"Rif!" said Abd el Aziz, "you are all pirates in Rif—and you pretend to be soft-hearted."
"There are pirates in Rif, O Kaïd, and there are thieves in Marocco, but there are mountaineers in Rif, who never saw the sea. I heard that the witnesses against this infidel had retracted."
"How could that be?" said Abd el Aziz; "Hassan, who is possessed with a devil, came to the M'Shouar and brought his friend's head under his arm to confirm him; but as one could not speak, and the devil spoke in the other, the Sultan was only more savage; he would have killed Hassan, had it pleased God, but who would touch a Majnoon?"
"Inshallah!" said the stranger, "I cannot stand this burning, and you say she is beautiful." Then raising his voice, he said, "The black horse is waiting. If she is innocent, God will send her deliverance—Peace."
"Inshallah!" repeated Abd el Aziz, "when the mountain comes to our lord Mohammed;" and our friend Ali, dressed as a Moor, turned back with his companion, and galloped across the plain to a date-grove, where he had collected his followers; they were partly screened from observation, but as they were all dressed as Moors, any passers-by supposed them to be a troop of the Sultan's soldiers on some duty, more especially as they guarded a woman's litter carried between two stout mules. One of the party was stationed in the top of a date-tree which overlooked the plain, and reported every thing that took place; he could see the preparations at the place of execution, and give early notice of any movement in the distance.
On a slight rising ground, about half a mile from the gates, the pile of wood had been raised. It was about eight feet high, built up around a stake fixed in the ground. The wood being a species of cedar was very inflammable, and to make it more so a quantity of pitch and turpentine had been added to it. A little apart, under the shade of a large tree, carpets had been spread for the Cadi and his party; here he took his seat, attended by the horsemen, while the foot-soldiers kept clear the space around the pile. It would be a slander on the better classes of the Moors, to suppose that they felt any of the pleasure of inquisitors, in witnessing, or being actors in, a tragedy like the present, on the contrary they were not only impressed with its impolicy, but shocked by its inhumanity and cruelty. Cases had occurred in which young Jews, in a fit of temporary irritation, arising out of family quarrels, had really apostatized, but had been allowed on proper representations made, accompanied by the judicious expenditure of money, to return to their own people; and so might Azora, but for the curse of beauty.
The Jews, for the most part, remained within doors, mourning for their sister, and bewailing the captivity of their people; but some few had gone out of the gate, afraid to approach, but standing afar off to see the end of the martyr to their faith.
Azora was first taken before the Cadi, and a crier called out the names of the witnesses, her accusers, but no one answered; after a pause, the names were again called, and again a third time without answer. The Cadi then produced his records, and the sworn deposition was read out. After this he read out the warrant of the Sultan for her execution. The old man's voice trembled and he looked wistfully in Azora's face in hopes of seeing some sign of her recantation. She was deadly pale, but as a sheep before her shearers, she was dumb, and they led her away to be burnt. At the pile her veil was taken off, and her face was as the face of an angel. With the exception of the brutified executioners, there were very few, even to the rough soldiers, who were not in tears.
Sheik Ali in the meantime was in a state of the most intense anxiety, on account of the delay of the Chief. As soon as he arrived at the ambush, he never took his eyes from the look-out, who sat among the feathery fronds of the date-tree, and reported what he saw in broken sentences.
"What seest thou, O brother?" said Ali.