Part 53 (2/2)
”This, Sir John, that unless you order your men back aboard your shi+p, and ht down to hell with us at once I'll heave this lantern into the powder here, and we sink and you co hooks
Obey me and you shall have all that you have come to seek aboard this vessel Mistress Rosalowered upon hih not prepared to make terms with you,” he announced, ”yet I will accept the conditions you impose, but only provided that I have all indeed that I aade hound who He, too, must be delivered up to me His naly, came the answer--”Him, too, will I surrender to you upon your sworn oath that you will then depart and do here no further hurt”
Rosaht her breath, and clutched Sakr-el-Bahr's arm, the arm that held the lantern
”Have a care, mistress,” he bade her sharply, ”or you will destroy us all”
”Better that!” she answered hied him his word that upon his own surrender and that of Rosamund he would withdraw nor offer hurt to any there
Sakr-el-Bahr turned to his waiting corsairs, and briefly told them what the tere his word that these terms would be respected, and no blood shed on his behalf, and Asad answered hiainst him for his betrayal
”Since he wants thee that hethee, he may have thee and so spare us the trouble, for 'tis no less than thy treachery deserves from us”
”Thus, then, I surrender,” he announced to Sir John, and flung the lantern overboard
One voice only was raised in his defence, and that voice was Rosamund's
But even that voice failed, conquered by weary nature This last blow following upon all that lately she had endured bereft her of all strength Half swooning she collapsed against Sakr-el-Bahr even as Sir John and a handful of his followers leapt down to deliver her andon in silence; the loyalty to their great captain, which would have made them spend their last drop of blood in his defence, was quenched by his own act of treachery which had brought the English shi+p upon them Yet when they saw him pinioned and hoisted to the deck of the Silver Heron, there was a sudden momentary reaction in their ranks Scimitars aved aloft, and cries of menace burst forth If he had betrayed them, yet he had so contrived that they should not suffer by that betrayal And that orthy of the Sakr-el-Bahr they knew and loved; so worthy that their love and loyalty leapt full-arain upon the instant
But the voice of Asad called upon them to bear in mind what in their naht not have sufficed to quell that sudden spark of revolt, there ca his last command
”Remember and respect the teruard and prosper you!”
A as his reply, and with that wail ringing in his ears to assure him that he did not pass unloved, he was hurried below to prepare hirapnels were cut, and slowly the galleon passed away into the night, leaving the galley to replace what slaves had been iers, abandoning the expedition against the argosy of Spain
Under the awning upon the poop Asad now sat like a man who has awakened from an evil dream He covered his head and wept for one who had been as a son to hih his madness he had lost He cursed all women, and he cursed destiny; but the bitterest curse of all was for hi the dead overboard and washed the decks, nor did they notice that a lish captain, or else his followers, had not kept strictly to the letter of the bond
They returned in osy which had been allowed to go her ways unmolested, but for the stoutest captain that ever bared his scimitar in the service of Islam
The story of how he came to be delivered up was never clearly told; none dared clearly tell it, for none who had participated in the deed but took shaht be that Sakr-el-Bahr had brought it all upon himself But, at least, it was understood that he had not fallen in battle, and hence it was assumed that he was still alive Upon that presuend that he would one day co a half-century later related how in Algiers to that day the co of Sakr-el-Bahr was still confidently expected and looked for by all true Muslimeen
CHAPTER XXIII THE HEATHEN CREED
Sakr-el-Bahr was shut up in a black hole in the forecastle of the Silver Heron to await the dawn and to spend the ti his soul No words had passed between him and Sir John since his surrender With wrists pinioned behind hilish shi+p, and in the waist of her he had stood for a moment face to face with an old acquaintance--our chronicler, Lord Henry Goade I iine the florid countenance of the Queen's Lieutenant wearing a preternaturally grave expression, his eyes forbidding as they rested upon the renegade I know--from Lord Henry's own pen--that no word had passed between the those brief uards to be flung into those dark, cra hour he lay where he had fallen, believing himself alone; and time and place would no doubt conduce to philosophical reflection upon his condition I like to think that he found that when all was considered, he had little hich to reproach himself If he had done evil he had made ample amends It can scarcely be pretended that he had betrayed those loyal Muslimeen followers of his, or, if it is, at least it must be added that he himself had paid the price of that betrayal
Rosamund was safe, Lionel would ood as dead already, he orth little thought He must have derived so his life to the very best advantage Ruined it had been long since True, but for his ill-starred expedition of vengeance he ht even have risen to the proud Musliiers and become a feudatory prince of the Grand Turk But for one as born a Christian gentleman that would have been an unworthy way to have ended his days The present was the better course