Benabu reminded me, that when war broke out between Spain and Morocco I had allowed the Moorish Minister for Foreign Affairs—Sid Mohammed Khatíb—to deposit about £10,000 in my hands, and he pleaded so earnestly that I gave way.
Taking the key of a cellar where I kept a stock of wine, and which my butler never visited unless I accompanied him, I led the Basha to it.
‘Can no one hear or observe us?’ asked the Basha, as we descended into the cellar. I replied that the servants were all in bed, and that the porter at the gate could not intrude, as I had locked the front door of the Legation.
Bag after bag was extracted from Benabu’s portly person, and deposited in an empty bin, which I selected for that purpose.
I observed to the Basha that the bags were not sealed, being merely tied with string, and offered to fetch sealing-wax, requesting him to mark on each bag its contents.
He declined, saying he really did not know the amount of money each bag contained; and had neither time nor inclination to count the coin, but added, ‘it is all good, and safer in your hands than in a bank.’ By laying some laths on the top of the pile, and then bottles of wine, the treasure was well concealed.
On returning to my study, I took up a sheet of paper and pen, and told the Basha I was about to prepare a receipt, stating that a number of bags without seal, contents unknown, had been deposited by him in my cellar, and that I was not responsible for losses occasioned by fire, robbery, &c. ‘Do you think,’ said the Basha, ‘I am “hamak” [mad] to take such a receipt? Don’t you understand that, going as I am to the Court, I may be searched? If I leave such a document with my wife—no woman can hold her tongue—the secret would be betrayed. My sons are spendthrifts, and not to be depended on.’ I suggested that he should take my receipt and hide it in his house, or bury it in his garden until his return from the Court.
He declined, saying, ‘Walls have ears, trees have eyes, so not only must I decline to take a receipt, but I beg that you will keep no record of having received these bags from me.’ I remonstrated, saying, ‘I may die; my heirs will find the money in the cellar and will rightfully appropriate it, even if you or your heirs were to claim the money, for there will be no proof that you are the rightful owner. You also,’ I added, ‘are in the hands of “Allah,” and may die.’ Benabu replied, ‘We are all in the hands of “Allah.” What is written[32] by the Almighty is written. I have entire confidence in you, and if you die, as you say might happen, and your son and daughters, whom I know and love as my own, got possession of the money—it could not fall into better hands.’
He then took leave, and wishing him ‘God speed,’ I let him out by the garden-door. Summoning the porter, I told him the Basha was leaving for the Court in the morning, and had come to announce his departure; I warned him not to let any one hear of the visit, as it might give offence to other Representatives, upon whom he had not time to call to take leave. ‘Remember,’ I said, ‘you are a soldier of the Basha, and if you betray his visit he may some day mark his displeasure.’
Benabu departed for the Court the following morning, leaving his elder son, who had been his Khalífa, or Lieutenant-Governor, in charge of the government of the province.