"Oh, do not say that," cried Thyra, bursting into tears. "Do not send me away; I"m ready to be your slave, and obey your every word."
Jack consulted with his friends under this difficult and delicate condition of affairs, and they all agreed that Thyra must not be given up to the pasha.
An hour afterwards, the report of his murder made matters still more serious.
But he never dreamed that any suspicion of the actual crime would be turned against himself.
It was therefore agreed to keep Thyra in close concealment, until an opportunity offered to get her back to her friends.
The house occupied by Harkaway and his friends was, like most Oriental edifices, built for endurance.
The walls were thick and strong as those of a castle.
The doorway was narrow, and led into a square courtyard or garden, and with a fountain in the centre.
Into this yard most of the rooms opened.
The windows facing the street were mere loopholes.
The roof was flat, and in the evening formed a favourite lounge, approached by a flight of steps, from one angle of the court.
It is necessary to be particular in describing the house, that our readers may fully understand what follows.
Jack Harkaway was one morning in the courtyard, near the centre, with Harry Girdwood, looking at a heap of curious weapons, which they had purchased when roaming about the bazaars.
"Why, we"ve got quite an armory here," said Harry Girdwood. "It"s a pity we haven"t got some fighting to do to use them."
"I mean to make the place into a kind of fortress," said Jack. "Here, Bogey."
"What you after, Ma.s.sa Jack?" asked the n.i.g.g.e.r, appearing instantly.
"Go and take charge of the gate, and don"t let anyone pa.s.s in or out without my order."
"Right you are, ma.s.sa; me keep him safe as a sentrybox," answered the darkey.
And he started off to take up the post a.s.signed to him.
Jack next summoned Tinker.
"Serve us up our dinner here under the trees," said Jack; "and be quick about it, you rascal, or----"
"Understand puff.e.c.kly, ma.s.sa," responded the black. "To hear yer is to obey yer, as dese Turkeys say. Yah, yah."
It was very pleasant to sit down to their repast under the refreshing shade of the trees.
Of course Mr. Mole and the orphan, as well as Thyra, the waiter and the diver, were summoned and came at this juncture.
The orphan and Mole appeared arm-in-arm.
Mr. Mole had a black bottle in one hand and a tall gla.s.s in the other.
He looked very jolly, whilst the orphan appeared rather melancholy, for his flute had got slightly cracked.
"Have a drop to raise your spirits," said the schoolmaster, filling him a brimmer, and fairly forcing it into his hand.
The orphan could not refuse so pressing an invitation.
He drained the gla.s.s, and as it came upon the top of several more, its effect upon him was not inconsiderable.
Intending to walk straight to the table, he walked, instead, extremely "slantindicular," till lurching up against the fountain as he pa.s.sed it, he stumbled over its ledge, and fell with a splash into the middle of its basin.
Mr. Mole, with the best intentions in the world, rushed to his companion"s rescue.
Before Mole could reach the orphan, his patent legs being still uncontrollable, and his head unsteady also, he fell backwards, smashing his wine bottle on the stones of the courtyard.
The scene was certainly ludicrous, and elicited much laughter from the spectators.
They, however, helped the orphan out of his accidental and very unwelcome bath, which, though it had drenched him, had also sobered him.
Mole was also a.s.sisted to re-a.s.sume an erect posture, and in a short time, both of them were sufficiently recovered to take their places at the table.
Mole and Figgins seemed somewhat struck by the warlike appearance of the place.
"What are you going to do with all that cutlery?" inquired Mr. Mole.
"Perhaps you mean to set up in the scissors trade?" suggested the orphan.
"You"ll see by and by, old man," answered our hero. "We shall find "em useful, perhaps sooner than you expect."
"Oh, dear! I hope not," exclaimed Figgins. "I"m sure I don"t want any more fighting; I have had more than is good for my health."
The waiter now took up his accustomed duty of attending on the guests.
The diver, at Jack"s request, summoned Thyra, whose cla.s.sic features, slender form, and Eastern garb, were well in keeping with the scene around.
A seat of honour was kept for her at the _al fresco_ banquet, to which Jack gallantly conducted her.
No one could doubt her love for him, for it shone out in her slightest action, her very words, and look, and tone. It seemed a pity that he could not return it, otherwise than by studied politeness and consideration.
To be at his side, to hear the sound of his voice, was her greatest happiness, and made her forget all other dangers and troubles.
When towards the conclusion of the meal, Jack proceeded to--
"Fill high the bowl with Samian wine,"
and hand it to Thyra, it was to her a moment of supreme pleasure.
Her dark eyes sparkled, her soft cheek flushed, and her jewelled fingers trembled as they held the crystal gla.s.s, filled with what, for his sake, and independent of its own nature, was to her as the nectar of the G.o.ds.