“I must see this man to-morrow,” observed the pacha:— “Mustapha, as you value your life, see that he attends.”
The vizier bowed; and the pacha returned to the palace without further adventure.
The next day, as soon as the business of the divan had closed, the renegade was ordered in. Prostrating himself before the pacha, he then rose, and folding his arms over his breast, awaited his commands in silence.
“I have sent for you, Huckaback, to inquire the meaning of the words you made use of last night: and to know what was the promise made to you in your seventh and last voyage; but I will thank you to begin at the first, as I wish to hear the history of all your voyages.”
“May it please your highness, as I live but to obey you, all that has occurred in my eventful life shall, if you command it, be submitted to your ear. It will, however, be necessary that I should revert to my early days to enable your highness more fully to comprehend the whole.”
“Aferin! well said,” replied the pacha; “I don’t care how long a story it is, provided that it is a good one:” and Selim having obeyed a sign from his highness, intimating that he might sit down, commenced as follows:—
Huckaback.
I am a native of Marseilles, your highness, where I was brought up to the profession of my father; a profession (continued the wily renegade) which, I have no hesitation to assert, has produced more men of general information, and more men of talent, than any other—I mean that of a barber.