Robert Michael Ballantyne

“ See my wife; tell her what we have seen; let her send Rais Ali into town with other servants—separately, not to attract attention—with baskets—full baskets, you understand?"
"Yis, Signer, full to bustin'" answered Bobi, with glittering eyes.
"Full as they can hold of all that is needful—she will understand that.—There, be off; lose no time," said the consul, thrusting a quantity of silver into the man's hand.
"Kurnul Langley," said Bobi, with enthusiasm glowing in his solitary eye, as he turned to go; "you—by the beard of the Prophet!—you're the ace of trumps!" ”

“ Francisco, who was owner of his vessel and cargo as well as padrone or captain, entertained Bacri with accounts of his adventures on the sea, which the Jew returned in kind with his experiences of mercantile transactions in savage lands. Mariano drank in all that they said with youthful avidity, and the little old lady's mouth rippled responsive, like the aspen leaf to the breeze; while Lucien and Juliet, thus left to themselves, had no other resource than to entertain each other as best they could! ”

“ Rebellious or even independent bearing will insure your speedy and severe humiliation. We 'dogs of Jews,'" continued Bacri, with a sad smile, "may seem to you to hang our heads rather low sometimes, but I have seen Christian men, as bold as you are, crawl upon the very dust before these Turks of Algiers."
"Our fate, then," said Francisco, "is, I suppose, and as I half suspected, to be slavery in that pirates' nest, Algiers?"
"I fear it is," replied the Jew, "unless Providence permits a storm to set you free; but let me correct your notion of Algiers. ”

“ Before he could turn, the Irishman ran close to his side, seized him by the burnous, at the same time grasping his bridle, and pulled him out of the saddle with such sudden violence that he fell headlong to the ground, where he lay quite stunned by the fall. Flaggan instantly sprang into the saddle, as if he had been an accomplished cavalier, though in reality he knew no more about horses than an Esquimaux. However, a man who was accustomed to hold on to a top-sail-yard in a gale was not to be easily shaken off by an Arab charger. ”

“ If you would attain that end, you must learn to curb your passions and use the powers of judgment with which your Maker has endowed you."
"Well, well, we will let that point hang on its peg in the meantime," returned Francisco impatiently; "but what wouldst thou advise? we are at your mercy."
"I will do what I can to prove that a Jew is not ungrateful," answered Bacri. "If they leave us unmolested here till night-fall we may find a way of escape for you, at all events from the city, but it is only such as desperate men would choose to take." ”

“ Ah! how many wretched men had learned the same bitter lesson in the same accursed city in days gone by—whose groans and cries, though unrecorded by the pen of man, have certainly been inscribed in the book of God's remembrance, and shall yet be brought into a brighter light than that of terrestrial day!
Omar Dey was a man of energy and decision. The instant it became known to him that England was at last stirred up to resent the insults which had been heaped upon her and other nations by the Algerines, he set about making preparations for defence on the vastest possible scale. ”

“ Mariano laughed and followed his brother, and Ted Flaggan, muttering something about its being the "most strornar companion hatch he'd ever entered," followed suit.
A creep of two or three yards brought him into a cavern which was just high enough to admit of a man standing erect, and about eight or ten feet wide. At the farther extremity of it there was a small stone lamp, the dim light of which revealed the figure of stout Francisco Rimini sound asleep on a bundle of straw, wrapped negligently in his burnous, and with a stone for his pillow. ”

“ I must lock the trapdoor that leads to this dungeon, and carry away the key, because if rioters were to break in and find the key in it, they would at once discover your refuge."
"And what if you be killed, Bacri, and we be left here without a soul in the world who knows of our whereabouts?" said Francisco, with a look of anxiety. "I'd rather be bastinadoed to death than be buried alive after all."
"If it goes ill with me, as may well be the case," answered the Jew, "you have only to make use of this crowbar and wrench off the lock of the door. ”

“ It is always wise to act with urbanity when it costs one nothing."
Achmet smiled, and a gleam of mischievous fun twinkled in his eyes as he observed his minister cast a furtive glance, suggestive of anything but urbanity, at the lion, which had playfully brushed its tan against his leg in passing.
"Your highness's judgment is always just," returned Sidi Omar; "and were we desirous of maintaining peace with Spain at present, it would be right to propitiate their consul; but, as you are aware, the treaties which we have recently formed with various nations are not to our advantage. ”

“ Without any definite intention as to what he meant to do, Flaggan sped along the road leading to his cave at Point Pescade, his chief feeling being a strong desire to get out of the sight of natives, that he might meditate alone on his future movements, which he felt must be prompt and decisive.
Before quite reaching his destination fortune favoured him. Coming round a rocky point of the coast, he observed a boat with one man in it rowing close inshore.
"That'll do," whispered Ted to himself, as he went behind a rock and hastily smeared his face and limbs with earth. ”

“ Bearing down on the crippled vessel at full speed, in spite of the bellowing discharge from the great gun and a well-delivered volley of small shot, which stretched many of them on the deck, they ran straight against her, threw grappling-irons into the rigging, and sprang on board with a fierce yell.
The mêlée that followed was sharp, but very short and decisive. The Sicilian crew fought with the courage of desperate men, but were almost instantly overpowered by numbers. Mariano had singled out the pirate captain as his own special foe. ”

“ The moment the insurrection took place we fled from the palace, and, as you see, here we are!"
"But why came you hither?" asked Bacri, with a troubled look.
"To whom else could we flee for shelter?" returned Lucien. "You are the only friend we have in the city—except, indeed, the Padre Giovanni, who has no power to save us."
"Alas!" returned the Jew, leading his friends into the skiffa, and seating himself on the edge of the fountain that played there, "you lean on a broken reed. My power is not sufficient to protect myself. ”

“ But be not too sanguine," added Bacri, seeing that Mariano's countenance brightened; "the whim of the Dey, or a change of government, which latter is common enough here, may totally alter the state of affairs. If the Dey willed it, I could not hold anything that belongs 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." ”

“ Flaggan had arranged that he was to put on the boar-dress in the town residence of Rais Ali. Being unwilling to attract the attention of the populace by passing through the streets in broad daylight, he determined to postpone his advent to an advanced part of the evening.
It was a clear, calm night when he left the country residence of the British consul, with a crescent moon to light him on his way. He had just issued from the garden gate, when an old man, clad in a half-monkish robe, advanced towards him with strides that would have done credit to a dragoon. ”

“ And the eyes of many, already wide with eagerness, must have opened wider still with surprise, for Lord Exmouth pursued a course of action that was bold even for a British Admiral. He ran the Queen Charlotte before the wind, close up to the walls, and with the sails still standing let go three anchors from the stem so as to keep her exactly in the required position, just before the opening of the mole, and with her vast broadside within pistol-range of the walls, flanking all the batteries from the mole-head to the lighthouse. ”

“ But when she saw Master Jim decline the draught with his wonted decision of character, thereby rendering it necessary for the nautical man to put powerful restraint on his struggling limbs, and to hold his nose while the surgeon forced open his mouth and poured the contents of the family glass down his throat, and when, in addition to all this, she beheld Colonel Langley standing calmly by with an air of comparative indifference while this hideous cruelty was being practised on his son and heir, her warm heart could stand no more. ”

“ If you have need of friends in the palace here are two—good and true," said Baba, turning to the chaouses, who stood mute with amazement at the man's impudence, "and I am one, which makes three, according to the rules of arithmetic. If we are not wanted, then these men must do their duty, for Sidi Hassan is wanted, and we may as well go blithely to our doom together."
"Fellow," said Omar sternly, "dost know that I have power to have thee flayed alive without consulting thy master?" ”

“ Seated on a throne in a recess of the audience-chamber of the palace, Achmet Pasha at length condescended to receive Don Pedro, the representative of Spain.
The Dey was robed in barbaric splendour, and absolutely shone with gold embroidery and precious stones. Centuries of robbery on the high seas had filled the treasury of the pirates' nest to overflowing, not only with hard cash, but with costly gems of all kinds, hence there was a lavish expenditure of jewellery on the costumes of the Dey and his wives and courtiers. ”

“ Counting those freed but a short time before, through Lord Exmouth's influence along the Barbary coasts, the total number delivered amounted to above 3000.
The assembling on the decks of the ships of war of these victims of barbaric cruelty, ignorance, and superstition, was a sight that raised powerful and conflicting feelings in the breasts of those who witnessed it. The varied feelings of the slaves were, to some extent, expressed by their actions and in their faces. Old and young were there, of almost every nation; gentle and simple, robust and feeble; men, women, and children. ”

“ As it was made for the little finger of Hadji Baba, which was remarkably thin, it exactly fitted the middle finger of Ziffa, which was uncommonly fat. Seizing the ring, she thrust it into her bosom, resolving to astonish her friend Agnes. Then, running down-stairs to the old servant, was soon on her way to the consul's garden.
"Agnes," she said, on finding herself alone with her friend. "I want you to do something for—"
"Oh what a lovely ring!" exclaimed Agnes, as Ziffa drew it out of her breast and put it on. ”

“ He knows that the day is not far distant when neither the bastinado nor any other species of torture will have power to force work out of him. He also knows that overdriving will only shorten the days of his usefulness; he therefore wisely lets him stagger by unmolested, with his light load.
But why go on enumerating the sorrows of these slaves? Sidi Omar looked at them with a careless glance, until he suddenly caught sight of something that caused his eyes to flash and his brows to contract. A sbirro, or officer of justice, stood near him, whether by chance or otherwise we know not. ”

“ To the cry of "Lai! lai! lella!" which was meant to express great joy, and was always raised at Moorish weddings, the guests conducted poor Zara to her "fate."
That evening Hanyfa sat at the feet of her lord, Sidi Hamet, and watched the curls of smoke which, arising from the bowl of his magnificent hookah, rolled like cannon-wreaths from beneath his frowning and no less magnificent moustache.
"Zooloo is a smart girl," said Hamet, referring to something that had just been said.
"She is," assented Hanyfa. ”

“ Sometimes descending below the streets and passing through cellars, at others crossing roofs or gliding along the darkest sides of dark walls and passages, they traversed the town without being challenged, and gained the southern wall near the point at which Mariano had crossed it on a former occasion.
Here the Jew bade them God-speed, and left them.
"I hope thou art sure of the road, Mariano?" said Francisco anxiously.
"Trust me, father; I know it well. Only have a care that you tread lightly and make no noise.—Come." ”

“ If any one speaks to you after you reach the open country, refuse to answer. If he should insist on it, you must either run or fight, for which latter purpose I provide you with these short swords, which you will find better suited to your hands than the curved weapons of the Turks."
"Signor Bacri," said Francisco, examining the straight short weapon handed to him, "I thank thee for all thy kindness to me and my boys—especially for these swords, for assuredly unless thou canst also furnish me with a pair of young and active legs, I am like to have more of fighting than running hereafter. ”

“ The eccentric tar, desiring to enjoy the ball under the shelter of a mask which would preserve his incognito, had, with the aid of Rais Ali, provided himself with the complete skin of a wild-boar, including the head with its enormous tusks, and, having fitted it to his person, and practised a variety of appropriate antics, to the delight of Agnes, who was the only person besides Rais admitted to his secret, he felt himself to be quite up in his part—almost fitted to hold converse with the veritable denizens of the forest. ”

“ At this point the conversation was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Angela and her sister Paulina, who carried in her arms the little Angelina. Following them at some distance came the amiable Zubby, bearing aloft on her shoulder—as being the place of greatest safety—Colonel Langley's youngest hope. Master Jim's back-bone had not at that time attained sufficient stiffness to warrant the position, but Zubby never thought of that; and Master Jim consequently complained in a series of yells and wry faces; but Zubby, being ignorant of the state of his feelings, did not mind that. ”