“Art thou now convinced?”
“I am,” replied I.
“Then prove it by submitting to the law the moment that you are able. You shall be rewarded—not at once, but when your faith has been proved. Mark me, follow your profession on the seas, and, when once you find yourself sitting in the divan at Cairo, with two people originally of the same profession as yourself, without others being present, and have made this secret known, then you shall appointed to the command of the pacha’s fleet, which under your directions shall always meet with success. Such shall be the reward of your fidelity.”
It is now four years that I have embraced the true faith, and, sinking under poverty, I was induced to make use of the exclamation that your highness heard; for how can I ever hope to meet two barbers at the divan without other people being present?
“Holy Prophet! how strange! Why Mustapha was a barber, and so was I,” cried the pacha.
“God is great!” answered the renegade, prostrating himself. “Then I command your fleet?”
“From this hour,” replied the pacha. “Mustapha, make known my wishes.”
“The present in command,” replied Mustapha, who was not a dupe to the wily renegade, “is a favourite with the men.”
“Then send for him and take off his head. Is he to interfere with the commands of Mahomet?”