H. B. Marriott Watson

“ Shall one who has just come forth from the jaws of death through God's mercy turn upon Him and wrong His laws? You are the wife of a man given under sacred ordinances. Are you a child that you should defy His goodness and challenge His loving kindness?"
"A wife?" she cried on a higher note. "I was sold into the bondage of the harem. Why may I not deliver myself? I have been rejected and cast forth. I am dead. There, O Feringhi, lies poor Zoraka, the wife of Hassan, deep among the weeds and fishes of the sea." ”

“ At this exchange of our glances she smiled softly, and turning slightly about, regarded the black with curling lips and flattened nostrils. Suddenly Hassan leapt from his seat and broke into the most frantic exhibition of brutal anger I have ever seen in a man. All his show of indifference was gone. He cast up his hands, with clenched fists, and raved like a maniac, denouncing Zoraka in the vilest terms, calling curses upon her future life, and blackening the character of her ancestors. ”

“ I was on the point of throwing myself upon the black, knife in hand. But this impulse passed, and the next second, at a loud signal from him, a fourth man entered, bearing a large sheet of sacking. With a gathering sense of dread I stared from him to Zoraka's body, and as my eyes lit upon her, I noticed her bosom slowly rising, as if with a resumption of life. It was a relief to find that she was not dead, as I had imagined, though I could not but conjecture that some outrage was intended. ”

“ I was soon to be enlightened as to the black's purpose, for at his instructions the three ruffians proceeded to bind the two bodies together, the living body of Zoraka with the stiff and clammy corpse of her hapless lover. The act seemed a hideous profanation, but I was helpless before this abominable company, even though I feared that worse was yet to fall. Before my eyes the living and the dead were enwrapped together in the sacking and secured with thick cords. If they had been undivided in their lives, I could imagine Hassan sneering, so surely should they remain unseparated in death ”

“ The light illumined the dead man's face, and showed me that my conjecture had been right—Zoraka's lover lay there, stretched out in the ugly peace of death. Save for a sinister contraction of the nostrils, and the protrusion of a yellow tooth above the underlip, the countenance was underanged by his violent end; and only a streak of blood stained the beard. I will confess that I dared not look upon this scene without emotion; the accomplishment of the tragedy persisted in my thoughts and challenged me with its menace. ”

“ If hope sparkle in my eyes and the light shine on my soul, whence have I offended against you? You cannot hush the throbbing of my heart; it rises under my bosom in the darkness of my chamber. As for these men, I know nothing of them. The sword is in your hands. Let them go."
She faced him with heaving breast but with a quiet face which won my admiration. But the effect of her rebuke upon Hassan was indescribable. His black face blanched with rage. He ran down the steps between them and seizing the scimitar from the eunuch made as though to strike off her head at a blow. ”

“ I shrank away and softly loosened the hands upon my neck.
"Hush," I said, "this is no time for ill-considered passion. You have not been locked in the embrace of death. Pray rather to your God for peace."
She stared at me reproachfully. "What is this thou sayest?" she asked with pleading tenderness. "I have been in the arms of death? Indeed, it is true. Surely I have knocked upon the gates of Paradise, and heard the wings of the houris. But now, behold, love, it is in thine arms I lie, and thou art my life. What has this touch of death mattered, since it has brought my life to me? ”

“ She started from me. "You do not love me," she cried fiercely. "You would pass from me into the liberties of the world, and I must keep my prison? Is this face not beautiful? And yet it must fade and decay behind the veil. Have not the lines of my body moved you, and still must they wither in the shroud of these garments? Must I lie all day within the harem walls, and must the song sing in my heart without an end? Oh my beloved!" and she threw herself upon me again. "I am thine and thou art mine. ”

“ His complexion was overcast with a sallow shade of fear, but he made neither sound nor sign, submitting himself to the butchers like a frightened sheep. The transaction had a dreadful fascination for me; it drew my eyes. I was entirely incapable of considering my own situation. The black came behind him and with a rude movement of his brawny arm twisted the man's head forward, so as to leave the neck bare and free. Then he gripped his scimitar and swung it in the air. I could not refrain a glance at Zoraka ”

“ But as suddenly Hassan paused and withheld the knife from the stroke.
"No," said he, with a malign contortion of his features, "she shall be sprinkled first with the blood of her lovers. Bring the dogs forward."
We were hustled forward by our guards and brought within a pace or two of the ruffian, and Zoraka; once more she shot a glance at me, and once more I met it with a thrill of pity. The black took the scimitar from his master and drew near my companion. ”

“ Zoraka insensibly faded from my imagination; the hunt for her seemed supremely foolish with no clue to direct me. And I had now the oppression of my own fresh peril upon me. It was upon these reflections that I came at length into a large chamber, which sounded bare and vacant to my tread. Fingering on the wall I moved carefully round it, in search of the further doorway, for the apartments in these houses invariably communicated with one another. ”

“ I am an innocent Feringhi who wandered through your doorway by mistake. I demand my release, or my Government will exact a heavy price at your hands."
A grim smile lit up his sour features, and he turned to the woman, Zoraka. "Accursed one," he said, "which of these is your lover, or are your passions so insatiable that you have taken both to your traitorous bosom? "
Zoraka shook her head. "They are strangers, my lord," she returned. "Why must I stand before strangers with my naked face?"
All the time her eyes watched me curiously. Hassan darted a terrible look of hate upon her. ”

“ It is your will that I bare my neck here to Death upon this spot. Allah decrees it, and the Prophet assents. Think not that it is with any regret that I leave this world. My heart has been too full. I have been your plaything, the vehicle of your passion.
"We women," she cried with rising spirit, "are the prisoners of the harem. It is our fortune. We are sold from out our birthright; we pass under foreign hands; we are the non-entities of pleasure. And lo, there is among us not even the little liberty of desire. ”

“ I asked in astonishment to find this victim, but lately designed and destined to death with me, thus moving free with all her liberties.
Zoraka laughed softly. "There is none that can keep me from my beloved," she whispered in her honeyed voice. "They encircled me, but I deceived them. They sleep soundly. ”