received such news, you know as much as I do,and probably from the same source--the public prints."
"From whence I have it is a matter of no moment,"
returned the Dey, ashe abruptly closed the conference.
Immediately after, Captain Dashwood informed the consul of his intentionof sending a boat ashore next morning, with the ostensible motive ofmaking final proposals to the Dey, but really for the purpose ofcarrying out his plans, which he related in detail.
Accordingly, next morning, the captain proceeded to the palace, and keptthe Dey in complimentary converse as long as was possible with a man ofsuch brusque and impatient temperament.
While thus engaged, several of the men and midshipmen of the"Prometheus" proceeded to the consul's house. They did so in separatedetachments, and some of them returned once or twice to the boat, as iffor some small things that had been forgotten, thus confusing the guardsas to the numbers of those who had landed.
When Captain Dashwood again returned to his boat there were two moremidshipmen in it than the number that had left his ship--one being theconsul's wife, the other his daughter Agnes! Master Jim, however, hadbeen left behind, owing to the arrangements not having been sufficientto meet his requirements. Poor Mrs Langley had left him with agonisedself-reproach, on being assured that he should be fetched off on themorrow. Colonel Langley was of course obliged to remain with him.
When the morrow came another boat was sent ashore with baskets forprovisions. One of these baskets was taken to the consul's house. Itwas in charge of the surgeon of the ship, as Master Jim required theservices of a professional gentleman on the occasion.
All went well at first. The boat was manned by several men andmidshipmen, who went innocently to market to purchase provisions. Thesurgeon, a remarkably cool and self-possessed individual, went to theconsul's house, with a Jack-tar--equally cool and self-possessed--carrying the basket.
"Now then, let's see how smartly we can do it," said the surgeon, onentering Colonel Langley's nursery. "Is your child tractable?"
"Very much the reverse," replied the Colonel, with a smile.
"Umph! can't be helped.--Set down the basket, my man, and come and holdhim."
Now the Zaharian Zubby, not having been let into the secret of themysterious proceedings that followed, became a source of unexpecteddanger and annoyance to the surgeon and his friends. She watched theformer with some interest, while he mixed a small powder in the familymedicine-glass, and when he advanced with it to Master Jim, her largeeyes dilated so that the amount of white formed an absolutely appallingcontrast with her ebony visage. But when she saw Master Jim decline thedraught with his wonted decision of character, thereby rendering itnecessary for the nautical man to put powerful restraint on hisstruggling limbs, and to hold his nose while the surgeon forced open hismouth and poured the contents of the family glass down his throat, andwhen, in addition to all this, she beheld Colonel Langley standingcalmly by with an air of comparative indifference while this hideouscruelty was being practised on his son and heir, her warm heart couldstand no more. Uttering a series of wild shrieks, she ran at thenautical man, scored his face down with her ten fingers, seized thechoking Jim in her arms, and thrust her fore-finger down his littlethroat with the humane view of enabling him to part with the nauseousdraught which he had been compelled to swallow.
Master Jim had convulsed himself twice, and had actually got rid of alittle of the draught, before the surgeon could recover him from theirate negress.
"I hope he hasn't lost much of it," remarked the surgeon, lookinganxiously at the howling boy as he held him fast. "I brought only onedose of the drug, but we shall see in a few minutes.--Do stop the noiseof that screeching imp of blackness," he added, turning a look of angeron Zubby, whose grief was, like her mirth, obstreperous.
"I wish as some 'un had pared her nails afore I comed here," growled thenautical man.
"Hush, Zubby," said Colonel Langley, taking the girl kindly by the arm;"we are doing Jim no harm; you'll bring the janissaries in to see who isbeing murdered if you go on so--hush!"
But Zubby would not hush; the Colonel therefore called his black cookand handed her over to him--who, being a fellow-countryman, and knowingwhat a Zaharian frame could endure, carried her into an adjoining roomand quietly choked her.
"He's going--all right," said the surgeon, with a look and nod ofsatisfaction, as the child, lying in the nautical man's arms, droptsuddenly into a profound slumber.
"Now, we will pack him.--Stay, has he a cloak or shawl of any kind?"said the surgeon, looking round.
"Zubby alone knows where his mysterious wardrobe is to be found,"replied the Colonel.
"Then let the creature find it," cried the surgeon impatiently; "we haveno time to lose."
Zubby was brought back and told to wrap her treasure in something warm,which she willingly did, under the impression that she was about to beordered to take him out for a walk, but the tears which still bedimmedher eyes, coupled with agitation, caused her to perform her wonted dutyclumsily, and to stick a variety of pins in various unnecessary places.She was then sent to the kitchen with some trivial message to the cook.
While she was away, Master Jim was packed in the bottom of the vegetablebasket, and a quantity of cabbages, cauliflowers, etcetera, were placedabove him. The basket was given to the nautical man to carry. Then thesurgeon and the consul went out arm-in-arm, followed by two midshipmen,who were in attendance in the hall. Robinson--so the nautical man wasnamed--brought up the rear.
They proceeded along the street Bab-el-Oued for some distance, and then,passing the mosque near the slave-market, descended the street that ledto the Marina, and the place where the boat of the "Prometheus" lay inwaiting.
The consul and surgeon affected to talk and laugh lightly as theyapproached the gate, and were permitted to pass, the guard supposing, nodoubt, that the British consul was exercising his wonted civility inconducting his friends down to their boat. But fate, in the form ofZubby, was unfavourable to them. Either that loving damsel's finger hadbeen more effective than was at first supposed, or the pins wereoperating with unwonted pungency, but certain it is, that just as MrRobinson was passing under the gateway, Master Jim awoke from hisprofound slumber. Feeling, although not naturally dyspeptic, that thecabbages weighed heavy on his stomach, he set up such a howl, and struckout so violently, that the lid of the basket was forced up, and sundryvegetables rolled before the eyes of the astonished Turks.
Of course Master Jim and his bearer were taken prisoners, but the evildid not stop here, for the officer of the guard at once ordered thearrest of the consul himself, as well as the surgeon, the midshipmen,and the boat's crew of the "Prometheus," and the whole were thrust intothe dungeons of the common prison--the consul, by special order of theDey, being loaded with iron fetters.
The dismay of poor Mrs Langley and Agnes when they heard of the fate ofthe consul and his child may be imagined. It was however mitigated insome degree when, next morning, a boat came off to the "Prometheus"containing Master Jim himself, in charge of the faithful Zubby!
Whether it was that Omar deemed the child a useless encumbrance or avalueless article, or was visited by one of those touches of compunctionwhich are well-known to assail at times the breasts of even the worst ofpirates, we cannot tell; but no such clemency was extended to Jim'sfather. The Dey positively refused either to give him up or to promisehis personal safety, nor would he listen to a word respecting theofficers and men whom he had seized.
This was the news with which Captain Dashwood left Algiers, and which,some days later, he delivered to Lord Exmouth, when he met the Britishfleet on its way to the city, with the view of bringing the pirates totheir senses.