the corsairs; and when, after seven days' further cruising, they put
into the harbour of Tunis, they drew up an account of their capture,
calling it a Spanish vessel, to prevent the French Consul from claiming
the prisoners.
The captives had the coarse blue and white garments of slaves given
them, and were walked five or six times through the narrow streets and
bazaars of Tunis, by way of exhibition. They were then brought back to
their ship, and the purchasers came thither to bargain for them. They
were examined at their meals, to see if they had good appetites; their
sides were felt like those of oxen; their teeth looked at like those of
horses; their wounds were searched, and they were made to run and walk
to show the play of their limbs. All this Vincent endured with patient
submission, constantly supported by the thought of Him who took upon Him
the form of a servant for our sakes; and he did his best, ill as he was,
to give his companions the same confidence.
Weak and unwell, Vincent was sold cheap to a fisherman; but in his new
service it soon became apparent that the sea made him so ill as to be of
no use, so he was sold again to one of the Moorish physicians, the like
of whom may still be seen, smoking their pipes sleepily, under
their white turbans, cross-legged, among the drugs in their shop
windows---these being small open spaces beneath the beautiful stone
lacework of the Moorish lattices. The physician was a great chemist and
distiller, and for four years had been seeking the philosopher's stone,
which was supposed to be the secret of making gold. He found his slave's
learning and intelligence so useful that he grew very fond of him, and
tried hard to persuade him to turn Mahometan, offering him not only
liberty, but the inheritance of all his wealth, and the secrets that he
had discovered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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