Part 5 (1/2)
”Thou usest plain language, my friend,” said he; ”my words can be as rudely spoken. Thou art in my power, and canst return not, save at my permission.”
”I have your royal word, sire, for free entrance and safe egress,”
answered Almamen. ”Break it, and Granada is with the Moors till the Darro runs red with the blood of her heroes, and her people strew the vales as the leaves in autumn.”
”Art thou then thyself of the Jewish faith?” asked the king. ”If thou art not, wherefore are the outcasts of the world so dear to thee?”
”My fathers were of that creed, royal Ferdinand; and if I myself desert their creed, I do not desert their cause. O king! are my terms scorned or accepted?”
”I accept them: provided, first, that thou obtainest the exile or death of Muza; secondly, that within two weeks of this date thou bringest me, along with the chief councillors of Granada, the written treaty of the capitulation, and the keys of the city. Do this: and though the sole king in Christendom who dares the hazard, I offer to the Israelites throughout Andalusia the common laws and rights of citizens of Spain; and to thee I will accord such dignity as may content thy ambition.”
The Hebrew bowed reverently, and drew from his breast a scroll, which he placed on the table before the king. ”This writing, mighty Ferdinand, contains the articles of our compact.”
”How, knave! wouldst thou have us commit our royal signature to conditions with such as thou art, to the chance of the public eye? The king's word is the king's bond!”
The Hebrew took up the scroll with imperturbable composure, ”My child!”
said he; ”will your majesty summon back my child? we would depart.”
”A st.u.r.dy mendicant this, by the Virgin!” muttered the king; and then, speaking aloud, ”Give me the paper, I will scan it.”
Running his eyes hastily over the words, Ferdinand paused a moment, and then drew towards him the implements of writing, signed the scroll, and returned it to Almamen.
The Israelite kissed it thrice with oriental veneration, and replaced it in his breast.
Ferdinand looked at him hard and curiously. He was a profound reader of men's characters; but that of his guest baffled and perplexed him.
”And how, stranger,” said he, gravely,--”how can I trust that man who thus distrusts one king and sells another?”
”O king!” replied Almamen (accustomed from his youth to commune with and command the possessors of thrones yet more absolute),--”O king! if thou believest me actuated by personal and selfish interests in this our compact, thou has but to make, my service minister to my interest, and the lore of human nature will tell thee that thou hast won a ready and submissive slave. But if thou thinkest I have avowed sentiments less abject, and developed qualities higher than those of the mere bargainer for sordid power, oughtest thou not to rejoice that chance has thrown into thy way one whose intellect and faculties may be made thy tool? If I betray another, that other is my deadly foe. Dost not thou, the lord of armies, betray thine enemy? The Moor is an enemy bitterer to myself than to thee. Because I betray an enemy, am I unworthy to serve a friend? If I, a single man, and a stranger to the Moor, can yet command the secrets of palaces, and render vain the counsels of armed men, have I not in that attested that I am one of whom a wise king can make an able servant?”
”Thou art a subtle reasoner, my friend,” said Ferdinand, smiling gently.
”Peace go with thee! our conference for the time is ended. What ho, Perez!” The attendant appeared.
”Thou hast left the maiden with the queen?”
”Sire, you have been obeyed.”
”Conduct this stranger to the guard who led him through the camp. He quits us under the same protection. Farewell! yet stay--thou art a.s.sured that Muza Ben Abil Gazan is in the prisons of the Moor?”
”Yes.”
”Blessed be the Virgin!”
”Thou hast heard our conference, Father Tomas?” said the king, anxiously, when the Hebrew had withdrawn.
”I have, son.”
”Did thy veins freeze with horror?”