“Muley,” his master said, “I have bought this Christian who has been brought in by Hassan the corsair.  He is one of the knights who are the terrors of our coasts, but is, from what I hear, of a kind and humane disposition.  I am told that he was a commander of one of their galleys, and though I should not have believed it had I only Hassan’s word, I have heard from others that it was so.  My wife has long desired to have a Christian slave, and as Allah has blessed my efforts it was but right that I should gratify her, though in truth I do not know what work I shall set him to do at present.  Let him first have a bath, and see that he is clad decently, then let him have a good meal.  I doubt if he has had one since he was captured.  He has been sorely beaten by the corsair, and from no fault of his own, but only because he opposed the man’s brutality to a child slave.  If any of his wounds need ointment, see that he has it.  When all is ready, bring him to the door of my apartments, in order that I may show to my wife that I have gratified her whim.”

Then he motioned to Gervaise to follow Muley, who was the head of his household.  Gervaise resisted the impulse to thank his new master, and followed in silence.

He was first taken to a bathroom, furnished with an abundance of hot and cold water.  Muley uttered an exclamation as, on Gervaise throwing off his bernouse, he saw that his flesh was a mass of bruises.  After filling the bath with hot water, he motioned to Gervaise to get in, and lie there until he returned.  It was some time before he came back, bringing a pot of ointment and some bandages.  It was only on the body that the wounds needed dressing, for here the blows had fallen on the naked skin.  When he had dressed them, Muley went out and returned with some Turkish garments, consisting of a pair of baggy trousers of yellow cotton, a white shirt of the same material, and a sleeveless jacket of blue cloth embroidered with yellow trimming; a pair of yellow slippers completed the costume.  Muley now took him into another room, where he set before him a dish of rice with a meat gravy, a large piece of bread, and a wooden spoon.

Gervaise ate the food with a deep feeling of thankfulness for the fate that had thrown him into such good hands.  Then, after taking a long draught of water, he rose to his feet and followed Muley into the entrance hall.  The latter stopped at a door on the opposite side, knocked at it, and then motioned to Gervaise to take off his slippers.  The door was opened by the Arab himself.

“Enter,” he said courteously, and led Gervaise into an apartment where a lady and two girls were sitting on a divan.  They were slightly veiled; but, as Gervaise afterwards learnt, Ben Ibyn was not a Moor, but a Berber, a people who do not keep their women in close confinement as do the Moors, but allow them to go abroad freely without being entirely muffled up.