The Wanderer (59 page)

“Allah is Allah!” I exclaimed in some indignation. “Where did you hear all this nonsense? And how dare you insult the Grand Vizier by mentioning his name in the same breath with such an affair? I have never even heard of these diamonds.”

But the Jew swore to the truth of what he said and in an attempt to convince me he went on, “Muley-Hassan himself laments his loss in a letter to the Emperor—a letter actually seen by a colleague of mine. The Tunisian Sultan’s ambassador to the Imperial Court has openly boasted of it, to draw attention to his lord’s wealth.”

Aghast, I seized the Jew by the beard, and shaking his head by it I cried, “Wretch, what are you saying? What is Muley-Hassan’s ambassador doing at the Emperor’s Court?”

The honest Jew freed his beard and said reproachfully, “Are you a stranger in the city ? The news is in every man’s mouth. The Knights of St. John and the Pope himself have besought the Emperor to drive Khaireddin from Tunis. Sultan Muley-Hassan has appealed to the Emperor; he declares that all his misfortunes have resulted from his loyalty to Charles, and so for his own sake Charles must at least try to help him.”

If all this was true it was indeed high time for me to hasten to Tunis, carry out my task there, and hurry away before the Emperor’s attack. I ought to have relied more on Ibrahim’s foresight and not dallied so long on the way. I therefore hastily dismissed the Jew with renewed assurances that I knew nothing of his diamonds, and with promises to inquire secretly into the matter. This I did merely to be rid of him, for I had other things to think of now.

Fair winds and a swift galley brought me to the yellow Tunisian coast and within sight of the Fortress of La Goletta, from whose tower floated Khaireddin’s green and red standard with its silver crescent. Great activity prevailed. Trenches were being dug, barricades erected, and thousands of half-naked, sunburned Spanish and Italian slaves were widening the canal to Tunis. This city is situated on the shores of a shallow salt lake and is separated from the sea by swamps. The sight of Khaireddin’s war galleys anchored in long rows in the harbor greatly relieved and cheered me, but not until I approached the city itself did I realize the true significance of Khaireddin’s latest capture. I had indeed heard much of the wealth and might of Tunis, but discounted much of it as flights of fancy on the part of Khaireddin and Sinan the Jew. Within the city walls there were, besides the kas- bah and the great mosque, about twenty thousand houses, or at least two hundred thousand people; Tunis could thus compare with the great cities of Europe. Not even Khaireddin knew the number of Christian slaves, but I fancy their number did not exceed twenty thousand.

To my great delight I saw that the reconquest of Tunis for Muley- Hassan would be no easy task even for the Emperor. Only by cunning and the incitement of the inhabitants to revolt had Khaireddin contrived to enter it, and even after Muley-Hassan’s flight there had been long and bloody street fighting before the people laid down their arms. The sturdy, defiant towers of La Goletta appeared impregnable and blocked the road that ran along the canal into the city, while numberless little lakes and poisonous swamps on either side of this canal made encirclement almost impossible.

Khaireddin received me with every sign of delight, embracing me like a long-lost son and entertaining me so lavishly that I began to fear the worst. He gave me no opportunity of speaking, but boasted loudly of his defenses and the savage lesson he would give the Emperor and Doria if they came too near Tunis. When I inquired how it was that his proud ships lay at anchor instead of sailing forth to engage Doria in open combat, he turned very sulky and asked for the latest news of the war in Persia and of Iskender-ta?/e£’.r execution, of which he had heard only the mendacious rumors of the Seraglio. Was it indeed true that Grand Vizier Ibrahim had gone out of his mind and ran about on all fours foaming at the mouth and chewing the carpets? To this I replied sharply that such a tale was nothing but malicious invention. Khaireddin listened attentively, stroking his beard, and I fancied I saw a guilty look in those prominent eyes of his, as of a child caught out in some misdeed. My misgivings increased.

The same evening, therefore, I sought out Abu el-Kasim, since Andy was outside the city directing the fortifications. Abu had bought himself a pleasant house with a walled garden and had so far overcome his avarice as to furnish it richly and buy a flock of slaves to wait upon his wife and son. Looking at him now it was easy to forget that he was nothing but a petty merchant who had made his fortune by adulterating drugs and inventing new names for age-old ointments.

Like a proud father he led the splendidly dressed Kasim forward to greet me, and seemed to imagine I had forgotten that the boy was not his son. Contrary to Moslem custom he allowed his Russian wife to approach me with only a thin veil over her face, hoping to elicit my admiration for her gorgeous clothes and jewels, beside which he looked like a gray spider.

Having sent wife and son back to the harem, Abu el-Kasim offered me wine and said in a worried tone, “Khaireddin’s janissaries and renegades are perhaps not the best shepherds in the world, and their manner of fleecing their sheep has aroused much discontent among the inhabitants of Tunis—above all among the old Arab families who under Tunisian sultans were members of the Divan and could manage the city as they pleased. A month or so ago a Spanish merchant arrived here. He seems to have no notion of the nature or value of his wares, and sells the most precious of them to chosen customers for a mere song in the hope of winning their favor. He sells spices and even perfumes without the least reference to the prices agreed upon among the merchants here, so you may judge of my indignation when I heard of him.”

Abu el-Kasim assumed an injured air and looked sideways at me as he sipped his wine.

“This Spaniard has in his service a Christian Moor who is far too much inclined to wander about after dark—not with sighs and a rose in his hand, but on visits to Muley-Hassan’s warmest adherents and other malcontents. From sheer curiosity I have had these two men shadowed and several times the Spaniard has openly visited the kasbah and offered merchandise to no less a man than Khaireddin. Not only that, but Khaireddin has had lengthy conversations with him in private. I’m prepared to wager that the foreigner is an Imperial agent and probably a Spanish nobleman, since he behaves so foolishly and has a Christian Moor for a servant.”

We talked far into the night, and next morning I betook myself to the harbor and went aboard the Spaniard’s ship on the pretext of buying a good Venetian hand mirror. When the Moorish servant informed his master that a wealthy and distinguished customer had arrived, the Spaniard hurried up on deck and greeted me with marked respect. From his features, hands, and bearing I saw at once that he had never grown up among drugs. He soon led the conversation round to world affairs, and when I told him that I had just arrived from the Seraglio in Istanbul to enter Khaireddin’s service, he displayed great eagerness to learn the latest news. I told him truthfully of the unrest in the Seraglio and of the suspicions concerning Grand Vizier Ibrahim, and of how, despite the capture of Bagdad, no one believed in a happy outcome to the war in Persia.

At this point in my narrative I abandoned truth for fiction and remarked that I had felt the time ripe for seeking a new master since no man, however perfect his integrity, could hope to escape the Grand Vizier’s morbid suspicions. From my complaints the Spaniard judged me to have committed some misdemeanor and escaped to Tunis beyond the reach of Ibrahim’s wrath. He at once invited me into his luxuriously appointed stateroom and asked me where I was born and how I had come to take the turban. As if in passing he mentioned that the Pope, on the Emperor’s recommendation, had recently permitted certain eminent renegades to be received again into the bosom of the Church. Because of the great services they had rendered the Emperor he had even pardoned them their falling away, without asking too many awkward questions.

Few words were needed, therefore, to bring us into perfect understanding, and the Spaniard now confided that his name was Luis de Presandes, that he had been born in Genoa, belonged to Charles’s personal suite, and enjoyed his full confidence in all the complicated affairs that were commonly placed in his hands. Charles was shortly to sail for Tunis with the mightiest navy ever seen. The patriotic inhabitants were ready to rise when the time came and support the Emperor, having had enough of the Turkish reign of terror; they longed for the noble Muley-Hassan, their rightful sultan. The wise man must trim his sails to the veering wind, and all the world knew the Emperor to be a just ruler; he would not forget any man who sincerely repented of past errors and now did his part for the good cause. But fearful would be the punishment for any renegade who persisted in denying his faith and serving the Turks.

In such words as these he sought both to lure and to frighten me, and in the name of Christ and His mother he exhorted me to recall the faith of my childhood, return to the Christian fellowship, and so win pardon for my grievous sin. He wept as he spoke and I too shed tears, being tenderhearted and ever susceptible to beautiful words. Nevertheless I would make no promises, nor would I accept the earnest money he offered me, for through Andy I had conceived the greatest respect for the articles of war and the binding nature of such payments. Yet we parted like bosom friends, and I promised to think over his proposal. I furthermore swore by Cross and Koran never to breathe a word of what he had said.

This oath put me in an awkward position, but his own missionary zeal inspired me with an idea. After only two days Abu el-Kasim succeeded in persuading Master Presandes’s Moorish servant to remember with a contrite heart the Moslem faith of his forefathers and, in terror of the hideous punishment that awaited apostates, disclose his master’s plots. Without breaking my promise I could thus confront Khaireddin and say, “What has the Kapudan-pasha of the High Porte to do with the secret emissary of the Emperor? What is in your mind, Khaireddin? Do you really believe the Grand Vizier’s arm is too short to reach you, even from Persia?”

Khaireddin was much startled and began hastily to defend himself. “The noble Presandes is the Emperor’s plenipotentiary and thus enjoys diplomatic immunity. I’ve kept him dangling only to gain time for completing the defenses of Tunis, and could not receive him openly without arousing suspicion among the Grand Vizier’s agents.

That is the whole truth, Michael, and I beg you won’t misinterpret my perfecdy innocent actions.”

He stroked his beard uneasily, and his whole appearance betrayed fear and a guilty conscience. But I disclosed the Spaniard’s secret plan for inciting the inhabitants of Tunis to armed revolt, to coincide with the Emperor’s arrival, and also handed him a list, given me by the Moor, of dependable sheiks and merchants recommended to Presandes by Muley-Hassan’s envoy in Madrid. Khaireddin’s face darkened; he tore his beard in rage, and with a roar that shook the walls of the kasbah he said, “That hound of an unbeliever has betrayed me! He showed me the Emperor’s written instructions by which he was authorized to offer me the independent sovereignty of Algeria, Tunis, and other cities, on condition I left the Sultan’s service. I have not the smallest intention of leaving the Sultan, to whose favor I owe my high position. But all favors are precarious. Therefore I thought I should lose nothing by conversing with Presandes and profiting by the Emperor’s generous terms. But the Emperor is clearly falser than I could have believed, and never again will I put my faith in Christian oaths.”

I realized from this agitated confession that the Spaniard was not quite so simple and inexperienced as I had thought. On the contrary, he had secured his position and fancied that Khaireddin would let him go even were someone to denounce him. Khaireddin, he thought, would laugh up his sleeve at such a denunciation, believing himself to know more of the Spaniard’s business in Tunis than anyone. Now, however, Khaireddin had him arrested at once. In a secret hiding place aboard his vessel another of the Emperor’s instructions was found, clearly demonstrating the deceit and treachery of his negotiations. Despite Master de Presandes’s loudly repeated claims to diplomatic immunity, the sword fell; his protests were silenced forever.

Being now fully aware of Khaireddin’s irresolute and vacillating nature I made ready to leave Tunis, as I had a dislike of violence and bloodshed. But precious time slipped away unnoticed, storms and bad weather hindered my departure, Abu el-Kasim’s hospitality enticed me evening after evening, and above all I hoped to see Andy before my departure, to persuade him to return with me to Istanbul. Not until I met him barefoot, ragged, and dirty in the courtyard of the kasbah did I learn that Khaireddin had never told him of my coming, and indeed had sought on various pretexts to keep us apart. This was understandable enough, for like a prudent general Khaireddin was unwilling to lose a good master gunner just before the outbreak of war. We embraced one another joyfully and Andy exclaimed, “I’ve had enough of this place. Khaireddin made me a laughingstock in the eyes of all decent gunners last winter, when we were fighting Berbers and Arabs in the desert. He made me rig sails to our cannon, and of course they were of some help on level ground with a following wind. But when I saw my honest guns flying along like so many drabs with lifted petticoats I was ashamed. But Khaireddin just laughed and bent on larger sails, and I can never quite forgive him for the disgrace. I much doubt whether he is capable of land fighting. And then the savage treatment of Christian slaves has cut me to the heart, so I shall be more than glad to come back with you to Istanbul.”

Andy now looked like a Greek monk or some pious dervish. He had let his beard grow till it stood out round his face like a jungle, and I felt it was time to take him in hand before he turned quite queer in the head. But he said, “At heart I’ve always been a good-natured fellow. My losses and sorrows have led me to understand people better than before, and I cannot see why we must be forever hurting one another. If you had seen how the renegades and janissaries treated the captive Italian boys and women—I can’t believe that the purpose of this life is witless destruction and slaughter. Brooding over these things has given me headaches that the African sun does nothing to cure. So now I punish my body for all its misdeeds by fasting, and letting the sun scorch my back.”