CHAPTER X A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN THE COURT OF TUNIS
At Malta, whom should I bump into but commodore Barney! His business in France having been completed, he had taken the notion to see southern Europe before returning to the United States.
He was amazed to see me in the uniform of the United States, yet proud, too, that I had taken matters into my own hands and gone to sea willy-nilly. He told me that the rector had been sent back to his Baltimore charge by his bishop, and that Alexander had begun business in Baltimore as a ship chandler. My story of Murad's treachery brought forth a series of explosions, which, however, were cut short by the arrival of the commodore's friend Captain William Eaton, a military officer from the United States, who had stopped in Malta on his way to take the office of American envoy at the court of Tunis.
The conversation turned towards Captain Eaton's mission to Tunis. "I understand that I have an abominable ruler to deal with," he said, "I shall be doing well if I do nothing more than keep Yankee ships and sailors out of his hands!"
"I wish I were going with you, sir," I said impulsively.
"Can you write? Are you handy at clerical work?" he asked.
"Is he?" burst out the commodore, "why, the boy was brought up to be a minister. When I knew him a quill or a book was never out of his hands!"
"I have authority from Washington to employ a secretary," said the captain. "The lad can accompany me in that office."
Delighted, I turned away to make the necessary arrangements. "If you haven't the knack of fighting as well as of writing, I advise you to decline the position," Captain Eaton called after me, "for I expect to battle with the Bey of Tunis from the hour I arrive!"
"That," I returned, "is the reason I said I'd like to go along! You look like a fighter, sir!"