R. M. Ballantyne
The Pirate City: An Algerine Tale
Chapter One.
Opens the Tale
Some time within the first quarter of the present nineteenth century, a little old ladysome people would even have called her a dear little old ladysat one afternoon in a high-backed chair beside a cottage window, from which might be had a magnificent view of Sicilian rocks, with the Mediterranean beyond.
This little old lady was so pleasant in all respects that an adequate description of her is an impossibility. Her mouth was a perfect study. It was not troubled with anything in the shape of teeth. It lay between a delicate little down-turned nose and a soft little up-turned chin, which two seemed as if anxious to meet in order to protect it. The wrinkles that surrounded that mouth were innumerable, and each wrinkle was a distinct and separate smile; so that, whether pursing or expanding, it was at all times rippling with an expression of tender benignity.
This little old lady plays no part in our tale; nevertheless she merits passing introduction as being the grandmother of our hero, a Sicilian youth of nineteen, who, at the time we write of, sat on a stool at her feet engaged in earnest conversation.
Grandmother, said the youth in a perplexed mood, why wont you let me go into the Church instead of brother Lucien? Im certain that he does not want to, though he is fit enough, as far as education goes, and goodness; but you know well enough that he is desperately fond of Juliet, and she is equally desperate about him, and nothing could be more pleasant than that they should get married.
Tut, child, you talk nonsense, said the old lady, letting a sigh escape from the rippling mouth. Your fathers dearest wish has always been to see Lucien enter the Church, and although Juliet is our adopted child, we do not intend to interfere with the wishes of her uncle the abbot, who has offered to place her in the convent of Saint Shutemup. As to you taking Luciens place,here the mouth expanded considerablyah! Mariano, you are too foolish, too giddy; better fitted to be a sailor or soldier I should think
How! interrupted Mariano. Do you then estimate the profession of the soldier and sailor so low, that you think only foolish and giddy fellows are fit for it?
Not so, child; but it is a school which is eminently fitted to teach respect and obedience to foolish and giddy fellows who are pert to their grandmothers.
Ah! how unfair, exclaimed Mariano, with assumed solemnity; I give you good advice, with gravity equal to that of any priest, and yet you call me pert. Grandmother, you are ungrateful as well as unjust. Have I not been good to you all my life?
You have, my child, said the little old lady; very goodalso rather troublesome, especially in the way of talking nonsense, and Im sorry to find that although your goodness continues, your troublesomeness does not cease!
Well, well, replied the youth, with a sprightly toss of the head, Lucien and I shall enjoy at least a few weeks more of our old life on the blue sea before he takes to musty books and I to the stool of the clerk. Ah, why did you allow father to give us a good education? How much more enjoyable it would have been to have lived the free life of a fishermanor of that pig, he said, pointing to one which had just strayed into the garden and lain down to roll in the earthwhat happy ignorance or ignorant happiness; what concentrated enjoyment of the present, what perfect oblivion as to the past, what obvious disregard of the future
Ay, interrupted the little old lady, what blissful ignorance of the deeds of ancient heroes, of the noble achievements of great and good men, of the adventures of Marco Polo, and Magellan, and Vasco de Gama, over whose voyages you have so often and so fondly pored.
I see, grandmother, that it is useless to argue with you. Let us turn to a graver subject. Tell me, what am I to bring you from Malta? As this is in very truth to be our last voyage, I must bring you something grand, something costly.Ah, here comes Juliet to help us to decide.
As he spoke a pretty dark-eyed girl of nineteen entered the room and joined their council, but before they had gone very deep into the question which Mariano had propounded, they were interrupted by the entrance of the head of the house, Francisco Rimini, a strong portly man of about fifty years of age, with a brown, healthy complexion, grizzled locks, a bald pate, and a semi-nautical gait. He was followed by a stranger, and by his eldest son, Luciena tall, grave, slender youth of twenty-three, who was in many respects the opposite of his brother Mariano, physically as well as mentally. The latter was middle-sized, broad-shouldered, and very powerful, with short curly brown hair, flashing eyes and sprightly dispositionactive as a kitten, and rather mischievous. Lucien was grave, gentle, and studious; elegantly rather than powerfully formed, and disposed rather to enjoy fun by looking on than engaging in it. Both brothers, as well as their father, possessed kindly dispositions and resolute spirits.
Mother, said Francisco, let me introduce to you my friend Signor Bacri, a merchant who goes in my vessel as a passenger to Malta. He dines with us to-day; and that reminds me that you must hasten our dinner, as events have transpired which oblige me to set sail two hours earlier than I had intended; so please expedite matters, Juliet.
The stranger bowed with Oriental dignity to the little old lady, and, seating himself by her side, entered into conversation.
Bacri was a middle-aged man of magnificent appearance. From the cast of his features it was easy to perceive that he was of Jewish extraction, and his proportions might have been compared to those of the ancient enemy of his nation, Goliath. Like Saul, he was a head and shoulders higher than ordinary men, yet he evidently placed no confidence in his physical strength, for although his countenance was grave and his expression dignified, he stooped a good deal, as though to avoid knocking his head against ceilings and beams, and was singularly humble and unobtrusive in his manners. There was a winning softness, too, in his voice and in his smile, which went far to disarm that distrust of and antipathy to his race which prevailed in days of old, and unfortunately prevails still, to some extent, in Christendom.
With the activity of a good housewife, Juliet expedited the operations of the cook; dinner was served in good time; Francisco, who was owner of his vessel and cargo as well as padrone or captain, entertained Bacri with accounts of his adventures on the sea, which the Jew returned in kind with his experiences of mercantile transactions in savage lands. Mariano drank in all that they said with youthful avidity, and the little old ladys mouth rippled responsive, like the aspen leaf to the breeze; while Lucien and Juliet, thus left to themselves, had no other resource than to entertain each other as best they could!
Then the adieux were said, the voyagers went down to the port, embarked on board their good shipa trim-built schoonerand set sail with a fair wind.
I wish I saw them all safe back again! said the little old lady, with a sigh.
Juliet said nothing, though she echoed the sigh.
Meanwhile the schooner leant over to the breeze, and ere night-fall left the shores of Sicily far behind.
Chapter Two.
Unfolds a Little of the Tale
Another and a very different vessel chanced to be floating in those seas at the time the Sicilian trader set sail. At a distance she might have been mistaken for a fishing-boat, for she carried only two lateen sails, of that high triangular form which may still be seen in the Mediterranean and on the lakes of Switzerland. In reality, however, the vessel was of greater dimensions than even the largest boat, and her main-mast with its sail was of gigantic proportions. She was also full-decked, and several pieces of heavy ordnance pointed their black muzzles from port-holes in her bulwarks.
No one could have mistaken her character as a vessel of war, for, besides the guns referred to, she had an unusually large crew of bronzed and stalwart men. Their costume, as well as their arms, told that these were of Eastern origin. Although there was much variety in detail, they all wore the same gold-laced jackets, the same loose Turkish drawers gathered in below the knees, and broad silken scarfs round their waists, with richly chased silver-mounted pistols and yataghans or curved swords. Some wore the turban, others the blue-tasselled red fez or tarbouch of Tunis, while a few contented themselves with a kerchief tied loosely round their heads.
One, who appeared to be the captain of the vessel, stood near the steersman, leaning on the bulwarks, and scanning the horizon with a telescope. His costume was similar to that of his men, but of richer material.
It is certainly a sail, said he whom we have styled the captain to one who stood by his side, and might have been his lieutenant or mate.
She bears sou-west, I think, replied the latter.
So much the better, returned the captain; let her fall off a littleso, steady. If this wind holds for half an hour we shall get well abreast of her, and then
The captain shut up the telescope with an emphatic bang, by way of termination to his remark, and, turning on his heel, paced the deck rapidly by the side of his mate.
We have been unlucky hitherto, he observed; perchance fortune may change and now be favourable. At all events, we shall be ready. See, the breeze freshens. Go, call up the men and clear for action.
The breeze had indeed been freshening while he spoke, and now came down in a series of squalls that caused the piratical-looking craft to lie over as if she were about to capsize. The vessel which they were pursuing also bent over to the breeze and crowded all sail; for well did Francisco, its owner and padrone, know, from past experience, that Algerine corsairs were fast sailers, and that his only hope lay in showing them his heels! He had often given them the slip beforewhy should he not again?
While thus doing his best to escape, however, the bluff merchant did not neglect to make preparations for defence.
Clear away the big gun, he said to Mariano, who acted as his first officer, Lucien being the scrivano or supercargo of the vessel; tis a good piece, and has turned the flight of many a pirate with its first bark.
The latter part of this remark was addressed to Bacri, who stood, leaning over the taffrail, looking anxiously at the vessel in chase.
If it be Sidi Hassan, muttered the Jew half aloud, there is little chance
What say you? demanded Francisco.
I say that if it be the vessel of a man whom I happen to know, you will have to trust to your sails for deliverancefighting will be of no avail.
Francisco looked at the Jew with some surprise, not unmingled with contempt.
A warlike spirit, it seems, does not always consort with a powerful frame, he said; but how come you to have scraped acquaintance with these pirates, whose existence is a blight upon the commerce of the Mediterranean, and a disgrace to our age?
None should know better than thyself that a trader, like any other traveller, becomes acquainted with strange bedfellows, replied Bacri, with a quiet smile. As to a warlike spirit, of what use would it be in a despised Israelite to display such?
There is truth in that, returned the padrone in a more respectful tone; nevertheless, if fighting becomes needful, I trust that one furnished with such thews and sinews will not fail to lend effective aid.
That he will not, I dare say; and here is a cutlass for him, wherewith to carve a name and fame, said Mariano, coming aft at the moment and presenting the weapon to Bacri, who took it with a half-humorous smile, and laid it on the seat beside him.
Hast got the big gun ready, boy? demanded Francisco.
Ayloaded her almost to the muzzle. I ordered her to be double-shotted, and that big black rascal Manqua slily crammed in a handful of nails without leave. I only hope she wont burst.
Burst! exclaimed the padrone, with a laugh; if you were to load her even beyond the muzzle she wouldnt burst. I remember once loading her with a full dose of canister, and clapped two round shot on the top of that, after which the same negro you have mentioned, (for he has a tendency in that way), shoved in a handspike without orders, and let the whole concern fly at a pirate boat, which it blew clean out of the water: she well-nigh burst the drums of our ears on that occasion, but showed no sign whatever of bursting herself.
Nevertheless, said Bacri earnestly, I advise you to trust entirely to your sails.
We havent another stitch of canvas to set, said Francisco in reply; and if we had, the old schooner couldnt stand it, for, as you may see, the strain is already as much as she can bear.
This was indeed the case, for the vessel was by that time flying before a stiff breeze, with all the sail set that she could carry, while the water dashed in clouds from her bows, and rushed over her lee bulwarks.
But the sailing powers of the pirate-vessel were superior to those of the trading schooner. In a short time she was close alongside, and fired a shot across her bows to cause her to heave-to. This, however, the determined skipper resolved not to do. In reply he sent on board the pirates the varied contents of the big gun, which cut the halyards of their smaller sail, and brought it down on the deck. This result was celebrated by a hearty cheer from the schooners crew. The pirates, in return, discharged a broadside which cut away the foremast of the schooner, thus rendering escape impossible.
Now, men, cried Francisco, when the disaster occurred, you must this day make your choicevictory or slaveryfor there is no mercy in the breasts of these scoundrels.
He waited for no reply, but at once sprang to the big gun, which had been re-loaded with a charge so miscellaneous that the sable Manqua grinned with satisfaction as he endeavoured to ram it home.
Meanwhile Mariano and Lucien placed the men, who were armed to the teeth, at the gangways, and along the weather-side of the schooner, to be in readiness to repel the foe when they should attempt to board.
There was no hesitation on the part of the pirates, although they saw plainly the vigorous preparations which were being made to receive them. Bearing down on the crippled vessel at full speed, in spite of the bellowing discharge from the great gun, and a well-delivered volley of small shot, which stretched many of them on the deck, they ran straight against her, threw grappling-irons into the rigging, and sprang on board with a fierce yell.
The mêlée that followed was sharp, but very short and decisive. The Sicilian crew fought with the courage of desperate men, but were almost instantly overpowered by numbers. Mariano had singled out the pirate captain as his own special foe. In making towards the spot where he expected that he would board, he observed the tall Jew standing by the wheel with his arms crossed on his breast, and regarding the attack with apparent indifference.
What! cried Mariano, anger mingling with his surprise, do you stand idle at such a moment?
You will miss your chance, returned Bacri, giving a glance and a nod towards the side of the vessel where the pirate captain stood ready to spring.
Almost at the instant that the brief hint was given, Mariano had sprung to the bulwarks, and parried the thrust of a boarding-spike, which act unfortunately disconcerted his aim in discharging his pistol. Next moment he had seized the pirate by the throat, and fell with him to the deck, where a fierce struggle ensued.