CHAPTER SIX.
SENDS A GLEAM OF HOPE INTO A GLOOMY REGION.
The short twilight of southern latitudes was giving place to the shadesof night, when Bacri the Jew issued from the low door of his house, andthreaded the narrow labyrinth of streets which compose the old town ofAlgiers.
The greater part of the old, or, as it is styled, the Moorish town,remains almost exactly the same at the present time that it was at thetime of which our tale treats. It occupied the face of a steep hill,and was built in the form of a triangle, the apex being a fort, or"casba," near the summit of the hill. The base was a street of orientalhouses upwards of half a mile in extent, beyond which the sea-wall, welllined with batteries, rose directly from the beach, and was washed bythe spray in every breeze. All the houses facing the sea have now beentaken down, and their places are occupied by wide handsome streets ofFrench buildings; the beach and the site of the old wall being occupiedby splendid quays, wharves, and terraces.
The houses of the Moorish town were square white-washed blocks, built soclose to each other that most of the streets were mere lanes, not morethan from six to ten feet wide. No windows worthy of the name garnishedthe dead white walls of these houses, whose light sprang in reality fromwithin, each house being in the form of a square of building surroundinga central court, which at the top was open to the weather. The realwindows of the houses looked into the courts, which, however, were by nomeans dismal. They had fountains in the midst of them, which sent up aperpetual--and, in such a climate, grateful--sound of trickling water;while in their corners and elsewhere boxes of earth enabledbanana-trees, and palms, and various creepers, to convert the littlespots into delightful, though miniature, gardens. Such windows asopened outwards were mere loop-holes, not much more than a foot square--many of them less,--the larger of them being always strongly grated.Most of these houses projected beyond their basement storeys, thusrendering the open space above narrower than the streets below, and inmany cases the walls absolutely met, and converted the streets intotunnels. Strange wooden props, seemingly insufficient for their duty,upheld these projecting upper storeys, and gave a peculiarly un-Europeancharacter to the streets,--a character which became still moreperplexing to the stranger when he observed here and there, in placeswhere architecture had scarcely space or light to be seen, fountains ofthe most elegant design and workmanship; doorways of white marble, mostelaborately and beautifully carved; and entrance-halls that resembledcourts of the Alhambra in miniature.
When one first sees such things they induce surprise, but the surpriseevaporates when we reflect that these pirates had at their command theservices of thousands of slaves, many of whom represented the artistictalent of the civilised world.
Passing rapidly along these narrow streets, and bending his tall formwhen he came to low archways, Bacri at length emerged on the chief "highstreet" of the town, which, entering at the north, or Bab-el-Oued gate,completely traversed the city under that name as far as the Dey'spalace, where it changed its name to Bab-Azoun, and terminated at thesouth gate of the same name.
In this street was the Bagnio, already mentioned as being the prison ofthe government slaves.
Here Bacri paused, drew a glittering coin from his pocket, and knockedat a strong oaken door. A janissary opened, and roughly demanded hisbusiness, but changed his tone at once and gave the Jew admission, onreceiving the coin.
Passing though a lobby, whose marble pillars were sadly broken anddisfigured, the Jew entered a courtyard, open to the sky, around whichwere a number of recesses or cells. In these the unhappy slaves sathuddled together. They were not cold, for it was summer; but theirmisery and want of space probably induced them to cling closely to eachother.
The place had once been a bathing establishment, and an old fountainstill gurgled in the centre of the court; but its drains had been chokedlong ago, and the waters had overflowed, to find exit as they bestmight, rendering the floor a damp and uncomfortable residence forscorpions, centipedes, and other repulsive insects.
The slaves received only two small rolls of black bread as their rationsat the close of each day, and they were too eagerly engaged in devouringthese to pay much regard to their visitor.
Looking carefully round, the Jew at length discovered the objects of hissearch,--Francisco, Lucien, and Mariano Rimini. The two first wereseated side by side, eating their meagre meal. Mariano lay near them,heavily laden with irons, and also endeavouring to eat.
"Friends," said Bacri, approaching them.
"Villain!" cried Mariano, starting up into a reclining attitude, despitethe agony that the act occasioned, and fixing his eyes on the Jew.
"You do me injustice, young man," said Bacri, seating himself on thebasement of a pillar.
"It may be that he does you injustice," said Lucien sternly,"nevertheless we have all of us good reason to believe that you are afriend of the pirate Hassan, and no friend of ours."
"Whether friend or foe, say thy say, man, and be gone," cried the bluffFrancisco, whose spirit suffered even more than his body from theindignities to which he had been subjected that day.
"Listen, then," said Bacri impressively. "You know my name and nation,but you do not know that I am the chief of the Jews in this city ofdevils. I and my people are regarded by these followers of Mohammed asworse than the dogs in their streets, yet, while they treat us with theutmost indignity, they know that we are good traders, and as such bringriches within their walls. I have power--the power of wealth--to helpyou at a pinch; indeed I _have_ helped you, for it was only by means ofa promise of gold that I induced Sidi Hassan to spare your lives whenhis men were bent on taking them. But that is not what I came to tellyou to-night. I came to say that the poor captive girls with whom youvoyaged to this place are for the present out of danger."
"Say you so?" exclaimed Mariano eagerly. "How can that be? Did I notsee Angela led to the slave-market this very afternoon?"
"You did, and I purchased her for the purpose of protecting her. She isnow in my house. Her sister and the infant have been sent as atemporary gift or loan to the British consul, under whose care she issafe _for the present_. But be not too sanguine," added Bacri, seeingthat Mariano's countenance brightened; "the whim of the Dey, or a changeof government, which latter is common enough here, may totally alter thestate of affairs. If the Dey willed it, I could not hold anything thatbelongs to me for an hour. They call us dogs, and treat us as such."
"They are themselves dogs!" cried Mariano indignantly.
"Christians have called us by the same name," returned the Jew calmly,"thereby proving the falsity of their own faith."
"Say not so!" cried Lucien with animation. "Many, calling themselvesChristians, have undoubtedly treated your race ill, but those who reallylove the Lord Jesus cannot help respecting the people from whom Himselfsprang. I side not with those who disgrace themselves by vilifying theJews."
Lucien extended his hand as he spoke, and Bacri grasped it kindly.
"Bah! you are fools; all of you arrant idiots!" cried a wild-lookingragged man in the neighbouring cell, starting up and glaring at them ashe clenched his fists. "What avails Christianity, or Judaism, oranything else here? 'Tis a world of fiends!--ha, ha! murderers,tormentors, hypocrites,--ha! ha!"
Here the man gave vent to a burst of wild ferocious laughter, so loudthat even the careless and callous warder was disturbed, and rattled hiskeys as if about to enter. The sound appeared to send a chill to theheart of the captive; an expression of terror overspread his thinhaggard features, and he shrunk together as he retired quickly to theremotest corner of his cell.
"A maniac, I fear," said Francisco in a low tone, observing that the Jewregarded him with a look of pity.
"No, not quite mad," replied Bacri in the same low tone, "but sometimesvery near it, I think. Poor man, I know him well. He has been fifteenyears a prisoner in Algiers. When first brought here he was as fine aspecimen of a Genoese youth as I ever saw. His name is Lorenzo
Benoni.He was captured with his wife and two children, all of whom died beforethe first year was out. Of course, although in the same city, he wasnever again permitted to see wife or children. He was very dangerous atfirst, attacking and nearly killing his guards whenever he got a chance,and frequently attempting to take his own life, so that they wereobliged to make him work constantly in heavy irons, and, I need scarcelyadd, bastinadoed and tortured him until his body became a mass ofbruises from head to foot. They subdued him, in the course of years, toa condition of callous and brutal indifference to everything, and atlast his great strength began to give way. He is now consideredincapable of doing much injury to any one, and seems almost tamed. TheTurks think that this has been brought about by sickness and starvation;it may be partly so, but I cannot help thinking that, despite thecontempt which, in a sudden burst of passion, he poured on it just now,religion has something to do with it, for I have noticed a considerablechange in him since he began to listen to the voice of an old man whohas been a true friend of the poor slaves since long before I came here.The old man professes, at least he teaches, your religion; but I knownot to what sect he belongs. Indeed, I think he belongs to none. This,however, am I sure of, that he holds equally by our Scriptures and yourTestament as being the whole Word of God."
The three captives listened to this narration with sinking hearts, forit opened up a glimpse of the terrible and hopeless future that laybefore themselves, so that for some time they sat gazing in silence attheir visitor, and at the miserable beings who were devouring the lastcrumbs of their black bread around them.
"I came to see you," continued Bacri, "partly to assure you of thecomparative safety of the girls who interested us all so much on boardthe vessel of Sidi Hassan, and partly to say that I will do what lies inmy power to alleviate your sad condition. With Lucien's education andknowledge of languages, it may be possible to get him into the immediateservice of the Dey, in which case he will be able to aid his father andbrother."
"Have you, then, much influence with the Dey?" asked Francisco.
"None," replied the Jew, with a sad smile. "I have already told youthat the pirates detest us; that we are tolerated only because of ourmoney-making powers, and the ease with which they can bleed us when theywant gold. But I have some influence with others in the city who havepower to move the Dey. There is one thing, however," here the Jewglanced pointedly at Mariano, "in regard to which I would give you mostearnest counsel, namely, that you should at once dismiss all idea ofrebellion. It will be utterly unavailing. You may, like the cagedlion, if you will, dash yourselves to death against your prison bars,but you cannot break them. Countless thousands of bold and bravespirits have attempted this plan, with no good result, in time past.The Turks are well acquainted with and quite prepared for it. Your onlychance of mitigating the woes of your condition lies in submission."
"It were better and nobler to die than to submit," said Marianogloomily.
"It were better and nobler to bow to the will of the Almighty than tocommit suicide," retorted Bacri, somewhat sternly. "It is selfishnessand pride which induces us to seek deliverance from sorrow and sufferingin death. There are men who have thought that truest nobility lay inchoosing a life in the midst of suffering and woe for the purpose ofalleviating it, and who have acted on their opinion. This lesson,however, is not so frequently learnt by us through precept as in theschool of sorrow."
Mariano felt abashed, yet at the same time rather nettled.
"Truly, then," he said, with a glance at his blood-stained shirt, "itseems to me that I have at all events begun my lesson in the rightschool. However, I believe thou art right, Bacri, and I bear thee noill-will for the rap thou didst bestow on my skull, which, luckily, is athick one, else thy ponderous fist had split it from the cranium to thechin."
"We had misjudged you, Bacri," said Francisco, extending his hand, asthe Jew rose to depart.
"We will lay your advice to heart; and we thank you, meanwhile, forcoming to see us in this foul den, which I dislike less because ofmoisture and dirt--these being familiar to me--than because of thelively reptiles which hold their nightly revels in it."
There was mingled humour and bitterness in Francisco's tone, as heuttered this sentence, which he concluded with a heavy sigh.Immediately after, the rusty bolts of their prison-door grated harshlyon their ears, and they listened sadly to the retreating footsteps ofone whom they now esteemed their only friend, as they died away in thedistance.
The Pirate City: An Algerine Tale Page 6