"'As when to them who sailBeyond the Cape of Hope, and now are pastMozambic, off at sea north-east winds blowSabæan odors from the spicy shoreOf Arabie the blest,'
"'As when to them who sailBeyond the Cape of Hope, and now are pastMozambic, off at sea north-east winds blowSabæan odors from the spicy shoreOf Arabie the blest,'
alludes to this country. The Sabæans were the ancient people of Yemen, called Sheba in the Book of Genesis. They were a wealthy and powerful people, and it was probably the queen of this region who made a celebrated visit to King Solomon. But we cannot follow them now.
"Yemen changed hands several times, belonging to Abyssinia, Persia, and the caliphs of Arabia, and has been fought for by Portuguese, Turks, and Egyptians; but now it is a Turkish province. England had reason to demand satisfaction from the Arab authorities for injuries done to her Indian subjects. The negotiations failed, and there was evident treachery. England does her work thoroughly in such cases; and Aden was promptly bombarded, and then seized by a naval and military force in 1839. This is said to be the first territory acquired during the reign of Queen Victoria; and the nation's record is not so bad as sometimes stated.
"Aden was made a free port in 1850; and it has since had a large trade, increasing it from half amillion dollars to sixteen millions. It is governed by English civil officers, and the military is in command of a brigadier-general. The troops are British and East Indian, and are of all arms of the service, including a troop of native cavalry, to which Arabs mounted on camels are attached. Now we are ready to go on shore," the commander concluded.
"How are we to go on shore, sir?" asked Scott.
"We have plenty of boats,—the barge, the first and second cutters, and the dingy," replied Captain Ringgold with a pleasant smile; for he understood what the captain of the Maud was driving at.
"Are you not going to put the little steamer into the water again, sir?" inquired the young captain. "She would be very convenient in going about this place, which is nearly surrounded by water."
"She would be indeed; but we shall probably leave Aden by to-morrow afternoon, and it would hardly pay to lower her into the water, for you know that it requires a great deal of hard work to do so," said the commander, who was really very sorry to disoblige the young man, and he kept more than his usual smile on his face all the time.
"I think we could make the voyage very comfortably in her from here to Bombay, or wherever you are going," suggested Captain Scott.
"I do not consider a voyage of that length in such a small craft quite prudent, even if there were no other question to be considered. But it would take us at least half a day to put the Maud into the water,and as long to coal and water her, and otherwise fit her out. Then it is ordinarily a seven days' voyage from Aden to Bombay, and the Maud would get out of coal in half that time."
"But for the next five hundred miles the voyage is along the coast of Arabia."
"There are no coal stations except at Aden and Perim, so far as I know, unless you run up to Muscat, and I am not sure that there is any there," answered the captain of the ship. "I learned from Mr. Gaskill, the Parsee agent here, after I told him who and what we were, that he had heard of us before. Stories exaggerated beyond all decent limits have been told about us. Louis's million and a half have been stretched to hundreds of millions, and the Guardian-Mother has been regarded as a floating mine of wealth. I suspect that Mazagan spread such stories in Egypt, and they have travelled to this port."
"What have these stories to do with a voyage to Bombay by the Maud?" asked Scott, with something like a laugh; for he could see no connection.
"Mr. Gaskill asked me about the little steamer that was sailing with the ship; so that he had heard of her, for she came through the canal with us. I have thought of this matter before; and the little steamer would be a great temptation to the half-civilized Arabs that inhabit these shores, and they are sailors after their own fashion. I know you are not afraid of them, Captain Scott; but it would be easyenough for these pirates to fall upon you, capture the little steamer, and make an end of all on board of her."
"Where should we be while they were doing all this?" asked Scott with a smile of incredulity.
"You would be treated to some treachery at first probably; but even in a square, stand-up fight your chances against fifty or a hundred of these savages would be very small. In fact, I came to the conclusion, after your battle at Khrysoko, that the armament of the ship was not heavy enough for possible contingencies, though the saluting-guns on the top-gallant forecastle are well enough for ordinary occasions."
"As your mind seems to be made up, Captain Ringgold, I will say no more about the matter," added Scott; and it was plain enough that he was sorely disappointed.
"I am very confident that Mrs. Belgrave and Mrs. Woolridge, since the trouble in the Cyprus bay, and after all that has been said since that event, would not permit their sons to go to sea again in the Maud; and I must say that their prudence is perfectly justifiable."
"Then we are not likely to use the Maud again?" asked Scott.
"Certainly not in these localities, though we may put her in the water at Bombay, Calcutta, and perhaps some other ports," replied the commander. "If anything should happen to you, or to any of your ship's company, I should never forgive myself."
"I don't see that she will be of any use to us hereafter," suggested the discontented young navigator.
"I advised her purchase mainly for use in the Mediterranean; and she has certainly been very useful, adding very much to the pleasure of the party."
"If you cannot use her, I should think you would sell her," added Scott. "Of whatever service she may have been, she seems to be played out, and is of no use at all now."
"You are nearer right, Captain Scott, than perhaps you suppose; and to be candid with you, I regard the Maud as very like an elephant on our hands."
"Then I hope you will sell her," replied the young man, with something like desperation in his manner. "For my part, I am entirely willing you should do so, sir."
"It is plainly impracticable to make any use of her in the next six months, except in harbor service, and we hardly need her for that," continued the commander. "I know that Louis and Morris do not wish to go to sea in her again; and I suppose Felix would prefer to be where his crony is."
"Cruising in the Maud is then decidedly a thing of the past," said Scott, with a feeble attempt to laugh.
"Then, if I should find an opportunity to sell the Maud at Aden, you will not be disappointed?" asked the captain, point-blank, looking earnestly into the face of the young sailor.
"If we are not to use her as we did before"—
"That is utterly impracticable in the waters of the Indian Ocean; for the perils I have suggested, to say nothing of typhoons and hurricanes," interposed the commander.
"Then I shall be perfectly satisfied to have her go," answered Scott.
"In the first typhoon or hurricane, and I expect to see such, we might be obliged to cut her loose, and launch her into the boiling waters to save the ship; for I find that she is too great a load to carry on our promenade deck, and we have no other place for her. We have had no storm to test the matter; if we had, she might have gone before this time. I have already spoken to Uncle Moses and Mr. Woolridge about the matter, and they not only consent, but insist, that the Maud be sold."
"I have nothing more to say, Captain Ringgold," said Scott rather stiffly.
Then he told the young man about the terrors of the mothers, the grave fears of Mr. Woolridge, who was a yachtsman, and was so confident that the little steamer would have to be cast into the sea, that Scott was somewhat mollified. He had made his reputation as a sailor, a navigator, a brave fellow, on board of her, and to lose the Maud seemed like destroying the ark which had brought him out of the floods of evil, and made a man of him.
The wise commander had evidently saved him from a life of iniquity, and the little steamer had been an effective agency in his hands in doing thework. He was absolutely clear that it was not prudent for the young navigators to sail the Maud over the Indian Ocean, and his conscience would not permit it to be done. He was afraid his decision might have a bad effect upon the young man, that it might even turn him from the paths of rectitude in which he had trodden for many months; but he trusted to himself and the co-operation of the other three members of the "Big Four" to save him from any such disaster.
The barge and the first cutter were manned at the gangway, and the party went on shore, prepared by what the commander had said to them to understand what they were to see. Captain Ringgold was obliged to visit the Parsee merchants, while an army officer who had been presented to them showed them about the town. They found everything they could possibly desire at the shops (not stores on British territory). Louis procured the vehicles, and they all rode out to the fortifications, where they were greatly interested, especially in the water tanks, which have a capacity of nearly eight million gallons. The officer was exceedingly polite, not alone because the reputation of the wealth of the young millionaire had gone out before him, but because this is the rule with well-bred English people.
He was re-enforced by others, and the ladies had all the beaux they could manage; and Miss Blanche could have had all of them if she had not chosen to cling to Louis Belgrave. They were all invited todinner in the cabin of the Guardian-Mother, and Mr. Sage was informed of the fact before he returned to the ship.
Before noon the Maud had been sold for four times the sum she had cost, to the Parsees, who wanted her very badly to ply between steamers and the shore in prosecuting their trade. Out of the price to be received was deducted that of the four guns and a liberal supply of ammunition of all descriptions.
Captain Ringgold had sold the little steamer for four times what she had cost the owners, but still for less than her value, for she was an exceptionally strong and handsome craft. On the other hand, he had purchased the naval material for "a mere song;" for it was not available for a man-of-war in modern times, and not of the kind used in the naval or military forces of England.
The commander had been a young naval officer from the beginning of the War of the Rebellion, and had attained the grade of lieutenant, so that he was a judge of the material he bought. He examined everything very critically before a price was named. The guns had been procured for a native East-Indian prince; but the ship that brought them to the shores of his country was not permitted to land them. He was deposed about the time, probably on account of the attempt to bring these guns into his domain.
The captain of the sailing-ship could not collect even his freight money, and he was forced to carry them off with him when his cargo was completed. His consignee suggested to him that the Imam, or Sultan, of Muscat would purchase his war material,and be glad to get it, and he had sailed for that port; but among the rocks at the entrance to the Persian Gulf his bark had been wrecked. The guns and ammunition were saved, for they were the captain's private venture, and he had stored them between decks.
The bottom of the bark was pounded and ground off, and the cargo in the hold was a total loss; but an English steamer had taken off the ship's company and the naval goods, and carried them to Aden. The unfortunate captain sold them for the most he could get to the Parsee merchants, who had kept them for years before they found a purchaser. They got their money back, and they were satisfied.
As soon as the commander finished his business with the merchants he hastened to join the party, who were still exploring the town. It contains about twenty thousand inhabitants, and everything was as Arabian as in the desert. He found his passengers just starting for a ride of about five miles; and, after he had been introduced to the officers, he went with them.
"Goodness gracious!" exclaimed Mrs. Blossom, as they were getting into the carriages, "what is the matter with that man?"
"Nothing is the matter with him, madam," replied an officer, laughing at the manner of the excellent woman.
"Why, I thought he had a hornets' nest on the top of his head," she added.
"He has nothing but his hair there."
"It would be just the thing for a mop."
"That is a Soumali Indian, and you will see a plenty of them," the officer explained. "In fact, you will find every sort of people here. These Soumalis are great dandies; for you see they dye their hair in red or yellow, and I suppose they think they are handsome. Probably you don't think so."
"I'm sure I don't. Why, the fellow has no clothes on but a sheet wrapped around him, and don't even cover his chest with that!"
"That's his fashion; and if you dressed him up like one of those Sepoys he would not feel easy. They have some fine horses and carriages here."
The vehicles had to stop presently when they met a caravan of camels, which had long since ceased to be a novelty to the tourists. They were driven, the officer said, by the real Bedouins of the desert, and by men of all shades of color, from jet-black to pale copper hue. The donkeys were not a strange sight; but when a couple of ostriches passed along the street, the visitors were all eyes. They were seven feet high; and they could capture a fly, if they would take such small game, off the ceiling of a room eight feet high. They were tame, and like the monkeys, gazelles, parrots, and other birds on the verandas, were kept as pets.
There were pretty little gardens along the roads; for the volcanic soil, when dug up and fertilized, makes productive land. There were plenty of rocks;but wherever there was a cleft or a seam, there was a growth of something green. Thirty or forty miles back in the country, there are green valleys and rippling streams. Abundant crops are raised within ten miles of the town, and the garrison and the people of the town are plentifully supplied with fruit and vegetables.
The officers showed the party through the fortifications, some of which strongly reminded them of Gibraltar. Our friends were greatly pleased with Aden, and especially with the attentions of the officers, who are to some extent shut out from social relations. The commander added the Parsee merchants and Mr. Gaskill to the number of invited guests, and entered warmly into the spirit of the affair. Mr. Sage had replenished his stores from the market, and he was in good condition to meet the requirements of the occasion.
After a lunch at the Hôtel de l'Europe, Captain Ringgold left the company to return on board of the ship, where the war material had already been sent. The tourists found the town very like an English city, and after Egypt and the isthmus they enjoyed the contrast. The first cutter was waiting for him, and he went to the pier.
More than once during the forenoon he had obtained a view of the white steamer anchored in the roads, and he had inquired in regard to her, but had been able to obtain no very definite information concerning her. She was a steam-yacht of aboutthe size of the Guardian-Mother, as nearly as he could judge, painted white, and she looked like a very beautiful vessel.
Captain Ringgold had inquired in regard to her of the merchants. Had they seen the owner who was making the cruise in her? They had. He was a man thirty or thirty-two, with a fine black beard, and a lady had said he was a remarkably handsome man. His informant thought he was a foreigner, though he spoke English as fluently as the officers of the garrison. He was dressed in the latest style of European garments when he came on shore, and the Parsee had been unable to form an opinion in regard to his nationality.
The carpenter of the Guardian-Mother had constructed something like a magazine in the hold of the ship for the ammunition which had been taken on board before she sailed. It was large enough for the new supply, though some further precautions were taken for the safety of the contents. The four twenty-four pounders were placed, two forward and two aft, the former on the forecastle, and the latter in the space on deck abaft the boudoir.
The guns were mounted on naval carriages, and portholes were to be prepared on the passage to India. The two twelve-pounders were to remain on the top-gallant forecastle, where they had always been; though they had been used on the Fourth of July, and for saluting purposes only, except in the Archipelago, where they had done more serious work,and had doubtless saved Miss Blanche and Louis from capture.
The commander sincerely hoped there would never be an occasion to make use of either the old or the new guns, for he was eminently a man of peace; but he was prepared to defend his ship, either from pirates, belligerent natives, or Captain Mazagan when he had recovered from his wound. Probably he would not have thought of such a thing as increasing his means of defence if Mazagan had not followed the ship as far as Suez.
After he had looked over the white steam-yacht which lay beyond the British steamer as well as he could, and gathered all the information in regard to her and her commander, he could not help thinking of the last threats of Mazagan. He had been assured that Ali-Noury Pacha was as vindictive as ever, and that he had long before ordered a new steamer to be built for him. Did the white steam-yacht belong to him?
Mazagan, evidently for the want of care, had irritated his wound, and gone to the hospital at Suez. He could learn nothing in regard to him there; but it was entirely impossible that he could have come to Aden, for no steamer had passed the Guardian-Mother on her passage. The white steamer had no doubt come through the canal before her.
The commander could not solve the problem. He decided to "take the bull by the horns," and settle the question before he sailed the next day. He haddressed himself in his best uniform in the morning, and he decided to pay a visit to the white steam-yacht before he slept again. It was to be a visit of ceremony; and he ordered the crew of the barge to put on their clean white uniforms, for he intended to go in state.
All the passengers were still on shore, and there was no one to go with him if he had desired any company. He wished to inform the Pacha, if the owner proved to be he, and he was on board, that he was prepared for any and every thing. If His Highness attempted any trickery or treachery in the direction of the members of his party, or any one of them, he would blow the white steamer out of the water, even if she belonged to the Sultan of Morocco. In fact, he had worked himself up as much as he ever could into an angry frame of mind.
If he was waiting for Mazagan to come to Aden,—for the pirate must have written to him in regard to his intentions, if he had any,—the persecution of the Americans was to be continued over the Indian Ocean. He was to command this magnificent steamer, as he had the Fatimé, and would be ready to retrieve his misfortunes in the past. But Captain Ringgold was "reckoning without his host."
He descended the gangway steps, and took his seat in the stern-sheets of the barge with compressed lips; for he intended to meet the Pacha face to face, and this time at his own instigation. Possibly his crew were physiognomists enough to wonder what hadcome over the captain; for they had never seen him when he looked more in earnest. The captain nodded at the cockswain, and the bowman shoved off. The crew gave way, and no boat ever presented a finer appearance.
"To the white steam-yacht beyond the P. and O. steamer," said the commander; and said no more.
The men bent to their oars, and they were soon in sight of the beautiful vessel, as everybody called her; and Captain Ringgold could not but indorse the general verdict; at least, he thought she was quite as handsome as the Guardian-Mother, which was enough to say of any vessel in his estimation. The barge made a landing at the platform of the gangway.
"May I be permitted to go on board?" asked the captain of the sailor who stood at the head of the steps.
"Yes, sir; she is open to ladies and gentlemen to-day," replied the man.
The commander ascended the steps to the bulwarks, where the seaman was evidently doing duty as a sentinel, though he was not armed.
"What steamer is this?" asked the visitor; for he had not yet seen the name of the steamer.
"The Blanche, sir," replied the man very respectfully; for the commander's uniform had made its proper impression.
"The Blanche!" exclaimed the captain of the Guardian-Mother, starting back as though a red-hot shot had struck him.
"Captain Ringgold, I am delighted to see you.""Captain Ringgold, I am delighted to see you." Page337.
It was very remarkable that the steamer should have that name; but he preserved his dignity, and concluded that the name had been given for some member of the owner's family; and he saw a lady seated near the rudder-head, who might be the owner of the name. He looked about the deck,—what of it could be seen,—though most of it was covered by the house, extended nearly from stem to stern, as on the Guardian-Mother. Everything was as neat and trim as though she had been a man-of-war. He could see two twelve-pounders on the side where he was; and he concluded there were two more on the other side.
But if this craft was to chase and annoy his party, she was not well enough armed to be a match for his own ship; and with the feeling he had stirred up in his mind, he congratulated himself on the superiority of the ship he commanded. The seaman informed him that he was at liberty to look over the vessel, for it was believed to be the finest her celebrated builders had ever completed.
"I desire to see the captain of this steamer," replied Captain Ringgold, declining the permission extended to him.
"He is in his cabin, sir, and I will call him down," replied the man.
The captain gave him his card, and the sailor mounted to the promenade deck. He had not been gone two minutes before the captain rushed down the steps as though he were in a desperate hurry.
"Captain Ringgold, I am delighted to see you!"shouted the captain of the Blanche before the visitor had time to make out who he was. "I am glad to see you on the deck of my ship!" And he extended his hand to the commander of the Guardian-Mother.
"Captain Sharp!" roared the visitor, seizing the offered hand, and warmly pressing it.
It was a tremendous let-down for him, after he had roused all his belligerent nature into action, to find Captain W. Penn Sharp in command of the suspicious steamer.
The biography of Captain Penn Sharp had been quite romantic within the preceding year. In company with his brother he had been a detective in New York during the greater portion of his lifetime. He had been an honest and upright man; but in spite of this fact he had saved a competence for a man of small desires before he was fifty years old. He had never been married till the last year of his life.
He had what he called a "profession," and he had attended to it very closely for twenty years or more. When he "had a case to 'work up,'" he took it to his humble lodging with him, and studied out the problem. There was nothing in his room that could be called a luxury, unless a library of two hundred volumes were classed under that head; and he spent all his leisure time in this apartment, having absolutely no vices. He was a great reader, had never taken a vacation, and saved all his money, which he had prudently invested.
In his younger days he had been to sea, and came home as the mate of a large ship when he was twenty-two. His prospects in the commercial marine were very promising; but his brother, believing he hadpeculiar talent for the occupation in which he was himself engaged, induced him to go into the business as his partner. He had been a success; but men do not live as he did, depriving himself of rest or recreation, without suffering for it. His health broke down.
Confident that a voyage at sea would build him up, he applied to Captain Ringgold for any place he could offer him. Only the position of quartermaster was available. He was glad to obtain this on board of such a steamer. He had told his story, and the commander needed just such a person. Mrs. Belgrave had married for her second husband a man who had proved to be a robber and a villain. Her son Louis had discovered his character long before she did, and, after fighting a long and severe battle, had driven him away, recovering a large sum of money he had purloined.
Captain Ringgold ascertained in Bermuda that the villain had another wife in England. He promoted his quartermaster to the position of third officer, and set him at work as a detective on the case. The recreant husband had inherited a fortune in Bermuda, had purchased a steam-yacht, and was still struggling to recover the wife who had discarded him, believing the "Missing Million" was behind her.
The deserted English wife had been sent for by her uncle, who had become a large sugar planter in Cuba. Sharp found her; and her relative had died but a short time before, leaving her a large fortune.The wretch who had abandoned her was arrested for his crimes, and sent back to New York, and was soon serving a long sentence at Sing Sing. He had been obliged to leave his steam-yacht, and it had been awarded to his wife.
By the influence of Captain Ringgold, Penn Sharp had been appointed captain of her; and he had sailed for New York, and then for England, in her. The lady was still on the sunny side of forty, and Sharp had married her. After this happy event, they had sailed for the Mediterranean; and the commander and passengers of the Guardian-Mother had met them at Gibraltar. How Captain Penn Sharp happened to be in command of the Blanche was a mystery to Captain Ringgold, though it was possible that the million or more of Mrs. Penn Sharp enabled her to support such a steam-yacht.
It seemed as though Captain Sharp would never release the hand of the commander of the Guardian-Mother, who had not only been a good friend to him in every sense of the word, but he had unintentionally put him in the way of achieving the remarkably good fortune which had now crowned his life.
"I don't know what to make of this, Captain Sharp," said he of the Guardian-Mother. "Are you in command of this fine steamer?"
"Without a ghost of a doubt I am," replied he of the Blanche, with a renewed pressure of the hand.
"Of course I am astonished, surprised, astounded, as I ought to be on an occasion like this. About thelast I knew of you, you had just got married. Have you become so accustomed to married life that you are ready to leave your wife on shore while you wander over the ocean again?" asked the visitor in a good-humored, rallying tone.
"Not a bit of it, my dear Captain. My wife is worth more to me than all the money she brought me, though she is as much of a millionaire as young Mr. Belgrave, we find. She is on board of the Blanche at this moment; and Ruth will be delighted to see you and all your people."
"I am glad all is so happy with you, and I may be tempted to marry myself," laughed the commander.
"You are already tempted, and you will yield to the temptation."
"I have not been tempted like Adam in the garden; if I had been, I should have swallowed the apple whole," replied Captain Ringgold, who had never said so much before on this delicate subject to any person. "It will have to be Adam this time that does all the tempting. But I wish you would explain to me how you happen to be fixed up here like Aladdin in one of his fairy palaces. I suppose, of course, you are sailing in your own steamer?"
"Not at all; for though we have money enough now, we are not disposed to throw it away upon a ship with so much style about her as the Blanche carries over the ocean. But I have not asked you about your party on board of the Guardian-Mother. I like that title, and if I had had the naming of theBlanche, I should have called her the Protecting Grandmother, or something of that sort."
"The company on board of my ship are all in excellent health and spirits. By the way, we have a dinner party at six, and you and your wife must assist; and it will be a most unexpected pleasure."
"I will go; but it is four now, and we haven't half time enough to do our talking. But come to my cabin; and then, if you will excuse me for a moment, I will notify Mrs. Sharp, so that she may be ready for the dinner."
Captain Sharp sent the sailor at the gangway to show the visitor to his cabin, while he went aft on his errand. Captain Ringgold found the cabin consisted of two apartments, one of which was evidently his wife's boudoir; and nothing could have been more elegant or convenient. In fact, it was Oriental magnificence, though the portion appropriated to the commander was fitted up with the usual nautical appliances. The occupant of the cabin soon appeared; and he acted as though he wanted to hug his visitor, though he satisfied himself by taking his hand again. He evidently credited the captain of the Guardian-Mother with both his wife and his fortune.
"Now take this arm-chair, Captain Ringgold, and we will have it out," said the commander of the Blanche. "My wife will be ready in an hour, and she will be delighted to see Mrs. Belgrave and the rest of the party; for she is particularly fond of thatlady, though they have both been in the same relation to Scoble."
"I think the name of Scoble has not been mentioned for nearly a year on board of the Guardian-Mother. But you told me, Captain Sharp, that you and your wife were not the owners of this fine craft," suggested the visitor, leading to the solution of the mystery which perplexed him.
"We are not; and I am sailing in the employ of General Newry," answered the other; and Captain Ringgold imagined that the name was spelled in this manner, though there was a twinkle in the eyes of the speaker.
"General Newry; I never heard of him. One of those Englishmen who have won their spurs and their fortunes in India, I suppose," added the visitor.
"Not at all; and he is not even an Englishman."
"Not an Englishman!" exclaimed the puzzled captain. "Is he a Frenchman with that name?"
"Not even a Frenchman."
"I came on board of the Blanche almost angry enough to break something, for certain members of my party have been hunted and hounded the whole length of the Mediterranean; and I am determined to put a stop to it," said Captain Ringgold, getting back some of the spirit in which he had boarded the steamer. "I am of the same mind still."
"You will have no further trouble with your troublesome customer," said Captain Sharp, with a very agreeable smile.
"How do you know?"
"As the boys say, because I know; I do not guess at it."
"You do not understand the matter."
"I know more about it than you do."
"Do you know Ali-Noury Pacha?"
"I do; intimately."
"Then you know that he is one of the greatest scoundrels that ever went six months without being hung," said he of the Guardian-Mother warmly.
"There I must beg to differ from you. He may have been what you say in the past, but he is not in the present," replied he of the Blanche, quite as decidedly as the other had spoken.
Captain Ringgold proceeded to demonstrate the truth of his remark concerning the Pacha by relating his experience from Mogadore to Alexandria, detailing the plots and conspiracies of His Highness and his agents against the peace and safety of his party. Captain Sharp admitted the truth of all the attempts to capture Miss Blanche and Louis Belgrave.
"Then you must admit that he is an unmitigated scoundrel," added Captain Ringgold.
"Much that you charge to him was the work of his agents."
"He hatched up the conspiracy with Mazagan, for Louis heard every word of it in the café at Gallipoli. The attempt was made in Pournea Bay in the Archipelago to take Miss Blanche and Louis out of the Maud."
"I grant it; but Mazagan far exceeded his instructions, as he did at Zante."
"How much money did the Pacha offer Mazagan to obtain the persons mentioned?"
"Twenty thousand dollars, or a hundred thousand francs; but that is a bagatelle to him. The Pacha is another man now," added the ex-detective impressively.
"How long has he been another man?" asked Captain Ringgold with something like a sneer.
"Over six months."
"But Mazagan has been operating the same old scheme in Egypt within two months," protested the commander of the Guardian-Mother very vigorously.
"Then he was not acting under the instructions of the Pacha."
"We should have found it difficult to believe that if you had told it to us in Cairo," said the objector in a manner that might have made one who did not know the captain decidedly belligerent. "Mazagan told Louis that the Pacha had offered him two hundred thousand francs if he succeeded in his enterprise, or half that sum if he failed."
"Then the fellow lied!" exclaimed the captain of the Blanche.
"He told Louis if he would persuade his trustee to give him half the full amount of the reward, he would collect the other half of His Highness, as promised in case of failure."
"That Mazagan is a villain and a scoundrel I haveno doubt," said Captain Sharp. "Since the affair at Zante, the Pacha has had no hand in the matter."
"But the steamer of His Highness, the Fatimé, has been in Rosetta in command of Mazagan," put in the objector with earnestness, believing his reply would demolish the truth of his companion's statement.
"That can be explained," answered the commander of the Blanche. "If you believe there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, it is quite time for me to tell my story; and I hope you will take a different view of the Pacha's present character, as I believe you will."
"Where is the distinguished Moor now?" asked Captain Ringgold, carelessly and flippantly, as though it was of no consequence to him where he was.
"He is in the cabin."
"In the cabin!" exclaimed the commander of the Guardian-Mother, leaping out of his chair with an utter lack of dignity for him. "What cabin?"
"The cabin of the Blanche, of course."
"Is this his steamer?"
"It is."
"You told me it was General Newry's," said the visitor with a frown, as he buttoned up his coat as though he was about to take his leave of such a disagreeable locality. "General N-e-w-r-y."
"N-o-u-r-y is the way he spells it," interposed the ex-detective. "Sit down, Captain. He is a general of the highest rank in the army of Morocco, and he prefers to cruise under this title."
"If this is the steamer of Ali-Noury Pacha, it is time for me to leave."
"I hope you will hear my story before you go; for I assure you I have been honest and sincere with you, telling you nothing but the truth. I hated and condemned the vices of His Highness as much as you do, Captain; I have told him so to his face, and that was the foundation of his reformation."
Captain Ringgold concluded to hear the story.
It was a long story which Captain Penn Sharp told of his relations with Ali-Noury Pacha; and his visitor was so incredulous at first that he appeared to have solemnly resolved not to accept anything as the truth. But the character of the speaker left its impress all along the narrative; and Captain Ringgold was compelled to believe, just as the hardened sinner is sometimes forced to accept the truth when presented to him by the true evangelist, though his teeth were set against it.
"You gentlemen with millions in your trousers pockets are subject to perils which we of moderate means are not exposed to," the commander of the Blanche began.
"That means you, and not me," suggested the visitor.
"You have the reputation of being a rich man, whether you are one or not. My wife is rich, and I am only well off; but never mind that now," replied Captain Sharp. "I saw General Noury, as we will call him after this if you do not object, for that is the name by which he chooses to be known, in Gibraltar several times, and I knew all about your affairwith him there; but I did not get acquainted with him, for I despised him as much as you did.
"I sailed from the Rock, and took my wife to a great many of the ports of Europe, and some in Africa, including Egypt; but I am not going to tell you about our travels. We went from Alexandria to Malta, Syracuse, and to Messina; and it was at this last port that I fell in with General Noury. His steamer, I forget her name,"—
"The Fatimé; but Felix McGavonty always called her the Fatty."
"The Fatty anchored within a cable's length of me before I had been there two hours, and the Pacha went ashore at once. That night my wife was sick, and I went to the city to procure a certain medicine for her. I happened into a shop where no one could speak English, and I don't speak anything else. I was just going off to find another place where they did speak English, when a gentleman rose from a chair with some difficulty and offered his services.
"It was General Noury. He had been drinking, but was not very badly off. He was as polite as a dancing-master, and helped me out so that I got what I wanted. He spoke Italian as though he had known it in his babyhood. I was very much obliged to him, and thanked him with all my might. He left before my package was ready, and I soon followed him.
"My shot brought down one of the bandits.""My shot brought down one of the bandits." Page351.
"As I entered the street that leads from the Corso Cavour to the shore I heard the yells of a man in trouble. I always carried my revolver with me, and I had handled a good many rough villains in my day. I started at a run, and soon reached the scene of the fight. I found two men had attacked one; and though the latter was bravely defending himself, he was getting the worst of it. I saw that he was going under, and I fired just as the man attacked dropped on the pavement.
"My shot brought down one of the bandits, and the other rushed towards me. He had brought down his victim, and he wanted to get rid of me so that he could go through his pockets. I fired at him, and he dropped the long knife with which he was going to stick me on the pavement. There it is over the window;" and the captain pointed to it. "He was wounded; and then he ran away, for he did not like to play with a revolver. Before I could get to him, the other assassin got on his feet and followed him, though he moved with no little labor and pain; but my business was not with him, and I let him go.
"The man who had been attacked was trying to get on his feet, and when I came up to him I found it was General Noury. He had been stabbed in the shoulder, and he was bleeding very freely. With my assistance he walked to my boat, and my men placed him in the stern-sheets. I found that he was bleeding badly, and I was no surgeon. The Hotel Vittorio was on the other side of the street, and some one there could tell me in English where to find a doctor.
"Two gentlemen at the door were smoking. They were talking in English, and I told them what Iwanted. They were both Americans, and one of them was a doctor. He volunteered to go with me. He said the patient had a bad wound. He went back to the hotel for his case of instruments, and then went on board of the Viking with his patient. It would make your dinner very late if I should give you all the details of the general's case. Dr. Henderson stopped the flow of blood, and attended to his patient for three weeks on board of the steam-yacht.
"When he was in condition to be moved to the Fatty, he did not wish to go. My wife had nursed him as she would have nursed her own brother, and as she had her uncle in Cuba. When he was convalescent he treated her with the most profound respect. Mazagan came on board to see him, and told me he had just come from Athens. But the general was plainly disgusted with him, and wanted to get rid of him. He gave him the command of the Fatty, and ordered him to wait for him at Gibraltar.
"Dr. Henderson was travelling for pleasure, and he liked it so well that he wanted more of it; but he had spent all his money, and had no more at home. He came on board of the Viking, and lived there. His friend had left, and he was alone. He had been a very skilful practitioner in New York City, but his thirst for travel would not permit him to wait long enough to save sufficient money from his abundant income.
"Of his own free will and accord General Noury told me that he was leading a miserable life in spiteof the wealth that he possessed, the honors that crowned him in Morocco, and the leisure that was always at his command when the army was not in the field. As he summed it up himself, his vices had got the better of him. He could not respect himself. I could see that there was something left of him. I went to work on him. I am not an evangelist myself, and I did not take him on that tack.
"I have no doubt that I had saved his life; and no man was ever more grateful for the service I had rendered him. My wife was such a houri as he had never seen in a harem. We both talked with him about the beauty of a good and useful life. In a word, we redeemed him. My wife is a sincere Christian, and she did more of it than I did. He was absolutely penitent over his sins, his dissipation, the wrongs towards others he had committed, though he was still a Mohammedan; but a great deal of the prophet's creed would pass for Christianity. We both saw that it would be useless to attack his religion; for he was a Moslem to the marrow of his bones.
"More than anything else he was penitent over his relations with you and your party. The general was certainly infatuated over the beauty of Miss Blanche; but it was as an artist runs mad over a picture. He solemnly assured me he never had an unworthy thought in regard to her. He looked upon her as a beautiful child, whose image haunted him day and night. If you had permitted him to see her, that wasall he wanted. No such thought had ever entered his head as that of putting her in his harem, even if he had succeeded through his agents in capturing her; though he was urged forward to this by the insults you heaped upon him.
"I mean that you spoke the truth to him, nothing more, as I did. He desires to beg your forgiveness, and he would cross the Atlantic for the purpose of doing so. We stayed at Messina three weeks, and at the end of that time General Noury was quite well again. He gave Dr. Henderson a hundred thousand francs, and wanted me to take five times that amount; but I positively refused to take a cent from him. To shorten up the story, we became fast friends, including my wife. He had sent the Fatty off, and I invited him to remain on board of the Viking. He was in a hurry to get to Gibraltar; and I soon found that he had a reason for going there.
"He told me that the Fatty was old and slow, and more than a year before he had ordered the finest steam-yacht that could be built; and the Blanche was the result of the order. He named her after the highest ideal he had ever been able to obtain of human loveliness; but he had written this letter from Madeira, before he had had any trouble with you. Ruth and I were ready to go to England by this time, and we conveyed the general to Gibraltar. He had received a letter from his English agent informing him that the Blanche was finished.
"He ordered his man of business to ship the bestEnglish ship's company he could gather together at liberal wages, and proceed to Gibraltar. We found her there. He insisted that I should sell the Viking, for which he found a customer, and take the command of the Blanche. My wife should have any and all the accommodations on board she desired, and we would make the voyage around the world, an idea he borrowed from you, Captain Ringgold.
"I accepted the offer because I liked the general, and my wife was more pleased with the plan than I was. I was to have my own way about everything, and he acted in princely style. My first business was to improve his reputation in Gibraltar. He gave a very large sum to the charities of the city; and where the officers and soldiers had benefit associations he filled up their coffers. He did not drink a drop of spirits or wine, and would have signed a total-abstinence pledge if I had asked him to do so. I am not quite old enough to be his father; but if he had been my son I could have had no more influence over him.
"The general came to me to know how he should settle his accounts with Mazagan, informing me that the villain had offered him twenty-five thousand francs for the Fatty, and claimed the fifty thousand due him. I told him he had made a bad bargain with the wretch, but as he had promised he must perform. The vessel was worth at least double what he offered; but I advised him to take it, for money was no object to him compared with getting rid ofthis villain. Mazagan took possession of the Fatty, and that was the last of her."
"No, it wasn't," interposed Captain Ringgold; and he gave a brief account of the "Battle of Khrysoko," with the events leading to it.
"Good for Captain Scott!" exclaimed the commander of the Blanche. "I am glad she has gone to the bottom, for that is the best place for her. We sailed from Gibraltar to Madeira, where the general made himself solid with the people there in the same manner as at the Rock. He apologized to everybody he had insulted, and he was quite a lion before we left the port. Then we went to Mogadore; and there he scattered his harem, on the plea that he was going around the world; but he told me it would never be gathered together again, that or any other.
"The general would have gone to New York in the Blanche if you had been there, for the sole purpose of apologizing to you, and begging you to forgive him for all the injuries he had done or had attempted to do you. It is only five o'clock, and now you must see General Noury. I was going to the Guardian-Mother this evening to make an appointment for him; for I thought you would be busy all day."
"I am quite ready now to meet him, and to give him my hand," replied Captain Ringgold. "I must say that this is the greatest conversion on record, considering that the Pacha is still a Mohammedan."
"I think so myself; but my wife will never besatisfied till she has made him a convert to the Christian religion," replied Captain Sharp, as he led the way to the cabin of the general.
They were promptly admitted; and the owner of the Blanche started back, and stood with clasped hands gazing at Captain Ringgold.
"General Noury, this is Captain Ringgold, commander of the Guardian-Mother," said Captain Sharp.
"Most sincerely, I am very glad to see you, General Noury," added the visitor, advancing with extended hand to the Pacha, for such he was still in spite of the change in his name.
"I feel more like throwing myself on my knees before you, after the Oriental manner, than taking you by the hand," replied the general, though he took the hand tendered to him. "I have grievously wronged and insulted you, and I ask to be forgiven with the most sincere and long-continued sorrow for the injuries I have done you."
"General Noury, I am happy to take by the hand as my friend one who has passed from the darkness into the light; and as my own religion teaches me to forgive those who have wronged me, I am glad to make the past, as it lies between us, a total blank."
"And my religion teaches me to seek the forgiveness of those I have injured, or tried to injure. We will not differ over our faith, different as they are; and on my part there shall henceforth be nothing else to make us at variance."
"And nothing on my part," responded Captain Ringgold, again pressing the hand of the Pacha.
The general was invited to visit the Guardian-Mother, and dine with the party in the cabin. Captain Ringgold was then conducted to the after part of the ship, and there found Mrs. Sharp, who was delighted to see him. The Pacha presently came out of his cabin dressed in evening costume, but in European style, and the trio embarked in the barge. As they approached the anchorage of the ship, strains of martial music came from her deck, which the commander could not explain. It appeared that some of the invited officers had sent a regimental band on board as a compliment to the steamer and her passengers.
The long absence of the commander had begun to excite some uneasiness, for he had not been seen since the middle of the forenoon. The addition of even three more guests to the crowded table upset the calculations of the accomplished steward, and he was obliged to add another table. While he was doing so, the captain told his passengers "of the mighty things that had happened." He could not tell the whole story; but he begged all on board to receive the Pacha kindly and politely, for he had forgiven everything, and he honored him for the bravery and resolution with which he had put his vices behind him. "Get thee behind me, Satan!" was the way he phrased it.