The Middy and the Moors - Robert Michael Ballantyne (best biographies to read .txt) š
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Retiring to the coal-holeāor some such dark receptacleāDinah held her friend in conversation for about a quarter of an hour, during which time several hearty Ethiopian chuckles were heard to burst forth. Then, returning to the cellar, Dinah introduced her friend to Hester as Missis Lilly, and Hester to Missis Lilly as Miss Geoāgiana.
Wondering why her friend had selected for her the nameāif she remembered rightlyāof one of Blue Beardās wives, Hester bowed, and was about to speak when Dinah put her flat nose close to hers and sternly said, āDumb.ā
āMoreober,ā she continued, āyou mustnāt bow like a lady, or youāll be diskivered āmediately. You must bob. Sally!ā
This last word was shouted. The instant effect was the abrupt stoppage of one of the disagreeable sounds before referred toāa sound as of poundingāand the appearance of a black girl who seemed to rise out of a pit in the floor at the darkest end of the cellar.
āSally, show dis yar stoopid gal how to bob.ā
The girl instantly broke off, so to speak, at the knees for a moment, and then came straight again.
āNow, Geoāgiana, you bob.ā
Hester entered into the spirit of the thing and broke off admirably, whereat Dinah and Lilly threw back their heads and shook their sides with laughter. Sally so far joined them as to show all her teeth and gums. Otherwise she was expressionless.
āNow you come yar wid me into dis room,ā said Dinah, taking Hesterās hand and heading her along a passage which was so profoundly dark that the very walls and floor were invisible. Turning suddenly to the left, Dinah advanced a few paces and stood still.
āYou stop where you is, Geoāgiana, till I gits a light. Donāt stir,ā she said, and left her.
A feeling of intense horror began to creep over the poor girl when she was thus left alone in such a horrible place, and she began almost to regret that she had forsaken the comfortable home of the Moor, and to blame herself for ingratitude. In her agony she was about to call aloud to her negro friend not to forsake her, when the words, āCall upon Me in the time of trouble,ā occurred to her, and, falling on her knees, she cast herself upon God.
She was not kept waiting long. Only a minute or two had elapsed when Dinah returned with a candle and revealed the fact that they stood in a small low-roofed room, the brick floor of which was partially covered with casks, packing-cases, and general lumber.
āDis am to be your room, Geoāgiana,ā said her friend, holding the candle over her head and surveying the place with much satisfaction.
Poor Hester shuddered.
āIt is an awful place,ā she said faintly.
āYes, it am a awrful good place,ā said Dinah, with satisfaction. āNot easy to find you yar; anā if dey did git dis lengtā widout breakinā dere legs, dereās a nice leetil hole yar what you could git in anā larf to youself.ā
She led the poor girl to the other end of the room, where, in a recess, there was a boarded part of the wall. Removing one of the boards, she disclosed an opening.
āDas a small hole, Geoāgiana, but itās big enough to hold you, anā when youās inside youāve onāy got to pull de board into its place, and fix itāso.ā
Setting down the candle, the woman stepped into the hole, and went through the performance that would devolve upon Hester in case of emergency.
āBut why leave me here at all?ā pleaded Hester, when Dinah had exhausted her eulogy of the hiding-place. āWhy not take me to your own home?ā
āCause itās not so safe as dis,ā answered Dinah. āPārāaps in time you may come dereānot now. Moreober, Missis Lilly is a fuss-rate creetur, most as good as myself, if her temper was a leetil more āeavenly. But sheās a winged serubim wid dem as donāt rile āer, anā sheāll be awrful good to you for my sake anā Peterās. You see, we was all on us took by the pints at de same time, and weāre all Christāns but ob course we donāt say much about dat yar!ā
āAnd am I to be always dumbānever to speak at all?ā asked Hester, in a rather melancholy tone.
āOh! noābress you! Itās onāy when youāre in de front or outside dat youās dumb. When youās back yar you may speak to Lilly anā Sally much as you like, onāy not too loud; anā keep your eyes open, anā your ears sharp always. If you donāt itās lost you will be. Donāt forgit Osman!ā
Hester shuddered again; said that she would never forget Osman, and would be as careful and attentive to orders as possible.
āAnā deyāll gib you a little work to doānot muchāonāy a little. When peepil speak to you, just point to your ears and moutā, anā shake your head. Das enuff. Dey wonāt boder you arter dat. Now, dearie, I must go. Iāll come anā see you sometimesāneber fear. Whatās to become ob you in de long-runās moreān I kin tell, for itās Peter de Great asāll hab to settle dat kestion. Youās in his hands. I knows notāing, so youāll hab to be patient.ā
Patient, indeed! Little did that poor painted slave think what demands would yet be made upon her patience. Full two months elapsed before she again saw Peter, or heard anything about Ben-Ahmed and her former friends at Mustapha!
Meanwhile, Dinah having departed, she wisely set herself to make the most of her new friends.
Mrs Lilly she soon found to be quite as amiable as Dinah had described her. She and Sally were slaves to the Moor who dwelt in the house which formed the superstructure of their cellars; but, unlike white slaves, they were allowed a good deal of personal liberty; first, because there was no danger of their running away, as they had no place to run to; second, because their master wanted them to buy and sell vegetables and other things, in order that he might reap the profit; and, last, because, being an easy-going man, the said master had no objection to see slaves happy as long as their happiness did not interfere in any way with his pleasure.
āNow, Geoāgiana,ā said Mrs Lilly, in the course of their first conversation, āmy massa he neber come down yar, nor trouble his head about us, as longās I take him a leetle money ebery day, anā nobody else hab got a right to come, so youās pretty safe if dey donāt send de janissaries to make a sarchāanā if dey do, you know whar to go. Iāll tell massa we make more money if I gits anoder slabe-gal, anā heāll agree, for he agrees to eberytāing ob dat sort! Den heāll forgit all about it, anā den you anā Sally kin go about town what you like.ā
āBut I fear, Mrs Lilly, that I wonāt be able to help you to make more money,ā objected Hester timidly.
āOh yes, you will. Youāll larn to ābroider de red anā blue slippers. Das pay well when neatly done, anā I kin see by de shape ob your fingers you do it neatly. Youās hungry now, I darsay, so go to work at your grub, anā den Iāll show you what to do.ā
Somewhat comforted by the kindly tone and motherly bearing of Mrs Lilly, Hester went into one of the dark cellar-like rooms of the interior of her new home, and found it to be a sort of kitchen, which borrowed its light from the outer room by means of a convenient wall that was white-washed for the purpose of transmitting it. This reflector was not an eminent success, but it rendered darkness visible. At the time we write of, however, the sun having set, the kitchen was lighted by a smoky oil-lamp of classic form and dimness. Here she found Sally busy with her evening meal.
Sally was apparently about as little of a human being as was consistent with the possession of a human form and the power of speech. Most of her qualities seemed to be negativeāif we may say so. She was obviously not unamiable; she was not unkind; and she was not sulky, though very silent. In fact, she seemed to be the nearest possible approach to a human nonentity. She may be described as a black maid-of-all-work, but her chief occupation was the pounding of roasted coffee-beans. This operation she performed in the pit in the floor before mentioned, which may be described as a hole, into which you descended by four steps from the front room. As the front room itself was below the level of the street, it follows that the āpitā penetrated considerably deeper into the bowels of the earth. In this pit Sally laboured hard, almost day and night, pounding the coffee-beans in an iron mortar, with an iron pestle so heavy that she had to stand up and use it with both hands. She had got into the habit of relieving herself by an audible gasp each time she drove the pestle down. It was not a necessary gasp, only a remonstrative one, as it were, and conveyed more to the intelligent listener than most of the girlās average conversation did. This gasp was also one of the disagreeable sounds which had saluted the ears of Hester on her first entrance into the new home.
āMrs Lilly is very kind,ā said Hester, as she sat down at a small table beside her fellow-slave.
Sally stopped eating for a moment and stared. Supposing that she had not understood the remark, Hester repeated it.
āYes,ā assented Sally, and then stopped the vocal orifice with a huge wooden spoonful of rice.
Judging that her companion wished to eat in undisturbed silence, Hester helped herself to some rice, and quietly began supper. Sally eyed her all the time, but was too busy feeding herself to indulge in speech. At last she put down her spoon with a sigh of satisfaction, and said, āDas good!ā with such an air of honest sincerity that Hester gave way to an irresistible laugh.
āYes, it is very good indeed. Did you cook it?ā asked Hester, anxious to atone for her impoliteness.
āYes. I cook āim. I do all de cookinā in dis yar ouseāanā most ob de eatinā too.ā
āBy the way, Sally, what is it that you keep pounding so constantly in thatāthat hole off the front room?ā
āCoffee,ā answered Sally, with a nod.
āIndeed! Surely not the household coffee. You cannot drink such a quantity!ā
Sally stared for a minute; then opened her mouth, shut her eyes, threw back her head, and chuckled.
āNo,ā she said, with sudden gravity; āif we drinkād it all weād all buāst right off. I pounds it, Missis Lilly sells it, anā massa pockets de money.ā
āDo you pound much?ā asked Hester, in a tone of sympathy.
āOh! housefuls,ā said Sally, opening her eyes wide. āāGin at daylightāwork till dark, ācept when doinā oder tāings. De Moors drink it. Awrful drinkers am de Moors. Morninā, noon, anā night dey swill leetle cups ob coffee. Das de reason deyās all so brown.ā
āIndeed? I never heard before that the brown-ness of their complexion was owing to that. Are you sure?ā
āOh yes; kite sure. Coffee comes troo de skinādas it,ā returned Sally, with perfect confidence of tone and manner.
Suddenly she was smitten with a new idea, and stared for some time at her fellow-slave. At last she got it out.
āMissis Lilly say dat youās dumb. How kin you speak so well if youās dumb?ā
Poor Hester was greatly perplexed. She did not know how far her companion had been let into the secret reason of her being there, and was afraid to answer. At last she made up her mind.
āI am not really dumb, you know; I have only to be dumb when in the street, or when any visitor is in the house here; but when alone with Mrs Lilly or you I am allowed to speak low.ā
A gleam of intelligence
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