The wished-for spectacle was at length revealed. "As the sun became
more powerful," says Drinkwater, rising into positive poetry
with the occasion, "the fog gradually rose, _like the curtain of
a vast theatre_, discovering to the anxious garrison one of the
most beautiful and pleasing scenes it is possible to conceive. The
convoy, consisting of near a hundred vessels, were in a compact
body, led by several men-of-war--their sails just filled enough for
steerage, while the majority of the line-of-battle ships lay to
under the Barbary shore, having orders not to enter the bay, lest
the enemy should molest them with their fireships."
Then rose a great shout--at once the casting-off of long-pressing
anxiety and the utterance of delight. Happy tears streamed down
haggard faces overgrown with hair, and presently men turned to one
another, smiling in the face of a stranger neighbour as in that of
an old friend, while a joyful murmur, distilled from many languages,
rose upward. Assuredly, if blessings are of any avail, the soul of
Admiral Darby, who commanded the relieving fleet, is at this moment
in Paradise.
Friends and relations now began to search for one another in
the crowd, which broke quickly into knots, each contriving how
to enjoy together the plenty that was to descend upon them. My
grandfather's eye at this juncture was again attracted by the old
Genoese woman. When the crowd shouted, she screened her eyes with
her withered hand, and, with her nostril spread, her chin fallen, in
her eagerness gazed towards the sea--but presently shook her head,
discerning nothing. Then she plucked by the arm a joyful Spaniard.
"_Es verdad? Por Dios, es verdad?_" she cried; "_jura! jura!_"--(Is
it true? Swear by Heaven it is true.)
"_Si, si,_" said the Spaniard, pointing; "_es verdad_," ('tis true.)
"You may see them yourself."
Instantly the old woman, for the last time, drew forth her
treasured crust, and began to devour it, muttering, as she tore
away each mouthful, "_Mas mañana! mas mañana!_" (I shall have more
to-morrow--more to-morrow!)
After the crowd had partially dispersed, Owen was returning to
his quarters to breakfast, when, as he paused to open the door,
he heard a voice he thought he knew crying out in affright in the
rooms opposite, where Von Dessel resided. Presently the door of the
quarters was opened, and the flushed and frightened face of Esther
Lazaro appeared, as she struggled to escape from Von Dessel, who
held her arm.
"Señor, señor, speak to the gentleman!" she cried to Owen.
"Leetle foolish girl," said Von Dessel, grinning a smile on seeing
him; "she frightens at nothing. Come in, child"--trying to shut the
door.
"Why don't you let her alone?" said Owen; "don't you see she doesn't
like you?"
"Pouf!" said the captain. "We all have trouble with them
sometimes--you must know that well."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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