Donovan Pasha, and Some People of Egypt Part 13

"Listen, Mahommed," he said to the Arab. "Listen to each word I say, as though it were the prayer to take thee into Paradise. Go at once to Selamlik Pasha. Carry this ring the Khedive gave to me--he will know it.

Do not be denied his presence. Say that it is more than life and death; that it is all he values in the world. Once admitted, say these words: 'Donovan Pasha knows all, and asks an audience at midnight in this palace. Until that hour Donovan Pasha desires peace. For is it not the law, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth? Is not a market a place to buy and sell?'"

Four times did d.i.c.ky make the Arab repeat the words after him, till they ran like water from his tongue, and dismissed him upon the secret errand with a handful of silver.

Immediately the Arab had gone, d.i.c.ky's face flushed with excitement, in the reaction from his lately a.s.sumed composure. For five minutes he walked up and down, using language scarcely printable, reviling Sowerby, and setting his teeth in anger. But he suddenly composed himself, and, sitting down, stared straight before him for a long time without stirring a muscle. There was urgent need of action, but there was more urgent need of his making no mistake, of his doing the one thing necessary, for Sowerby could only be saved in one way, not many.

It was useless to ask the Khedive's intervention--Ismail dared not go against Selamlik in this. Whatever was done must be done between Selamlik Pasha, the tigerish libertine, and Richard Donovan, the little man who, at the tail end of Ismail's reign, was helping him hold things together against the black day of reckoning, "prepared for the devil and all his angels," as d.i.c.ky had said to Ismail on this very momentous morning, when warning him of the perils in his path. Now d.i.c.ky had been at war with Selamlik ever since, one day long ago on the Nile, he and Fielding had thwarted his purposes; and d.i.c.ky had earned the Pasha's changeless hatred by calling him "Trousers"--for this name had gone up and down throughout Egypt as a doubtful story travels, drawing easy credit everywhere. Those were the days when d.i.c.ky was irresponsible. Of all in Egypt who hated him most, Selamlik Pasha was the chief. But most people hated Selamlik, so the world was not confounded by the great man's rage, nor did they dislike d.i.c.ky simply because the Pasha chose to do so. Through years Selamlik had built up his power, until even the Khedive feared him, and would have been glad to tie a stone round his neck and drop him into the Nile. But Ismail could no longer do this sort of thing without some show of reason--Europe was hanging on his actions, waiting for the apt moment to depose him.

All this d.i.c.ky knew, and five minutes from the time Mahommed Yeleb had left him he was on his way to Ismail's palace, with his kava.s.s behind him, cool and ruminating as usual, now answering a salute in Turkish fashion, now in English, as Egyptians or Europeans pa.s.sed him.

II

There was one being in the Khedive's palace whose admiration for d.i.c.ky was a kind of fetish, and d.i.c.ky loathed him. Twice had d.i.c.ky saved this Chief Eunuch's life from Ismail's anger, and once had he saved his fortune--not even from compa.s.sion, but out of his inherent love of justice. As d.i.c.ky had said: "Let him die--for what he has done, not for something he has not done. Send him to the devil with a true bill of crime." So it was that d.i.c.ky, who shrank from the creature whom Ministers and Pashas fawned upon--so powerful was his unique position in the palace--went straight to him now to get his quid-pro-quo, his measure for measure.

The tall, black-coated, smooth-faced creature, silent and watchful and lean, stepped through the doorway with the footfall of a cat. He slid forward, salaamed to the floor-d.i.c.ky wondered how a body could open and shut so like the blade of a knife--and, catching d.i.c.ky's hand, kissed it.

"May thy days be watered with the dew of heaven, saadat el basha," said the Chief Eunuch.

"Mine eyes have not seen since thy last withdrawal," answered d.i.c.ky blandly, in the high-flown Oriental way.

"Thou hast sent for me. I am thy slave."

"I have sent for thee, Mizraim. And thou shalt prove thyself, once for all, whether thy hand moves as thy tongue speaks."

"To serve thee I will lay down my life--I will blow it from me as the wind bloweth the cotton flower. Have I not spoken thus since the Feast of Beiram, now two years gone?"

d.i.c.ky lowered his voice. "Both Mustapha Bey, that son of the he-wolf Selamlik Pasha, still follow the carriage of the Khedive's favourite, and hang about the walls, and seek to corrupt thee with gold, Mahommed Mizraim?"

"Saadat el basha, but for thy word to wait, the Khedive had been told long since."

"It is the sport to strike when the sword cuts with the longest arm, O son of Egypt!"

The face of Mizraim was ugly with the unnatural cruelty of an unnatural man. "Is the time at hand, saadat el basha?"

"You hate Selamlik Pasha?"

"As the lion the jackal."

d.i.c.ky would have laughed in scorn if he might have dared--this being to cla.s.s himself with lions! But the time was not fit for laughter. "And the son of Selamlik Pasha, the vile Mustapha Bey?" he asked.

"I would grind him like corn between the stones! Hath he not sent messages by the women of the bazaar to the harem of my royal master, to whom G.o.d give glory in heaven? Hath he not sought to enter the harem as a weasel crawls under a wall? Hath he not sought to steal what I h.o.a.rd by a mighty hand and the eye of an eagle for Ismail the Great? Shall I love him more than the dog that tears the throat of a gazelle?" The gesture of cruelty he made was disgusting to the eyes of d.i.c.ky Donovan, but he had in his mind the peril to Sowerby, and he nodded his head in careless approval, as it were.

"Then, Mizraim, thou son of secrecy and keeper of the door, take heed to what I say, and for thine honour and my need do as I will. Thou shalt to-night admit Mustapha Bey to the harem--at the hour of nine o'clock!"

"Saadat el basha!" The eunuch's face was sickly in its terrified wonder.

"Even so. At nine."

"But, saadat--"

"Bring him secretly, even to the door of the favourite's room; then, have him seized and carried to a safe place till I send for him."

"Ah, saadat el basha--" The lean face of the creature smiled, and the smile was not nice to see.

"Let no harm be done him, but await my messenger, Mahommed Yeleb, and whatsoever he bids you to do, do it; for I speak."

"Ah, saadat el basha, you would strike Selamlik Pasha so--the great beast, the black river pig, the serpent of the slime...!"

"You will do this thing, Mizraim?"

"I shall lure him, as the mirage the pilgrim. With joy I will do this, and a hundred times more."

"Even if I asked of thee the keys of the harem?" asked d.i.c.ky grimly.

"Effendi, thou wouldst not ask. All the world knows thee. For thee the harem hath no lure. Thou goest not by dark ways to deeds for thine own self. Thou hast honour. Ismail himself would not fear thee."

"See, thou master of many, squeak not thy voice so high. Ismail will take thy head and mine, if he discovers to-night's business. Go then with a soft tread, Mizraim. Let thy hand be quick on his mouth, and beware that no one sees!"

III

Upon the stroke of midnight d.i.c.ky entered the room where Selamlik Pasha awaited him with a malicious and greasy smile, in which wanton cruelty was uppermost. Selamlik Pasha knew well the object of this meeting. He had accurately interpreted the message brought by Mahommed Yeleb. He knew his power; he knew that the Englishman's life was in his hands to do with what he chose, for the law of the harem which defies all outside law was on his side. But here he was come to listen to d.i.c.ky Donovan, the arrogant little favourite, pleading for the life of the English boy who had done the thing for which the only penalty was death.

d.i.c.ky showed no emotion as he entered the room, but salaamed, and said: "Your Excellency is prompt. Honour and peace be upon your Excellency!"

"Honour and the bounty of the stars be upon thee, saadat el basha!"

There was a slight pause, in which d.i.c.ky seated himself, lighted a cigarette, and summoned a servant, of whom he ordered coffee. They did not speak meantime, but d.i.c.ky sat calmly, almost drowsily, smoking, and Selamlik Pasha sat with greasy hands clasping and unclasping, his yellow eyes fixed on d.i.c.ky with malevolent scrutiny.

When the coffee was brought, the door had been shut, and d.i.c.ky had drawn the curtain across, Selamlik Pasha said: "What great affair brings us together here, saadat el basha?"

"The matter of the Englishman you hold a prisoner, Excellency."

"It is painful, but he is dead," said the Pasha, with a grimace of cruelty.

d.i.c.ky's eyes twitched slightly, but he answered with coolness, thrusting his elbow into the cushions and smoking hard: "But, no, he is not dead.

Selamlik Pasha has as great an instinct for a bargain as for revenge.

Also Selamlik Pasha would torture before he kills. Is it not so?"

"What is your wish?"

"That the man be set free, Excellency."

"He has trespa.s.sed. He has stolen his way into the harem. The infidel dog has defiled the house of my wives."

"He will marry the woman, with your permission, Excellency. He loved her--so it would seem."

"He shall die--the dog of an infidel!"