The Wanderer (21 page)

“You’ve made your bed,” he said. “Now lie on it. You have no one to blame but yourself.”

There was nothing for it but to go. Hesitantly I held out my hand to Giulia and said, “Don’t you understand that I love you, Giulia? It was to win you that I toiled and strove so long, and risked my life.”

But Giulia’s shoulders were like lead beneath my hand, and she answered sourly, “Don’t touch me, Michael, or I won’t answer for the consequences. You’ve wounded me deeply.”

We set off for home, the dog slinking behind us with his nose to the ground. When we came to the door of our house I put the key into the lock, but it jammed, and struggle as I would I could not turn it. At last in a rage I forced the door and tumbled inside. The dog yelped with fright and a cudgel came down on my head with such violence that all went black and I knew no more until next morning. Giulia and the deaf-mute carried me to bed; it was this blockhead, faithful to his charge, who had dealt the blow. He had felt me tugging

and rattling at the door, and in the darkness mistook me for a thief.

Such was my bridal night, and I have no more to say of it. I will therefore begin a new book to tell of how I captured the Spanish fortress, and how a notion of Mustafa ben-Nakir’s led to my entering the service of the ruler of all the faithful—the great Sultan in Constantinople.

I CAME to my senses in a soft bed, and was aware of a continuous din as of thunder that shook the room and caused cups and dishes to rattle together. At first I thought the noise came from my own aching head, and I wondered where I was. I seemed to see two angels, a white one on my right hand and a blade one on my left, both engaged in recording my good and evil deeds in their books. But the white angel had seemingly little to write, while the black one was so busy that his head wagged with the exertion. I besought them in piteous tones to bring water that I might wash myself and say my prayers. The room vibrated to renewed thunder, but just then my dear dog jumped up onto my chest and licked my face. With tears in my eyes I said,
“Bis- millah
and
inshallah!
Allah is merciful indeed to allow my dog to keep me company in hell. Rael is many times more deserving of Paradise than I am, but I know he would turn his back upon it to follow me into the abyss.”
 

The white angel lifted my head, causing such acute pain that the scales fell from my eyes and I saw that I lay in Giulia’s bed. Giulia herself was anxiously bending over me. To my left sat the deaf-mute, mixing eggs and honey together into a paste. Ashamed of my distracted fancies I said sharply, “Leave my head alone, Giulia. If it has not already split it soon will.” I pushed away the dog pettishly and asked what the noise was, and whether Giulia had hit me on the head the night before. Giulia wept and stroked my cheek.

“Ah, Michael, are you really alive? Although I was angry with you I don’t want you to die. The noise you hear is gunfire; the Moslems are besieging the Spanish fortress. And it was not I who struck you, but this faithful slave.”

I felt my head cautiously and found it still upon my shoulders, though because of the many bandages it felt twice its usual size. I sighed feebly and whispered, “Giulia, send at once for a cadi and four witnesses. Take the purse from my kaftan and pay them, and keep the remainder for yourself. My intentions weren’t so base as you supposed; I never wanted you as a slave, though I said so to tease you. I meant to send for a cadi and the necessary witnesses and give you your freedom; that was why I claimed you in reward for my services. It seemed the only way to set you free.”

I hardly know whether this was the truth. Perhaps it only came into my head when I regained consciousness. Yet I had toyed with the idea before, so it seemed natural to me. But Giulia, thunderstruck, stared at me blankly and stammered, “I don’t understand you, Michael. If you give me my freedom you can no longer force me to obey you. I thought you wanted to possess me, but now I’m at a loss to know what it is you do want.”

I was already repenting of my excessive benevolence, and retorted angrily, “Nonsense, Giulia! If I set you free, it’s to be rid of your incessant nagging. I always meant to let you choose whether to stay with me or go. I’m not such a fool as to try and force you to love me. And just now you seem to me about as seductive as an old shoe. Praise be to Allah, my love is quenched!”

Giulia stood weighing the purse in her hand and staring, shaken now and then by a sob. The deaf-mute made desperate attempts to feed me with the mixture of eggs and honey, and though it revolted me I forced myself to swallow it. In a gentler tone I said, “Why so doubtful, Giulia? Why are you sniveling? Aren’t you glad to be rid of me so easily? It has always been your dearest wish.”

She answered crossly, “I am not sniveling. My nose tickles.” But next moment she burst into wild weeping and cried, “You must still be delirious and I’m not so base as to take advantage of that, though you seem always to expect the worst from me. Where should I go in this heathen country, and who would protect my innocence? No, Michael, you may think to revenge yourself in this way, but you shan’t be rid of me so easily.”

I threw out my hands helplessly and said, “Whatever I propose seems wrong and I shall never please you. At least leave me alone now, for my head’s going round and round and this egg mess has made me queasy. Stay if you want to; go if it suits you better. I care nothing either way while my head aches so atrociously.”

With this Giulia was content, and to her credit be it said that she nursed me well and silently, and moved about the room as quietly as she could. Yet it was of little help to me, for the guns roared incessantly, sand sifted through the cracks in the roof into my eyes, and the whole room shook. After the noon prayer Abu el-Kasim and Sinan the Jew could no longer master their curiosity and they paid me a visit, bringing wedding presents with them. When Abu el-Kasim saw me lying pallid and bandaged in Giulia’s bed he struck his hands together and exclaimed, “What is this, Michael el-Hakim? Was it so hard to tame the woman? I could never have believed that one night in her company could reduce you to so pitiful a condition.”

Sinan the Jew remarked that with so fiery a creature beside me I should need no other wives, and life would be cheap for me. I had no strength to reply to their sallies, but lay there silent. When Abu el-Kasim learned what had really happened he was genuinely concerned. He examined me and mixed me a strengthening medicine, and I soon fell into a pleasant sleep, to awake later much refreshed.

My first thought was for Andy, and when I asked after him, Abu el-Kasim tore his beard and cried, “The curse of Allah on your stupidity, Michael el-Hakim! Why did you never so much as hint that your brother’s a trained artilleryman and can even cast cannon? This important fact was discovered quite by chance; for today when he heard the sound of firing he went down to the shore to cure his headache—so he said—with the wholesome smell of gunpowder. There Khaireddin saw him thrust aside our men and lay the guns himself, soon displaying his skill by shooting the Castilian flag from the tower, to the fury of the Spaniards. Khaireddin gave him the turban of a master gunner and ten gold pieces, and I fancy he’ll soon have sweated the poisons from his wine-sodden body.”

I was horrified to hear of Andy firing on his Christian brothers. Later, when the bombardment ceased for the noon prayer, he came to see me and his face was blackened with powder. I rebuked him for what he was doing, but he answered, “Guns are my music, and I ought never to have left them. You mustn’t scold me for returning to my proper trade like the shoemaker to his last, as they used to say in Rome.”

“But my dear Andy, how can you bring yourself to fire on men redeemed by the blood of Christ—men who are doing their utmost under extreme difficulties to serve the Emperor under whose colors you yourself have fought?”
 

Andy replied, “Remember I bear a grudge against the Spaniards. In Rome they behaved more like wild beasts than men, and I needn’t remind you of their treatment of women. Not even Moslems would do as they did.”
 

“But they’re Christians! How can you bear arms against them with Mussulmans, when in your heart you’re not a Moslem at all?”
 

Andy glared at me angrily and said, “I’m as good a Moslem as you are, Michael, even if I don’t know as much of the Koran by heart. But the whole matter was clear to me when I discovered that Islam means submission to the will of God, and that the God called Allah is the same as the Frenchmen’s
sang dieu,
the Germans’
Herrgott
or
Donnerwetter
and the Latins’
Deus
or
Dominus.”
 

My reproaches rolled off him like water off a duck’s back. He insisted that guns were his music and that pay was pay whether the coins bore the Emperor’s head or an Arabic flourish. He sat in thought for a time with his head on his hand, and when he spoke again it was on a note of tenderness.
 

“I never knew how fond I was of guns until I smelled the hot metal again, and the stinging smoke. I couldn’t help stroking them—and believe me, not the most opulent woman can compare with the burning touch of a cannon after the fifth shot. When Mustafa ben-Nakir saw my eagerness he told me that the Sultan of Turkey had found a new way of transporting even the heaviest pieces; where the roads are bad he loads gun metal onto camels, so that the cannon can be cast at the place where they’re to be used. No one has ever thought of doing that before, and I should like to see for myself how they manage it. Mustafa couldn’t tell me, but his account made me long to visit Istanbul, the Sultan’s capital. And he has promised to recommend me to the artillery commander there.”
 

I was staggered by these wild projects, but he continued eagerly, “First we have to build a breakwater for Khaireddin, so that his ships can find shelter in
the harbor. His only reason for attacking the fortress is to get ready-hewn stone for the breakwater, and cheap labor. Prisoners of war get no pay, and crusts and water suffice to feed them.”
 

So he babbled on until he became aware of his own garrulity and bent to stroke my dog in embarrassment.

After a few days my strength was fully restored, though I was prompt in taking to my bed again when I saw anyone coming. I felt not the smallest desire to become involved in the siege and perhaps be brought face to face with Captain de Varga, who would certainly have a bone to pick with me. Abu el-Kasim told me that immediately after my visit, de Varga had sent a fast-sailing sloop to Cartagena; therefore Khaireddin was making ready to storm the fortress at once, taking into his service all who could stand on their feet and who desired to win Paradise without delay by falling in battle against the unbeliever.

Nevertheless Khaireddin’s plans had been impeded by Captain de Varga who, despite the Dominican’s protests, hanged the two young Moors whom Khaireddin had smuggled in as spies. We learned this from a Spanish traitor who had had enough of the siege and came swimming across the bay one dark night to join Khaireddin’s men. He told us that there were many wounded in the fortress, that the walls were badly cracked, that the Spaniards lacked food, water, and powder, and that all except de Varga were willing to negotiate for permission to leave unmolested. But de Varga would not hear of this and when the Castilian standard was shot away he himself stood as a living flagstaff at the top of the tower, with the flag wound about his left arm, and proclaimed that anyone daring to whisper of submission should instantly be put in irons.

A few days later, however, a promising breach was made in the walls, and Khaireddin ordered his men to lash boats together into rafts, with gabions at their bows for cover. He then retired to pass the night in solitary prayer and fasting, in preparation for the decisive assault.

After the evening prayer, Andy, Abu el-Kasim, and Mustafa ben- Nakir assembled at my bedside. When we had conversed for a time on general topics they gently but firmly dragged me out of bed, set me on my feet, felt my head and limbs, and praised Allah for favoring me with so speedy a recovery. Mustafa ben-Nakir said, “Ah, Michael, how glad I am, for now you can take part in the attack and with us make yourself worthy of Paradise!”

My knees failed me and I should have fallen had it not been for Andy’s powerful arms.

“Alas!” I cried, “I’m dizzy—I can’t stand. But with the remnant of my strength I will crawl to the shore and tend the wounded. It would be deplorable indeed were the faithful to bleed to death because of Abu el-Kasim’s ineptitude. I won’t even claim a fee for my labor of mercy, but will content myself with what is offered me.”

Mustafa ben-Nakir looked at me with shining eyes and said, “You’re surely not afraid? Your brother Antar and I have resolved to board the leading craft; we shall be the first to scale the walls and tear the Castilian flag from Captain de Varga’s hands. For friendship’s sake we’ll take you with us, to share the glory and the reward of our exploit.”

I retorted testily, “Afraid? And what is that? An empty word. I’m a peaceable man, and a sick one, with no ambition to be hailed as a hero.”

Giulia had been standing behind a curtain, listening to the conversation in silence. Seeing me sway upon my feet, she stepped forward and helped me to lie down again upon the bed.

“Why do you pester him?” she demanded. “I’ll never let him go to that terrible island. He has been too weak even for love. I’d take a sword in my own hand rather than see him do it.”

This speech offended me for some reason, and I snapped, “Hold your tongue; you weren’t consulted. It’s easier to inflict wounds than to heal them, and perhaps after all I’ll join you tomorrow.”

Mustafa ben-Nakir’s jaw dropped and I saw he had only been teasing me, as his habit was, because he thought me a weakling. Nothing could have annoyed me more than such a notion. Caution is not cowardice and in the course of my life I had shown often enough that I could take as many and as desperate risks as anyone. But Giulia’s behavior had irritated me, and the blow on my head so clouded my judgment that in stubborn idiocy I vowed that I was quite recovered and fit to go into battle. When the others had gone it was evident that she wanted to make it up with me, but I hardened my heart to punish her, and once and for all to subdue her vanity. I feigned indifference to her pleading, so that at last she gave up the attempt and vented her anger on the pots and pans, assuring me that I was the greatest liar she had ever met and that she believed not one word I told her.