CHAPTER LXX. Cry a reward to him who shall first bring KEATS' MS. T "O avoid observation, and not wishing to be questioned, I went back to the tavern. Aston soon joined me, and, shaking my hand, said, “I am glad to find you here. There has been a serious row in the bazaar, and I feared you might have been concerned in it." "What was it?" I inquired. "I was drawn to the spot, by seeing the people run that way. There was a shop, or shed, belonging to a goldsmith, pulled down, when the mob began to plunder it, while himself and a few others attempted to defend his property. But all the scoundrels from the port were there, and I don't think they have left the poor fellow a gold more. It was too late when I arrived there, nor had I my sword with me; but I did what I could. I knocked down some of the fellows, and procured the sepoy guard from the gates." "But how did it originate?" "With an Arab; and, as far as I can understand, it is no unfrequent occurrence here, though seldom done so openly. The bazaar was full of people, and while the jeweller was shewing some valuable trinkets to a woman, who is supposed to be an accomplice, an Arab came, seized every thing he could lay his hands on, stabbed one of the men in the shop, knocked the jeweller down, and, assisted by others on the outside, rushed through the shop, which was then torn down, and a set of miscreants commenced plundering." "Do they suspect any one in particular ?” "I don't know; they have some of the thieves in custody." "Come, light your sharoot, and I'll tell you all about it." His surprise was great at hearing I was the person denominated the Arab robber; and, in much grief, he censured my folly and rashness. "Besides," he added, "the jeweller said he could recognise the man who first attacked him amidst a thousand; and, casting from him the few things he had saved, swore by his religion he would fast till he was revenged." "If he keeps his word," I answered, "his rhamadan may last for ever; for I shall go to sea with the land-wind." But as the devil willed it, the weather was so bad I could not embark that night. I had no reason, however, to imagine that I was, or could be suspected; especially in a town where brawls were common events, and where a man dead, or missing, was of little account, amidst a population of armed and blood-thirsty Malays, (who, of all eastern nations, and all human beings, except kings, hold human life in least respect,) and Arabs, with whom, if precedents and time can make a thing lawful, killing is no murder, and robbery no crime, for they are coeval with their race. Besides, the parsee's brother was not dead. Aston went early in the morning to the resident; and I went out, taking the precaution to wear an arrican cap instead of a turban, and loitered down to the port to glean information. Afterwards I visited the shops to purchase some trifling things I wanted; besides which, I had several important commissions to execute for De Ruyter, in procuring information, and forwarding letters to the interior of Hindostan. This I did through an agent of the French government, which had spies, I believe, in every port in India. Once or twice during the forenoon I thought I was watched, and evaded my imagined pursuer; and, on more than one occasion, the waiter at the hotel surprised me by some observations he made on the affair of the preceding night; which struck me the more, because another servant had told us this same jeweller was in the habit of bringing his trinkets to the hotel, when there were strangers there. We passed this day in the same way as the preceding one; not that I was altogether quite at ease in being delayed. The affair of the jeweller troubled me little, compared to the hazard of personal discovery. Some of the vessels I had plundered at sea might be in this port; and notwithstanding the difference in my dress, some person or other might recollect me. My mind then reverted to the schooner; for however secure she might be in her present berth for a day or two, some accident might discover her; and she was only in comparative safety when in motion, with a good offing. Then there was a magnet, stronger than all these prudential considerations to hasten my departure, my own little turtle dove, Zela, who, I knew, would outwatch the stars, and find no rest while I was absent. This determined me to embark that night, in despite of wind and weather, which was still cloudy and unsettled; and, what is often the case in these latitudes, the day-breeze went down with the sun. I pass over my parting with Aston; indeed, to avoid some portion of the pain, I took advantage of his absence, and wrote him a short adieu, leaving the fifty or sixty gold mores I had about me in the sleeve of his jacket, so that he could not fail. to find them. I made no mention of my departure to any one in the house.. As to baggage, it consisted of nothing but my abbah, which the occasional showers made no burthen. Modern frippery of combs, razors, brushes, and linen, which prevents a man from sleeping out of his own house without the incumbrance of the best part of a haberdasher's shop, I never dreamed of. My teeth were as strong and white as a hound's without the aid of hog's bristles. My head was not, as before, shaved, but thickly sprouting like a bramble bush, and was left to its natural growth with as little care and cultivation as is bestowed on that most fondly remembered fruit-tree. I say so, because, in common with all young urchins, I recollect the time when, spurned like a dog from the vicinity of every other fruit-tree, I solaced myself under the friendly bramble, and its beloved companion, the beautiful hazel. Sacred haunts! unprotected by churlish guardians, and where, by the by, we eat without having planted. This must be the reason why starving poets. call nature and mother earth bountiful, there can be no other; for only be detected in extracting a turnip, and hear what a magistrate will say, particularly if he is clerical. You will then find mother earth the worst of step-mothers, and have enough of her in the colonies. CHAPTER LXXI. The waning moon, And like a dying lady, lean and pale, SHELLEY. He dies! 'Tis well she do not advertise KEATS' MS. HUS unincumbered, a little before midnight, and avoiding the most populous parts of the town, I walked as fast as possible; but the night, and the narrow, dirty lanes, considerably impeded my progress. At length I reached the open space near the now quiet port, in my way to the outside of the town, where was a rude sort of half-finished dock-yard, off one of the slips of which lay my proa. The weather was favourable; what wind there was, I observed, by the occasional gusts, was not stationary, but shifting about in all quarters. Dark and white masses of clouds seemed jostling together; and, every now and then, as they met in contention over the moon, the world was left in almost total darkness. Men from the shore hallooing their vessels to send boats, and the "All's well!" of the sepoy sentinels, were the only voices I heard. When out of the town, my heart became lighter, and my stride longer, as I beheld the free expanse of sea on my right, and the mountains before me; either of them would have been a refuge, had I been pursued; however, I now considered myself out of danger. I came on a little line of huts, and a wooden fence, which I had not observed before. A sentinel, standing under the lee of a hut, stepped forward, as I was passing, and said, "Who goes there?-stop!" How near the guard was I knew not; therefore, to prevent his giving an alarm, which he would have done had I not stopped, I obeyed, and, to preserve my Indian character, answered in Hindostanee, "A friend." He then questioned me, in the usual manner, about where I was going, and upon what business. On my replying, he said, "You can't pass here without an order." "I know that," I answered; "I have one;"-I fumbled in my dress for a letter or paper. I took one out, and, with great appearance of simplicity, advanced towards him, and said, "Here, Sir, it is!" He bade me keep off, and was bringing his musquet down, when I sprang in upon him, griped him by the throat, which prevented his giving the alarm, and laid him on his back in an instant. His musquet fell from his hands; and this little irascible Bombay soldier struggled hard to loosen my hold, and lay hands on me; but he had no more chance than a cat with a mastiff. I held him till he was almost strangled; then, the moon being again hidden by the clouds, I cast his bayonet one way, his musquet another, let him go, arose, and bolted off in the direction I had come, as if returning to the town. But I took the contrary direction, and, giving the arsenal a wide berth, went through some Indian corn-field. When at a sufficient distance, I again slanted down towards the sea. More than once, it seemed, I was followed. I stopped, and turned round. As I regained the beaten track, I fancied I saw a figure skulking along, his shadow reflected on a wall. I drew my creese, and, turning back, sought vainly for the object. The changing and uncertain light made my efforts fruitless; I concluded it was a shadow created by my excited imagination, and went on. As the moon again shone forth, I saw, between me and the sea, a building close on the beach, in a bite of the bay, which I knew to be a public slaughter-house. A little farther on was an enclosed slip, in which a vessel had been built or repaired. Half a mile onward, off at sea, lay my proa expecting me. I stopped on a little mound of sand, looking to seaward, if I could make out the boat. One of the walls of the slaughterhouse was by the side of this, and I leaned on it. At this moment, with a gleam of moonlight behind me, my shadow was reflected slantingly on the white ground, when a huge arm uplifting a weapon, large (such it appeared in shadow), as a spear, was in the act of stabbing. I turned, and thrust my left hand, in which my cloak was gathered, to ward off the |