Part 31 (1/2)
Omar laughed heartily at this, and Hadji Baba, much relieved, retired to have his case tried before the cadi, taking his daughter with him, for she had a.s.sured him that she had seen the old servant take it.
The old servant pleaded not guilty with earnest solemnity.
”Are you quite sure you saw him take the ring?” demanded the cadi of Ziffa.
”Quite sure,” replied the girl.
”And you are sure you did _not_ take it?” he asked of the negro.
”Absolutely certain,” answered the old man.
”And you are convinced that you once had the ring, and now have it not?”
he said, turning to Hadji Baba.
”Quite.”
”The case is very perplexing,” said the cadi, turning to the administrators of the law who stood at his elbow; ”give the master and the servant each one hundred strokes of the bastinado, twenty at a time, beginning with the servant.”
The officers at once seized on the old negro, threw him down and gave him twenty blows. They then advanced to Hadji Baba, and were about to seize him, when he cried out--
”Beware what thou doest! I am an officer of the Dey's palace and may not be treated thus with impunity.”
The cadi, who either did not, or pretended not, to believe the statement, replied sententiously--
”Justice takes no note of persons.--Proceed.”
The officers threw Baba on his face, and were about to proceed, when Ziffa in alarm advanced with the ring and confessed her guilt.
Upon this the cadi was still further perplexed, for he could not now undo the injustice of the blows given to the negro. After a few minutes' severe thought he awarded the diamond ring to the old servant, and the two hundred blows to the master as being a false accuser.
The award having been given, the case was dismissed, and Hadji Baba went home with smarting soles, resolved to punish Ziffa severely.
”Spare me!” said Ziffa, whimpering, when her father, seizing a rod, was about to begin.
”Nay, thou deservest it,” cried Baba, grasping her arm.
”Spare me!” repeated Ziffa, ”and I will tell you a great secret, which will bring you money and credit.”
The curiosity of the story-teller was awakened.
”What is it thou hast to tell?”
”Promise me, father, that you won't punish me if I tell you the secret.”
”I promise,” said Baba, ”but see that it is really something worth knowing, else will I give thee a severer flogging.”
Hereupon the false Ziffa related all she knew about the hiding-place of the Rimini family. Her father immediately went to the palace, related it to the Dey, and claimed and received the reward.