“Madam, with your sanction my friend Sidi ben Ahmed will charge Mr. Dawson with a letter to Ali Oukadi, promising to pay him the sum of three thousand gold ducats upon your niece being safely conducted hither within the space of three weeks.”

“Senor,” answers she, “I thank Sidi ben Ahmed very deeply—­and you also,” adds she, overcoming her compunctions, “for this offer.  But unhappily, I cannot hope to have this sum of money in so short a time.”

“It is needless to say, Madam,” returns he, with a scrape, “that in making this proposal I have considered of that difficulty; my friend has agreed to take my bond for the payment of this sum when it shall be convenient to you to discharge it.”

Mrs. Godwin accepted this arrangement with a profound bow, which concealed the astonishment it occasioned her.  But she drew a long breath, and I perceived she cast a curious glance at all three of us, as if she were marvelling at the change that must have taken place in civilised countries since her absence, which should account for a pack of thieves nowadays being so very unlike what a pack of thieves was in her young days.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

How we hear Moll’s sweet voice through the walls of her prison, and speak two words with her though almost to our undoing.

Having written his letter, Sidi ben Ahmed proposed that Mrs. Godwin should await the return of Moll before setting out for England, very graciously offering her the hospitality of his house meanwhile, and this offer she willingly accepted.  And now, there being no reason for my staying in Elche, Dawson gladly agreed I should accompany him, the more so as I knew more of the Moors’ language than he.  Going down with us to the water side, Don Sanchez gave us some very good hints for our behaviour in Barbary, bidding us, above everything, be very careful not to break any of the laws of that country.  “For,” says he, “I have seen three men hanged there for merely casting a Turk into the sea in a drunken frolic.”

“Be assured, I’ll touch nothing but water for my drink,” says Dawson, taking this warning to his share.

“Be careful,” continues the Don, “to pay for all you have, and take not so much as an orange from a tree by the wayside without first laying a fleece or two on the ground.  I warn you that they, though upright enough amongst themselves, are crafty and treacherous towards strangers, whom they regard as their natural enemies; and they will tempt you to break the law either by provoking a quarrel, or putting you to some unlawful practice, that they may annul your firman and claim you as convicted outlaws for their slaves.  For stealing a pullet I have seen the flesh beaten off the soles of an English sailor’s feet, and he and his companions condemned to slavery for life.”

“I’ll lay a dozen fleeces on the ground for every sour orange I may take,” says Dawson.  “And as for quarrelling, a Turk shall pull my nose before ever a curse shall pass my lips.”