The Arab's Pledge Part 10

Before the day dawned, Mahmoud was sitting at the inner gate of the palace, waiting impatiently till the Sultan should ride forth to the audience-hall (M'Shouar); and when after several long hours he came out, surrounded by his guards and attendants, there was heard a voice clear above the noise of the cavalcade,--

"Justice! O my lord! Justice! Blood for blood!"

The Sultan ordered the speaker to be brought before him, asked him the reason of his complaint, and whom he accused.

"My lord, I accuse Ali el Bezz," said Mahmoud; "he is now in prison, and I demand his life for the life of my brother, whom he has murdered."

"How know you that he hath done this?" said the Sultan, "we must have proof."

"The witnesses are all those who have returned from the plunder of the Cafila."

"We will inquire further into this matter," said the Sultan, "and if we find that your charge is true, we may not deny you justice."

Then giving the necessary orders, he rode on, leaving Mahmoud, to whom every hour of suspense seemed an age, sitting at the gates to await his return. It was mid-day, and he was still at his station; no food had pa.s.sed his lips, and the call of the crier from the Mosque had rolled over him unheard, but as soon as the Sultan re-entered, the same clear voice rung in his ears,--

"Justice! my lord! Justice! Blood for blood!"

The Sultan made a gesture of impatience. From the inquiries he had caused to be made, he found that the charge was true; but as the Arab had been taken in a political intrigue, he wished to spare his life for the present, with the view of obtaining information from him, and making use of him for his own service.

"Bring him before us;" and Mahmoud advanced. "What sum would pay for this?" said the Sultan. "We would compromise this matter; of more use to you will be the fine of redemption than the death of the Arab: this cannot restore your brother, it was written."

Mahmoud's lip curled, and his eye glistened, "My lord's will is his slave's," he said, "and the will of the Khalifa of the Prophet will not wish to swerve from the Prophet's law. Shall I sell my brother's blood?

If," said he, with fierce energy, "for every drop of the Arab's base blood, you offered me your hands full of gold, it should be as dross.

No! not for his weight in diamonds would I forego my just revenge, or lose the satisfaction of witnessing the last groan issue from the gasping soul of my brother's murderer!"

From the intense vindictiveness of his spirit, the Sultan saw that it would be useless to combat his resolve; and as he was not very intent on saving Ali; within a few hours Mahmoud received the order to the keeper of the prison, directing him to deliver Ali up to him for execution.

His delight at receiving this order amounted to rapture; he kissed the Sultan's seal affixed to it, and placed it next his heart, as though it had been a token from his beloved; clasping it there he hurried to his house, dreading lest anything should occur to change the Sultan's mind, and intervene between him and his revenge. Arrived at home, he slung on his powder-horn and bullet-pouch, and taking his gun, which his impatience did not permit him to load, he hastened to the public prison.

Ha.s.san on leaving his companion had proceeded to fulfil his promise of warning Azora. Ali was right in supposing him well acquainted with the topography of the palace, from his position; and he was, moreover, intimate with many of the attendants of the household. He first provided himself with a bottle of the strong spirit which the Jews distil from raisins, put on a dark coloured dress, and then set off for the palace.

Avoiding the main entrance, he skirted the walls till he came to a small side door, here he rolled a stone in a handkerchief, and gave five m.u.f.fled knocks; after a short pause, the door opened of itself, the latch being raised by a string from above; he entered in the dark, and ascending a narrow stair in the thickness of the wall, entered a small square chamber lighted by a bra.s.s lamp; here on a carpet sat one of the Sultan's chief eunuchs; he had a flabby face, a heavy eye, and was very corpulent; his dress was of fine materials, and he wore an enormous white turban on his head; a bristle grew here and there on his chin.

"How is uncle Mobarik?" said Ha.s.san, after the usual salutes.

"Well, O cheerer of my heart," said Mobarik "how long it is since I have seen the son of my uncle!"

"I had work, O my friend, and could not come."

"Oh, we have heard. Allaw Ackbar. Work, yes, we have heard."

"And then, O my uncle, I like not to come empty-handed, and it is so difficult now to pa.s.s the stuff through the gate of the Jews' town; but there," producing the bottle, "is some true water of life; the Sultan does not drink better. None of your fig or date brandy, but distilled from grapes, and flavoured with anise: try it."

"Is it lawful, O light of my eyes?" said Mobarik, while his own eyes twinkled as he poured out half a tumbler full.

"Is it not lawful?" said Ha.s.san.

"The Koran forbids it," said Mobarik.

"The Koran does not forbid it," said Ha.s.san; "am I not a taleb? Hear the Koran! Thus it is written--'Intoxicating drink is created for man, but the harm of it is greater than its benefit; therefore, O Moslem, forbear.'" Mobarik had drained his gla.s.s before the quotation was finished. "And," continued Ha.s.san, "the great commentator, k.u.malodeen, interprets this, 'To those who can drink in moderation and without harm, it is permitted--to others, not.'"

"Truly, thou art a lawyer, and wisdom cometh out of thy mouth; doth it not warm the stomach and cheer the heart?"

When Mobarik had finished about half the bottle to his own share, Ha.s.san only helping him for form's sake, his ashy-brown face had acquired a sort of glow, and he seemed in the happiest temper for Ha.s.san's purpose. It was no easy task for him to talk slightingly of what caused him such intense pain, but he forced himself to bear it.

"So you have heard," said he, "of Ha.s.san converting the infidel?"

"Oh, yes!" said Mobarik, taking off his turban, and with a comical leer on his face; "the hawk struck the quail, and the eagle bore it off."

"G.o.d is great! There is more game a-field," said Ha.s.san; "but how heard you the affair?"

"Is not the infidel in my ward?" said Mobarik.

"Then she is in the garden room," said Ha.s.san; "that is all right."

"What garden room? and what is right?" said Mobarik, whose professional vigilance was awakened.

"Hast thou forgotten, O fat man! the carpenter's lad that was taken in to repair the door-lock?"

Before he could say more, Mobarik had closed his mouth with his hand,--

"Wilt thou be silent, O unfortunate? If thou didst escape, thank G.o.d; art thou weary of thy life?"

"Perhaps I am," said Ha.s.san, "but thou wert well paid for that affair;"

and he slapped the pocket of his caftan, making the money that it contained ring. "Now, uncle Mobarik, put on your turban, and listen to me. Shall I put you in the way of pocketing a nice little sum of fifty dollars?" The flabby face grinned. "Good! I must see this Jewess." The mouth fell open, the eyes rounded, and with his turban stuck on awry, any one less heavy at heart than Ha.s.san must have been convulsed with laughter. His mouth then closed tight, and his head shook from side to side.

"Am I an Afreet of fifty lives," said he, "that I should tamper with the Sultan's hareem?"

"Mobarik, you are a father of the ears, any one may see a Jewess. Hareem indeed! if it had been a Mooress, there would be danger, besides, it is only a letter; see, you would not lose fifty dollars?"

"Give me the money; I will give her the letter."

"Do you see my horns growing, O wise one? Or have I been eating dates till the honey runs out of my eyes? Do pillared dollars grow on trees, that you have only to raise your hand and pick? Now, take another gla.s.s, and listen to what I say. I have been offered one hundred dollars, to give a letter into the infidel's own hand. I refused, unless I knew the contents; it was read to me, for it is in the Hebrew character--see, it is open. In it, they beg her to submit to her fate, as all they have done to obtain her liberty has been without success, and it is better for her to be a Moslem than lose her life. I took the money, and promised, as I knew you would not refuse to help me."

"Then you were mistaken," said Mobarik, sulkily, "I will not risk my head."

Ha.s.san looked at him steadily for a minute, "I swear by Allah, that _you_ shall help me, and that I will not leave until I have seen the Jewess; and now I will show you that it is safer, and more profitable for you to consent, than to refuse; look at me, I am a stronger man than you, would it not be easy to me, O my uncle, to bind you, and go without your leave? I know the way, you would not dare to give an alarm, for my being in here, and your friend there in the bottle, would be sufficient to cost you the skin of your back, and perhaps your head. But what is there to prevent my killing you," he continued, advancing towards him with his hand on his dagger--"we are alone--but for our old friends.h.i.+p?"

Mobarik had shrunk into the corner, in real alarm, his face having again a.s.sumed its ashy hue: "Let us be friends," said he, "give me the money: have you not sworn that I shall help you, and an oath must be kept?"

"Yes!" said Ha.s.san, "and then it is a good action to persuade the Jewess to her conversion. I will stay but the time for an answer to the letter: go on before to see that all is safe."

Mobarik having received the money, led the way down-stairs, crossed a court-yard, and unlocking a side door, admitted Ha.s.san, directing him to lock the door on his return, for which purpose he left the key in the lock. Ha.s.san found himself amongst the fruit trees, with which the interior court was thickly planted; and under their shadow, he made his way towards a light which shone out through a gla.s.s door, at a little distance and which was half-open.

Azora was reclining on the cus.h.i.+ons, one hand supporting her head, while the other rested on a small Hebrew Bible, which lay open before her. A large bra.s.s lamp, on an embossed pillar, stood on the carpet, and threw its light on her sweet, calm face. She was so deeply absorbed that she did not notice the entrance of Ha.s.san, whose tread was dulled by the soft carpet, and he stood gazing, with clasped hands, on that face so pale and yet so peaceful; and though his affection for her was revived, it was in a hallowed form, and his heart smote him for the part he had taken in bringing one so good and so beautiful into her present peril. A deep-drawn sigh aroused her from her meditations, and made her aware of his presence. In her present position, her mind was not in a state to be startled by such a circ.u.mstance; her first feeling was surprise, and the next the fear of the consequences to himself. She felt resigned to her fate, and no feelings of ill-will could harbour in her bosom.

"Ha.s.san," she said, rising, "am I not free from your presence even here?"

"No!" said he, "that time is past, but repentance has come too late to undo what has been done."