"General Newry; I never heard of him. One of those Englishmen who have won their spurs and their fortunes in India, I suppose," added the visitor.
"Not at all; and he is not even an Englishman."
"Not an Englishman!" exclaimed the puzzled captain. "Is he a Frenchman with that name?"
"Not even a Frenchman."
"I came on board of the Blanche almost angry enough to break something, for certain members of my party have been hunted and hounded the whole length of the Mediterranean; and I am determined to put a stop to it,"
said Captain Ringgold, getting back some of the spirit in which he had boarded the steamer. "I am of the same mind still."
"You will have no further trouble with your troublesome customer," said Captain Sharp, with a very agreeable smile.
"How do you know?"
"As the boys say, because I know; I do not guess at it."
"You do not understand the matter."
"I know more about it than you do."
"Do you know Ali-Noury Pacha?"
"I do; intimately."
"Then you know that he is one of the greatest scoundrels that ever went six months without being hung," said he of the Guardian-Mother warmly.
"There I must beg to differ from you. He may have been what you say in the past, but he is not in the present," replied he of the Blanche, quite as decidedly as the other had spoken.
Captain Ringgold proceeded to demonstrate the truth of his remark concerning the Pacha by relating his experience from Mogadore to Alexandria, detailing the plots and conspiracies of His Highness and his agents against the peace and safety of his party. Captain Sharp admitted the truth of all the attempts to capture Miss Blanche and Louis Belgrave.
"Then you must admit that he is an unmitigated scoundrel," added Captain Ringgold.
"Much that you charge to him was the work of his agents."
"He hatched up the conspiracy with Mazagan, for Louis heard every word of it in the cafe at Gallipoli. The attempt was made in Pournea Bay in the Archipelago to take Miss Blanche and Louis out of the Maud."
"I grant it; but Mazagan far exceeded his instructions, as he did at Zante."
"How much money did the Pacha offer Mazagan to obtain the persons mentioned?"
"Twenty thousand dollars, or a hundred thousand francs; but that is a bagatelle to him. The Pacha is another man now," added the ex-detective impressively.
"How long has he been another man?" asked Captain Ringgold with something like a sneer.
"Over six months."
"But Mazagan has been operating the same old scheme in Egypt within two months," protested the commander of the Guardian-Mother very vigorously.
"Then he was not acting under the instructions of the Pacha."
"We should have found it difficult to believe that if you had told it to us in Cairo," said the objector in a manner that might have made one who did not know the captain decidedly belligerent. "Mazagan told Louis that the Pacha had offered him two hundred thousand francs if he succeeded in his enterprise, or half that sum if he failed."
"Then the fellow lied!" exclaimed the captain of the Blanche.
"He told Louis if he would persuade his trustee to give him half the full amount of the reward, he would collect the other half of His Highness, as promised in case of failure."
"That Mazagan is a villain and a scoundrel I have no doubt," said Captain Sharp. "Since the affair at Zante, the Pacha has had no hand in the matter."
"But the steamer of His Highness, the Fatime, has been in Rosetta in command of Mazagan," put in the objector with earnestness, believing his reply would demolish the truth of his companion"s statement.
"That can be explained," answered the commander of the Blanche. "If you believe there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, it is quite time for me to tell my story; and I hope you will take a different view of the Pacha"s present character, as I believe you will."
"Where is the distinguished Moor now?" asked Captain Ringgold, carelessly and flippantly, as though it was of no consequence to him where he was.
"He is in the cabin."
"In the cabin!" exclaimed the commander of the Guardian-Mother, leaping out of his chair with an utter lack of dignity for him. "What cabin?"
"The cabin of the Blanche, of course."
"Is this his steamer?"
"It is."
"You told me it was General Newry"s," said the visitor with a frown, as he b.u.t.toned up his coat as though he was about to take his leave of such a disagreeable locality. "General N-e-w-r-y."
"N-o-u-r-y is the way he spells it," interposed the ex-detective. "Sit down, Captain. He is a general of the highest rank in the army of Morocco, and he prefers to cruise under this t.i.tle."
"If this is the steamer of Ali-Noury Pacha, it is time for me to leave."
"I hope you will hear my story before you go; for I a.s.sure you I have been honest and sincere with you, telling you nothing but the truth. I hated and condemned the vices of His Highness as much as you do, Captain; I have told him so to his face, and that was the foundation of his reformation."
Captain Ringgold concluded to hear the story.
CHAPTER x.x.xVI
AN ALMOST MIRACULOUS CONVERSION
It was a long story which Captain Penn Sharp told of his relations with Ali-Noury Pacha; and his visitor was so incredulous at first that he appeared to have solemnly resolved not to accept anything as the truth.
But the character of the speaker left its impress all along the narrative; and Captain Ringgold was compelled to believe, just as the hardened sinner is sometimes forced to accept the truth when presented to him by the true evangelist, though his teeth were set against it.
"You gentlemen with millions in your trousers pockets are subject to perils which we of moderate means are not exposed to," the commander of the Blanche began.
"That means you, and not me," suggested the visitor.