In this way I lived on immured in a building or prison called by theTurks a bano in which they confine the Christian captives, as wellthose that are the king's as those belonging to private individuals,and also what they call those of the Almacen, which is as much as tosay the slaves of the municipality, who serve the city in the publicworks and other employments; but captives of this kind recover theirliberty with great difficulty, for, as they are public property andhave no particular master, there is no one with whom to treat fortheir ransom, even though they may have the means. To these banos,as I have said, some private individuals of the town are in thehabit of bringing their captives, especially when they are to beransomed; because there they can keep them in safety and comfort untiltheir ransom arrives. The king's captives also, that are on ransom, donot go out to work with the rest of the crew, unless when their ransomis delayed; for then, to make them write for it more pressingly,they compel them to work and go for wood, which is no light labour.
I, however, was one of those on ransom, for when it was discoveredthat I was a captain, although I declared my scanty means and wantof fortune, nothing could dissuade them from including me among thegentlemen and those waiting to be ransomed. They put a chain on me,more as a mark of this than to keep me safe, and so I passed my lifein that bano with several other gentlemen and persons of qualitymarked out as held to ransom; but though at times, or rather almostalways, we suffered from hunger and scanty clothing, nothingdistressed us so much as hearing and seeing at every turn theunexampled and unheard-of cruelties my master inflicted upon theChristians. Every day he hanged a man, impaled one, cut off the earsof another; and all with so little provocation, or so entirely withoutany, that the Turks acknowledged he did it merely for the sake ofdoing it, and because he was by nature murderously disposed towardsthe whole human race. The only one that fared at all well with him wasa Spanish soldier, something de Saavedra by name, to whom he nevergave a blow himself, or ordered a blow to be given, or addressed ahard word, although he had done things that will dwell in the memoryof the people there for many a year, and all to recover his liberty;and for the least of the many things he did we all dreaded that hewould be impaled, and he himself was in fear of it more than once; andonly that time does not allow, I could tell you now something ofwhat that soldier did, that would interest and astonish you muchmore than the narration of my own tale.
To go on with my story; the courtyard of our prison was overlookedby the windows of the house belonging to a wealthy Moor of highposition; and these, as is usual in Moorish houses, were ratherloopholes than windows, and besides were covered with thick andclose lattice-work. It so happened, then, that as I was one day on theterrace of our prison with three other comrades, trying, to passaway the time, how far we could leap with our chains, we beingalone, for all the other Christians had gone out to work, I chanced toraise my eyes, and from one of these little closed windows I saw areed appear with a cloth attached to the end of it, and it kept wavingto and fro, and moving as if making signs to us to come and take it.We watched it, and one of those who were with me went and stoodunder the reed to see whether they would let it drop, or what theywould do, but as he did so the reed was raised and moved from sideto side, as if they meant to say "no" by a shake of the head. TheChristian came back, and it was again lowered, making the samemovements as before. Another of my comrades went, and with him thesame happened as with the first, and then the third went forward,but with the same result as the first and second. Seeing this I didnot like not to try my luck, and as soon as I came under the reed itwas dropped and fell inside the bano at my feet. I hastened to untiethe cloth, in which I perceived a knot, and in this were ten cianis,which are coins of base gold, current among the Moors, and eachworth ten reals of our money.
It is needless to say I rejoiced over this godsend, and my joy wasnot less than my wonder as I strove to imagine how this good fortunecould have come to us, but to me specially; for the evidentunwillingness to drop the reed for any but me showed that it was forme the favour was intended. I took my welcome money, broke the reed,and returned to the terrace, and looking up at the window, I saw avery white hand put out that opened and shut very quickly. From thiswe gathered or fancied that it must be some woman living in that housethat had done us this kindness, and to show that we were gratefulfor it, we made salaams after the fashion of the Moors, bowing thehead, bending the body, and crossing the arms on the breast. Shortlyafterwards at the same window a small cross made of reeds was putout and immediately withdrawn. This sign led us to believe that someChristian woman was a captive in the house, and that it was she whohad been so good to us; but the whiteness of the hand and thebracelets we had perceived made us dismiss that idea, though wethought it might be one of the Christian renegades whom theirmasters very often take as lawful wives, and gladly, for they preferthem to the women of their own nation. In all our conjectures wewere wide of the truth; so from that time forward our soleoccupation was watching and gazing at the window where the cross hadappeared to us, as if it were our pole-star; but at least fifteen dayspassed without our seeing either it or the hand, or any other sign andthough meanwhile we endeavoured with the utmost pains to ascertain whoit was that lived in the house, and whether there were any Christianrenegade in it, nobody could ever tell us anything more than that hewho lived there was a rich Moor of high position, Hadji Morato byname, formerly alcaide of La Pata, an office of high dignity amongthem. But when we least thought it was going to rain any more cianisfrom that quarter, we saw the reed suddenly appear with anothercloth tied in a larger knot attached to it, and this at a time when,as on the former occasion, the bano was deserted and unoccupied.
We made trial as before, each of the same three going forward beforeI did; but the reed was delivered to none but me, and on my approachit was let drop. I untied the knot and I found forty Spanish goldcrowns with a paper written in Arabic, and at the end of the writingthere was a large cross drawn. I kissed the cross, took the crowns andreturned to the terrace, and we all made our salaams; again the handappeared, I made signs that I would read the paper, and then thewindow was closed. We were all puzzled, though filled with joy at whathad taken place; and as none of us understood Arabic, great was ourcuriosity to know what the paper contained, and still greater thedifficulty of finding some one to read it. At last I resolved toconfide in a renegade, a native of Murcia, who professed a verygreat friendship for me, and had given pledges that bound him tokeep any secret I might entrust to him; for it is the custom with somerenegades, when they intend to return to Christian territory, to carryabout them certificates from captives of mark testifying, inwhatever form they can, that such and such a renegade is a worthyman who has always shown kindness to Christians, and is anxious toescape on the first opportunity that may present itself. Some obtainthese testimonials with good intentions, others put them to acunning use; for when they go to pillage on Christian territory, ifthey chance to be cast away, or taken prisoners, they produce theircertificates and say that from these papers may be seen the objectthey came for, which was to remain on Christian ground, and that itwas to this end they joined the Turks in their foray. In this way theyescape the consequences of the first outburst and make their peacewith the Church before it does them any harm, and then when theyhave the chance they return to Barbary to become what they werebefore. Others, however, there are who procure these papers and makeuse of them honestly, and remain on Christian soil. This friend ofmine, then, was one of these renegades that I have described; he hadcertificates from all our comrades, in which we testified in hisfavour as strongly as we could; and if the Moors had found thepapers they would have burned him alive.
I knew that he understood Arabic very well, and could not only speakbut also write it; but before I disclosed the whole matter to him, Iasked him to read for me this paper which I had found by accident in ahole in my cell. He opened it and remained some time examining itand muttering to himself as he translated it. I asked him if heunderstood it, and he told me he did perfectly well, and that if Iwished him to tell me its meaning word for word, I must give him penand ink that he might do it more satisfactorily. We at once gave himwhat he required, and he set about translating it bit by bit, and whenhe had done he said:
"All that is here in Spanish is what the Moorish paper contains, andyou must bear in mind that when it says 'LelaMarien' it means 'Our Lady the Virgin Mary.'"
We read the paper and it ran thus:
"When I was a child my father had a slave who taught me to praythe Christian prayer in my own language, and told me many things aboutLela Marien. The Christian died, and I know that she did not go to thefire, but to Allah, because since then I have seen her twice, andshe told me to go to the land of the Christians to see Lela Marien,who had great love for me. I know not how to go. I have seen manyChristians, but except thyself none has seemed to me to be agentleman. I am young and beautiful, and have plenty of money totake with me. See if thou canst contrive how we may go, and if thouwilt thou shalt be my husband there, and if thou wilt not it willnot distress me, for Lela Marien will find me some one to marry me.I myself have written this: have a care to whom thou givest it toread: trust no Moor, for they are all perfidious. I am greatlytroubled on this account, for I would not have thee confide in anyone,because if my father knew it he would at once fling me down a well andcover me with stones. I will put a thread to the reed; tie theanswer to it, and if thou hast no one to write for thee in Arabic,tell it to me by signs, for Lela Marien will make me understandthee. She and Allah and this cross, which I often kiss as thecaptive bade me, protect thee."