The Pirate City: An Algerine Tale

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER NINE.

  DESCRIBES A MOORISH BRIDE, A WEDDING, AND A METAMORPHOSIS, BESIDESINDICATING A PLOT.

  On the following morning Mrs Langley set out on horseback for thepalace of the cadi, to attend the wedding of his daughter with SidiOmar, and, true to her promise, turned aside on the way to pay a visitto the imprisoned bride of Rais Ali.

  She was accompanied, of course, by the remarkable bridegroom himself,and also by her husband's janissary, Sidi Hassan, as well as by herdaughter Agnes, who rode a spirited Arab pony.

  Immediately on entering the gate of the city, Rais and the ladiesdismounted, and leaving their horses in charge of a groom, ascended onfoot one of the narrow streets of the town. So steep was this streetthat it consisted of a flight of broad steps, which led ultimately tothe casba, or citadel, at the upper part of the town. But before theyhad ascended it very far, the interpreter diverged into a cross street,which was much narrower. It terminated in a _cul-de-sac_, at the bottomof which stood the door of Rais Ali's town residence.

  And a remarkable door it was, made of thick oaken planks, studded withenormous nails, the heads of which were as large as a half-crown. Justabove it there was a square hole grated with thick iron bars, whichserved to enlighten the gloomy passage within.

  Applying the key before mentioned to this door, Rais threw it open andbade the visitors enter.

  Having carefully shut and re-locked the door, the interpreter led themthrough a narrow passage, which terminated in the usual square court ofMoorish houses. This was very small, and, like all such courts, had noroof, so that a pleasant gleam of sunshine flickered through thecreepers which twined up its pillars and gleamed on the drops that fellfrom a tinkling fountain in the centre.

  Entering an open doorway on the right of the court, the interpreter ledthe way up a flight of marble steps to the second storey of the house.A small gallery, such as one sees in public libraries in England, ranround the four sides of the building over the balustrade, of which onecould look down on the leafy court with its ever singing _jet d'eau_.The windows of the several private, apartments opened upon this gallery.

  In the centre of one side of the square was a large open doorway, in theform of a Moorish arch, by which entrance was obtained into a littleextremely ornate apartment. The dome-shaped roof of this boudoir waslighted by four little holes filled with stained-glass, and the wallswere covered with beautifully painted tiles. Rich ornaments of variousEastern and fanciful kinds were strewn about, and valuable Persian rugscovered the marble floor.

  On an ottoman, in the centre of all, sat Rais Ali's bride, cross-legged,and on a cushion before her lay the cat, her only companion.

  She was clothed in garments of the richest description, which glitteredwith gold embroidery and jewels. Seated thus, stroking the cat, andwith a self-satisfied smile on her fat pretty face, she seemed the verypersonification of contentment. Her soft brown neck was almost hiddenwith rows of pearls, and long rows of the same jewels depended from thehigh filigree cap which towered above her head. Her dress consisted ofthree open jackets or short caftans, one above the other, withoutsleeves. These were profusely garnished with gold lace, and fastenedonly at the waist. White linen trousers or drawers covered her limbs tothe ankles, but these were so immensely wide as to bear more resemblanceto female drapery than to the masculine appendages which their namesuggests. A silken, gold-striped shawl was fastened by two cornersround her waist, and hung down in front like an apron. Sleeves of fineembroidered muslin and of great width covered her arms. Her little feetand ankles were bare, but the latter were ornamented with several thickgold leglets. In each ear she wore five large round ear-rings, two ofthese fitting into two holes in the lower, and three into the upper partof the ear. One awkward result of this was that the upper ear-ringspulled the ears down, and made them pendent like those of a poodle!

  The visitors having been introduced, Madam Rais Ali received them with agood-humoured stare, but said nothing. Mrs Langley then tried toengage her in conversation, but Mrs Ali continued to stare and smilewithout speaking, for the good reason that she understood neither Frenchnor English. Requesting Ali to interpret, Mrs Langley then put one ortwo questions. The bride turned her large dark eyes on her husbandwhile he was speaking, and then, instead of replying, turned them on hervisitors and laughed. Whereupon little Agnes, unable to controlherself, also laughed; this unhinged Mrs Langley, who laughed likewise,and Rais Ali followed suit from sympathy.

  After this satisfactory ebullition, Mrs Langley again essayed to induceconversation, but beyond yes, no, and a laugh, she could draw forthnothing whatever from the bride, whose mind, in regard to all thingsterrestrial, with the exception of household affairs, was a perfectblank. Mohammedan females are treated by their lords like babies. Theyreceive no education worthy of the name, and are therefore apt to bechildish in their ideas.

  After one or two fruitless attempts, the visitors took leave of thehappy bride, who was thereupon locked up again by her jealous husband,and left to her own resources and the cat.

  Returning to the place where their steeds had been left, the partyre-mounted, and proceeded to the palace of the cadi.

  This palace, being situated in one of the narrow lanes of the town, hada very undignified and dull exterior. Indeed, no one could haveimagined it to be a palace, but for the spiral columns of marble andother rich and costly carving around the entrance. Inside, however, theaspect of things was more in keeping with the dignity of the owner.

  The lady and her daughter were ushered into a little square hall, inwhich several guards were seated, cross-legged, on small stone seats orniches round the walls, smoking long pipes. Beyond this was theprincipal entrance-hall or antechamber of the palace. It was gorgeousin marble pillars, stucco designs, horse-shoe arches, and otherMooresque decorations. Here a large party of officials and friends weremoving about. Beyond this, they came to the square court, which is thesame in general arrangements, in all Moorish houses, though, of course,not in size or luxury of detail.

  Here the cadi himself met his guests, and conducted them to the suite ofchambers on the second storey, which were devoted to the ladies. At theprincipal entrance to these they were received by the cadi's wife, and,with much display of friendliness and affection, were conducted into theharem--that mysterious retreat which, in a Mohammedan household, isnever entered by mortal man, except the lord thereof.

  It was Mrs Langley's first visit to such a scene, and, although she hadbeen prepared for something magnificent, the gorgeous nature ofeverything far surpassed her expectations. The rooms, indeed, weresmall, being, like those of all Moorish dwellings, rather long andnarrow, with recesses or antechambers. Some of these latter haddome-shaped roofs, with little coloured glass skylights, such as we havealready described, and were delightfully snug retreats. The walls andceilings of all the apartments were profusely ornamented, and thehangings and furniture were of the richest material.

  On a silken couch, at the farther end of one of these small apartments,sat the bride, Zara, youngest daughter of the cadi, and a lovely girl ofnineteen. Poor Zara! Her history--not by any means an uncommon one inthat land--goes to prove that Mohammedan women, far more than English,have need of a "Women's Rights Society."

  Zara was already a widow with two beautiful children! Her firsthusband, to whom she had been married without her inclination beingconsulted, had been strangled.

  It was afterwards proved that he was innocent of the crime for which hehad suffered, but that gave very little pain to the consciences of thosewho had strangled him, partly because their consciences were callous,and partly because they regarded the event as one of the decrees of"Fate."

  After his death it became necessary that another husband should be foundfor Zara. She, poor creature, would have been thankful to have remainedin a state of widowed felicity; but this was not deemed proper by herwealthy relatives. Of course it was not difficult to find a suitorwhere a pretty girl was the hook, and a
large dower the bait. Sidi Omarcame forward, and all the relatives said that it was an excellentmatch--all save one, Zara's eldest sister, Hanyfa.

  Hanyfa was--to speak plainly--a bad girl. She was one of the wives of agreat officer of state--in other words, a particularly noted pirate--named Sidi Hamet. Now, Hamet was the Aga or commander-in-chief of thecavalry. He was an ambitious man, and a rival of Sidi Omar in thisrespect. Of course he hated Omar, and so did his wife Hanyfa, hence herobjection to him as her sister's husband. But neither she nor Hametcould stay the marriage; they therefore made up their minds to endureit.

  One thing that struck and surprised Mrs Langley was the extremefairness of many of the Moorish ladies; some of whom were quite as fairas Europeans, and very beautiful, with much finer eyes than those of themore northern belles.

  Having laid aside the shroud-like veils which Moorish ladies wear whenexposed to the slightest chance of meeting the gaze of man, they nowstood confessed in all the magnificence of Oriental taste. It isimpossible to describe the dazzling splendour of the jewels with whichtheir costumes absolutely blazed; especially those in the little goldencaps, or salmas, which some of them wore. There were bouquets of roses,jessamine, peacock's-feathers, and butterflies, formed of diamonds,rubies, emeralds, and other precious gems. We do not draw on ourimagination here, good reader. It is probable that if a comparison hadbeen instituted, these pirates could have far outshone any court ofEurope in the matter of jewellery.

  Of course no gentlemen were present. It is one of the drawbacks ofMohammedan female life that the ladies can never enjoy the satisfactionof displaying themselves to male admirers, with the exception ofhusbands, fathers, and brothers. How far the display of themselves toeach other is attended with pleasure remains a doubtful point--especially when we consider that jealousy has not yet been quiteeradicated from the female human breast.

  However, on the occasion of which we write, most of the assembled ladiesappeared to be highly delighted with each other. They were all verymerry too, and, being little better than children as regardsintellectual training, they were particularly childlike in theirmerriment.

  As the wife of the British consul was a lady of some importance justthen, (the consul being high in favour with the Dey), she was receivedwith becoming ceremony, and conducted to a seat next the bride. Thisseat, like the seats of Orientals in general, was simply a cushion laidon the marble floor. Seating herself with some difficulty in theMoorish fashion, she proceeded to pay some compliments to the bride inEnglish and French, but as Zara knew neither of these languages, sheshook her head, smiled, and returned some compliments in Turkish;whereupon Mrs Langley shook her head and smiled. The rest of thecompany, from infection probably, nodded to each other also, and smiled.Two or three pretty young and rather stout girls turned aside, and wentthe length of giggling.

  Fortunately at this point an interpreter was brought forward in theperson of an Italian slave, a good-looking middle-aged lady, whounderstood French, and who, during a servitude of ten years, had alsoacquired Turkish.

  Compliments were now bandied to and fro with great volubility, withoutany introductory references to weather, and much notice was taken oflittle Agnes, whose appearance was the cause of some good-naturedcriticism among the Algerine belles. As the costume of these latter,--with much variety in colour and detail,--bore strong general resemblanceto that of the bride of Rais Ali, it is not necessary to describe itmore minutely.

  Coffee and sweetmeats were now served, the former in exquisitelydelicate porcelain cups, so small that they might have been easilymistaken for part of a doll's establishment. They had neither handlesnor saucers, and were prevented from burning the fingers by beinginserted into what we may style egg-cups of beautiful gold and silverfiligree. The coffee was too thick to suit the European palate, beingground in a fashion peculiar to the Moors. It was also too sweet.

  There was present a younger sister of the bride, who had not only atendency, but had already attained in an unusual degree, to thepossession of _embonpoint_ and was appropriately named Fatma. She worethe salma, a dazzling little golden cap, in token of being stillunmarried. She seemed much captivated with little Agnes. No wonder,for, in the simplicity of a pure white dress, and with her fair curlsstreaming down her cheeks, unadorned save by one little blush rose, shelooked like an ethereal spirit dropped into the midst of the garishparty.

  Fatma got up suddenly and whispered to her mother.

  "My little girl," said the Moorish lady, through the interpreter,"thinks your daughter would look _so_ pretty in our costume."

  "I have no doubt she would," replied Mrs Langley, glancing with somepride at Agnes.

  "She asks if you will allow her to be dressed just now in the Moorishfashion."

  "If there is sufficient time," said Mrs Langley, with an amused smile.

  "Oh, plenty of time," cried Fatma, who immediately seized the notunwilling Agnes by the hand, and ran off with her.

  Opposite to Zara sat her sister Hanyfa, who looked pretty and innocentenough just then, though Mrs Langley was struck by her look of superiorintelligence, and a certain sharpness of glance which might almost havebeen styled suspicious.

  The consul's lady was about to address her, but was interrupted by theentrance of several dancing-women, who immediately claimed the undividedattention of the company.

  One of these carried a sort of guitar, another an earthenware drumcovered at one end with parchment, and a third a large tambourine, whilea fourth prepared to dance.

  Of the dancing we need say little. It was unworthy of the name. Therewas little motion of the feet, and a good deal of waving of a kerchiefheld in each hand. The music was still less worthy of note; its chieffeature being noise. Nevertheless, the Moorish ladies, knowing nobetter, enjoyed it extremely, and Mrs Langley enjoyed itsympathetically. These women were professionals, the ladies themselvestaking no part in the dancing.

  After this the bride ascended by steps to one of the shelves or stonerecesses, which formed convenient sofas or couches round the walls ofthe apartment, and there, seated on cushions, submitted to be arrayed inbridal apparel. None but a lady's pen could do full justice to herstupendous toilet. We shall therefore do no more than state that theludicrously high head-dress, in particular, was a thing of unimaginablesplendour, and that her ornaments generally were so heavy as to renderher incapable of walking without support.

  While this was going on in the chamber of state, a very different, butnot less remarkable, transformation was being wrought in Fatma's ownprivate apartment, where she and several of her Algerine companions,assisted by a coal-black slave-girl, named Zooloo, converted innocentlittle Agnes into a Moor.

  Of course conversation with the heroine of the hour was impossible, butthis mattered, little to Agnes, for she could converse quite powerfullywith her eyes, and her young friends chattered more than enough amongthemselves.

  Standing over her with a formidable pair of scissors, and grasping herfront hair with her left hand, the coal-black Zooloo said--

  "Stand still, you white thing, till I perform my duty."

  Of course she said it only by her looks; and Agnes quite understood her.

  Next moment a whole cluster of golden ringlets fell to the ground. Forone moment Agnes's eyes and mouth resembled three round O's. She feltthat something telling had been done, and thoughts of her mother flashedinto her mind, but Fatma's pretty little round face, with no eyes tospeak of owing to laughter, caused her to smile and then to laughheartily.

  Having brushed the front hair over her forehead, and cut it straightacross, the energetic Zooloo next painted her eyebrows black with asubstance called kohl, causing them to meet over her nose in the mostapproved form of Algerine elegance. Then she dyed her nails and thepalms of her hands dark-red with another substance named henna. Thefirst of these takes about a week to remove, and the last can be got ridof only by the growth of the nail. Agnes was not aware of this, elseshe might have objected. They finishe
d up the adornment of the face bysticking it all over with gold spangles.

  "Now you look lovely," said Zooloo--with her eyes--stepping back andsurveying her as a painter might his _chef-d'oeuvre_.

  "Do I? How nice!" replied Agnes.

  Then the whole party broke into a chorus of laughter, and running to awardrobe tumbled out a mass of richly embroidered garments--in silk,satin, muslin, damask, fine linen, and gold, that would have stocked atleast half a dozen European families with charading material for life.

  From this heap were selected and put on a lovely pair of fair linendrawers, of that baggy kind peculiar to Algerine ladies; also anexquisite little caftan, or sleeveless jacket, of scarlet cloth, socovered with gold lace that scarcely any of the scarlet was visible;likewise a perfect gem of a cap of gold, not bigger than Agnes's ownhand, which Fatma put on in a coquettish style, very much to one side ofthe head; saying, (with her eyes), as she did so, and laughing heartilythe while--

  "You're not married yet, of course?"

  To which Agnes replied, also with her eyes, innocently--

  "No, not yet, but I hope to be soon." Whereupon the whole party laughedimmoderately and said, each one with her eyes--

  "There can't be the smallest doubt whatever upon _that_ point!"

  At this point they were interrupted by the entrance of Hanyfa, but thatlady, far from damping their ardour, took particular pleasure inassisting. By her advice they cut off a good deal more of the flaxenhair, and deepened the dye on the eyebrows, nails, and palms.Gradually, however, Hanyfa drew the negress Zooloo from the scene ofaction, and entered into a very earnest conversation in whispers, quiteunheeded by the riotous youngsters. There seemed to be a pretty goodunderstanding between these unusually intelligent females, if one mightjudge from the nods and winks and knowing smiles which passed betweenthem; but their confabulation was cut short by the completion of thetoilet.

  Many other things of rare value and beauty, which we cannot afford spaceto mention, were put upon Agnes, and then she was led by the hand intothe presence of her mamma!

  To say that Mrs Langley was dumbfounded is but a feeble way ofexpressing the state of her mind. Although a lady of great moralcourage, and accustomed from infancy to self-control, she felt, on firstbeholding her timid little daughter, strongly disposed to seize Fatma bythe hair of the head, and use her as a bludgeon wherewith to fell herAlgerine mother; but, remembering the dignity of her position as, insome sort, a reflected representative of the British Empire in theseparts, and also recalling to mind the aptitude of Algerine gentlemen totie up in sacks and drown obstreperous Algerine ladies, she restrainedherself, bit her lips, and said nothing.

  Fortunately at that moment it became necessary to conduct the bride toher future lord's apartment, which, for the time, was in another part ofthe same mansion.

  To the cry of "Lai! lai! lella!" which was meant to express great joy,and was always raised at Moorish weddings, the guests conducted poorZara to her "fate."

  That evening Hanyfa sat at the feet of her lord, Sidi Hamet, and watchedthe curls of smoke which, arising from the bowl of his magnificenthookah, rolled like cannon-wreaths from beneath his frowning and no lessmagnificent moustache.

  "Zooloo is a smart girl," said Hamet, referring to something that hadjust been said.

  "She is," assented Hanyfa.

  "You are sure she cannot have misunderstood?" asked Hamet.

  "Quite sure. Dressed as a boy, she lay close to their feet at the timein an angle of the wall near the Djama Djedid, and overheard every worddistinctly."

  "Good," said the Aga of cavalry, venting a sigh of relief, whichpropelled a miniature gunshot half-way across the room; "that enables meto decide the course which I shall pursue, and gives us a littlebreathing-time before entering on the final act of the play."