'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.
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