This slave, named Francisco, was a Navarrese, and was perfectly acquainted with Algiers and its customs, having there served two or three masters before he was purchased by the Dey as a gardener. "Francisco, my friend," said Don Juan, accosting him, "you see me in deep affliction. There is, in the harem of the Dey, a young lady of the highest distinction of Valencia: she has entreated Mezzomorto to name a ransom of any amount; but he refuses to do so, having fallen in love with her." "And why should that annoy you so much?" asked Francisco. "Because I come from the same town," replied the Toledan; "her relations and my own are intimately connected; and there is nothing which I would not do to restore her to liberty." "Well! though that is no easy matter to accomplish," said Francisco, "I dare undertake to bring it about, provided her relations are disposed to come down pretty handsomely." "Be assured of that," replied Don Juan; "I answer for their gratitude, and especially for her own. Her name is Donna Theodora: she is the widow of a man who has left her immense possessions, and she is generous as rich. For myself, I am a Spaniard, and a noble; my word may suffice to convince you of what I state." "Well, again!" resumed the gardener: "on the faith of your word then, I will seek a Catalonian renegade whom I know, and propose to him----" "What say you?" interrupted the Toledan, in alarm;--"would you confide in a wretch who has not been ashamed to abandon his religion for----" "Although a renegade," interrupted Francisco, in his turn, "he is nevertheless an honest man. He is rather deserving of your pity than contempt; and, if the crime he has committed can be excused at all, I think he may be pardoned. I will tell you his history in a few words. "He was born in Barcelona, where he practised as a surgeon. Finding, however, that he was worse off there than his patients, he resolved to establish himself at Carthagena, thinking of course to better his condition. He accordingly embarked with his mother, for that town; but they were taken on the way by a pirate, who brought them hither. They were sold; his mother to a Moor, and he to a Turk, who used him so badly that he assumed the turban to release himself from slavery, as also to enable him to free his parent, who was no better off in the house of the Moor, her master. With this view, he entered into service with the Dey, and made several voyages, in which he gained four hundred patacoons: he employed a portion of this in the ransom of his mother; and, to make the best use of the remainder, took it in his head to scour the seas on his own account.