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A portly Moor in a flowing blue selham rose from his seat on the step of the well as the dalal came abreast of him, and the slaves scenting here a buyer, and preferring any service to that of the galleys with which they were threatened, came each in turn to kiss his hands and fawn upon him, for all the world like dogs.
Four hundred and twenty philips, then, O dalal, and Allah pardon me my prodigality." Yet scarcely was his little speech concluded than Tsamanni with laconic eloquence rapped out: "Five hundred." "Y'Allah!" cried the Turk, raising his hands to heaven, and "Y'Allah!" echoed the crowd. "Five hundred and fifty," shrilled Ayoub's voice above the general din.
"Sixty Philips will I pay for the joy of taming that wild cat," said he. But Ibrahim was not to be outbidden. He offered seventy, the Turk countered with a bid of eighty, and Ibrahim again raised the price to ninety, and there fell a pause. The dalal spurred on the Turk. "Wilt thou be beaten then, and by an Israelite?
Tsamanni swung round upon him again, white now with fury. "Is this a jest, O father of wind?" he cried, and excited laughter by the taunt implicit in that appellation. "And thou'rt the jester," replied Ayoub with forced calm, "thou'lt find the jest a costly one." With a shrug Tsamanni turned again to the dalal. "A thousand philips," said he shortly. "Silence there!" cried the dalal again.
And he indicated Lionel, who stood at Rosamund's side, the very incarnation of woefulness and debility. Contemptuous surprise flickered an instant in the eyes of the dalal. But this he made haste to dissemble. "Bring forth that yellow-haired infidel," he commanded. The corsairs laid hands on Lionel.
"He should be cheap at least." "Cheap?" quoth the dalal in an affectation of surprise. "Nay, now. 'Tis a comely fellow and a young one. What wilt thou give, now? a hundred philips?" "A hundred philips!" cried Ali derisively. "A hundred philips for that skinful of bones! Ma'sh'-Allah! Five philips is my price, O dalal." Again laughter crackled through the mob.
"The glory to Allah who sends eager buyers! What sayest thou, O wazeer Ayoub?" "Ay!" sneered Tsamanni, "what now?" "One thousand and three hundred," said Ayoub with a quaver of uneasy defiance. "Another hundred, O dalal," came from Sakr-el-Bahr in a quiet voice.
"Away, thou perverter of Holy Writ! thou filth! thou dog! Away!" Such was the uproar, such the menace of angry countenances and clenched fists shaken in his very face, that Ibrahim quailed and forgot his loss in fear. "I go, I go," he said, and turned hastily to depart. But the dalal summoned him back. "Take hence thy property," said he, and pointed to the body.
It is the will of Allah! Who dares rebel against it?" The crowd began to murmur. "I want my hundred philips," the Jew insisted, whereupon the murmur swelled into a sudden roar. "Thou hearest?" said the dalal. "Allah pardon thee, thou art disturbing the peace of this market. Away, ere ill betide thee." "Hence! hence!" roared the crowd, and some advanced threateningly upon the luckless Ibrahim.
The Nazir Dalal represented to him that the trading boats might be loaded with ammunition, and that they ought to be strictly searched, and the casks and barrels opened, as guns and mortars might be found in them. The Nawab opened his eyes at information of this kind, and promptly sent the Nazir Dalal to tell me not to leave. This order came on the 10th of April.
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