Part 48 (1/2)
Meanwhile Rosaerness had advanced until she stood at Sakr-el-Bahr's elbow
”God is helping us!” she said in a voice of fervent gratitude ”This is your opportunity The men will obey you”
He looked at her, and serness ”Ay, mistress, they will obey me,” he said But in the few moments that were sped he had taken his resolve Whilst undoubtedly Asad was right, and the wise course was to lie close in this sheltering cove where the odds of their going unperceived were very heavily in their favour, yet the ether at fault If they were to put to sea, theyan easterly course pass similarly unperceived, and even should the splash of their oars reach the galleon beyond the headland, yet by the tihed anchor and started in pursuit they would be well away straining every ounce of muscle at the oars, whilst the breeze--a heavy factor in his considerations--was becoh at pursuit by a vessel that depended upon wind alone The only danger, then, was the danger of the galleon's cannon, and that danger was none so great as from experience Sakr-el-Bahr well knew
Thus was he reluctantly forced to the conclusion that in the main the wiser policy was to support Asad, and since he was full confident of the obedience of the men he consoled hiht be in store for hiht presently be made
In answer, then, to those who still called upon hiway to the waist-deck to take his stand at the Basha's side Asad watched his approach with angry s being as they were Sakr-el-Bahr would be ranged against him to obtain complete control of these e from the situation Softly and slowly he unsheathed his sci this out of the corner of his eye, yet affected not to see, but stood forward to address the men
”Ho?” he thundered wrathfully ”What shall this mean? Are ye all deaf that ye have not heard the commands of your Basha, the exalted of Allah, that ye dare raise your mutinous voices and say what is your will?”
Sudden and utter silence followed that exhortation Asad listened in relieved aht her breath in sheer dismay
What could he mean, then? Had he but fooled and duped her? Were his intentions towards her the very opposite to his protestations? She leant upon the poop-rail straining to catch every syllable of that speech of his in the lingua franca, hoping ale of it had led her into error on the score of what he had said
She saw hiry co
”Back to thy post up yonder, and keep watch upon that vessel'stheood pleasure Aith thee!”
Larocque without aover the bulwarks and dropped to the oars, whence he clale voice was raised in protest
Sakr-el-Bahr's dark glance swept the ranks of the corsairs crowding the forecastle
”Because this pet of the haree Marzak by a conteer into the ears of row timid and foolish as a herd of sheep? By Allah!
What are ye? Are ye the fearless sea-hawks that have floith -hooks were flung, or are ye but scavenging crows?”
He was answered by an old rover who
”We are trapped here as Dragut was trapped at Jerba”
”Thou liest,” he answered ”Dragut was not trapped, for Dragut found a way out And against Dragut there was the whole navy of Genoa, whilst against us there is but one single galleon By the Koran, if she shows fight, have we no teeth? Will it be the first galleon whose decks we have overrun? But if ye prefer a coward's counsel, ye sons of shame, consider that once we take the open sea our discovery will be assured, and Larocque hath told you that she carries twenty guns I tell you that if we are to be attacked by her, best be attacked at close quarters, and I tell you that if we lie close and snug in here it is long odds that we shall never be attacked at all That she has no inkling of our presence is proven, since she has cast anchor round the headland And consider that if we fly froht are so fortunate as not to render real that danger and to court it, we abandon a rich argosy that shall bring profit to us all”
”But I waste ument,” he ended abruptly ”You have heard the couh Noto see the attitudes about the forecastle, he turned to Asad
”It ut and Jerba,”
he said ”But it was never in my nature to be harsh with those who follow me” And that was all
Asad from amazement had passed quickly to admiration and a sort of contrition, into which presently there crept a poisonous tinge of jealousy to see Sakr-el-Bahr prevail where he himself alone ly, like an oil stain If he had come to bear ill-will to Sakr-el-Bahr before, that ill-as turned of a sudden into positive hatred for one in whom he now beheld a usurper of the power and control that should reside in the Basha alone
assuredly there was no rooiers
Therefore the words of co to his lips froze there now that Sakr-el-Bahr and he stood face to face In silence he considered his lieutenant through narrowing evil eyes, whose e none but a fool could have misunderstood
Sakr-el-Bahr was not a fool, and he did notat the heart, and ill-will sprang to life within hi to the call of that ill-will Almost he repented him that he had not availed himself of that moment of weakness and mutiny on the part of the crew to atte of the Basha
The conciliatory words he had in lance he opposed his ever ready mockery He turned to Biskaine