Part 41 (1/2)
Marzak winced before a reply that seemed to reflect upon himself But he returned to the attack
”I compassionate thee that art the slave of duty, driven so soon to abandon the delight of her soft arms Where hast thou bestowed her, O captain?”
”Where should a Muslis of the Prophet--in the house?”
Marzak sneered ”Verily, Iher so soon!”
But Asad caught the sneer, and stared at his son ”What cause is there to marvel in that a true Muslim should sacrifice his inclinations to the service of the Faith?” His tone was a rebuke; but it left Marzak undisracefully upon his cushi+ons, one leg tucked under him
”Place no excess of faith in appearances, O rowled the Basha ”Peace to thy tongue, Marzak, andstrength to our ararden is forbidden”
To this again Sakr-el-Bahr replied ”Ameen,” but an uneasiness abode in his heart summoned thither by the questions Marzak had set hiue him, and to keep fresh in Asad's mind the mee?
His fears were to be quickened soon on that sa that afternoon upon the rail, idly observing the doling out of the rations to the slaves, when Marzak came to join him
For soitello and hisout biscuits and dried dates to the rowers--but sparingly, for oars iving each to drink a cup of vinegar and water in which floated a few drops of added oil
Then he pointed to a large palmetto bale that stood on the waist-deck near the mainmast about which the powder barrels were stacked
”That pannier,” he said, ”seems to me oddly in the way yonder Were it not better to bestow it in the hold, where it will cease to be an encumbrance in case of action?”
Sakr-el-Bahr experienced a slight tightening at the heart He knew that Marzak had heard him command that bale to be borne into the poop-cabin, and that anon he had ordered it to be fetched thence when Asad had announced his intention of sailing with hiht be a suspicious circu what the bale contained, he was too ready to fear suspicion Nevertheless he turned to Marzak with a smile of so with us as apprentice”
”What then?” quoth Marzak
”Why ht become thee better to be content to observe and learn Thou'lt soon be telling , and how an action should be fought” Then he pointed ahead to what seemed to be no more than a low cloud-bank towards which they were rapidly ski before that friendly wind ”Yonder,” he said, ”are the Balearics We are h he said it without any object other than that of turning the conversation, yet the fact itself was sufficiently remarkable to be worth a comment Whether rowed by her two hundred and fifty slaves, or sailed under her enormous spread of canvas, there was no swifter vessel upon the Mediterranean than the galeasse of Sakr-el-Bahr Onward she leapt noith bellying tateens, her well-greased keel slipping through the hipped water at a rate which perhaps could not have been bettered by any shi+p that sailed
”If this wind holds we shall be under the Point of Aguila before sunset, which will be so to boast of hereafter,” he promised
Marzak, however, seemed but indifferently interested; his eyes continued awhile to stray towards that palth, without another word to Sakr-el-Bahr, he , beside his father Asad sat there in athat he should have lent an ear to Fenzileh to the extent of coe, and assured by now that at least there was no cause tomistrust But the moment was ill-chosen, and at the first words he uttered on the subject, he was growled into silence by his sire
”Thou dost but voice thine own malice,” Asad rebuked him ”And I am proven a fool in that I have pere me in this matter No , his eyes ever following Sakr-el-Bahr, who had descended the three steps fro slowly down between the rowers' benches
The corsair was supre to conceal, and who begins to fear that he may have been betrayed Yet as there could have betrayed him? But three men aboard that vessel knew his secret--Ali, his lieutenant, Jasper, and the Italian Vigitello And Sakr-el-Bahr would have staked all his possessions that neither Ali nor Vigitello would have betrayed him, whilst he was fairly confident that in his own interests Jasper also must have kept faith Yet Marzak's allusion to that palmetto bale had filled him with an uneasiness that sent him now in quest of his Italian boatshoitello,” said he, ”is it possible that I have been betrayed to the Basha?”
Vigitello looked up sharply at the question, then s alone by the bulwarks on the waist-deck