Sakr-el-Bahr had not yet pronounced his intentions concerning the piratical little skipper, and Master Leigh, full conscious that he was a villain2, feared the worst, and had spent some miserable3 hours in the fore-castle awaiting a doom4 which he accounted foregone.
“Our positions have changed, Master Leigh, since last we talked in a ship’s cabin,” was the renegade’s inscrutable greeting.
“Indeed,” Master Leigh agreed. “But I hope ye’ll remember that on that occasion I was your friend.”
“At a price,” Sakr-el-Bahr reminded him. “And at a price you may find me your friend to-day.”
The rascally5 skipper’s heart leapt with hope.
“Name it, Sir Oliver,” he answered eagerly. “And so that it ties within my wretched power I swear I’ll never boggle at it. I’ve had enough of slavery,” he ran on in a plaintive6 whine7. “Five years of it, and four of them spent aboard the galleys8 of Spain, and no day in all of them but that I prayed for death. Did you but know what I ha’ suffered.”
“Never was suffering more merited, never punishment more fitting, never justice more poetic,” said Sakr-el-Bahr in a voice that made the skipper’s blood run cold. “You would have sold me, a man who did you no hurt, indeed a man who once befriended you — you would have sold me into slavery for a matter of two hundred pounds. . . . ”
“Nay, nay,” cried the other fearfully, “as God’s my witness, ’twas never part of my intent. Ye’ll never ha’ forgot the words I spoke9 to you, the offer that I made to carry you back home again.”
“Ay, at a price, ’tis true,” Sakr-el-Bahr repeated. “And it is fortunate for you that you are to-day in a position to pay a price that should postpone10 your dirty neck’s acquaintance with a rope. I need a navigator,” he added in explanation, “and what five years ago you would have done for two hundred pounds, you shall do to-day for your life. How say you: will you navigate11 this ship for me?”
“Sir,” cried Jasper Leigh, who could scarce believe that this was all that was required of him, “I’ll sail it to hell at your bidding.”
“I am not for Spain this voyage,” answered Sakr-el-Bahr. “You shall sail me precisely12 as you would have done five years ago, back to the mouth of the Fal, and set me ashore13 there. Is that agreed?”
“Ay, and gladly,” replied Master Leigh without a second’s pause.
“The conditions are that you shall have your life and your liberty,” Sakr-el-Bahr explained. “But do not suppose that arrived in England you are to be permitted to depart. You must sail us back again, though once you have done that I shall find a way to send you home if you so desire it, and perhaps there will be some measure of reward for you if you serve me faithfully throughout. Follow the habits of a lifetime by playing me false and there’s an end to you. You shall have for constant bodyguard14 these two lilies of the desert,” and he pointed15 to the colossal16 Nubians who stood there invisible almost in the shadow but for the flash of teeth and eyeballs. “They shall watch over you, and see that no harm befalls you so long as you are honest with me, and they shall strangle you at the first sign of treachery. You may go. You have the freedom of the ship, but you are not to leave it here or elsewhere save at my express command.”
Jasper Leigh stumbled out counting himself fortunate beyond his expectations or deserts, and the Nubians followed him and hung behind him ever after like some vast twin shadow.
To Sakr-el-Bahr entered now Biskaine with a report of the prize captured. Beyond the prisoners, however, and the actual vessel17, which had suffered nothing in the fight, the cargo18 was of no account. Outward bound as she was it was not to be expected that any treasures would be discovered in her hold. They found great store of armaments and powder and a little money; but naught19 else that was worthy20 of the corsairs’ attention.
Sakr-el-Bahr briefly21 issued his surprising orders.
“Thou’lt set the captives aboard one of the galleys, Biskaine, and thyself convey them to Algiers, there to be sold. All else thou’lt leave aboard here, and two hundred picked corsairs to go a voyage with me overseas, men that will act as mariners22 and fighters.”
“Art thou, then, not returning to Algiers, O Sakr-el-Bahr?”
“Not yet. I am for a longer voyage. Convey my service to Asad-ed-Din, whom Allah guard and cherish, and tell him to look for me in some six weeks time.”
This sudden resolve of Oliver–Reis created no little excitement aboard the galleys. The corsairs knew nothing of navigation upon the open seas, none of them had ever been beyond the Mediterranean23, few of them indeed had ever voyaged as far west as Cape24 Spartel, and it is doubtful if they would have followed any other leader into the perils25 of the open Atlantic. But Sakr-el-Bahr, the child of Fortune, the protected of Allah, had never yet led them to aught but victory, and he had but to call them to heel and they would troop after him whithersoever he should think well to go. So now there was little trouble in finding the two hundred Muslimeen he desired for his fighting crew. Rather was the difficulty to keep the number of those eager for the adventure within the bounds he had indicated.
You are not to suppose that in all this Sir Oliver was acting26 upon any preconcerted plan. Whilst he had lain on the heights watching that fine ship beating up against the wind it had come to him that with such a vessel under him it were a fond adventure to sail to England, to descend27 upon that Cornish coast abruptly28 as a thunderbolt, and present the reckoning to his craven dastard29 of a brother. He had toyed with the fancy, dreamily almost as men build their castles in Spain. Then in the heat of conflict it had entirely30 escaped his mind, to return in the shape of a resolve when he came to find himself face to face with Jasper Leigh.
The skipper and the ship conjointly provided him with all the means to realize that dream he had dreamt. There was none to oppose his will, no reason not to indulge his cruel fancy. Perhaps, too, he might see Rosamund again, might compel her to hear the truth from him. And there was Sir John Killigrew. He had never been able to determine whether Sir John had been his friend or his foe31 in the past; but since it was Sir John who had been instrumental in setting up Lionel in Sir Oliver’s place — by inducing the courts to presume Sir Oliver’s death on the score that being a renegade he must be accounted dead at law — and since it was Sir John who was contriving32 this wedding between Lionel and Rosamund, why, Sir John, too, should be paid a visit and should be informed of the precise nature of the thing he did.
With the forces at his disposal in those days of his absolute lordship of life and death along the African littoral33, to conceive was with Oliver–Reis no more than the prelude34 to execution. The habit of swift realization35 of his every wish had grown with him, and that habit guided now his course.
He made his preparations quickly, and on the morrow the Spanish carack — lately labelled Nuestra Senora de las Llagas, but with that label carefully effaced36 from her quarter — trimmed her sails and stood out for the open Atlantic, navigated37 by Captain Jasper Leigh. The three galleys under the command of Biskaine-el-Borak crept slowly eastward38 and homeward to Algiers, hugging the coast, as was the corsair habit. The wind favoured Oliver so well that within ten days of rounding Cape St. Vincent he had his first glimpse of the Lizard39.
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1
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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rascally
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| adj. 无赖的，恶棍的 adv. 无赖地，卑鄙地 | |
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plaintive
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| adj.可怜的，伤心的 | |
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whine
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| v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣 | |
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8
galleys
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| n.平底大船，战舰( galley的名词复数 )；（船上或航空器上的）厨房 | |
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9
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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postpone
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| v.延期，推迟 | |
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navigate
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| v.航行，飞行；导航，领航 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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bodyguard
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| n.护卫，保镖 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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mariners
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| 海员，水手（mariner的复数形式） | |
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Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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dastard
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| n.卑怯之人，懦夫；adj.怯懦的，畏缩的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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contriving
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| （不顾困难地）促成某事( contrive的现在分词 )； 巧妙地策划，精巧地制造（如机器）； 设法做到 | |
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littoral
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| adj.海岸的；湖岸的；n.沿（海）岸地区 | |
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prelude
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| n.序言，前兆，序曲 | |
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35
realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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36
effaced
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| v.擦掉( efface的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；超越；使黯然失色 | |
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37
navigated
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| v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的过去式和过去分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃 | |
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38
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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lizard
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| n.蜥蜴，壁虎 | |
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