"I am decidedly opposed to remaining where we are. Though you and I may agree that what has been done is all right, the officers of the Turkish government in authority on this island may not be of that opinion. There is no town, or anything like one, in sight, and I have not been able to make out even a single house or habitation of any kind."
"It is an exceedingly rough-looking country on shore. There are nothing but mountains and forests to be seen. The nearest town put down on the chart is more than ten miles distant, though there may be a village or houses behind those hills on the shore tothe south of us. If any of the inhabitants had heard the three shots fired by the pirate, they would have shown themselves before this time."
"But I think we had better be farther from the island. When the Guardian-Mother comes, she must take the same course which we followed yesterday," persisted Louis. "I quite agree with you that we must remain in this vicinity. It is almost as calm outside the bay as it is inside. How is the water off the cape?"
"There are eight fathoms half a mile from the point. I think you are right, on the whole, Louis; for we don't care to meet any Turkish officers of any kind," replied the captain, as he rang the gong to go ahead.
The sound of the bell brought all hands except Morris, who had volunteered to stay with the patient in the cabin, to the forecastle. Pitts had gone to the galley to ascertain the condition of his wares after the passage of a twelve-pound shot through his quarters. The stove had not been struck, but it had knocked about everything else into the utmost confusion. He was arranging things as well as he could; for it was now five o'clock in the afternoon, and time to think of getting supper.
"How is your patient, Pitts?" asked Louis, coming to the door.
"He is doing well enough, though he has a good deal of pain. I suppose the ball is still in his shoulder, and he will not be much better till that isremoved, Mr. Belgrave," replied the cook. "We are under way again, sir."
"We are running out to the cape to wait for the Guardian-Mother," returned Louis, as he joined the others on the forecastle.
The two boats from the wreck had made a landing on a point near the conic rock on the ledge. The course of the Maud took her within half a mile of them; for she passed over the outer extremity of the ledge.
"They are making signals to us," said Felix to the captain. "There goes a white cloth on a pole."
A little later a boat put off pulled by four men, with another in the stern sheets. The captain rang to stop the screw; for he was curious to know what the men wanted.
"Let the boat come alongside," said he.
There was not force enough to do any mischief if the Moors had been so disposed. Don was sent for to do the talking; but the first person Louis saw was Jules Ulbach, who had been Mazagan's assistant in his operations. Louis talked with him in French. His first statement was that his employer had been shot in the shoulder, and had gone down with the wreck. The spokesman for the steamer did not deem it advisable to contradict this statement.
Then Ulbach begged for a passage to some port from which he could return to Paris. A few words passed between the captain and Louis, and the request was peremptorily refused. The Frenchmanbegged hard, declaring that the island was a desolate place, and he should starve there. The men had come to beg some provisions, as they had not a morsel to eat.
"Give them all they want to eat," replied the captain when the request was translated to him.
"The Guardian-Mother!" suddenly shouted Felix at the top of his lungs.
All hands gave three rousing cheers, to the astonishment of the Frenchman and those in the boat. Pitts came out of the galley to ascertain the cause of the demonstration, and he made out for himself the bow of the ship passing the point of the cape. A plentiful supply of food was put into the boat, and the Maud continued on her course.
The appearance of the Guardian-Mother in the offing was hailed with rejoicing by every person belonging to the Maud. Off on an independent cruise as the boys were, and "when the cat's away the mice will play," it would not have been strange if they had enjoyed their freedom from the restraining presence and influence of the commander; but no such feeling pervaded the minds of the ship's company.
Not even the captain of the little steamer had felt that he was in possession of any unusual liberty. It might have been otherwise with him and his companions if the threatening presence of the Fatimé had not been a serious damper upon them. As it was, the voyage to Cyprus had resulted in a tremendous event.
Whatever Scott had said to Louis Belgrave about knocking a hole in the side of the pirate, as Captain Ringgold had done with the Viking, had no bearing whatever upon what he had actually done when the critical moment had come in the encounter. He declared rather lightly that he would proceed to this extremity if he were the captain of the larger steamer; but it had not occurred to him to do such a recklessdeed with the little Maud, when his opponent was a steamer of four hundred tons.
Captain Scott and his companions had expected to see the Guardian-Mother long before she appeared. The commander might naturally have felt some anxiety in regard to the safety of the Maud in the gale of the night before, though it had not been a very severe storm; and Scott and Louis supposed he would make all possible haste to be near her. Instead of that, she was fully ten hours behind her, even with her superior speed and more weatherly ability. They could not explain her delay, and it was useless to attempt to do so.
"What do you suppose will become of those fellows from the pirate, Captain Scott?" asked Louis, looking at the people from the Fatimé on the shore.
"I haven't the least idea, and I don't think I shall trouble my head with the question," replied the captain. "We have given them provisions enough to keep them alive for several days, and they can make their way to some town. I don't consider their condition as at all desperate. If Captain Ringgold thinks it necessary, he will do whatever he deems advisable."
"I don't consider those men as pirates, or hold them responsible for the acts of Captain Mazagan," added Louis. "They had to obey his orders, and I doubt if they had any knowledge of his intentions."
"I did not see a single person, as well as I could make them out in the boats, who looked like an Englishman.Probably the foreign engineers retired from the Pacha's service when Mazagan took command of her. They knew the meaning of piracy. At any rate, the steamer was not officered nor manned as she was when we saw her at Gibraltar. Don says her cabin was magnificently furnished, as he had seen through the open door, for he had never been into it. But he is certain that she is an old steamer, built for a steam-yacht, but sold by her owner at a big price when she became altogether behind the times."
"She could not have been very strongly built, or the Maud would not have knocked a hole in her so easily," said Louis.
"It has been repeated over and over again that the Maud was constructed of extra strength when she was built. Who was that man of whom she was purchased?"
"Giles Chickworth, a Scotchman," replied Louis, as he recalled the character.
"He declared that she was the strongest little vessel of her size that ever was built. Don examined the inside of her bow immediately after the blow was struck, and I have done so since. She has not started a plate or a bolt. But then we had all the advantage. We struck the pirate fairly on the broadside with the part of our craft where she is the strongest, and where there could be no give or spring. It does not seem so strange to me as I think it over."
"Pitts," called the captain a little later, while they were still watching the approach of the ship, "how is your patient?"
"About the same, sir; I don't see any change in him," replied the cook. "But he will have the doctor to-night, and that will put him in the way of getting well."
"Does he talk any?"
"He would talk all the time if I would let him; but I don't answer him when he asks questions, and I leave him alone most of the time."
"What is the condition of the galley?" asked the captain.
"It is in very bad condition, sir; the cannon-ball tore away all the shelves on the starboard side, and knocked the tins and dishes all to pieces. But I can get supper after a fashion," replied the cook.
"You may let the supper go to-night, and we will get it on board of the ship. We shall be alongside of her in less than fifteen minutes," said the captain. "Set the colors astern, Flix."
The Maud was going at full speed, and, as the two steamers were approaching each other, they came within hail off Cape Arnauti. At this time the captain ordered three cheers to be given; for he wished to make a demonstration of some kind, and this was the only way within his means. They were given with hearty good-will, and the seamen responded from the Guardian-Mother, and both vessels whistled as snappers. Then the ship stopped her screw, and the sound of escaping steam came from her.
"Maud, ahoy!" shouted Captain Ringgold from her top-gallant forecastle.
"On board the Guardian-Mother!" responded Captain Scott.
"Come alongside!" added the commander.
"Alongside, sir!" replied the captain.
The Maud made a sweep around, and when she had come about, she came alongside on the port side of the ship. The gangway was already lowered. All the cabin party had been watching the approach to the island from the promenade; but as soon as the Maud came alongside, they all hastened to the main deck to greet the young cruisers, who had been absent from the ship about thirty hours.
"Come on board, all of you!" called the commander from the head of the gangway.
"I think we had better not say anything about what has happened in the presence of the party," said Scott, as he started to mount the steps.
"Not a word," added Louis; and Morris and Felix repeated the words.
The "Big Four" ascended the gangway stairs to the main deck. The captain was permitted to pass without any assaulting embraces, but Louis dropped lovingly and submissively into the arms of his mother, as did Morris when Mrs. Woolridge presented herself. Felix hung back, for he knew what awaited him. The commander stepped aside to make room for these demonstrations.
"Come to my room, all of you, as soon as the others are at liberty," said the commander in a low tone to Captain Scott.
"I will, sir," replied he, fully understanding what was meant.
"I am so glad to see you again, Louis!" exclaimed Mrs. Belgrave, as she continued to hug her boy. "You have had a terrible time, haven't you, my dear?"
"What makes you think so, mother?" asked Louis, wondering what she meant; for it seemed impossible that she could know anything about the "Battle of Khrysoko," as it afterwards came to be called.
"Why, you were out in a terrible storm last night," replied Mrs. Belgrave. "I was afraid you would be cast away, my son, and I prayed for you half the night."
"Then your prayers were effectual, for I am safe," answered Louis with a smile.
"But wasn't it an awful tempest, my boy?" she asked, hugging the young man with a new impulse.
"Not at all, my dear mother. We had a gale of wind, and it made a rough night of it; but we got into this bay about eight o'clock this morning all right," returned Louis, reciprocating her caresses. "But you must not worry so about me, mother. We were in no danger at any time from the gale or the heavy sea."
"Here is the commander, and he wants to see you, I know," she said, stepping aside for him.
Captain Ringgold took the hand of the owner of the ship, and pressed it warmly.
"She spread out her arms and rushed upon him.""She spread out her arms and rushed upon him." Page147.
"He says he has been in no danger from the storm, Captain," added the lady.
"He knows best about that; but I told you the Maud would go through it all right," added the commander as he turned to greet Morris.
"Where in the world is Felix?" cried Mrs. Blossom; for the Milesian, actually dreading the onslaught of the excellent woman who was not his mother, had dodged in at the door of the boudoir.
"I'm looking for you, grandma," said he, stepping out on the deck.
As soon as she saw him, she spread out her arms and rushed upon him; but Felix put up his left arm and warded off the burden of the attack, taking her by the hand with the right.
"How glad I am to see you, grandma!" he exclaimed, still holding her by the right hand, with his left on guard. "I am delighted to be with you again. The Guardian-Mother did not come into the bay, and I was afraid you had all gone to the bottom in the gale."
"Don't you call me 'grandma' again, Felix," protested the worthy woman quite warmly; for the Milesian had twice applied the opprobrious appellation to her. "If you ever do it again, I will never hug you another time!"
"Then I will call you so till my dying day!" Felix declared, to the great amusement of all those within hearing.
"I am not your grandma! I am only thirty-sixyears old, and I am not far enough into years to be the grandmother of a great strapping boy like you."
"It is only a pet name. But you didn't go to the bottom of the sea after all, grandma."
"There it is again!"
"Of course it is, grandma. But I will make a fair trade with you. If you will promise never to hug me any more, I will agree never to call you grandma again."
"That is fair," said Mrs. Belgrave.
They retired to the boudoir to talk over the matter; but the agreement was ratified between them. The "Big Four" were cordially greeted by all the passengers and by all the officers of the ship; but they were careful not to drop any hint of what had transpired in Khrysoko Bay. Before the exchange of salutations was finished the gong rang for dinner.
"For a reason to be given later on, Captain Ringgold, I must ask you to give the engineers and cook of the Maud their supper to-night," said Captain Scott at a favorable moment.
The commander sent for Baldy Bickling, the second cook, and ordered him to provide for them; and Mr. Boulong to send an engineer and a couple of hands on board of the Maud while the party came on board to supper. The company in the cabin were in a very jovial state of feeling, and it would take a chapter to record all the jokes of Dr. Hawkes and Uncle Moses. It was an excellent dinner even for the Guardian-Mother; for both the chief steward andthe chief cook were artists in their line, and it was heartily enjoyed by all at the table.
The commander was impatient to hear the report of Captain Scott on his expedition, and the commander of the Maud was almost as impatient to learn what had delayed the ship; but fully an hour was spent at the table, for no one wished to break in upon the agreeable occasion. How he knew it he could not have told in detail; but the commander was satisfied, that something important had occurred in the experience of the young navigators, though not a word had yet been spoken, and he had failed to notice the ragged hole through the Maud's deck-house at the location of the galley.
He had expected to find the Fatimé near the little steamer; but though he had swept the bay with his spy-glass, he could not find her, for she was no longer visible. Probably she had fallen over on the rocky and irregular bottom, and that had carried even her short masts under water. As soon as the party rose from the table, Louis and Morris detached themselves from their mothers, and hastened to the commander's room, where they found Captain Scott and Felix.
"I don't see anything of the Fatimé in this bay," said Captain Ringgold, when he had closed and locked his doors.
"But she is there, sir," replied Scott mysteriously to the commander.
"Where? I looked the bay over with my glass,and I think if she were here I should have seen her," added Captain Ringgold.
"You could not see her where she is, Captain," replied Scott.
"Where is she, then?" demanded the commander.
"On the bottom, Captain Ringgold," said Captain Scott impressively.
Captain Ringgold looked from one to another of the "Big Four," and a smile passed over his dignified face. It was evident to him from the expression of all of them that something of importance had occurred in Khrysoko Bay, and that Captain Scott, who was, by his position, the spokesman of the party, proposed to tell his story in his own way, to which he did not object.
He believed the young men were honest, truthful, and straightforward, and he had no suspicions of any kind. As the bearer of heavy and disagreeable intelligence is inclined to approach his topic by degrees, the young captain did not like to tell the worst of his report in the beginning.
The commander was not disposed to have the news "broken" to him, and considered himself able to bear the whole of it in a mass without being overwhelmed. But he had no idea of the seriousness of the event which had occurred, and he thought it probable that the boys were making a great deal more of it than the occasion required. They had all been to the table at dinner, and were as lively and as full of fun as usual. As none of them had beenkilled or injured, nothing very terrible could have happened.
"When did you reach this bay, Captain Scott?" he asked, after he had measured the visages of his audience.
"About eight o'clock this morning, sir," replied Scott.
"You had a smart gale about all last night," the commander proceeded.
"Yes, sir; but we made very good weather of it, and it lasted about twelve hours."
"You had no accident?"
"None of any kind, sir; everything went on as usual."
"I suppose you expected the ship sooner than she came?"
"I looked for her this morning."
"In carrying out the plan which you suggested, Captain Scott, I found that the Fatimé was not disposed to follow you as long as the Guardian-Mother was in sight," continued the commander, while the "Big Four" looked at each other, wondering that Captain Ringgold had turned aside from the subject which was a burning one to them. "In order to help Captain Mazagan in his movements, I picked up a pilot off Ras Bourlos, and stood in behind a neck of land. We took the ground there, and stuck hard in the soft mud, though the chart gave water enough to float the ship."
"That was unfortunate," added Scott.
"A government tug hauled us off on the next tide, and I followed you at the best speed of the ship. I went in at Limasol, though I did not believe you would make that port in a southerly gale, and the lookout reported the Maud in this bay. That is the reason of my delay in joining you as arranged," said the commander, finishing his narrative. "But I expected to find the Fatimé here also; for she was pressing on after you the last we saw of her."
"We lost sight of her early last night," added Scott. "Her lights disappeared, and we could form no idea as to what had become of her. I think now that we outsailed her; for we carried a reefed foresail before the gale, and it must have helped a good deal."
"She came into this bay this morning," added Louis, who thought the conference was moving on very slowly.
"I see that you wish me to drag out of you the particulars of your stay here, Captain Scott," said the commander with a smile. "As I have not the least idea what you have been about here, I find some difficulty in framing my questions. You know that a lawyer, when he examines a witness in court, is in possession of all the facts, as I am not on the present occasion. I have learned that the Fatimé came to this bay, and that she is at the bottom now. Perhaps you will be willing to inform me, Captain, by this time, how the Pacha's steamer happens to be at the bottom."
"We had a fight here, and I ran the Maud into her, stove a big hole in her side, and she went to the bottom!" almost shouted Scott, who had been not a little perplexed at the manner of proceeding of the commander. "I believe that is telling the whole story in a heap, sir."
Captain Ringgold sprang out of his chair, evidently startled by the intelligence; and he had never been known to make so much of a demonstration before since he had been in command of the ship. He stood looking into the face of Captain Scott as though he were incredulous in regard to the announcement just made to him; and that a little steam-yacht only forty feet in length had run into and sunk a vessel of four hundred tons was calculated to stagger a man of his experience in nautical affairs.
"Do you mean literally, Captain Scott, that you ran into and sank the Fatimé?" demanded the commander.
"Literally and exactly, sir, that was what was done," replied the young captain very decidedly.
"It looks incredible," added the commander, as he resumed his seat.
"It is the exact truth, Captain Ringgold," said Louis.
"I vouch for the truth of the statement, Captain, if my word is good for anything," Felix followed.
"I give my testimony in the same direction," Morris put in.
"Of course I do not doubt the truth of your statement," replied the commander. "But it looks like an amazing fact that the little Maud was able to do so much mischief to a steamer of the size of the Fatimé. However, she is about as big as some of the little tug-boats in New York Harbor that drag ships of five hundred tons after them. In spite of all that has been said in the last six months about the extraordinary strength of the Maud, I should have supposed the blow, if you went at the steamer at full speed, would have crushed in her bow."
"It did not start a bolt or bend a plate," replied Scott. "But, according to the evidence of Don, who knew something about the Pacha's yacht, she was old and nearly worn out when His Highness bought her."
"That may explain it."
"Before we proceed any farther, I ought to report that Captain Mazagan is now in the cabin of the Maud, wounded by a rifle ball in the shoulder, and in need of the services of the doctor," said Captain Scott.
"Wounded with a rifle ball," repeated the commander. "Then there is a good deal more of this affair which has not yet come out. But if the villain is suffering, it is proper that he should be attended to at once."
"Pitts has had charge of him."
Pinch, the mess steward, was sent for, and ordered to make the hospital ready for a patient. Mr. Boulong was called in, and directed to superintend theremoval of the wounded Moor to this apartment, under the direction of the surgeon. Dr. Hawkes was called from the boudoir, where the company had assembled by this time, and conducted to the patient.
"With this affair all concealment comes to an end for two reasons," said the commander, as soon as he had given the orders for the disposal of the wounded man. "First, there is no longer any necessity for us to keep our own counsel, for Mazagan is now deprived of the means of following us on our voyage; and second, it would be impossible to cover up our movements under the present circumstances. The nervous mothers have no longer any cause for alarm."
"It did not occur to me that we had made an end of this scare business," said Captain Scott. "I had not thought of the matter in that connection, and all I did was to defend my steamer from the attack of the pirate, who proposed to come on board and take Louis Belgrave out of her."
"Then you did your duty!" exclaimed Captain Ringgold, rising from his arm-chair, and extending his hand to the young man. "I congratulate you on your success, and I am only sorry that the unfortunate grounding of the Guardian-Mother compelled you to fight the battle alone. I had no intention of allowing the Maud to be out of my sight more than a few hours."
Louis, Felix, and Morris clapped their hands with all their might at the indorsement the commander had given Captain Scott.
"I cannot express to you, Louis, how happy I am to have you still with us," continued the captain of the ship, as he took the hand of the young millionaire; "for it appears from the report of Captain Scott that you have been in imminent danger of being captured and carried off by that miscreant, and that you have been saved only by the bravery and determination of the commander of the Maud. He has done no more than I would have done in his place, and if the pirate had taken you I would have sunk his steamer at sight to rescue you."
"I am glad you approve the action of Captain Scott, though I had no doubt you would do so when you learned the facts," replied Louis, as he pressed the hand of the commander.
"But I have got only a skeleton of the facts yet, and now I should like to hear the whole story in detail," said Captain Ringgold.
Scott took a paper from his pocket, the one he had drawn off of the situation of the two steamers in Khrysoko Bay, with the position of the ledge, the trend of the shore, and some of the soundings as he had taken them from the chart. He had marked the course of the Maud in all the movements she had made, and also of the Fatimé, giving the position of each vessel at the moment of the collision.
He began his recital with the pointing out of the places of each steamer as soon as the pirate came into the bay. The visit of her boat to the little steamer followed, and the marshalling of the five members ofthe ship's company armed with the repeating-rifles. The interview with Mazagan was as minutely stated as though a skilled reporter of a newspaper had taken it down.
"That was the most amazing, presumptuous, groundless, and insane demand that one person could make upon another," interposed the commander. "It was sheer piracy!"
Scott had so viewed it, and he proceeded with his narrative. Captain Ringgold had vacated his chair at the desk, on which the captain of the Maud had placed his diagram, and pointed out everything as he spoke. The attempted escape by the supposed channel near the shore was dwelt upon at some length, in order to enable the young captain to prove that he had done his best to avoid a collision with the enemy.
The first shots the Fatimé had fired at the Maud, though they had fallen far short of the mark, were mentioned so as to give them their full effect; and Captain Ringgold declared that they were a sufficient declaration of war.
"Only one avenue of escape was open to me," continued Captain Scott, "and that was directly across the bow of the enemy. If I remained where I was the Fatimé could come in with the rising of the tide, and sink the Maud at her leisure. Then the pirate fired the shot from her starboard gun which passed through the galley, and began to swing to, so as to bring her port gun to bear on the Maud.
"I won't deny that the shot which went throughour upper works made me mad; but I feared that the next one might go through our boiler or engine, and then it would have been all over with us. I determined to prevent such a disaster if I could. I had ordered the hands to use the rifles; but most of the crew concealed themselves under the top-gallant forecastle. I shifted the helm, and drove the little steamer's bow square into the broadside of the Fatimé, just abaft her fore chains.
"It seemed to me from the feeling that she was going to bore her way through the pirate craft, and I rang to stop and back her. I gave the speed bell as soon as she began to go astern, and the Maud went clear, as I was afraid she would not."
The picking up of Mazagan after the Fatimé had gone down, and the visit of the boat from the shore, were given in detail, and the narrative was completed.
As soon as the story was finished, the commander took the hand of Captain Scott again, and pressed it in silence for a moment. He had listened attentively to the report, interrupting it but once, and had carefully followed the speaker as he pointed out his movements on the diagram.
"I approved your conduct, Captain Scott, when I had only a partial knowledge of what you had done," said he. "I can now approve it with a full knowledge of the whole affair even more heartily and decidedly than before. You have been resolute and unflinching from the beginning, and you have not only fought your ship as bravely and skilfully as anynaval officer could have done it, but you have done your best to avoid a conflict. I commend you with all my heart and mind."
"I thank you, Captain Ringgold, for all the kind words you have spoken, and I am rejoiced to be informed on such authority as you are that I have done my duty faithfully," replied the young commander.
"I suppose the mothers in the boudoir are wondering what has become of their boys," added the commander. "I give you an hour to pass with them, and then we must sail for Port Said."
The conference was ended, and the boys all went to the boudoir.
While the Guardian-Mother lay aground, the mothers in the cabin had become very anxious about their boys, and both of them had spent wakeful nights in thinking of them. In a comparison of notes it was evident that the wind had blown harder on the coast of Egypt than farther to the north. But the ship had escaped from the dilemma in the morning at an early hour, and had made a quick run to Cape Arnauti.
There was therefore great rejoicing in the cabin when it was ascertained that the Maud was safe, with all on board of her. Dr. Hawkes operated upon Mazagan in the hospital, and readily removed the bullet from his shoulder. Ball, one of the old man-of-war's-men of the crew, who had seen some service as a nurse, was appointed to take care of him.
The fact that the surgeon had a patient soon became known in the boudoir, and curiosity ran to the highest pitch to ascertain who and what he was. All that was known was the fact that he had been brought on board from the Maud, which Sparks had learned from the sailors who assisted in removing him. The commander and the "Big Four" werestill closeted on the upper deck, and there was no one to answer any questions.
Before Captain Scott had finished his report, Dr. Hawkes rejoined the party; and he was immediately beset by the curious ones for information. The seal of secrecy had been removed by the commander, and he had not been instructed to be silent. He knew the patient as soon as he saw him; for Mazagan had been a prisoner on board of the ship for a considerable time after his capture in Pournea Bay.
"What is your patient, Dr. Hawkes?" asked Mrs. Blossom before he had fairly crossed the threshold of the door.
"A wounded man; bullet in the shoulder," replied the surgeon with professional discretion. "It is not a woman, and Ball has been called in as his nurse."
"A bullet in the shoulder!" exclaimed the excellent woman. "Will he die?"
"Undoubtedly he will, though perhaps not for twenty or thirty years."
"Is the wound dangerous?"
"I don't think so."
"But who is the man?"
"Captain Mazagan."
"Captain Mazagan!" exclaimed the good lady; and the name was repeated by several others, for they had known him as the pirate who had attacked the Maud for the purpose of robbery, as they supposed, and they had seen him occasionally on theupper deck when the conferences were in progress there.
"How happened he to be wounded in the shoulder, doctor?" persisted the worthy lady.
"Because the bullet hit him there," replied the stout surgeon with a chuckle, which was promptly communicated to Uncle Moses.
"But who shot him?"
"The man who fired the gun at him."
"Who fired the gun?"
"I don't know."
"What was Captain Mazagan doing here?"
"I don't know."
"Has there been a fight here?"
"Not that I am aware of."
"Then how did he get wounded?"
"I don't know," replied Dr. Hawkes, who evidently enjoyed the defeat of the inquisitor; and Uncle Moses's huge frame was jarring like a pot of jelly under the influence of his inward chuckles.
"Have you dressed the wound of your patient without finding out anything at all about how the man was wounded?" demanded the good lady, disgusted at her failure.
"It was my affair to dress his wound, and not to pump him, as I should have done if he had taken a dose of poison," laughed the doctor. "But I think you need have no anxiety about my patient, for I have no doubt he will do very well."
"But there must have been a quarrel or a fightsomewhere about here, and I should like to know something about it," continued Mrs. Blossom, as she dropped herself heavily on one of the divans.
"I can give you no information whatever; for I leave all the fights and quarrels to our worthy and discreet commander, and do not meddle with his affairs," added the surgeon.
"Do you really know nothing at all about what has happened here, Dr. Hawkes?" asked Mrs. Belgrave; and it was plain that the curiosity of the rest of the party was strongly excited, though they were more guarded in manifesting it.
"Absolutely nothing, my dear madam, beyond the fact that the man is Captain Mazagan," replied Dr. Hawkes. "I never inquire into the affairs of my patients beyond what it is necessary for me to know in treating the case. I have no doubt Captain Ringgold will give you all the particulars of whatever has happened here; for it looks as though something of importance had occurred."
A little later the commander, followed by the four boys, appeared, and Mrs. Blossom renewed the onslaught. The others were, perhaps, quite as anxious to learn what had taken place; but they were silent, and waited for the captain to answer her questions if he was disposed to do so.
"I am sorry to interrupt this pleasant party, ladies and gentlemen, but I have already given the order to weigh the anchor, and we shall go to sea immediately," said Captain Ringgold. "The young gentlemenof the Maud must take their leave, and return to the tender."
"Has anything happened here, Captain Ringgold?" asked Mrs. Belgrave, taking him by the arm.
"Something has happened here," replied the commander, loud enough to be heard by all in the boudoir. "But here are the four young men in whom you are all more or less interested, and you can see that they are not injured."
"Have you been hurt, Mr. Belgrave?" asked Miss Blanche, by whose side Louis had taken his place when he entered the apartment, as he was very much in the habit of doing when the party assembled.
"Not a hair of my head has been damaged," he replied.
"As soon as we are under way, and get clear of the shore, I shall tell you the whole story of certain events which have transpired in Khrysoko Bay during our absence," continued the commander. "I am willing to add that it will make quite a thrilling narrative. About two o'clock to-morrow afternoon I expect the Guardian-Mother and the Maud will be at Port Said, at the entrance to the Suez Canal."
The mothers hugged their boys again even for the separation of eighteen hours, and the hands of the others were duly shaken. Mrs. Blossom did not attempt to hug the Milesian this time.
"What has happened here, Felix?" she asked in a low tone; for the good lady would have been glad toget at the solution of the mystery, in order that she might give a hint of it to the others.
"Captain Ringgold will tell you all about it; it would take me six hours to do so, and I have not the time," replied Felix as he bolted through the door.
"Six hours!" exclaimed the amiable lady. "Then we shall have to sit up about all night to hear the story. I wonder what the boys have been doing in this lonely place."
She was no wiser than the rest of the party. The two sons tore themselves away from their mothers, and Louis was permitted to take the hand of Miss Blanche in bidding her adieu. The commander had sent four of the old sailors on board of the little steamer to stand the watches during the trip; for the "Big Four" were believed to be thoroughly exhausted after a night in the gale and the most exciting day of all their lives. This was certainly true of Captain Scott, for he had hardly slept a wink in the last thirty-six hours, and the others were tired enough.
The chief engineer had been notified of the immediate departure of the Maud, and the fasts were cast off as soon as the ship's company went on board. Stevens, the carpenter of the ship, had repaired the damage done in the galley, and a supply of provisions had been put on board.
Captain Scott had submitted the question as to whether anything was to be done in regard to the ship's company of the Fatimé. The matter had been decided at once. Captain Mazagan had declared waragainst the Maud, and had proceeded to enforce his preposterous demand. He had made a failure of it, and outside of the call of ordinary humanity, the commander believed that it was not his duty to look out for the comfort of the marauders. A sufficient supply of provisions had been sent to those on shore, and the pirate himself was under treatment on board of the ship. What was to be done with him was a question for the future.
Captain Scott remained in the pilot-house of the Maud till the steamer was well off the cape, and then gave out the course, south and a half west. It was Morris's watch, and he insisted on remaining on the forecastle, as he had obtained a portion of his sleep the night before. The ship soon followed her consort; and as soon as the commander had given out the course he hastened to the boudoir, where the party were awaiting his appearance.
"It is hardly necessary for me to give the nautical points involved in 'The Battle of Khrysoko,'" said Captain Ringgold, as he laid the diagram of the captain of the Maud on the table.
"I beg your pardon, Captain—involved in what?" interrupted Mr. Woolridge, who seemed to be bothered by the proper name.
"'The Battle of Khrysoko,'" repeated the commander with a smile. "That is the name the boys gave to the affair, calling it after the bay in which it occurred, though it is rather a high-sounding designation for it."
"Are we to understand that a battle has been fought here, Captain Ringgold?" inquired the magnate of the Fifth Avenue, as Louis had called him.
"It did not rise to the dignity of a regular naval engagement, though it took place on the waters of the bay," replied the captain. "Perhaps if we call it a contest for superiority, it would cover the idea better. But this party are not prepared to understand what has taken place in Khrysoko Bay; and I must admit that I have concealed from you for the last three months certain features of our voyage, a knowledge of which would have rendered some of you very nervous and unhappy.
"I did not consult Dr. Hawkes in relation to the effect upon one of his patients, but I am confident he would have advised me to do as I have done. I am equally confident that another of your number would very soon have become one of his patients if I had been imprudent enough to put her in possession of all the facts in the situation. If I had done so at Athens, Zante, or Alexandria, I am almost certain that the Guardian-Mother would have been speeding her way across the Atlantic to New York; for some of the party would have insisted upon abandoning the voyage as projected.
"My only confidants in the inside history of this voyage for the last six months, or since we visited Mogadore, were the four young men who have just left you. Now I will relate this inside history, and give all the facts without any reservation whatever.I must begin back at Mogadore; and as I mention the incidents of our cruise so far, you will remember all of them. 'The Battle of Khrysoko' is the last chapter of the story, and for the present at least, and I hope forever, has removed all danger from our path."
By this time the entire party were all attention. The captain began his review of the incidents of the voyage at Mogadore. He used the time judiciously, but it took him a full hour to bring the history down to the final event. Whatever had been dark and mysterious in the past was made plain. The discovery of the plot made by Louis in the café at Gallipoli made a tremendous impression, and Dr. Hawkes had to attend to Mrs. Belgrave, she became so excited and nervous.
The stirring events in the bay were given very cautiously by the speaker, though he told the whole truth. He stated enough of the nautical situation to enable the party to understand the affair; and he warmly commended Captain Scott for the decisive act by which he had finished the encounter, after he had used every effort to escape a conflict.
"And did that wicked pirate actually fire cannon-balls into the Maud while Louis was on board of her?" asked Mrs. Belgrave, very much excited.
"He put one shot through her, though Louis was on the upper deck, firing his rifle into the enemy, and he was in no danger," replied the commander.
It was midnight when the narrative and the commentsupon it were finished. The doctor attended to his patient in the cabin, and then to the other in the hospital. Mazagan felt better, and wanted to talk; but Dr. Hawkes would not permit him to do so. The party retired with enough to think about.
At the time stated by the commander, the Guardian-Mother and the Maud were off the red light on the end of the breakwater at the entrance to the Suez Canal.
The sea was quite smooth when the Guardian-Mother and her tender arrived off Port Said. There was about thirty feet of water off the breakwater; and though there was an extensive basin at the town, the commander preferred to anchor outside for purposes he had in view. The trip to Cyprus had interrupted the educational work of the tourists, and this was the grand object ever uppermost in his mind.
Though this instructive element of the cruise around the world had been prominent in his thoughts before the steamer sailed from New York, it was rather indefinite in its details, so that he had failed to make some preparations for the work which the experience of a year now suggested to him. In the lectures, conferences, talks, and explanations to individuals, the professor and himself had felt the want of suitable maps on a large scale.
At Alexandria he had obtained a large map of Egypt, though it was not just what was wanted; but it had answered the purpose tolerably well. The subjects which would be next in order were full of interest to him, and were likely to be so to the members of the party; for they included some of the oldercountries of the world, such as Syria, Babylonia, Assyria, Persia, and Arabia. Geographically they were comparatively unfamiliar to the members of the party, who, unlike the professor, the surgeon, and Uncle Moses, had not been liberally educated.
The instruction given at the various places on the voyage, and the studies of the students on the wing, had demonstrated that such maps were indispensable. But Captain Ringgold was a man of expedients. Every steamer, especially those engaged in making long voyages, has a paint-shop on board, more or less abundantly supplied with all necessary material. All seamen are required to do plain painting; for such a ship as the Guardian-Mother had to be kept in the nicest condition.
At Alexandria and Cairo the commander had procured such additional material as was needed for the production of the maps desired. Some of the sailors were more skilful in the use of the brush than others; and as soon as the captain mentioned his purpose to the first and second officers, they were able to point out a couple of men who had some artistic ideas in their composition.
All the crew were able seamen, and every one of them was skilled in the use of the sail-needle and palm, though of course in different degrees, as in all other occupations. Some of these had sewed the canvas together on which the maps were to be drawn and painted. It was not expected that anything which would pass the scrutiny of an artist would be produced;only such work as would answer the purpose of illustration.
In Mr. P. Lord Gaskette, the second officer of the ship, Captain Ringgold found his ablest assistant. He was a graduate of one of the most noted colleges of the United States, and had made some progress in the study of the legal profession. Unfortunately his health had failed him, and he had turned his attention to artistic pursuits for the sake of the out-door life to be obtained in sketching. He had taken some lessons in drawing and painting; but his physician had insisted that he should go to sea. He had been seven years a wanderer over the world, having shipped before the mast, and reached his present position.
In the paint-shop he was quite at home. He was assisted by the two seamen the most skilled with the brush, while he did the drawing himself. The large atlas of the world, a very expensive work, belonging to the commander, supplied accurate maps on a small scale, and these were transferred to the canvas, eight feet square. During the voyage to Cyprus three of these maps had been finished. One of them was the Delta of Egypt, including the Suez Canal; and the commander declared that it was handsome enough to adorn any schoolroom.
The Maud had made fast to the ship as usual when she came to anchor, and the "Big Four" were to report on board as soon as they had put their craft to rights. The party had mounted the promenade assoon as the low shore was in sight, and were looking about them at the various objects in view. Several large English steamers were in sight, including one of the P. & O. Line, and the Ophir, the largest and finest of the Orient Line, both bound to India and other countries of the Orient.
"How is your patient this afternoon, Dr. Hawkes?" asked the commander, as he met the physician on his way to the promenade.
"He is doing very well. He has very little pain now; and I think he will be as well as ever in a fortnight or three weeks, if he will only be reasonable," replied the doctor.
"Reasonable? Doesn't he wish to get well?" asked the commander.
"He wants to talk, and evidently has something on his mind. He desires an interview with you, Captain, and has asked me to obtain it for him; but I refused to do anything of the kind, for he has some fever hanging about him, and must be kept as quiet as possible."
"I don't know that I have any business with him, or he with me. I consider him one of the most unmitigated villains that ever walked the earth or sailed the seas," added Captain Ringgold. "The scoundrel does not seem to have common-sense; for he puts forward the most absurd claims that ever were invented, and it would not surprise me at all if he advanced another against me or Louis, in spite of the overwhelming defeat he has just sustained."
"He is the coolest and most impudent rascal I ever heard of. He asks Louis for a vast sum of money, and then politely requests him to become a prisoner in the cabin of the Fatimé as security for the payment of the sum by his trustee;" and the doctor shook his fat sides with laughter at the absurdity.
"Very likely he has some such proposition to make to me. He really believes, I think, that he has a fair claim for what he has lost, or failed to obtain, by the miscarriage of all his plots to make a prisoner of Louis and Miss Blanche. All I desire is to get rid of the villain; and as soon as you inform me that he is off your hands I shall put him on shore."
The captain and the doctor joined the party on the promenade. Mr. Gaskette and his assistant were hanging one of the maps completed on the upper deck, where the conferences were usually held. He had assigned subjects to several members of the party, and he seemed to be anxious to have them disposed of; for he declared that this locality was one of the most interesting corners of the world to him.
On the promenade the mothers had their sons by their side, and Mrs. Blossom had secured possession of Felix in some manner that did not appear; but the good woman seemed to be superlatively happy. The commander did not take a seat, but took a stand in front of the company. He described the two big steamers that were approaching, in answer to a question put by Mrs. Belgrave.
"Of course you all recognize the shore before you," he continued.
"There isn't much shore there, only a strip of sand, with water beyond it," added Mrs. Woolridge.
"What country is it?" asked Miss Blanche in a whisper to Louis, who had his mother on one side of him and the fair maiden on the other.
"Egypt," replied Louis, wondering that she did not know.
"The water you see is Lake Menzaleh," answered the captain. "It is not much of a lake, as Americans would look at it. It is a sort of lagoon, covering from five hundred to a thousand square miles, according to different authorities; but the inundation of the Nile makes varying areas of water. The Damietta branch of the great river empties into the sea about thirty miles to the west of us, and this lagoon covers the region between it and the Suez Canal.
"The lake is separated from the Mediterranean by a narrow strip of land, which you can see, through which are a number of openings, such as we find in the sand-spits along the shore of our own country. But unlike our inlets, they were formerly mouths of the Nile, or at least of streams connected with it; and all of them have names, as the Mendesian Mouth, the Tanitic, the Pelusian, and others.
"It is full of islands, on some of which are the remains of Roman towns. The average depth of the water is not more than three feet; but it aboundsin fish, and it is the abode of vast flocks of aquatic birds, which are hunted by many English sportsmen, who camp out there to enjoy the shooting. The morass has been partially drained, which accounts for the low water in the lake at the present time; and undoubtedly it will all be above the ordinary level of the Nile at no very distant time.
"The Suez Canal extends in a perfectly straight line, north and south, through this lake and the low land around it. But we will not meddle with the canal just yet, for we shall have a great deal of time to talk about it while we are going through it; for it is a hundred miles long, and steamers are required to move very slowly, except in the lakes now forming part of it. As this canal is one of the most important enterprises ever carried through to a completion, I have asked Mr. Woolridge to give us an account of its construction and uses. Then I shall invite you to adjourn to the promenade deck, where I have prepared something more in relation to Egypt, the 'Land of Goshen.'
"This canal takes its name from the isthmus or city of that name, or the Red Sea; more properly from the former, as it makes its passage through it," Mr. Woolridge began. "Our old friend, Ramses II., of whom we have heard so much in the last four weeks, is said to have been the first to dig out a Suez Canal, though I cannot inform you by what name he called it in the Egyptian language; but that was a small affair compared with the one before us. But ourfriend's canal got filled up from the amount of mud and sand lying loose around here.
"Darius I. of Persia cleaned it out, though it was suffered to become useless again. Then the Mohammedan conquerors of Egypt opened it once more; but they lacked the modern facilities for handling mud and sand, and it went to ruin again, and was useless till a comparatively modern date.
"When Napoleon I. was in Egypt the subject attracted his attention, and he employed an expert French engineer to examine the matter. This gentleman declared that the level of the Red Sea was thirty feet higher than that of the Mediterranean; and this report knocked the scheme higher than a kite. But in 1841 the English officers employed in this region proved the fallacy of the French engineer's conclusion, and the subject came up again for consideration.
"This time it was the Vicompte de Lesseps, another French engineer, who took up the subject. He was born at Versailles in 1805, had been educated for the diplomatic profession, and had served his country acceptably in this capacity at Lisbon, Cairo, Barcelona, and Madrid. In 1854 he began upon the work, and two years later obtained a concession of certain privileges for his proposed company, which was duly formed, and began the actual work of construction in 1860. Nine years after it was completed, and formally opened with extraordinary ceremonies and festivities, and has now been in successfuloperation about twenty-two years. Queen Victoria of England made the distinguished Frenchman a K. C. S. I."
"What does that mean, papa?" asked Miss Blanche.
"It is a big distinction, and that is all I know about it," replied the speaker with a laugh; for he was not student enough to look up what he did not comprehend.
"Knight Commander of the Star of India," added Louis, who had looked up the abbreviation.
"Thank you, Mr. Belgrave. From 25,000 to 30,000 men were employed upon the work. It was delayed by the necessity of completing a fresh-water canal to Ismaïlia, about half way through to Suez, and by some trouble with Ismail, who had succeeded as viceroy. The original capital of the company was about forty million dollars of our money; but the total cost, including the auxiliary works required to put it in running order, was one hundred million dollars. Yet it is good stock to-day; and all the steamers that used to be obliged to go around Cape Good Hope pass through the canal, and did so before some of you were born.
"As the commander observed a little while ago, the canal is 100 miles long. The width of the water surface is from 150 to 300 feet, though it has changed somewhat since the canal was built. At the bottom it was 72 feet wide, and the shoalest place has 26 feet in depth. As you see around you,two breakwaters had to be built, involving an immense amount of labor and expense; for one of them is nearly 7,000, and the other a little more than 6,000, feet in length.
"The highest level on the isthmus is 52 feet, so that they did not have to dig very deep anywhere; and there were several depressions in the level, which made the work still less. The canal passes through three lakes: first, Menzaleh, 28 miles; Timsah, 5 miles; and the Bitter Lakes, 23 miles. Every five or six miles there are side basins where one ship can pass another. That is all I need say at present; but as we are sailing through, there will be much more to say."
The usual applause followed, and then the commander took the rostrum.
Captain Ringgold suggested to the magnate of the Fifth Avenue that he had omitted something, as he pointed to the long piers which extended out into the sea.
"I had it on my tongue's end to mention them; but I am not much accustomed to speaking before an audience, and I forgot to do so," replied Mr. Woolridge. "But then they are engineering work, and I doubt if this company would be interested."
"I was wondering where they obtained all the stone to build them in this place, where there appears to be nothing but sand and mud," interposed Mrs. Belgrave. "They must be nearly a mile long."
"They are quite a mile long," replied Mr. Woolridge.
"Did they bring the stone from the quarries away up the Nile, where they got the material of which the pyramids are built?"
"Not at all; that would have been about as big a job as digging out the canal."
"Hardly; for they could have brought them by water about all the way," said the commander. "But the material did not come from those quarries."
"No; they made the rocks," added the magnate.
"Made them!" exclaimed Mrs. Blossom. "Do you expect us to believe that?"
"There is a great deal of such work done in the United States, and in some of our cities there are streets paved and sidewalks built of manufactured stone," replied Mr. Woolridge. "At the town which you see, the piers start out about two-thirds of a mile apart, and approach each other till they are less than a third of a mile from each other. They were built to protect the port from the north-west winds which sometimes blow very fresh here, and to prevent the harbor of Port Said from being choked up with the Nile mud from the mouths of the great river.
"These piers were constructed by a French firm. The first thing was to manufacture the artificial stone, which was composed of seven parts sand, of which there is a plentiful supply in this vicinity, and one part of hydraulic lime, imported from France. I suppose the latter is something like the cement used in New York in building sewers and drains, or other works in wet places. This concrete was mixed by machinery, then put into immense wooden moulds, just as you make a loaf of sponge cake, Mrs. Blossom, where it was kept for several weeks. These blocks weighed twenty tons each."
"Goodness! They were heavier than Mrs. Grimper's sponge cake!" exclaimed Mrs. Blossom.
"Considerably," laughed the magnate. "The solidcontents of each were thirteen and a third cubic yards. How big a cubic block would that make in feet, young gentlemen? I hope you are not neglecting your mathematics for geography and sight-seeing."
"About seven feet," replied Louis, after some mental figuring.
"A little more than that," added the professor.
"Seven feet is about the height of the cabin of this ship, and one of them would just stand up in it," continued Mr. Woolridge. "They made thirty of them every day, and twenty-five thousand were required."
"This is about as wonderful as the immense work of the ancient Egyptians," said Mrs. Belgrave.
"But all this labor was done by machinery. The moulds were removed from the blocks, and they were exposed to the air in order to harden them more effectually. They were then hoisted on peculiar boats, built for the purpose, with an inclined deck, from which they were slid into the sea. They made a tremendous splash when they were dumped overboard; and it was a sight worth seeing if we had happened to be here twenty-four years ago."
"It wasn't convaynient for some of us to be here at that time," said Felix.
"That is so, my broth of a boy; but some things happened before you were born, as well as since."
"Sure, the pyramids were built before your honor was barn."
"True for you; some things happened before I wasborn, and even before the twin cupids came into the world; for I believe they are the oldest persons on board," replied the magnate. "They kept dropping these tremendous blocks into the sea till they came nearly to the level, and then they built the walls as you see them now. I suppose you have noticed that lighthouse on the little strip of land between the sea and Lake Menzaleh. That is also built of these artificial stones, and it is one hundred and sixty-four feet high. It is provided with electric lights, which are to be seen from a distance of twenty-four miles. It is, therefore, one of the largest in the world. I believe I have covered the ground now, and I won't say anything about Port Said till we are moored in the grand basin."
"You have disposed of thepierres perduesvery nicely indeed, Mr. Woolridge," said the professor.
"Who are they?" asked the magnate, who had forgotten all the French he ever knew.
"Literally, 'lost stones,' as they were when they went overboard; but that was what the French engineers called them."
"Now, ladies and gentlemen, I desire to invite you to the upper deck, where I wish to say something to you about the Land of Goshen, and thus finish up Egypt, except the portion we shall have in view as we continue on our voyage," said the commander rising from his seat.
The ladies were handed down from the promenade by the gallant gentlemen, though, unfortunately,there were not enough of the former to go round; but no one but the captain and Louis presumed to offer his services to Mrs. Belgrave or Miss Blanche. As the party approached the place where the conferences had usually been held, they saw that a change had been made in the appearance of things.
The first novelty that attracted their attention was the large map which was suspended on a frame rigged against the mainmast. It was brilliant with colors, with all the streams, towns, and lakes, properly labelled, upon it. A small table stood at the left, or port side, of it, covered with a cloth, with a Bible and a vase of flowers upon it. Chloe, the stewardess, had provided the latter from the pots which the ladies had kept in the cabin since their visit to Bermuda.
On the deck a large carpet had been spread out, and the thirteen arm-chairs had been placed in a semicircle, facing the map, with one behind the table for the speaker for the occasion. As soon as the company had taken in this arrangement for the educational feature of the voyage, they halted, and applauded it with right good-will.
"Please to be seated, ladies and gentlemen," said the commander, as he handed Mrs. Belgrave to the chair on the right of the table; and at the same time he took his place behind the table.
The party took their chairs according to their own fancies, and Mrs. Blossom managed to get at the side of Felix. At one side stood Mr. Gaskette and thetwo sailors who had assisted him in his work. They had also arranged the meeting-place from the direction of the captain. Some of the tourists wondered what the commander meant to do in the face of all these preparations. It was not Sunday, or they would have come to the conclusion that the usual religious service was to be held here; for the Bible on the table pointed in this direction. As soon as the party were seated the commander opened the Good Book at a marked place.
"I see that some of you are surprised at the altered appearance of our out-door hall," Captain Ringgold began. "I regard the instructive element of our voyage as one of the greatest importance; and if I were to fit out the ship again for this cruise, I should provide an apartment on this deck for our conference meetings. But I have done the best I could under the circumstances, with the assistance of Mr. Gaskette, the second officer of the ship.
"I see also that the map before you has challenged your attention," continued the commander, who proceeded to explain in what manner he had caused the maps to be made. "Mr. Gaskette has been my right-hand man in this work. He is not only a good navigator and a thorough seaman, but he is a highly educated gentleman, a graduate of Harvard College, a person of artistic tastes, as you may have learned from your intercourse with him. The map before you is only one of three already completed, and the work is in progress upon several others."
The company, including the ladies, received this explanation with generous applause, and all the boys called for the subject of the captain's remarks. He was presented to them, and thanked the commander for his kind words, and hoped the maps would prove to be useful in the conferences.
"I will begin what I have to say about the Land of Goshen by reading a few verses from the first chapter of Exodus: 'And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there rose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Ramses.'