Part 30 (2/2)

”Eat and be of good cheer, valiant seraskier,” said he, ”and set thy mind at rest. What I give thee shall be wine and yet not wine--the juice of the grape, yet still unfermented; 'tis an invention of the Franks. This the Prophet does not forbid.[12] I have still got a case of bottles thereof, which Bunaberdi[13] formerly sent me, and we will now break it open in thy honor. Truly fizz is not wine, but only the juice of the grape which they bottle before it becomes wine. It is as harmless as milk.”

[Footnote 12: The Moslems do not include French ”fizz” amongst the canonically forbidden drinks.]

[Footnote 13: Bonaparte.]

Mehemet shook his head and laughed, from which one could see that the proposition was not displeasing to him, whereupon Ali beckoned to the odalisks to fetch the bottles from the cellar.

Eminah, all trembling, bent over him and whispered, imploringly, ”Oh, put not wine on thy table; it will be dangerous to thee!”

Ali smiled, and stroked his wife's head. He thought that only religious scruples made her dissuade him from drinking the wine, so he drew her upon his bosom and began to rea.s.sure her.

”Say now, my one and only flower, is not Moses a prophet, like unto Muhammad?”

”Of a truth he is. His tent stands beside the tent of Muhammad in the Paradise of the true Believers.”

”And yet Moses said: Give wine to them that be sorrowful! Leave the matter then to the two prophets up above there; surely, what pa.s.ses thorough our lips does not make us sin?”

But that was not the reason why Eminah feared the wine.

They brought the bottles, and the liberated corks popped merrily. At first Mehemet Pasha hesitated, but they filled his gla.s.s with fizz and, to prevent the sparkling foam from running over, he sipped a little of it, and quickly drained the gla.s.s, maintaining afterwards, with a smile, that it was a similar drink to wine, but much more pleasant.

Ali filled once more the gla.s.s of the seraskier, while Eminah tremulously watched his features, which gradually grew darker as he drank. Drink has this effect on some men.

Suddenly the sub-seraskier dashed his gla.s.s upon the table and exclaimed, with a furious expression of countenance:

”I'll drink no more! I'll drink no more! Thou art a villain, Ali! Thou hast made me drink wine and hast lied to me, saying it was not wine; but it is wine, a frightful, burning drink, which has made my head whirl.”

”Come, come, Mehemet,” said Ali, in the coaxing tone one uses to drunken men, ”be not so wrathful.”

”Speak not to me, thou dog!” thundered the other, striking the table with his fist. ”I might have known when I dismounted at thy door with whom I had to do, thou sly, treacherous fox, thou G.o.dless renegade!”

Ali leaped from his seat with flas.h.i.+ng eyes, and clapped his hand on the hilt of his sword at these words; but Eminah seized his hand, and said to him, in a terrified whisper:

”Draw not thy sword, Ali; show no weapons here! Dost thou not perceive that he only came hither to fasten a quarrel upon thee?”

Ali instantly recovered himself at these words. He saw now the snare that had been laid for him, and calmly sat down in his place again, crossing his legs beneath him, and, quietly taking up his chibook, began to smoke with an air of unconcern.

Meanwhile, Mehemet played his drunken _role_ still further.

”I might have known beforehand, when I sat down at table with thee, that I was sitting down with an accursed wretch, thou blood-thirsty dog, who hath lapped up the blood of thy kinsfolk; but I never ventured to imagine that thou wouldst be audacious enough to make me drink that abominable liquid--may its sinfulness fall back again on thine accursed head!”

With these words Mehemet caught up the half full gla.s.s and pitched all the wine that was in it straight between Ali's eyes, so that it trickled down the full length of his long white beard.

Ali, with the utmost _sang-froid_, beckoned to the attendant odalisks to place before him a bowl of fresh water, in which he washed his face and beard. He did not answer the sub-seraskier a single word.

Mehemet planted himself in front of him with a contemptuous expression.

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