Page:Ballantyne--The Pirate City.djvu/183

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE PIRATE CITY.
165

gering- into the skiffa, where Angela chanced to be at work at the time.—"Ha! thou hast a pretty daughter," he added, with a gaze of insolent admiration.

"The girl is passing fair," replied the Jew, opening the door of his study, and purposely avoiding the correction of the Aga's mistake. "Please to enter here."

Hamet obeyed; remarking as he passed that the girl were worthy of being the wife of a Dey, if she had not been a Jewess.

"Bacri," he said, sitting down, while the master of the house stood respectfully before him, "thou knowest the object of my visit—eh? Come, it is not the first time thou hast had to do with such as I. The plot thickens, Bacri, and thou must play thy part, willing or not willing. Say, how much is it to be?"

"How much do you demand?" asked the Jew.

The Aga rose and whispered in his ear.

"Impossible!" said Bacri, shaking his head decidedly.

"How, dog! impossible?" exclaimed the Turk sternly. "Dost know that I can let the whole Turkish army loose on thee and thy false-hearted race?"

"My race is maligned alike by Mohammedan and Christian," returned the Jew, with dignity. "You