CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
FRANCISCO AND HIS SON IN DANGER.
For several hours Francisco and his son sat on the bundle of strawlistening intently to every sound, being naturally filled with anxietyas to the success of Bacri in his efforts to aid Mariano. At last theyheard a loud knocking at the street door, which, after being repeatedimpatiently once or twice, was followed by a thunderous noise, as if thehouse were being entered by violence.
"The janissaries have returned," said Francisco, with a serious look.
"We had better put out the light," suggested Lucien, as a crashing soundannounced the bursting in of the door.
"Do, lad.--Stay, let me get hold of this crowbar; it is better thannothing if it comes to--. Now, out with it!"
A moment more and they were in total darkness, while the trampling offeet overhead and the shouts of many voices told that the mob hadentered the Jew's dwelling.
Every moment the two prisoners expected to see the trap-door of theirretreat wrenched open, but no one seemed to have discovered it, and theywere beginning to breathe more freely, and to hope that they shouldescape, when there came a sudden and violent stamping just overhead.Then there was a sound of breaking timber, and presently the edge of thetrap-door began to lift and creak under the pressure of some powerfulinstrument. Another moment and it flew open and a man looked in, but ofcourse could see nothing. Descending the steps, he called loudly for alight, and one of his comrades brought a lantern, with which he wasabout to descend, but, missing his footstep, he fell to the ground andextinguished it.
At that moment Lucien and his father drew back into the darkest part ofthe cellar, in the shadow of a small projection.
"Fetch another light!" shouted the soldiers.
"Now's our time," whispered Lucien, grasping his scimitar and preparingfor a dash.
"Not yet," replied his father, laying a strong grasp on his arm.
It was well that Lucien was restrained, for, while the soldiers wereclamouring for a light, their comrades above gave a shout as thoughsomething new and surprising had been discovered. Full of curiosity,the soldiers in the cellar darted out.
"Now!" whispered Francisco.
Lucien at once sprang up the ladder, but looked out cautiously; for thesudden change in the sounds above apprised him that the robbers had leftthe apartment.
He saw them busy ransacking a cupboard in which the Jew had placed alarge quantity of plate, a little of which was solid, and a largeportion showy, but comparatively valueless. It had been arranged by himin such a way as to make a superb show of wealth, in the hope that itmight tempt any who should take a fancy to rob his house to expend muchof their labour and energy on that horde, thereby creating an importantdiversion from much more valuable deposits made elsewhere.
So busy were the plunderers that they left the room above the cellarquite unguarded.
"The coast is clear," whispered Lucien, looking back. "We must act outour part of janissary and slave, father. Quick! Shoulder this smallchest."
Francisco obeyed almost mechanically, laid down the crowbar, threw alight chest that chanced to be near at hand on his shoulder, andfollowed his son silently up the staircase to the entrance-hall of thehouse, where they found two janissaries guarding the door.
"Pretend to stumble, father," whispered Lucien, on observing them.
Francisco not only pretended to, but, in his zealous obedience, actuallydid stumble with such good will that he fell with a heavy crash on themarble pavement, sending the chest violently out at the door into thestreet, much to the amusement of the two sentinels.
"Scoundrel!" cried Lucien furiously, in Turkish, at the same timeflourishing his scimitar and bestowing on his submissive parent a mostunmerciful kick. "Up, out with you, and shoulder it! See that you mindyour feet better, else the bastinado shall make them tingle!"
He brushed so savagely past the sentinels that they had not time to stophim, even if so disposed, then turning suddenly back, said--
"Your lantern, friend; one will serve you well enough, and I shall needthe other with so awkward a slave."
"Here it is, comrade," replied the man; "but who and what hast thou gotthere?"
"Waste not your time in questions," said Lucien hastily; "they havediscovered heavy treasure inside, and require the aid of one of you.Surely it needs not two to guard a Jew's door!"
He hurried off without awaiting a reply.
In perfect silence they traversed several narrow streets without meetingany one. It was nearly dark at the time, and it was evident that therioters had been restrained by the new Dey, for their shouts were nowheard in only two or three of the main thoroughfares.
During his service as scribe to Achmet, Lucien had visited all parts ofthe town, and was familiar with its main outlines, if not with itsdetails. He therefore knew how to avoid the frequented parts, and yettake a pretty direct course for Bab-Azoun. But he was sorely perplexedas to how he should now act, for it was much too early in the night tomake an attempt to get over the city walls.
In this dilemma he retired into the deep shadow of an old doorway, andcovered up the lantern, while he held a whispered consultation with hisfather.
"It seems to me, my son," said Francisco, sitting down on the chestwhich he had hitherto carried, "that we have only got out of thefrying-pan into the fire; for it is not reason to expect that all thejanissaries we chance to meet will let us pass without question, and Ifear that you have no sufficient ground of excuse for wandering aboutthe city at such hours in disturbed times in charge of a slave on whosecountenance submission sits with so bad a grace."
"True, father," answered Lucien, much perplexed; "perhaps it would bewell to remain where we are till a later hour. If any one seeks toenter this dismal staircase, we can easily avoid observation by gettinginto one of its dark corners, and--"
He was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps, andimmediately retired with his father into one of the corners referred to.
"It is only two streets further on," said a low voice, which soundedfamiliar in the ears of the listeners. "There you shall be safe, forJacob Mordecai is a trusty friend, and I will go see how it fares withour--"
"'Tis Bacri," whispered Lucien, as the voice died away in the distance.
"We must not lose sight of him," said Francisco, darting out.
Lucien outran his father, and quickly overtook Bacri and another man,who was completely enveloped in the folds of a burnous, such as wasthen, and still is, worn by the Bedouin Arabs.
On hearing the footsteps in pursuit, Bacri and his companion hadcommenced to run, but perceiving that only two men followed them, theyturned and stood in an attitude of defence. He who wore the burnousflung back the hood, and, freeing his sword-arm from its folds,displayed to the astonished gaze of Lucien and Francisco the face andform of Mariano.
"Father!" he exclaimed; "Lucien!"
"Mariano!" cried Francisco, throwing his arms round his younger son andgiving him a hearty kiss on each cheek.
"Hist! be quiet," said Bacri, seizing Francisco by the arm in hispowerful grasp and dragging him along.
The interference of the Jew was not a moment too soon, for severalsoldiers who were patrolling the streets at the time overheard the soundof their voices and hurried towards them.
They ran now, in good earnest, and quickly reached the door of JacobMordecai's house, which Bacri opened with a key, and shut gently afterletting his friends pass, so that the soldiers lost sight of them as ifby a magical disappearance.
"Your house is plundered," said Francisco to Bacri, after Jacob Mordecaihad conducted them to the skiffa of his dwelling.
"I guessed as much. But how came you to escape?" asked Bacri.
Lucien related the circumstances of their escape, while his fatherdipped his head in the fountain, for the purpose, as he remarked, ofcooling his brains.
"And what is now to be done?" asked Mariano, with a look of perplexity."Bacri has been kind enough to get me out of
that horrible Bagnio justin time to save me from torture of some sort; but here we are in theheart of a city in a state of insurrection, with almost everystreet-corner guarded, and bands of men, that appear to me to be devilsin turbans, going about seeking for subjects on whom to exercise theirskill."
"The insurrection is over--at least _this_ one is over," said JacobMordecai sadly, "though it may well be that another insurrection shallfollow close on its heels; but it is probable that there will be somedegree of peace now for a time, and the guarded condition of the townwill favour your escape."
"How so, Signor Mordecai?" asked Francisco; "it has hitherto been mybelief as well as experience that a town in a state of siege was thereverse of favourable to anything implying freedom of action."
"Thou art right, friend," returned Jacob, with a smile, "and thatabsence of freedom will keep the streets clear of all who mightotherwise interrupt thee, while, as to the guarded corners, my brotherBacri knows a variety of passages above and under ground, through whichhe will guide you past them to the city wall."
"Then let us be gone without delay," urged Francisco, "for, good sirs,my neck has for some time past felt sundry twinges, as though thebow-string were already around it."
"Half an hour must elapse ere we can venture forth with safety," saidBacri. "'Tis well that you have brought the knotted rope with you.Mariano knows how to use it. He will explain the mode of escape whichyou must follow, while I hold private converse with my brother."
So saying the kindly Jew bowed his tall form to his friends with the airof a king, and accompanied Jacob Mordecai into an inner room.
At the end of the time specified--which had appeared an age to theimpatient trio--Bacri returned to the skiffa with two coarse burnousessimilar to the one worn by Mariano. He directed Francisco and Lucien toput these on, after exchanging their varied habiliments for the jacket,short drawers, and red fez or cap, worn by Moors of the middle class.He then produced some brown ochre, with which he stained their hands andtheir legs below the knee--these latter parts being usually uncovered inMoors who did not belong to the wealthy classes.
"Why not paint our faces too?" asked Mariano, amused at the figure theycut, despite the dangers which rendered the disguise necessary.
"Because neither the painting of your faces," replied Bacri, "nor theshaving of your heads--which latter would be essential to the convertingof you into genuine Moors--would constitute any disguise were yourvoices to be heard or your features to be scrutinised. You must becareful to pull the hoods of your burnouses well forward on your faces.All that you can hope to gain by your costume is to avoid attracting theattention of any whom you should chance to meet, or whom you may have topass at a distance. If any one speaks to you after you reach the opencountry, refuse to answer. If he should insist on it, you must eitherrun or fight, for which latter purpose I provide you with these shortswords, which you will find better suited to your hands than the curvedweapons of the Turks."
"Signor Bacri," said Francisco, examining the straight short weaponhanded to him, "I thank thee for all thy kindness to me and my boys--especially for these swords, for assuredly unless thou canst alsofurnish me with a pair of young and active legs, I am like to have moreof fighting than running hereafter. However, let us not waste more timein speech, for, as I have said, my neck already itches mostuncomfortably."
In deference to Francisco's anxiety to be out of the city, which he waswont to style with great emphasis the Pirates' Nest, Bacri hastened hispreparations, and soon led them to the roof of the house of JacobMordecai, from which they scrambled to that of a friendly neighbour, andcrossed over, with the care of burglars and the quiet steps of cats, tothe other side. Here a difficulty met them, in the shape of a leapwhich was too long for Francisco's heavy person to venture.
He might, indeed, have taken it with ease on level ground and indaylight; but, like his son Mariano on a somewhat similar occasion, hefelt it difficult to screw up his courage to the point of springingacross a black chasm, which he was aware descended some forty or fiftyfeet to the causeway of the street, and the opposite parapet, on whichhe was expected to alight like, a bird, appeared dim and ghostly in theuncertain light.
Twice did the courageous man bend himself to the leap, while the bloodrushed with apoplectic violence to his bald head; and twice did hisspirit fail him at the moment of need!
"Oh, Bacri!" he said in a hoarse whisper, wiping the perspiration fromhis brow, as he stood on the giddy height, "if there were only a damselin distress on the opposite side, or a legion of Turks defying me tocome on, I could go over, methinks, like a rocket, but to be required toleap in cold blood upon next to nothing over an unfathomable abyss,really--. Hast never a morsel of plank about thee, Jacob?"
Fortunately for all parties, Jacob had a flower stand on his roof, towhich he returned with Mariano, who wrenched a plank therefrom, andbrought it to the point of difficulty.
After this they met with no serious obstruction. Sometimes descendingbelow the streets and passing through cellars, at others crossing roofsor gliding along the darkest sides of dark walls and passages, theytraversed the town without being challenged, and gained the southernwall near the point at which Mariano had crossed it on a formeroccasion.
Here the Jew bade them God-speed, and left them.
"I hope thou art sure of the road, Mariano?" said Francisco anxiously.
"Trust me, father; I know it well. Only have a care that you treadlightly and make no noise.--Come."
Leading them to the point on the ramparts where poor Castello's headstill stood withering in the night-wind, Mariano bade them remain inshadow while he attached the rope to the spike.
The sentinel could be dimly seen, for there was no moon, pacing to andfro within two hundred yards of them. They watched and lay still whilehe sauntered towards them, and glided noiselessly and quickly to therope while his back was turned.
Thus one by one they descended the wall, crossed the ditch, ascended theslope on the other side, without having been observed, and, ere long,were safe among the rocks and fastnesses of the Sahel hills.