I Found
Him Not, But His Son Was There, And Men Said Unto Me That To Speak
Unto The Son
Was to speak unto the king, even Muley Abderrahman; so
I went in unto the king's son, and I kneeled
Before him, and I
lifted up my voice and I said unto him what I had to say, and he
looked courteously upon me and said, 'Truly thy tale is a sorrowful
one, and it maketh me sad; and what thou asketh, that will I grant,
and thy father's death shall be avenged and the spoilers shall be
despoiled; and I will write thee a letter with my own hand unto the
Pasha, even the Pasha of Tafilaltz, and I will enjoin him to make
inquiry into thy matter, and that letter thou shalt thyself carry
and deliver unto him.' And when I heard these words, my heart died
within my bosom for very fear, and I replied, 'Not so, my lord; it
is good that thou write a letter unto the Pasha, even unto the
Pasha of Tafilaltz, but that letter will I not take, neither will I
go to Tafilaltz, for no sooner should I arrive there, and my errand
be known, than the Moors would arise and put me to death, either
privily or publicly, for are not the murderers of my father Moors;
and am I aught but a Jew, though I be a Polish man?' And he looked
benignantly, and he said, 'Truly, thou speakest wisely; I will
write the letter, but thou shalt not take it, for I will send it by
other hands; therefore set thy heart at rest, and doubt not that,
if thy tale be true, thy father's death shall be avenged, and the
treasure, or the value thereof, be recovered and given up to thee;
tell me, therefore, where wilt thou abide till then?' And I said
unto him, 'My lord, I will go into the land of Suz and will tarry
there.' And he replied: 'Do so, and thou shalt hear speedily from
me.' So I arose and departed and went into the land of Suz, even
unto Sweerah, which the Nazarenes call Mogadore; and waited with a
troubled heart for intelligence from the son of the Moorish king,
but no intelligence came, and never since that day have I heard
from him, and it is now three years since I was in his presence.
And I sat me down at Mogadore, and I married a wife, a daughter of
our nation, and I wrote to my mother, even to Jerusalem, and she
sent me money, and with that I entered into commerce, even as my
father had done, and I speculated, and I was not successful in my
speculations, and I speedily lost all I had. And now I am come to
Gibraltar to speculate on the account of another, a merchant of
Mogadore, but I like not my occupation, he has deceived me; I am
going back, when I shall again seek the presence of the Moorish
king and demand that the treasure of my father be taken from the
spoilers and delivered up to me, even to me his son."
I listened with mute attention to the singular tale of this
singular man, and when he had concluded I remained a considerable
time without saying a word; at last he inquired what had brought me
to Gibraltar. I told him that I was merely a passer through on my
way to Tangier, for which place I expected to sail the following
morning. Whereupon he observed, that in the course of a week or
two he expected to be there also, when he hoped that we should
meet, as he had much more to tell me. "And peradventure," he
added, "you can afford me counsel which will be profitable, for you
are a person of experience, versed in the ways of many nations; and
when I look in your countenance, heaven seems to open to me, for I
think I see the countenance of a friend, even of a brother." He
then bade me farewell, and departed; the strange bearded man, who
during our conversation had remained patiently waiting at the door,
following him. I remarked that there was less wildness in his look
than on the former occasion, but at the same time, more melancholy,
and his features were wrinkled like those of an aged man, though he
had not yet passed the prime of youth.
CHAPTER LIII
Genoese Mariners - St. Michael's Cave - Midnight Abysses - Young
American - A Slave Proprietor - The Fairy Man - Infidelity.
Throughout the whole of that night it blew very hard, but as the
wind was in the Levant quarter, I had no apprehension of being
detained longer at Gibraltar on that account. I went on board the
vessel at an early hour, when I found the crew engaged in hauling
the anchor close, and making other preparations for sailing. They
informed me that we should probably start in an hour. That time
however passed, and we still remained where we were, and the
captain continued on shore. We formed one of a small flotilla of
Genoese barks, the crews of which seemed in their leisure moments
to have no better means of amusing themselves than the exchange of
abusive language; a furious fusillade of this kind presently
commenced, in which the mate of our vessel particularly
distinguished himself; he was a grey-haired Genoese of sixty.
Though not able to speak their patois, I understood much of what
was said; it was truly shocking, and as they shouted it forth,
judging from their violent gestures and distorted features, you
would have concluded them to be bitter enemies; they were, however,
nothing of the kind, but excellent friends all the time, and indeed
very good-humoured fellows at bottom. Oh, the infirmities of human
nature! When will man learn to become truly Christian?
I am upon the whole very fond of the Genoese; they have, it is
true, much ribaldry and many vices, but they are a brave and
chivalrous people, and have ever been so, and from them I have
never experienced aught but kindness and hospitality.
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