Part 16 (1/2)

He had arrived at the conclusion whilst aboard the galley of Spain, as we have seen, that Christianity as practised in his day was a grim mockery of which the world were better rid It is not to be supposed that his convictions that Christianity was at fault went the length of ht, or that his conversion to the Faith of Maho more than superficial But forced as he was to choose between the rower's bench and the poop-deck, the oar and the scimitar, he boldly and resolutely made the only choice that in his case could lead to liberty and life

Thus he was received into the ranks of the Faithful whose pavilions wait the rivers of milk, of wine, and of clarified honey He becaalley of that corsair's coements with an ability and a conspicuity that hout the ranks of the Mediterranean rovers Soht off the coast of Sicily with one of the galleys of the Religion--as the vessels of the Knights of Malta were called--Yusuf was mortally wounded in the very moment of the victory He died an hour later in the ar the latter his successor in the co upon all iiers and the Basha should make known his further will in the matter

The Basha's as to confir appointment of a successor, and Sir Oliver found hialley

From that hour he became Oliver-Reis, but very soon his valour and fury earned hirew rapidly, and it spread across the tideless sea to the very shores of Christendom Soon he becaerine galleys, which meant in fact that he was the co old and took the sea more and more rarely now Sakr-el-Bahr sallied forth in his nae, his address, and his good fortune that never did he go forth to return empty-handed

It was clear to all that the favour of Allah was upon hilory of Islarew to love him An intensely devout man, could he have done less in the case of one for who the Pitiful showed so marked a predilection? It was freely accepted that when the destiny of Asad-ed-Din should come to be fulfilled, Sakr-el-Bahr iers, and that thus Oliver-Reis would follow in the footsteps of Barbarossa, Ochiali, and other Christian renegades who had become corsair-princes of Islam

In spite of certain hostilities which his rapid advanceot, and of which we shall hear er of suffering a check Coiers, some six months after he had been raised to his captaincy, he found there a score of countryave orders that their letters should instantly be struck off and their liberty restored them

Called to account by the Basha for this action he took a high-handed way, since no other was possible He swore by the beard of the Prophet that if he were to draw the sword of Mahomet and to serve Islam upon the seas, he would serve it in his oay, and one of his as that his own countrye of that same sword

Islalish two Spaniards, Frenche

He prevailed, but only upon condition that since captured slaves were the property of the state, if he desired to abstract them from the state he must first purchase them for himself Since they would then be his own property he could dispose of theood pleasure Thus did the wise and just Asad resolve the difficulty which had arisen, and Oliver-Reis boisely to that decision

Thereafter what English slaves were brought to Algiers he purchased, ain True, it cost hi such wealth as could easily support this tax

As you read Lord Henry Goade's chronicles you ht come to the conclusion that in the whorl of that new life of his Sir Oliver had entirely forgotten the happenings in his Cornish home and the wouilty of the slaying of her brother You ht believe this until you colish seaiers by Biskaine-el-Borak--as beco Cornish lad from Helston named Pitt, whose father he had known

He took this lad home with him to the fine palace which he inhabited near the Bab-el-Oueb, treated hiht in talk with hi hi fro the two years that were sped since he had left it In this we gather an iia that ade and his endeavours to allay it by his endless questions The Cornish lad had brought hily with that past of his upon which he had closed the door when he became a Muslim and a corsair The only possible inference is that in those hours of that su to return Rosamund should reopen for him that door which, hard-driven by misfortune, he had slammed That she would do so when once she knew the truth he had no faintest doubt And there was now no reason why he should conceal the truth, why he should continue to shi+eld that dastardly half-brother of his, whom he had come to hate as fiercely as he had erstwhile loved hi the history of all that had happened to hi forth the entire truth of that and of the deed that had led to it His chronicler opines that it was a letter that must have moved a stone to tears And, moreover, it was not a mere matter of passionate protestations of innocence, or of unsupported accusation of his brother It told her of the existence of proofs that must dispel all doubt It told her of that parchment indited by Master Baine and witnessed by the parson, which docuether with the letter Further, it bade her seek confirenuineness, did she doubt it, at the hands of Master Baine hiht her to lay the whole matter before the Queen, and thus secure hiland and ienade act to which his sufferings had driven hiave him that letter to deliver in person, and added instructions that should enable him to find the document he was to deliver with it That precious parchment had been left between the leaves of an old book on falconry in the library at Penarrohere it would probably be found still undisturbed since his brother would not suspect its presence and was himself no scholar Pitt was to seek out Nicholas at Penarrow and enlist his aid to obtain possession of that document, if it still existed

Then Sakr-el-Bahr found means to conduct Pitt to Genoa, and there put hilish vessel

Three months later he received an answer--a letter from Pitt, which reached hierines, and served then as a channel of communication with Christianity In this letter Pitt informed him that he had done all that Sir Oliver had desired him; that he had found the document by the help of Nicholas, and that in person he had waited upon Mistress Rosarew at Arwenack, delivering to her the letter and the parch on whose behalf he ca both unopened upon the fire and dismissed hiht under the skies in his fragrant orchard, and his slaves reported in terror that they had heard sobs and weeping

If indeed his heart wept, it was for the last time; thereafter he wasthan ain concern hilish slave His heart was beco froh, and his fame spread, his name became a terror upon the seas, and fleets put forth from Malta, from Naples, and from Venice to make an end of him and his ruthless piracy But Allah kept watch over him, and Sakr-el-Bahr never delivered battle but he wrested victory to the sci of that fifth year there came to him another letter froratitude was not as dead in the world as he supposed it, for it was purely out of gratitude that the lad whom he had delivered from thraldom wrote to inform him of certain matters that concerned him This letter reopened that old wound; it did more; it dealt him a fresh one He learnt frorew to give such evidence of Sir Oliver's conversion to Islam as had enabled the courts to pronounce Sir Oliver as one to be presu the succession to his half-brother, Master Lionel Tressilian Pitt professed hily to make Sir Oliver so evil a return for the benefits received from hi him than have spoken could he have foreseen the consequences of his testi other than cold contempt

But there was more to follow The letter went on to tell him that Mistress Rosamund was newly returned from a two years' sojourn in France to become betrothed to his half-brother Lionel, and that they were to be wed in June He was further inforrew in his desire to see Rosamund settled and under the protection of a husband, since he hi out a fine shi+p for a voyage to the Indies The writer added that the e idely approved, and it was deemed to be an excellent measure for both houses, since it would weld into one the two contiguous estates of Penarrow and Godolphin Court

Oliver-Reis laughed when he had read thus far The e was approved not for itself, it would seem, but because by means of it two stretches of earth were united into one It was a e of two parks, of two estates, of two tracts of arable and forest, and that two hus were concerned in it was apparently no more than an incidental circumstance

Then the irony of it all entered his soul and spread it with bitterness

After dis him for the supposed murder of her brother, she was to take the actual murderer to her arms And he, that cur, that false villain!--out of what depths of hell did he derive the courage to go through with this mummery?--had he no heart, no conscience, no sense of decency, no fear of God?

He tore the letter into fraghts Pitt had meant kindly by him, but had dealt cruelly In his efforts to seek distraction froes ever in his alleys, and thus soh aboard the Spanish carack which he captured under Cape Spartel

CHAPTER III HOMEWARD BOUND

In the cabin of the captured Spaniard, Jasper Leigh found hi face to face with Sakr-el-Bahr, haled thither by the corsair's gigantic Nubians