Mustapha

“ Ali Khan had still his admirers and Sultána her friends even in that excited throng; but, as is usually the case, the louder voices and the more fiery spirits carried the day.
"Mustapha is our chief! Down with Ali Khan—hurl him from the rock!" shouted the renegade Mirza; and others took up the cry, "Mustapha! Mustapha! the true believer! Mustapha is the chief of our clan!" ”

“ Hath he ever left his slippers at our threshold, Mustapha?”
“I suspect,” replied Mustapha, “that he goes all over the world, and therefore he must have been here. Proceed, Menouni, and ask not such questions. By virtue of his office, his sublime highness knows everything.”
“True,” said the pacha, shaking his beard with great dignity and satisfaction. ”

“ The pacha put aside his coffee, and drank a large draught. “God is great; drink, Mustapha,” said he, handing him the bottle.
Mustapha followed the example of the pacha. “May it please your highness,” said Mustapha, “I have without a man, who they say hath stories to recount more delightful than those of Menouni. Hearing that he passed through this city, I have detained him, that he might afford amusement to your highness, whose slave I am. Is it your pleasure that he be admitted?” ”

“ The affairs of most nations are settled by the potentates during their toilet. While I am shaving the head of your sublime highness, I can receive your commands to take off the heads of others; and you can have your person and your state both put in order at the same moment."
"Very true, Mustapha; then, on condition that you continue your office of barber, I have no objection to throw that of vizier into the bargain."
Mustapha again prostrated himself, with his tweezers in his hand. He then rose, and continued his office.
"You can write, Mustapha," observed the pacha, after a short silence. ”

“ You are my vizier to-day, for instance—what may you be to-morrow?”
“Whatever your highness may decide,” replied Mustapha, not much liking the turn of the conversation. “Am not I your slave—and as the dirt under your feet—and shall I not bow to your sovereign pleasure and my destiny?”
“It is well said, and so must I if the caliph sends me a Capitan Badji, which Allah forbid. There is but one God and Mahomet is his Prophet.”
“Amen,” replied Mustapha. “Will your highness drink of the water of the Giaour?”
“Yes, truly; for what says the poet? ‘We are merry to-day and to-morrow we die.’”
“Min Allah ”

“ Mustapha’s brother Abdurachman walked about with us, such a noble-looking man, tall, spare, dignified and active, grey-bearded and hard-featured, but as lithe and bright-eyed as a boy, scorning any conveyance but his own feet, and quite dry while we ‘ran down.’ He was like Boaz, the wealthy gentleman peasant—nothing except the Biblical characters gave any idea of the rich fellah. We sat and drank new milk in a ‘lodge in a garden of cucumbers’ (the ‘lodge’ is a neat hut of palm branches) , and saw the moon rise over the mountains and light up everything like a softer sun. ”

“ Is he perfectly sure that Mahomet was sent by God, as he is sure that the city of Stamboul exists? as he is sure that the Empress Catherine II. sent a fleet from the remotest seas of the North to land troops in Peloponnesus—a thing as astonishing as the journey from Mecca to Jerusalem in one night—and that this fleet destroyed that of the Ottomans in the Dardanelles?
The truth is that Mustapha believes what he does not believe. He has been accustomed to pronounce, with his mollah, certain words which he takes for ideas. To believe is very often to doubt. ”

“ Who stumbles, when guided by unerring wisdom?"
"I know that very well," replied the pacha; "but if I am always to direct him, I might as well be vizier myself; besides, I shall have no one to blame, if affairs go wrong with the Sultan. Inshallah! please the Lord, the vizier's head may sometimes save my own."
"Are we not as dogs before you?" replied Mustapha: "happy the man, who, by offering his own head may preserve that of your sublime highness! It ought to be the proudest day of his life." ”

“ The whole nation flew to arms, distinguishing themselves as Molists and Anti-Molists; four hundred insurrections, and four civil wars, were the consequence; and what was a worse consequence, the beautiful Princess Babe-bi-bobu remained unmarried. Your sublime highness must allow that it was a very nice question——
"What is your opinion, Mustapha?" demanded the pacha.
"Is your slave to speak? Then I would say, that it was absurd to make such a mountain of a mole-hill."
"Very true, Mustapha. This princess will never be married; so proceed, good Menouni." ”

“ Mustapha travelled by land, because from our little city there was no ship that went direct to Balsora. He was obliged, therefore, to use all expedition, in order not to arrive too long after the sea-robbers. Having a good horse and no luggage, he hoped to reach this city by the end of the sixth day. On the [Pg 109] evening of the fourth, however, as he was riding all alone upon his way, three men came suddenly upon him. Having observed that they were well-armed and powerful men, and sought his money and his horse, rather than his life, he cried out that he would yield himself to them. ”

“ The pacha held up his finger to Mustapha, as a sign to stop, that he might over-hear their discourse.
"I tell you, Ali, that it is impossible to hear those long stories of yours without losing one's temper."
"Long stories!" whispered the pacha to Mustapha with delight: "the very thing!—Shukur Allah! Thanks be to God!"
"And I tell you in reply, Hussan, that yours are ten times worse. You never have spoken for ten minutes, without my feeling an inclination to salute your mouth with the heel of my slipper. ”

“ Am not I as dust in thy presence? Take my life, O pacha! but doubt not the fidelity of thy slave.”
The pacha seemed pacified. “What is all this but bosh, nothing?” said he, rising and quitting the apartment.
“Bosh!” muttered Mustapha. “The cursed old hag! I know better—there is no time to lose—I must be quick. When will that renegade return from Stamboul? it is time.” And Mustapha, with a gloomy countenance, quitted the divan. ”

“ But I knew that this was an Ottoman trait, and one that should cause no astonishment, because among the Osmanli Turks there is actually no caste. A slave might one day be sultan or a peasant girl, who happened to be a phenomenon of beauty, might become sultana and the mother of a sultan whom some coup d'état might reduce to the rank of slave. In no other race, perhaps, is the high blood and the low so freely mingled, and the result of this crops out in such men as, Mustapha,
But now, as I watched I saw the curious exfoliation of Mustapha's soul. ”

“ Let the slave approach, and we will listen to his story, since we cannot have the wonderful tales of Huckaback.”
“Whose dog was Lokman, to be compared to your sublime highness in wisdom?” replied Mustapha. “What are the words of Hafiz—‘Every moment that you enjoy, count it gain. Who shall say what will be the event of any thing?’”
The slave, who had been detained by the orders of Mustapha, was ordered to appear. During his confinement, Mustapha had been informed by his people that he was “visited by Alla;” ”

“ Again came the call; he wheeled, plunged, threw his rider, dashed forward, broke through the bushes, and in a second was on his knees before his old master.
"Up, up, my father! there is no time to lose!" cried Mustapha, grown stronger in a moment. "Up, up! for the robbers are close upon us!"
In fact, wild cries and clouds of dust showed that the foe had taken the alarm, and were hurrying on. But already Ahmed and Mustapha were mounted, and Solimin, like a ship at full sail, was speeding away with them. And where was the camel could overtake him, even when he was loaded double? ”

“ His eyes remained fixed upon her with a sort of dreamy thoughtfulness, as though he might be a judge of the Inquisition devising for some hopelessly incorrigible heretic, as the means of cleansing his soul, some torture so fearful that the possessing devil would make all haste to abandon it.
“If my dear friend had not given you his promise, young woman,” said he, “I would hand you over to my faithful Mustapha, who was my dragoman when I was attaché at Constantinople. Mustapha adores the very ground my little son treads upon. ”

“ When Mustapha translated all this to the pacha, the latter was lost in astonishment. "Allah Wakbar! God is everywhere! Did you ever hear of such a swimmer? Twenty thousand miles—five months and three days. It is a wonderful story! Let his mouth be filled with gold."
Mustapha intimated to the sailor the unexpected compliment about to be conferred on him, just as he had finished the bottle and rolled it away on one side. "Well, that be a rum way of paying a man. I have heard it said that a fellow pursed up his mouth; but I never afore heard of a mouth being a purse. ”

“ Mustapha could not but perceive that the little man owed him a grudge, because he had been the cause of the sharp treatment he had received the previous day. But the Robber Chief, after reflecting a few moments, said: “No, he is my guest, and as such is sacred to me, besides which he does not look like a man to betray one.”
He then thrust aside the tent curtains and entered—“Peace be with thee, Mustapha,” he said, “we will drain a morning draught and then you should prepare yourself to start.” ”

“ When they reached the limit of the forest the Chief drew rein and offered his hand to Mustapha in farewell:
“Mustapha,” said he, “you have been in somewhat a strange fashion the guest of the Robber Orbasan. I will not ask you not to betray me, but trust to you that you will not do so. You have suffered, without cause, all the pangs of the fear of death, and you deserve some compensation. Take this dagger and if ever you are in need of help send it to me and I will hasten to your aid. This purse of gold may also be of assistance to you on your journey.” ”

“ Ameen and “Bon Jour” sang their monotonous Arabic songs in shrill keys, or dozed in their saddles. Mustapha untiringly walked on with his peculiar swinging gait, often lost to sight, but turning up again, bearing in his hands bouquets of exquisite flowers, which he offered to us with a grace of manner which added much to the pretty gift.
The heat grew more and more intense. Not a breath of wind gave relief. I can well believe one writer, who says, “There are probably few places in Asia where the sun beats down with as fierce a heat and irresistible power as in the desert of Judah.” ”

“ I wish I had sent him to the mollahs; we might have been amused with his being impaled, which is a rare object, now-a-days.”
“God is great,” replied Mustapha, “and a stake is a strong argument, and would remove many doubts. But I have an infidel in the court-yard who telleth of strange things. ”

“ I have taken him from the cadi, and brought him here. He speaketh but the Frankish tongue, but the sun who shineth on me knoweth I have been in the Frank country; and Inshallah! please the Lord, I can interpret his meaning."
"What sort of a man may he be, Mustapha?"
"He is a baj baj—a big belly—a stout man; he is an Anhunkher, a swallower of iron. He hath sailed in the war vessels of the Franks. He holdeth in one hand a bottle of the forbidden liquor; in the other, he shakes at those who would examine him, a thick stick. ”

“ You let that Mustapha come in without a word, and try to stick his knife into me.”
“He has not been here.”
“It's a plant. You are combined to bully me and drive me away. You don't like me. You have engaged Mustapha to murder me. This is the fourth time he has tried to cut my throat, and in the sale à manger, too, with you all standing round. You ought to be ashamed to call yourselves Englishmen. I'll go to Cairo. I'll complain.”
It really seemed that the feeble brain of Jameson was affected. The Oxford don undertook to sit up in the room the following night. ”

“ Up to 1421 no one would appear to have entertained any doubt of the death of Prince Mustapha at the famous battle of Angora, when suddenly he, or a claimant to his name, appeared, and demanded the sovereignty of the empire, by virtue of being Bajaret's eldest son. Who this man was still remains doubtful. With the single exception of Nectori, who is, however, a creditable authority, all the Turkish historians declare this soi disant Mustapha to have been an impostor, whilst Christian writers, favouring the Greek cause, persistently assert him to have been the veritable prince himself. ”

“ The few English in the hotel came on the scene, and with their instinctive energy and system set to work to organise a corps and subdue the flames. The women and girls who were rescued from the menaced hovels, or plucked out of those already on fire, were in many cases unveiled, and so it came to pass that Mustapha, who, under English direction, was ablest and most vigorous in his efforts to stop the conflagration, met his fate in the shape of the daughter of Ibraim the Earner. ”

“ The object which Mustapha aimed to accomplish in forwarding those ghastly dead to Il Borgo was to intimidate the place into submission; the return which La Valette made was designed to bespeak an unwavering disposition, and to hurl defiance in the face of the infidels.
Mustapha, incensed at the undaunted response made to his white flag, and the message sent back by his Christian slave, that they hoped soon to bury him and his janissaries in the only ditch which they could consistently surrender, immediately invested the town and re-commenced the carnage. ”