I made answer, "Yes, lady, but not without thee, come what may: beon the watch for me on the next Juma, and be not alarmed when thouseest us; for most surely we shall go to the land of the Christians."
This I said in such a way that she understood perfectly all thatpassed between us, and throwing her arm round my neck she began withfeeble steps to move towards the house; but as fate would have it （andit might have been very unfortunate if Heaven had not otherwiseordered it）， just as we were moving on in the manner and position Ihave described, with her arm round my neck, her father, as he returnedafter having sent away the Turks, saw how we were walking and weperceived that he saw us; but Zoraida, ready and quickwitted, tookcare not to remove her arm from my neck, but on the contrary drewcloser to me and laid her head on my breast, bending her knees alittle and showing all the signs and tokens of ainting, while I at thesame time made it seem as though I were supporting her against mywill. Her father came running up to where we were, and seeing hisdaughter in this state asked what was the matter with her; she,however, giving no answer, he said, "No doubt she has fainted in alarmat the entrance of those dogs," and taking her from mine he drew herto his own breast, while she sighing, her eyes still wet with tears,said again, "Ameji, cristiano, ameji"- "Go, Christian, go." To thisher father replied, "There is no need, daughter, for the Christianto go, for he has done thee no harm, and the Turks have now gone; feelno alarm, there is nothing to hurt thee, for as I say, the Turks at myrequest have gone back the way they came."
"It was they who terrified her, as thou hast said, senor," said I toher father; "but since she tells me to go, I have no wish to displeaseher: peace be with thee, and with thy leave I will come back to thisgarden for herbs if need be, for my master says there are nowherebetter herbs for salad then here."
"Come back for any thou hast need of," replied Hadji Morato; "for mydaughter does not speak thus because she is displeased with thee orany Christian: she only meant that the Turks should go, not thou; orthat it was time for thee to look for thy herbs."
With this I at once took my leave of both; and she, looking asthough her heart were breaking, retired with her father. Whilepretending to look for herbs I made the round of the garden at myease, and studied carefully all the approaches and outlets, and thefastenings of the house and everything that could be taken advantageof to make our task easy. Having done so I went and gave an account ofall that had taken place to the renegade and my comrades, and lookedforward with impatience to the hour when, all fear at an end, I shouldfind myself in possession of the prize which fortune held out to me inthe fair and lovely Zoraida. The time passed at length, and theappointed day we so longed for arrived; and, all following out thearrangement and plan which, after careful consideration and many along discussion, we had decided upon, we succeeded as fully as wecould have wished; for on the Friday following the day upon which Ispoke to Zoraida in the garden, the renegade anchored his vessel atnightfall almost opposite the spot where she was. The Christians whowere to row were ready and in hiding in different places roundabout, all waiting for me, anxious and elated, and eager to attack thevessel they had before their eyes; for they did not know therenegade's plan, but expected that they were to gain their libertyby force of arms and by killing the Moors who were on board thevessel. As soon, then, as I and my comrades made our appearance, allthose that were in hiding seeing us came and joined us. It was now thetime when the city gates are shut, and there was no one to be seenin all the space outside. When we were collected together we debatedwhether it would be better first to go for Zoraida, or to makeprisoners of the Moorish rowers who rowed in the vessel; but whilewe were still uncertain our renegade came up asking us what kept us,as it was now the time, and all the Moors were off their guard andmost of them asleep. We told him why we hesitated, but he said itwas of more importance first to secure the vessel, which could be donewith the greatest ease and without any danger, and then we could gofor Zoraida. We all approved of what he said, and so without furtherdelay, guided by him we made for the vessel, and he leaping on boardfirst, drew his cutlass and said in Morisco, "Let no one stir fromthis if he does not want it to cost him his life." By this almostall the Christians were on board, and the Moors, who werefainthearted, hearing their captain speak in this way, were cowed, andwithout any one of them taking to his arms （and indeed they had few orhardly any） they submitted without saying a word to be bound by theChristians, who quickly secured them, threatening them that if theyraised any kind of outcry they would be all put to the sword. Thishaving been accomplished, and half of our party being left to keepguard over them, the rest of us, again taking the renegade as ourguide, hastened towards Hadji Morato's garden, and as good luckwould have it, on trying the gate it opened as easily as if it had notbeen locked; and so, quite quietly and in silence, we reached thehouse without being perceived by anybody. The lovely Zoraida waswatching for us at a window, and as soon as she perceived that therewere people there, she asked in a low voice if we were "Nizarani,"as much as to say or ask if we were Christians. I answered that wewere, and begged her to come down. As soon as she recognised me shedid not delay an instant, but without answering a word came downimmediately, opened the door and presented herself before us all, sobeautiful and so richly attired that I cannot attempt to describe her.The moment I saw her I took her hand and kissed it, and the renegadeand my two comrades did the same; and the rest, who knew nothing ofthe circumstances, did as they saw us do, for it only seemed as ifwe were returning thanks to her, and recognising her as the giver ofour liberty. The renegade asked her in the Morisco language if herfather was in the house. She replied that he was and that he wasasleep.
"Then it will be necessary to waken him and take him with us,"said the renegade, "and everything of value in this fair mansion."
"Nay," said she, "my father must not on any account be touched,and there is nothing in the house except what I shall take, and thatwill be quite enough to enrich and satisfy all of you; wait a littleand you shall see," and so saying she went in, telling us she wouldreturn immediately and bidding us keep quiet making any noise.
I asked the renegade what had passed between them, and when hetold me, I declared that nothing should be done except in accordancewith the wishes of Zoraida, who now came back with a little trunk sofull of gold crowns that she could scarcely carry it. Unfortunatelyher father awoke while this was going on, and hearing a noise in thegarden, came to the window, and at once perceiving that all thosewho were there were Christians, raising a prodigiously loud outcry, hebegan to call out in Arabic, "Christians, Christians! thieves,thieves!" by which cries we were all thrown into the greatest fear andembarrassment; but the renegade seeing the danger we were in and howimportant it was for him to effect his purpose before we were heard,mounted with the utmost quickness to where Hadji Morato was, andwith him went some of our party; I, however, did not dare to leaveZoraida, who had fallen almost fainting in my arms. To be brief, thosewho had gone upstairs acted so promptly that in an instant they camedown, carrying Hadji Morato with his hands bound and a napkin tiedover his mouth, which prevented him from uttering a word, warninghim at the same time that to attempt to speak would cost him his life.When his daughter caught sight of him she covered her eyes so as notto see him, and her father was horror-stricken, not knowing howwillingly she had placed herself in our hands. But it was now mostessential for us to be on the move, and carefully and quickly weregained the vessel, where those who had remained on board werewaiting for us in apprehension of some mishap having befallen us. Itwas barely two hours after night set in when we were all on boardthe vessel, where the cords were removed from the hands of Zoraida'sfather, and the napkin from his mouth; but the renegade once more toldhim not to utter a word, or they would take his life. He, when hesaw his daughter there, began to sigh piteously, and still more whenhe perceived that I held her closely embraced and that she lay quietwithout resisting or complaining, or showing any reluctance;nevertheless he remained silent lest they should carry into effect therepeated threats the renegade had addressed to him.
Finding herself now on board, and that we were about to give waywith the oars, Zoraida, seeing her father there, and the other Moorsbound, bade the renegade ask me to do her the favour of releasingthe Moors and setting her father at liberty, for she would ratherdrown herself in the sea than suffer a father that had loved her sodearly to be carried away captive before her eyes and on heraccount. The renegade repeated this to me, and I replied that I wasvery willing to do so; but he replied that it was not advisable,because if they were left there they would at once raise the countryand stir up the city, and lead to the despatch of swift cruisers inpursuit, and our being taken, by sea or land, without anypossibility of escape; and that all that could be done was to set themfree on the first Christian ground we reached. On this point we allagreed; and Zoraida, to whom it was explained, together with thereasons that prevented us from doing at once what she desired, wassatisfied likewise; and then in glad silence and with cheerfulalacrity each of our stout rowers took his oar, and commendingourselves to God with all our hearts, we began to shape our course forthe island of Majorca, the nearest Christian land. Owing, however,to the Tramontana rising a little, and the sea growing somewhat rough,it was impossible for us to keep a straight course for Majorca, and wewere compelled to coast in the direction of Oran, not without greatuneasiness on our part lest we should be observed from the town ofShershel, which lies on that coast, not more than sixty miles fromAlgiers. Moreover we were afraid of meeting on that course one ofthe galliots that usually come with goods from Tetuan; although eachof us for himself and all of us together felt confident that, if wewere to meet a merchant galliot, so that it were not a cruiser, notonly should we not be lost, but that we should take a vessel inwhich we could more safely accomplish our voyage. As we pursued ourcourse Zoraida kept her head between my hands so as not to see herfather, and I felt that she was praying to Lela Marien to help us.