The Pirate City | Page 8

vessel of our friend Francisco, was laden with
wine and fruit. There were only two passengers on board, but these two
were great prizes in Hassan's estimation, being beautiful girls of about
seventeen and eighteen respectively. They were sisters--the elder being
on her way with her infant son to join her husband in Malta.
Hassan was glad of the opportunity thus thrown in his way of pleasing
his master the Dey of Algiers by presenting to him these unfortunates,
whose manners and appearance bespoke them ladies, and at once sent
them on board his vessel, along with their money and jewels. Their
wardrobe was distributed among the pirate crew--the money and jewels
being the Dey's perquisite.
"I have a plan in my head," said Hassan to his second in command,
"which the capture of this brig has suggested to me. Go, take charge of
our vessel, and send me twenty of the best men of our crew fully
armed--also a British Union-jack. There is a captain of a port in this
neighbourhood against whom I have a special grudge, and to whom I
would fain give a free passage to Algiers! so make haste."
The order was soon executed, and the pirate-vessel ordered to remain
where she was while the brig stood inshore and sailed along the coast.
In a few hours she was off the port above referred to, when she hove-to,
hoisted the British flag, and fired a gun. The captain of the port
innocently put off to the brig, and in a few minutes found himself and
his boat's crew taken captive by the Algerines!
Having thus successfully accomplished his design, Hassan returned to
his vessel, put a crew on board the second prize, and, directing his
course to Africa made all sail for the port of Algiers.
During the voyage the unfortunate captives saw little of each other,
nevertheless Mariano saw enough of the sisters, to create in his breast
feelings of the tenderest pity--especially for the younger sister, whom

he thought rather pretty than otherwise! As for the Jew, he kept aloof
from all the captives, but seemed to have a good understanding with the
pirate captain, and to be acquainted with several of his men.
CHAPTER FOUR.
INTRODUCES THE READER TO THE PIRATE CITY, AND TO A
FEW OF ITS PECULIARITIES AND PRACTICES.
Permit us now, good reader, to introduce you to the top of a house in
Algiers. The roofs of the houses in the Pirate City are flat--a most
admirable Eastern peculiarity which cannot be too strongly
recommended to Western builders. They are, therefore, available as
pleasant "terraces," on which you may rise above your cares, to lounge,
and smoke--if afflicted with the latter mania--and sip coffee with your
wife, (wives, if you be a Turk), or romp with your children--if not too
dignified--or cultivate flowers, or read in a state of elevated serenity, or
admire the magnificent view of the blue bay, backed by the bluer
Jurjura mountains, with the snow-topped range of the Lesser Atlas
beyond. How much wiser thus to utilise one's house-top than to yield it
up, rent-free, to cats and sparrows!
Achmet Pasha, the Dey of Algiers at this time, or rather the pirate-king,
had a thorough appreciation of the roof of his palace, and spent many
hours daily on it, in consultation with his ministers, or in converse with
his wives.
As deys went, Achmet was a comparatively respectable man. He
thought no more of cutting off a human head than of docking a rat's tail;
but then he did not take a particular pleasure in this employment, and
was not naturally cruel, which is more than could be said of many of
his predecessors. He was also said to be a kind husband and a fond
father, but as no one, save the wives and children in question, knew
anything of the inner and private life of the palace, this must for ever
remain a matter of uncertainty. There was no doubt, however, that he
was a tall, handsome, dignified man, in the prime of life, with a stern
eye and a pleasant expression of mouth; that, in character, he was bold

and resolute; and that, in his jewelled turban, gold-incrusted vestments,
and flowing Eastern robes, he looked resplendent.
Courage and resolution were, indeed, qualities without which a Dey of
Algiers could scarcely come into existence, because his high position,
not being hereditary, was naturally the ambitious goal of all the bold
spirits in the Turkish army of janissaries which held the city, with its
mixed Arab population, in subjection. The most common mode of a
change of government was the strangulation of the reigning Dey by the
man who had power and party influence sufficient to enable him to
ascend the vacant throne. Sometimes the throne