Such recommendations promised fair. Cervantes embarked on board the Spanish galley el Sol (the Sun) with his elder brother Rodrigo, also a soldier, and with various officers of distinction; but disaster was near at hand to dash all his hopes, and devote him to years of adversity. On the 26th of September the galley was surrounded by an Algerine squadron, under the command of the Arnaout Mami, who was captain of the sea. The Turkish vessels attacked and boarded el Sol. The combat was obstinate, but numbers overpowered. The galley was taken and carried into Algiers. In the subsequent division of prisoners, Cervantes fell to the share of the Arnaout captain himself.
The frightful system of cruising for captives, and taking them to Algiers to sell them into slavery, which continued for so many hundred years, had not long before been carried to greater height than ever by two pirates, who possessed themselves of Algiers and Tunis. The horror of this warfare had excited the emperor Charles V. to undertake to crush it. He made two expeditions into Africa, the second of which was unsuccessful, and the Algerine corsairs pursued their nefarious traffic with greater cruelty and success than ever: every particular connected with it was frightful and deplorable: the weak and unoffending were its chief victims: the sea coasts were ravaged for prisoners; and these, if too poor for ransom, became slaves for life, under the most cruel masters. The abhorrence excited by these unprovoked attacks caused the Mahometan name to be held in greater odium than ever; and in Spain, particularly, this detestation was visited on the Moriscos: the cruelties and oppression they endured, again excited the Moors of Africa to reprisals; and innocence and helplessness became on all sides the victims of revenge and hatred. Still the piracies carried on by the Algerines, and the system to which they reduced their practice of slavery, raised them to a "bad height" in this war of reciprocal cruelty. None, also, were more pitiless than the renegades; Christians who, taken prisoners, bought their freedom by the sacrifice of their faith. These men, often the most energetic and prosperous among the corsairs, were also the most cruel towards their prisoners; and, among them all, none was so cruel as the Arnaout Mami.
Fortunately, interesting details of Cervantes's captivity have come down to us from undoubted and impartial sources, as well as from his own accounts; and these place him in the brightest light as a man of sagacity, resolution, and honour. That these details are not fuller we must lament; but, such as they are, they display so much gallantry and magnanimity on Cervantes's part, that they must be read with the greatest pleasure.
In his tale of the "Captive," Cervantes gives an account of the mode in which captives were treated at Algiers. He says, "There is a prison or house, which the Turks call a bagnio, in which the Christian captives are confined,—those belonging to the king as well as to various individuals; and also those of the Almacen, or slaves of the council, who labour for the town at the public works, or are employed in other offices; who, as they belong to the city, and not to any particular master, have no one with whom to treat concerning their ransom, and are worse off than the others. As I have said; various individuals place their slaves in this bagnio, and principally those whom they expect to be ransomed, because they are kept there more securely. The captives of the king, who expect to be ransomed, are not sent out to work with the rest; and they wear a chain, more as a sign that they are to obtain their freedom than from any other cause: and here many cavaliers and men of birth live, thus marked, and kept for redemption; and although hunger and nakedness might well weary them, nothing brought so much pain as witnessing the unspeakable and frightful cruelties practised towards the Christians. Each day, the dey, who was a Venetian renegade, hanged or impaled some among them; and this from such trifling causes, and often from none at all, that the Turks themselves were aware that he inflicted these cruelties in wantonness, and because it was his natural disposition to be the enemy of the human race. One man only did he treat well, a soldier, by name Saavedra, who, having achieved things that will remain for many years in the memory of that people, and all for the sake of gaining his liberty, yet never received a blow nor an ill word; though it was often thought that for the slightest of the things he did he would be impaled, and he himself often expected it; and, if it were not that I have no time nor place, I would recount what this soldier did, which would indeed excite your admiration and wonder."[59]
In these terms does Cervantes speak of himself in his captivity; and so often are writers accused of boasting that this might have been brought forward as a proof of his vanity merely, but that we have another testimony in a book named "Topography and general History of Algiers, by Father Diego de Haedo[60]," a contemporary; and his account, though not full enough to satisfy our curiosity, yet proves that Cervantes spoke of his deeds with no exaggeration; and that, to attain his liberty, he incurred every risk, and endured a thousand hardships and perils with dauntless courage. As Cervantes often alludes to himself, it is strange that he did not write an account of his years of captivity; but the truth is, that, though we may be led to mention ourselves, it is ever a tedious task to write at length on the subject: recollections come by crowds; hopes baffled, our dearest memories discovered to have a taint, our lives wasted and fallen into contempt even in our own eyes: so that we readily turn from dispiriting realities to such creatures of the imagination as we can fashion according to our liking. But to return.
The account above given of the situation of the captives refers to those best off. The rest were either employed as galley slaves, or in other hard labours. Among the latter Cervantes was probably numbered, as Haedo mentions that his captivity was one of peculiar hardship. Driven to resistance by his sufferings, Cervantes several times endeavoured to obtain his liberty. 1576.
Ætat.
29. His first attempt was made in conjunction with several others, under the design of reaching Oran (a town of Africa, then in possession of Spain,) by land. He and his comrades even contrived to get out of the town of Algiers; but the Moorish guide whom they had engaged deserted them, and they were obliged to return and deliver themselves up to their masters.
Some of his companions, and among them ensign Gabrièl de Castañeda, were ransomed in the middle of the year 1576. Castañeda took letters from the captive brothers to their father, Rodrigo Cervantes, describing their miserable situation. He instantly sold or mortgaged his little property, and, indeed, every thing he possessed, even to the dowry of his daughters, who were not yet married; the whole family being thus reduced to penury. 1577.
Ætat.
30. The entire sum, unhappily, did not suffice for the redemption of both brothers. Miguel accordingly gave up his share to secure the freedom of Rodrigo, who was set free in August, 1577. He promised at parting to get an armed vessel equipped at Valencia or the Balearic isles, which, touching at a place agreed on, near Algiers, would facilitate the escape of his brother and other captives; and he carried with him to this effect several letters from men of high birth, now fallen into the miserable condition of slaves, to various persons in power in Spain.
Meanwhile Cervantes was arranging another plan for escape, nay, he was far advanced in its execution at the time of his brother's departure. The alcayd Hassan, a Greek renegade, possessed a garden three miles from Algiers, close to the sea: in this garden Juan, a slave from Navarre, had contrived to dig a cavern; and here, under the conduct of Cervantes, a number of runaway captives hid themselves till an opportunity should offer for final evasion. Some of them had taken up their abode in the cave since the month of February, 1577: it was dark and damp, but it proved a safe asylum. The numbers increased till they amounted to fifteen. They had only two confidants, both Christians. Juan, the gardener of the alcayd Hassan, who worked near the mouth of the cave, and kept watch for them; and another, a native of Villa de Melilla, a small town of Barbary, subject to the king of Spain. He had become a renegade when a boy, and then again turned Christian, and was now captured for the second time. This man, who was commonly surnamed el Dorador, or the Gilder, had it particularly in charge to supply the fugitives with food and necessaries, buying them with the money given him, and bringing them secretly to the cavern.
The runaways had now been hidden for seven months: the confinement was irksome and unhealthy, and they never breathed the free air of heaven except in the dead of night, when they stole out for a short time into the garden. They often incurred the greatest dangers,—as Haedo says, "what these men suffered in the cavern, and what they said and did, would deserve a particular account." Several fell sick, and all endured incredible hardship; while through all they were supported and encouraged by the firmness and dauntless courage of Cervantes. In the month of September, an opportunity offered itself, as they hoped, for effecting their ultimate escape. A Mallorcan captive, of the name of Mana, accustomed to the sea, and well acquainted with the coast of Barbary, was ransomed; and the captives of the cave agreed with him that he should hire a vessel, either in Mallorca or Spain, and bring it to the neighbourhood of the garden by night, where they could unperceived embark, and sail for their native country. When this was arranged, Cervantes, who had hitherto thought that he served his friends best by remaining in Algiers, made his escape and repaired to the cavern, and remained there.
Viana performed his part with celerity and success. He hired a brigantine at Mallorca, and arrived with it at Algiers on the 28th of September. As had been concerted, he made, in the middle of the night, for the part of the coast where the garden and the cavern were situated. Most unfortunately, however, at the moment when the prow of the brigantine bore down on shore, several Moors passed by, and, perceiving the vessel, and that the crew were Christians, gave the alarm, crying out "Christians! Christians! a vessel! a vessel!" When those on board heard this they were obliged to put out to sea again, and to give up their attempt for that time.