by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER XXXVI
AN ALMOST MIRACULOUS CONVERSION
It was a long story which Captain Penn Sharp told of his relations withAli-Noury Pacha; and his visitor was so incredulous at first that heappeared to have solemnly resolved not to accept anything as the truth.But the character of the speaker left its impress all along thenarrative; and Captain Ringgold was compelled to believe, just as thehardened sinner is sometimes forced to accept the truth when presentedto him by the true evangelist, though his teeth were set against it.
"You gentlemen with millions in your trousers pockets are subject toperils which we of moderate means are not exposed to," the commander ofthe Blanche began.
"That means you, and not me," suggested the visitor.
"You have the reputation of being a rich man, whether you are one ornot. My wife is rich, and I am only well off; but never mind that now,"replied Captain Sharp. "I saw General Noury, as we will call him afterthis if you do not object, for that is the name by which he chooses tobe known, in Gibraltar several times, and I knew all about your affairwith him there; but I did not get acquainted with him, for I despisedhim as much as you did.
"I sailed from the Rock, and took my wife to a great many of the portsof Europe, and some in Africa, including Egypt; but I am not going totell you about our travels. We went from Alexandria to Malta, Syracuse,and to Messina; and it was at this last port that I fell in with GeneralNoury. His steamer, I forget her name,"--
"The Fatime; but Felix McGavonty always called her the Fatty."
"The Fatty anchored within a cable's length of me before I had beenthere two hours, and the Pacha went ashore at once. That night my wifewas sick, and I went to the city to procure a certain medicine for her.I happened into a shop where no one could speak English, and I don'tspeak anything else. I was just going off to find another place wherethey did speak English, when a gentleman rose from a chair with somedifficulty and offered his services.
"It was General Noury. He had been drinking, but was not very badly off.He was as polite as a dancing-master, and helped me out so that I gotwhat I wanted. He spoke Italian as though he had known it in hisbabyhood. I was very much obliged to him, and thanked him with all mymight. He left before my package was ready, and I soon followed him.
"MY SHOT BROUGHT DOWN ONE OF THE BANDITS." Page 351.]
"As I entered the street that leads from the Corso Cavour to the shore Iheard the yells of a man in trouble. I always carried my revolver withme, and I had handled a good many rough villains in my day. I started ata run, and soon reached the scene of the fight. I found two men hadattacked one; and though the latter was bravely defending himself, hewas getting the worst of it. I saw that he was going under, and I firedjust as the man attacked dropped on the pavement.
"My shot brought down one of the bandits, and the other rushed towardsme. He had brought down his victim, and he wanted to get rid of me sothat he could go through his pockets. I fired at him, and he dropped thelong knife with which he was going to stick me on the pavement. There itis over the window;" and the captain pointed to it. "He was wounded; andthen he ran away, for he did not like to play with a revolver. Before Icould get to him, the other assassin got on his feet and followed him,though he moved with no little labor and pain; but my business was notwith him, and I let him go.
"The man who had been attacked was trying to get on his feet, and when Icame up to him I found it was General Noury. He had been stabbed in theshoulder, and he was bleeding very freely. With my assistance he walkedto my boat, and my men placed him in the stern-sheets. I found that hewas bleeding badly, and I was no surgeon. The Hotel Vittorio was on theother side of the street, and some one there could tell me in Englishwhere to find a doctor.
"Two gentlemen at the door were smoking. They were talking in English,and I told them what I wanted. They were both Americans, and one ofthem was a doctor. He volunteered to go with me. He said the patient hada bad wound. He went back to the hotel for his case of instruments, andthen went on board of the Viking with his patient. It would make yourdinner very late if I should give you all the details of the general'scase. Dr. Henderson stopped the flow of blood, and attended to hispatient for three weeks on board of the steam-yacht.
"When he was in condition to be moved to the Fatty, he did not wish togo. My wife had nursed him as she would have nursed her own brother, andas she had her uncle in Cuba. When he was convalescent he treated herwith the most profound respect. Mazagan came on board to see him, andtold me he had just come from Athens. But the general was plainlydisgusted with him, and wanted to get rid of him. He gave him thecommand of the Fatty, and ordered him to wait for him at Gibraltar.
"Dr. Henderson was travelling for pleasure, and he liked it so well thathe wanted more of it; but he had spent all his money, and had no more athome. He came on board of the Viking, and lived there. His friend hadleft, and he was alone. He had been a very skilful practitioner in NewYork City, but his thirst for travel would not permit him to wait longenough to save sufficient money from his abundant income.
"Of his own free will and accord General Noury told me that he wasleading a miserable life in spite of the wealth that he possessed, thehonors that crowned him in Morocco, and the leisure that was always athis command when the army was not in the field. As he summed it uphimself, his vices had got the better of him. He could not respecthimself. I could see that there was something left of him. I went towork on him. I am not an evangelist myself, and I did not take him onthat tack.
"I have no doubt that I had saved his life; and no man was ever moregrateful for the service I had rendered him. My wife was such a houri ashe had never seen in a harem. We both talked with him about the beautyof a good and useful life. In a word, we redeemed him. My wife is asincere Christian, and she did more of it than I did. He was absolutelypenitent over his sins, his dissipation, the wrongs towards others hehad committed, though he was still a Mohammedan; but a great deal of theprophet's creed would pass for Christianity. We both saw that it wouldbe useless to attack his religion; for he was a Moslem to the marrow ofhis bones.
"More than anything else he was penitent over his relations with you andyour party. The general was certainly infatuated over the beauty of MissBlanche; but it was as an artist runs mad over a picture. He solemnlyassured me he never had an unworthy thought in regard to her. He lookedupon her as a beautiful child, whose image haunted him day and night. Ifyou had permitted him to see her, that was all he wanted. No suchthought had ever entered his head as that of putting her in his harem,even if he had succeeded through his agents in capturing her; though hewas urged forward to this by the insults you heaped upon him.
"I mean that you spoke the truth to him, nothing more, as I did. Hedesires to beg your forgiveness, and he would cross the Atlantic for thepurpose of doing so. We stayed at Messina three weeks, and at the end ofthat time General Noury was quite well again. He gave Dr. Henderson ahundred thousand francs, and wanted me to take five times that amount;but I positively refused to take a cent from him. To shorten up thestory, we became fast friends, including my wife. He had sent the Fattyoff, and I invited him to remain on board of the Viking. He was in ahurry to get to Gibraltar; and I soon found that he had a reason forgoing there.
"He told me that the Fatty was old and slow, and more than a year beforehe had ordered the finest steam-yacht that could be built; and theBlanche was the result of the order. He named her after the highestideal he had ever been able to obtain of human loveliness; but he hadwritten this letter from Madeira, before he had had any trouble withyou. Ruth and I were ready to go to England by this time, and weconveyed the general to Gibraltar. He had received a letter from hisEnglish agent informing him that the Blanche was finished.
"He ordered his man of business to ship the best English ship's companyhe could gather together at liberal wages, and proceed to Gibraltar. Wefound her there. He insisted that I should sell the Viking, for which hefound a customer, and take the command of the Blanche. My wife shouldhav
e any and all the accommodations on board she desired, and we wouldmake the voyage around the world, an idea he borrowed from you, CaptainRinggold.
"I accepted the offer because I liked the general, and my wife was morepleased with the plan than I was. I was to have my own way abouteverything, and he acted in princely style. My first business was toimprove his reputation in Gibraltar. He gave a very large sum to thecharities of the city; and where the officers and soldiers had benefitassociations he filled up their coffers. He did not drink a drop ofspirits or wine, and would have signed a total-abstinence pledge if Ihad asked him to do so. I am not quite old enough to be his father; butif he had been my son I could have had no more influence over him.
"The general came to me to know how he should settle his accounts withMazagan, informing me that the villain had offered him twenty-fivethousand francs for the Fatty, and claimed the fifty thousand due him. Itold him he had made a bad bargain with the wretch, but as he hadpromised he must perform. The vessel was worth at least double what heoffered; but I advised him to take it, for money was no object to himcompared with getting rid of this villain. Mazagan took possession ofthe Fatty, and that was the last of her."
"No, it wasn't," interposed Captain Ringgold; and he gave a briefaccount of the "Battle of Khrysoko," with the events leading to it.
"Good for Captain Scott!" exclaimed the commander of the Blanche. "I amglad she has gone to the bottom, for that is the best place for her. Wesailed from Gibraltar to Madeira, where the general made himself solidwith the people there in the same manner as at the Rock. He apologizedto everybody he had insulted, and he was quite a lion before we left theport. Then we went to Mogadore; and there he scattered his harem, on theplea that he was going around the world; but he told me it would neverbe gathered together again, that or any other.
"The general would have gone to New York in the Blanche if you had beenthere, for the sole purpose of apologizing to you, and begging you toforgive him for all the injuries he had done or had attempted to do you.It is only five o'clock, and now you must see General Noury. I was goingto the Guardian-Mother this evening to make an appointment for him; forI thought you would be busy all day."
"I am quite ready now to meet him, and to give him my hand," repliedCaptain Ringgold. "I must say that this is the greatest conversion onrecord, considering that the Pacha is still a Mohammedan."
"I think so myself; but my wife will never be satisfied till she hasmade him a convert to the Christian religion," replied Captain Sharp, ashe led the way to the cabin of the general.
They were promptly admitted; and the owner of the Blanche started back,and stood with clasped hands gazing at Captain Ringgold.
"General Noury, this is Captain Ringgold, commander of theGuardian-Mother," said Captain Sharp.
"Most sincerely, I am very glad to see you, General Noury," added thevisitor, advancing with extended hand to the Pacha, for such he wasstill in spite of the change in his name.
"I feel more like throwing myself on my knees before you, after theOriental manner, than taking you by the hand," replied the general,though he took the hand tendered to him. "I have grievously wronged andinsulted you, and I ask to be forgiven with the most sincere andlong-continued sorrow for the injuries I have done you."
"General Noury, I am happy to take by the hand as my friend one who haspassed from the darkness into the light; and as my own religion teachesme to forgive those who have wronged me, I am glad to make the past, asit lies between us, a total blank."
"And my religion teaches me to seek the forgiveness of those I haveinjured, or tried to injure. We will not differ over our faith,different as they are; and on my part there shall henceforth be nothingelse to make us at variance."
"And nothing on my part," responded Captain Ringgold, again pressing thehand of the Pacha.
The general was invited to visit the Guardian-Mother, and dine with theparty in the cabin. Captain Ringgold was then conducted to the afterpart of the ship, and there found Mrs. Sharp, who was delighted to seehim. The Pacha presently came out of his cabin dressed in eveningcostume, but in European style, and the trio embarked in the barge. Asthey approached the anchorage of the ship, strains of martial music camefrom her deck, which the commander could not explain. It appeared thatsome of the invited officers had sent a regimental band on board as acompliment to the steamer and her passengers.
The long absence of the commander had begun to excite some uneasiness,for he had not been seen since the middle of the forenoon. The additionof even three more guests to the crowded table upset the calculations ofthe accomplished steward, and he was obliged to add another table. Whilehe was doing so, the captain told his passengers "of the mighty thingsthat had happened." He could not tell the whole story; but he begged allon board to receive the Pacha kindly and politely, for he had forgiveneverything, and he honored him for the bravery and resolution with whichhe had put his vices behind him. "Get thee behind me, Satan!" was theway he phrased it.
"HE WAS PLACED AT THE RIGHT OF CAPTAIN RINGGOLD." Page359.]
The general was then presented to all the party, passengers as well asinvited guests. It may have required an effort on the part of the formerto carry out the instructions of the commander; but the Pacha declaredthat he was delighted with his reception. He was placed on the right ofCaptain Ringgold, as the guest of honor, and treated with distinguishedconsideration by all the people from the shore.
The dinner was Mr. Melancthon Sage's crowning effort, as he had beenordered to make it. Not a word was said, or an allusion made, to thescenes of the past in which the trouble had bubbled up. The commandermade a speech, and proclaimed his temperance principle so originallythat the military guests hardly missed the wine to which they wereaccustomed. Some of them spoke, mostly of the ship and her agreeablepassengers; but all agreed the Pacha made the speech of the evening,which was a comparison between his own country and those in which he hadspent so large a portion of his life. In the first place, he was a veryhandsome man; his English was perfect; and he had a poetic nature, whichdeveloped itself in the flowery language he used.
It was a very delightful occasion, and everybody enjoyed it without anydrawbacks. The Maud was at the gangway to take the party ashore; for theParsee merchants had invited the military officers to make use of her.By eleven o'clock all were gone in that direction. Captain Ringgold hadintended to sail for Bombay the next day; but the extraordinary eventwhich had transpired at Aden decided him to remain another day.
The party from the Blanche, attended by the commander, were put onboard of their steamer, in the barge. On her return Captain Ringgold wasvery anxious to ascertain what impression had been made upon thepassengers by His Highness the Pacha. They insisted that he was not thesame man at all, and that they had been pleased with him. Had he reallyreformed his life? Mrs. Belgrave had heard from Mrs. Sharp a fulleraccount of the conversion of the sinner in a high place, and shebelieved it.
Louis Belgrave sat at the side of Miss Blanche, and she had littleknowledge of the intentions of the Pacha so far as she was concerned. Hehad treated her with the most scrupulous politeness and reserve, and sheadmitted that she "rather liked him." Mrs. Blossom declared that he wasstill a heathen, and wondered that Mrs. Sharp had not converted him toChristianity while she was about it, as she would have done if she hadhad the opportunity. But the good woman would probably have lost hercase if she had tried to do too much at once.
The next day the intercourse between the two steamers was renewed; andthe Pacha was decidedly a lion, though he conducted himself with extrememodesty. The impression he continued to make was decidedly in his favor.He assumed nothing on account of his wealth, his lofty station, oranything else. The passengers dined that day in the cabin of theBlanche, with about all the guests whose acquaintance the general hadmade on board the Guardian-Mother.
In the afternoon it was decided by the unanimous vote of the company onboard of the Guardian-Mother that the two steamers should sail the nextday for Bombay toge
ther. The "Big Four" had been properly noticed by thePacha, and they had all made friends with him. He had talked with Louisa good deal, for he had become very well acquainted with him atMogadore; and Scott even thought it possible such a man, "made ofmoney," might yet buy a steamer for him.
The Maud, with the Parsee merchants and all the friendly officers,followed the two magnificent steamers to sea the next day, and bothvessels fired salutes for them at parting. The party were going toIndia; new sights, different from anything they had ever seen before,were to open upon them, and it is more than possible that the young menon board would fall into some stirring adventures as they proceeded. Thecompany of the Blanche was likely to bring with it some attractions, andto change somewhat the order of events on board both vessels. But thenarrative of the voyage will be found in "ACROSS INDIA; OR, LIVE BOYS INTHE FAR EAST."