The Middy and the Moors by Robert Michael Ballantyne (good english books to read txt) đ
- Author: Robert Michael Ballantyne
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âDid you marry Angelica?â asked our middy, with sympathetic interest.
âMarry her! ob course I did. Two year ago. Donâ you know itâs her as cooks all our wittles?â
âHow could I know, Peter, for you never call her anything but âcook?â But Iâm glad you have told me, for Iâll regard her now with increased respect from this day forth.â
âDas right, Geoâge. You canât pay âer too much respecâ. Now weâll go anâ look at de works.â
The part of the wall which the slaves were repairing was built of great blocks of artificial stone or concrete, which were previously cast in wooden moulds, left to harden, and then put into their assigned places by slave-labour. As Foster was watching the conveyance of these blocks, it suddenly occurred to him that Hester Sommersâs father might be amongst them, and he scanned every face keenly as the slaves passed to and fro, but saw no one who answered to the description given him by the daughter.
From this scrutiny he was suddenly turned by a sharp cry drawn from one of a group who were slowly carrying a heavy stone to its place. The cry was drawn forth by the infliction of a cruel lash on the shoulders of a slave. He was a thin delicate youth with evidences of fatal consumption upon him. He had become faint from over-exertion, and one of the drivers had applied the whip by way of stimulus. The effect on the poor youth was to cause him to stumble, and instead of making him lift better, made him rest his weight on the stone, thus overbalancing it, and bringing it down. In falling the block caught the ankle of the youth, who fell with a piercing shriek to the ground, where he lay in a state of insensibility.
At this a tall bearded man, with heavy fetters on his strong limbs, sprang to the young manâs side, went down on his knees, and seized his hand.
âOh! Henri, my son,â he cried, in French; but before he could say more a whip touched his back with a report like a pistol-shot, and the torn cotton shirt that he wore was instantly crimsoned with his blood!
The man rose, and, making no more account of his fetters than if they had been straws, sprang like a tiger at the throat of his driver. He caught it, and the eyes and tongue of the cruel monster were protruding from his head before the enraged Frenchman could be torn away by four powerful janissaries. As it was, they had to bind him hand and foot ere they were able to carry him offâto torture, and probably to death. At the same time the poor, helpless form of Henri was borne from the place by two of his fellow-slaves.
Of course a scene like this could not be witnessed unmoved by our midshipman. Indeed he would infallibly have rushed to the rescue of the bearded Frenchman if Peterâs powerful grip on his shoulder had not restrained him.
âDonât be a fool, Geoâge,â he whispered. âRemember, we must submit!â
Fortunately for George, the guards around were too much interested in watching the struggle to observe his state of mind, and it is doubtful whether he would have been held back even by the negro if his attention had not at the moment been attracted by a tall man who came on the scene just then with another gang of slaves.
One glance sufficed to tell who the tall man was. Hester Sommersâs portrait had been a true oneâtall, handsome, strong; and even in the haggard, worn, and profoundly sad face, there shone a little of the âsweetnessâ which his daughter had emphasised. There were also the large grey eyes, the Roman nose, the iron-grey hair, moustache, and beard, and the large mouth, although the âsmileâ had fled from the face and the âlovingnessâ from the eyes. Foster was so sure of the man that, as he drew near to the place where he stood, he stepped forward and whispered âSommers.â
The man started and turned pale as he looked keenly at our heroâs face.
âNo time to explain,â said the middy quickly. âHester is well and safe! See you again! Hope on!â
âWhat are you saying there?â thundered one of the drivers in Arabic.
âWhat you say to dat feller? you raskil! you white slabe! Come âlong home!â cried Peter the Great, seizing Foster by the collar and dragging him forcibly away, at the same time administering several kicks so violent that his entire frame seemed to be dislocated, while the janissaries burst into a laugh at the big negroâs seeming fury.
âOh! Geoâge, Geoâge,â continued Peter, as he dragged the middy along, shaking him from time to time, âyouâll be de deaf ob me, anâ ob yourself too, if you donât larn to submit. Anâ see, too, what a hyperkrite you make me! Iâs âbliged to kick hard, or dey wouldnât bâlieve me in arnist.â
âWell, well, Peter,â returned our hero, who at once understood his friendâs ruse to disarm suspicion, and get him away safely, âyou need not call yourself a hypocrite this time, at all events, for your kicks and shakings have been uncommonly realâmuch too real for comfort.â
âDidnât I say I was âbleeged to do it?â retorted Peter, with a pout that might have emulated that of his wife on the occasion of their engagement. âDâyou sâpose dem raskils donâ know a real kick from a sham one? I was marciful too, for if Iâd kicked as I could, dere wouldnât be a whole bone in your carcass at dis momint! Youâs got to larn to be grateful, Geoâge. Come along.â
Conversing thus pleasantly, the white slave and the black left the Kasba together and descended into the town.
Many months passed, after the events narrated in the last chapter, before George Foster had the good-fortune to meet again with Hugh Sommers, and several weeks elapsed before he had the chance of another interview with the daughter.
Indeed, he was beginning to despair of ever again seeing either the one or the other, and it required the utmost energy and the most original suggestions of a hopeful nature on the part of his faithful friend to prevent his giving way altogether, and having, as Peter expressed it, âanoder fit ob de blues.â
At last fortune favoured him. He was busy in the garden one day planting flowers, when Peter came to him and saidâ
âIâs got news for you to-day, Geoâge.â
âIndeed,â said the middy, with a weary sigh; âwhat may your news be?â
âYou âmember dat picturâ ob de coffee-house in de town what you dooâd?â
âYes, now you mention it, I do, though I had almost forgotten it.â
âAh! but I not forgit âim! Well, yesterday I tuk it to massa, anâ he bery much pleased. He say, bring you up to de house, anâ he gib you some work to do.â
âI wish,â returned Foster, âthat heâd ask me to make a portrait of little Hester Sommers.â
âYou forgit, Geoâge, de Moors neber git deir portraits dooâd. Dey âfraid ob de evil eye.â
âWell, when are we to go up?â
âNowâI jist come for you.â
Throwing down his garden tools, Foster followed the negro to the house, and was ushered into a small chamber, the light of which was rendered soft and mellow by the stained glass windows through which it passed. These windows were exceedingly smallânot more than a foot high by eight inches broadâand they were placed in the walls at a height of nine feet or more from the ground. The walls of the room were decorated with richly-coloured tiles, and the floor was of white marble, but the part that attracted our hero most was the ceiling, which was arched, according to Moorish form, and enriched with elaborate designs in stuccoâif not in white marble, the difference being difficult to distinguish. On the marble floor lay several shawls, richly embroidered in coloured silk and gold, a pair of small scarlet slippers, covered with gold thread, a thin veil, and several cushions of different sizes. On one of these last reposed a little tame gazelle, whose bright eyes greeted the two slaves with an inquiring look as they entered.
From all these things Foster judged that this was one of the womenâs apartments, and wondered much that he had been admitted into such a jealously-guarded sanctuary, but relieved his mind by setting it down to that eccentricity for which Ben-Ahmed was noted.
He had just arrived at this conclusion when a door opened, and Ben-Ahmed himself entered with the sketch of the coffee-house in his hand.
âTell him,â said the Moor to Peter, âthat I am much pleased with this drawing, and wish him to make one, a little larger in size, of this room. Let him put into it everything that he sees. He will find paper in that portfolio, and all else that he requires on this ottoman. Let him take time, and do it well. He need not work in the garden while thus employed.â
Pointing to the various things to which he referred, the Moor turned and left the apartment.
âNow, Geoâge, what you tâink ob all dat?â asked Peter, with a broad grin, when he had translated the Moorâs orders.
âReally I donât know what to think of it. Undoubtedly it is a step upwards, as compared with working in the garden; but then, donât you see, Peter, it will give me much less of your company, which will be a tremendous drawback?â
âDas well said. Youâs kite right. I hab notice from de fusâ dat you hab a well-constitooted mind, anâ appruciates de value ob friendship. I lub your smood face, Geoâge!â
âI hope you love more of me than my smooth face, Peter,â returned the middy, âotherwise your love wonât continue, for there are certain indications on my upper lip which assure me that the smoothness wonât last long.â
âHolâ your tongue, sar! What you go on jabberinâ so to me when youâs got work to do, sar!â said Peter fiercely, with a threatening motion of his fist. âGo to work at once, you white slabe!â
Our hero was taken aback for a moment by this sudden explosion, but the presence of a negro girl, who had entered softly by a door at his back, at once revealed to him the truth that Peter the Great had donned the garb of the hypocrite. Although unused and very much averse to such costume, he felt compelled in some degree to adopt it, and, bowing his head, not only humbly, but in humiliation, he went silently towards his drawing materials, while the girl placed a tumbler of water on a small table and retired.
Turning round, he found that Peter had also disappeared from the scene.
At first he imagined that the water was meant for his refreshment, but on examining the materials on the ottoman he found a box of water-colour paints, which accounted for its being sent.
Although George Foster had never been instructed in painting, he possessed considerable natural talent, and was intensely fond of the art. It was, therefore, with feelings of delight which he had not experienced for many a day that he began to arrange his materials and set about this new and congenial work.
Among other things he found a small easel, which had a very Anglican aspect about it. Wondering how it had got there, he set it up, with a sheet of paper on it, tried various parts of the room, in order to find out the best position for a picture, and went through that interesting series of steppings back and puttings of the head on one side which seem to be inseparably connected with true art.
While thus engaged in the profound silence of that luxurious apartment, with its âdim religious light,â now glancing at the rich ceiling, anon at the fair sheet of paper, he chanced to look below the margin of the latter and observed, through the legs of
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