Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 108 — page 6: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

; | | — Se ~~ eo ——— a Se ~~ ———— —_— - was no longer in the ran ee eee ea eee ee ee so oe ~~ education, save of the world. I am indolent, I; and I need a secretary and confidant who can write my letters and be my friend. Will you take the Me apts and name your own salary? That is all.” Clarence noticed that the duke’s English took on quaint foreign idioms when he talked earn- estly, and he felt so much surprised by the pro- position that he hesitated. The Brazilian noticed his embarrassment, and said, kindly: “Think over it, my dear sir, and give me an answer at your leisure. I see Dom Gilis com- ing back to report that he has engaged camels, A very energetic man is Dom Gil. You will like him. He has been in the United States, even in Boston, I beleve. Who did you say was this lady in the slaver, Senbor Hart?” It was the first time the duke had asked a di- rect question as to the nameof any of his guests, his delicate and ultra-Portuguese courtesy hav- ing kept his lips sealed before. ‘Miss Helen, daughter of Sir Lumley Law- ton, Governor of Calcutta.” The duke hummed a low note, “So, Sir Lumley has a daughter? handsome?” ** Beautiful as an angel,” replied Clarence, enthusiastically. The duke looked at him keenly. “My dear sir, there are beautiful women everywhere. These Englis are not for Ameri- cans to love. Be warned by mo, and keep to your own race. The Hindoos are right. Caste should never be confused.” Clarence colored as he retorted: ‘* English and Americans are one race, your é. The duke shrugged his shoulders with a slight She is mace, **My dear sir, I never argue. Here is Dom Gil coming on board.” In fact at that moment the tall officer return- ed and made a stiff military salute to his su- perior, while he gavein his concise and clear report. ‘The old slave merchant has taken off the woman to Dereeyah, and I have engaged camels to follow at once. We can take the gun-sad- dles and enough men along to be safe, and startinan hour. Will your oe stay or go?” Clarence understood nothing of the rapid Portuguese beyond an occasional word, but the duke remarked in English: ‘Our Dom Gil is an invaluable man, Mr. Hart. He has repaired an excusable fault by eons 4s diligence. I will go, Dom Gil. In the meantime, let me introduce to you the Senhor Clarence Hart, from Boston, who is hunting the world over to find his uncle, Gilbert Carver, of the same place, Now, my dear friend, consult with Dom Gil as to the proposition I made ou, while I go to my cabin to dress for our ourney.” He bowed politely, never seeming to notice that Dom Gil was looking at Hart in a manner showing great astonishment, and then crossed over to where the fair Lorelia had pinned O’Shea into a corner, where she was exercising all her wiles upon him. **Do you think, madame,” he asked, ‘‘that you could be content in these poor quarters for afew days? If so, I willask you to make the yacht your home while we arcaway. Captain O’Shea, you, I believe, have been in the artil- lery. {will ask you to remain in the yacht while I go after your other friend, Miss Law- ton. Please take charge of the defense, in case any of these Arab rascals think to impose on you, while lam away with the men. You un- derstand the Gatling mitrailleur, senhor?” ‘“*T dothat, your grace,” was tho hearty reply. “iow many men will ye l’ave?” ‘‘Not more than a dozen, senhor. I shall want all the rest to cow Fyzoul Abdaliah.” ** And how many Gatlings?”’ ‘Three, One for cach flank, and one for the storm and bow,” O’Shea nodded his head, well satisfied. ‘‘ Bedad, that’s enough to bate off any quantity of the black divils. I'll stay, yer hon—I mane, yer grace.” Clarence noted that the duke, in speaking to O'Shea, took a curt military tone, and that the Irishman seemed to forget, at times, that he , his expressions be- ing less those of an officer than a common sol- er. The duke was turning away, when the Hon. Lorelia, looking horrified, made bold to inter- e, rar: Surely your grace does not intend to leave me alone in this boat?’ The Brazilian bowed with the utmost suavity. ‘Tt is a choice, dear madame, between the yacht and shore. If you do not like better to return among the Arabs, I should say, stay here, I hold my tion among these ruffians only by terror. They would sack the yacht in one hour, were it not for my mitrailleurs. I cannot take you with me, for weshall probably have to fight our way back, and shail not want any ladies with us but those with whom it is a choice between death among the Arabs or peril withus. Yow, madame, are safe, here.” With that, he ran down into the eabin, where a en The Duke of Diamonds. -————— he was heard calling to his servants, while Dom Gil gave some orders in Portuguese, in conse- quence of which the yacht was soon a scene of bustle from stem to stern. Men ran up and down the hatches, snatched the cases off the dozen or more Gatlings with whicb the yacht was armed, and lugged out a number of gaudily decorated camel saddles from the hold For about twenty minutes all was seeming hurry and disorder, though in truth each man was peer to his place; and at theend of that time a flotilla of shore boats moved off from the yacht, carrying a large part of ber crew and great heaps of baggage; while the Duke of Dia- mantina, accompanied by Dom Gil Grabador and Clarence Hart, sat in the graceful white gig and skimmed reeoly past the other boats. larence could not help agreeing with the duke’s eulogy of Dom Gil. That person was in- deed a man of wonderful energy. He had en- gaged every camel in Tuat and sent forward a horseman to bid for forage on the road, had hired guides and scouts in profusion, and had the whole caravan ready to start in less than an poe from the time tiey had left the ) acht’s dec They were a sufficiently formidable array and armed with all the latest improvements in weapons of precision, while eight bright gleam- ing mitrailleurs gleamed from the camel saddles at intervals along the column, where donkeys and other beasts of burden alternated with men on foot, The duke himself, no longer in his simple dark-blue yachting suit, was mounted on a swift dromedary, covered with magnificent housings, and seemed to Clarence for the first time to deserve the title of the ‘‘ Diamond Duke.” His costume was that of an Oriental cavalier, with pointed steel helmet, mail-coat, turban, heron-plumes, ery: and full trowsers, high enameled boots, all of his dress gleamin with jewels, while the handle of his sword an the butts of his pistols and carbine fairly blazed with brilliants. He looked asif he had set himself up on high, taunting the covetous Arabs with his wealth, and dar koe to take it if they could. Dom Gil, on another dromedary, went trot- ting around the caravan, as busy and anxious as a hen witha new brood, getting everything into shape for their journey. Since the duie had spoken to him ef Clarence, he had kept near the young man, asif to protect him, occa- sionally making suggestions and giving advice, in his quaint Portuguese-English, which Hart found it convenient to adopt. ow at last they were clear of Tuat, and stretching out over the mud flat toward the mountains, when Dom Gil pulled up his camel by the duke’s side and said in a low tone: “The Sultan of Dereeyab has had spies on the yacht for a month, ani we shall have a fight to get out of the city; though they have determined to let us in peaceably.’ The duke answered, tranquilly: ‘*So much the worse for them.” CHAPTER VIII. FYZOUL ABDALLAH. Fyzout ABDALLAH, Sultan of the Wahabee kingom of Dereeyah, whose name is a terror from Oman to the Djowf, was watching his horses exercise in the park, when his favorite slave, Seyd, brought him a letter from Nubar al Hayzari, (the left-handed) his prime minister which caused him to smile in a peculiarly evil fashion and remark piously: ‘‘God is Most Great and the Infidels are in our hands.” Fyzoul Abdallah was a tall and well-made man, with keen, regular features and coal-black beard, and yet the general impression made by his appearance was always repulsive and fear- inspiring to strangers. There was a certain length and pet eg Be his half-closed eyes, a cruel, sensual curl to his red, voluptuous lips, that told of the irresponsible despot, given to debauchery. Yet Fyzoul Abdallah was known through all Arabia as a Wahabee of Wahabees, as strict in his devotions and fastings, P ees mie and rayers, as a Puritan in the days of Cromwell. Ihe Wahabees have always been the fanatical Puritans of Moslemism; and Fyzoul Abdallah gained his power and popularity by being stricter than any of his predecessors. Hoe was the originator of the renowned Stick Committee, composed of the most sedate and sober eldes of the city of Dereeyah, whose business it is to patrol the streets while the faith- ful are at prayer in the mosque, and to punish any one found outside during prayer time. e Stick Committee tit AOWE all dissent in Dereeyah by the simple process of beating the offender within an inch of his life; and never a villain in all the city but would run like a hare when he saw the white beardsof the Stick Com- mittee turn the corner, coming toward him. | Fyzoul Abdallah had abolished the wearing of gold and silver in his city, and silk was only permitted to men of pares our Metho- dists or call ‘‘ professing” members of the church. Wine was never heard of in public, though some of the graceless sinners in neighboring | Nn EEE ne en ETE ee ae eee — ee eee ee ree towns hinted that there were private wine-cel- — = Dereeyah, even under F'yzoul Abdallah’s castle. In short, the city was the worthy capital of Wahabeeism; for never a laugh was heard in its streets from morning to night, and the sound of prayer was incessant. very face was grave, every eye downcast, as if at a perpetual revival meeting. Fyzoul Abdallah, nevertheless, had an un- deniably villainous grin on his face as he read Nubar al Hayzari’s letter. He was a very holy man; but he had an unfortunate expression, ‘‘ Allah has given this infidel fool into our hands, Seyd,” he observed, to the black, whom he allowed much license. ‘It seems that Haroun, the pearl-dealer, has decoved him hither after a white girl slave that is on the way.’ ‘‘She is here,” interrupted Seyd, showing his white teeth. ‘*The camels were inside the palace gate, and the white girl had taken off her vail, the bold hussy! when I saw her.” ‘*Tndeed?’ asked the king. ‘¢-Yes, dread lord; and the elders of the stick soon made her put up the vailagain. She look- ed pale and sick, I suppose with the heat; but they soon beat her into submission.” Fyzoul Abdallah grinned again. wl is well not to give women much head, Seyd. Astick for the ass and the woman are never out of place.” The face of the black was more openly vil- lainous than that of his master, and the pair looked as they were, a blot on the face of one of the fairest scenes in Nature. The interior Highlands of Arabia, under their native title of El Nedjed (The High), are still more deserving of the appellation given them by the old geographers, Arabia Felix, Happy Arabia; or, as Pope puts it: ‘‘ Araby the Blest.” Vith an elevation such as to temper the heat; abundance of little lakes formed by depressions in the mountains; a soil teeming with fertility, the whole face of the country is covered with walled towns, small and great, where the people maintain to-day the same civilization which their ancestors taught Europe. To those who are accustomed to associate sandy deserts, ragged Bedouins, flocks of cam- els and predatory tribes with the name of Arab, a visit to the provinces of Yemama, De- reeyah and the Djowf would be like a revela- tion of fairyland. The only trouble about the visit lies in the fierce fanaticism of the Waha- bees, who suspect all Europeans to be spies. Shut out by their own jealousy from foreign influence and compelled to depend entirely on their own resources, the high-bred Arabs of the pure old stock remain as they were in the days of the Crusades, glorying in their lineage, and calling themselves Arab el Arabah, ‘‘ Arabs of the Arabs.” Dereeyah is in the richest part of the Nedjed, a walled city of fitty thousand people, rebuilt since its destruction by Ibrahim Pasha in 1818; full of handsome houses and gardens, and al- most hidden from view by the mass of palms figs, walnuts and olives that surround if on all sides. The sparkle of innumerable waters shows where the brooks are compelled to wind in and out in their artificial channels to irri- gate the fields of cotton, sorghum, maize, wheat and barley; while the air is heavy with the per- fume of roses, jasmines, and innumerable spice groves, Fyzoul Abdallah’s summer palaco stands on a precipitous bluff that commands most of the city, and is a large and imposing though gloomy building, built in the twelfth century for a Cas- tle, and never much changed. Below the castle, on the side away from the city, stretch the king’s park and stables, and here Fyzonl Abdallah keeps his crowning glory of glories, his horses. anctimonious scoundrel though he be, the King of Dereeyah can defy the whoie world to show such horses asthese. The glory of Epsom and Monmouth Park, the kings of the turf in England and Kentucky, cannot compete with the swift beauties of Fyzoul Abdallah’s stud. There are fine horses among the Bedouins of the Euphrates, bandsome chargers in the Djowf; but the pure Arabian of Nedjed is above all, and cannot be purchased for money. Success- ful war or a present of ceremony to a distin- guished person may draw one of these beauties at long intervals from its native home, but no foreigner has ever been able to obtain more than one at a time, so jealous are the Arabs of the preservation of this matchless breed in their own hands. While Fyzoul Abdallah was talking in his usual femiliar manner to black Seyd, the ms were taking the whole of his stud to water, some four or five hundred stallions and mares, gray, bay and chestnut, the latter colors redominating; and a racing jockey would ave been ready to kneel down and worship ev- ery one of the slim spirited creatures that can- tered by, tossing their pointed muzzles to and fro, snorting and shaking their long silk manes, looking at their master with their so dark eyes, and neighing a greeting as they passed, Such horses would fetch enough at auction in New York to bankrupt Vand t. Eom Ebooks: com EE EE lia, at nl Mt A a: A Es ty, Se ee a '