The Baroque Cycle - The Confusion Part 2

Moseh had mentioned to him earlier that they lived in something called a banyolar banyolar and Jack reckoned this must be it: a courtyard surrounded by galleries divided into many small cells, one ring of galleries piled upon the next to a height of several storeys. To Jack, the overall design was much like certain old-fas.h.i.+oned theatres that stood along Maid Lane between the marshes of Southwark and the right bank of the Thames, viz. the Rose, the Hope, and the Swan. The big difference, of course, was that those Bankside theatres had armed men trying to keep Jack and Jack reckoned this must be it: a courtyard surrounded by galleries divided into many small cells, one ring of galleries piled upon the next to a height of several storeys. To Jack, the overall design was much like certain old-fas.h.i.+oned theatres that stood along Maid Lane between the marshes of Southwark and the right bank of the Thames, viz. the Rose, the Hope, and the Swan. The big difference, of course, was that those Bankside theatres had armed men trying to keep Jack out out whereas here they were abusing him for not having entered whereas here they were abusing him for not having entered soon soon enough. enough.

This, of course, was no theatre, but a slave-quarters. And yet the galleries, up to and including the flat roof of the banyolar, banyolar, were crowded (at the moment anyway) with free Algerines, and so was most of the courtyard. But one part of that yard, off to one side of its central cistern, had been roped off to form a stage, or ring; and any number of torcheres had been planted around it, so close to one another that their flames practically merged into a square window-frame of fire that shed fair illumination on the empty plot in the center. were crowded (at the moment anyway) with free Algerines, and so was most of the courtyard. But one part of that yard, off to one side of its central cistern, had been roped off to form a stage, or ring; and any number of torcheres had been planted around it, so close to one another that their flames practically merged into a square window-frame of fire that shed fair illumination on the empty plot in the center.

All of the Turks packed turban-to-turban around the galleries were very very excited, and rowdier than any group Jack had ever seen outside of a Vagabond camp. When not jostling for position or transacting elaborate wagers, they were paying close attention to certain preparations underway at the corners of the ring. As far as Jack was concerned, only two attractions could account for this degree of excitement among so many young men; and since excited, and rowdier than any group Jack had ever seen outside of a Vagabond camp. When not jostling for position or transacting elaborate wagers, they were paying close attention to certain preparations underway at the corners of the ring. As far as Jack was concerned, only two attractions could account for this degree of excitement among so many young men; and since s.e.x, s.e.x, for Janissaries, was banned, Jack reckoned that they must be about to witness some form of for Janissaries, was banned, Jack reckoned that they must be about to witness some form of violence. violence.

Following Moseh towards one of the corners of the fiery square, Jack was struck-but not particularly surprised-to discover Yevgeny, stark naked save for leather underpants and a thick coating of oil, and Mr. Foot, dressed up in scarlet finery and shaking a leather purse bloated with what Jack could only a.s.sume was specie. But before Jack could push his way in closer and begin asking questions, Yevgeny went down on his right knee: in and of itself, nothing remarkable. But here it was like setting off a granadoe. Everyone near him flung himself back, making an empty s.p.a.ce with Yevgeny in the center. The crowd in the gallery went silent for a moment-then exploded with cheers of "Rus! Rus! Rus!" "Rus! Rus! Rus!"

Yevgeny spread his arms out to their full seven-foot span, then clapped his hands together, close enough to the ground to raise a puff of dust, then spread his arms again and did the same thing twice more. After the third clap he let his right hand fall to the earth, palm up, then raised it to his face and kissed his fingertips, then touched them to his forehead. During this little ceremony the cheering of "Rus! Rus!" "Rus! Rus!" continued at subdued volume-but now Yevgeny got up and vaulted into the square and the cheering rose to a level that made Jack's ears ring, reminding him of the fifteen-hundred-gun salute. Yevgeny planted his feet in the middle of the square and adopted a strangely insouciant pose: supporting his left elbow in his cupped right hand, he rested his head on his left hand, and froze in that position. continued at subdued volume-but now Yevgeny got up and vaulted into the square and the cheering rose to a level that made Jack's ears ring, reminding him of the fifteen-hundred-gun salute. Yevgeny planted his feet in the middle of the square and adopted a strangely insouciant pose: supporting his left elbow in his cupped right hand, he rested his head on his left hand, and froze in that position.

Nothing changed for several minutes, except that the torcheres blazed and the cheers rang down from the deepening night sky. Finally another well-lubricated man in leather underpants performed the same series of movements and ended up standing next to Yevgeny in the same pose: this was a very dark-skinned Negro, not as tall as Yevgeny, but heavier. The cheering redoubled. Mr. Foot, who had added an expensive-looking cape to his ensemble, now came into the ring and hollered some sort of announcement up into the galleries, turning slowly round as he did, so that every member of the audience could inspect his tonsils even if hearing him was out of the question. Having concluded this, he scurried out of the ring. Yevgeny and the Negro turned to face each other in the middle of the fiery ring. Soon they had clasped their hands together, palm to palm like children playing at pat-a-cake. Rearing their heads back they smashed their faces together as hard as they could. Jack was startled; then they reared back like vipers preparing to strike, and did it a second second time, and he was fascinated. Then they did it a time, and he was fascinated. Then they did it a third third time, with no less violence, and Jack started to be appalled, wondering whether they would continue it until one of them was left senseless. But then they let go of each other and staggered apart with blood running down their faces from lacerations on their brows. time, with no less violence, and Jack started to be appalled, wondering whether they would continue it until one of them was left senseless. But then they let go of each other and staggered apart with blood running down their faces from lacerations on their brows.

Now, finally, they got down to the actual business at hand: wrestling. And this was not greatly different from most other wrestling matches Jack had seen, except messier. Immediately both men got oil on their hands, then had to back away from each other and rub their palms on the ground to pick up dirt, which was shortly transferred to their bodies the next time they closed. So within a few minutes Yevgeny and the Negro were covered head-to-toe in a paste of blood, sweat, oil, and Algerian dust. Yevgeny had a wide stance, but the Negro knew how to keep his weight low, and so neither could throw the other. The crisis occurred several minutes into the bout when the African got a grip on Yevgeny's t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es and squeezed, which was a good idea, while looking up expectantly into Yevgeny's face, which wasn't. For Yevgeny accepted the ball-squeezing with a forbearance that made Jack's blood run a little cool, and paid the Negro back with another vicious downward head-b.u.t.t that produced a clearly visible explosion of blood and audible splintering noises. The African let go of Yevgeny's private parts the better to clap both hands over his devastated face, and Yevgeny easily threw him into the dust-which ended the match.

"Rus! Rus! Ruuuuus!" howled the worthies of the howled the worthies of the ocak. ocak. Yevgeny paraded around the ring, looking philosophical, and Mr. Foot pursued him holding up a yawning purse into which Turks flung money-mostly, whole pieces of eight. Jack liked the looks of this-until the whole purse was delivered direct into the hands of a large Turkish gentleman who was sitting on a sort of litter at ringside, his feet mummified in white linen and propped up on an ottoman. Yevgeny paraded around the ring, looking philosophical, and Mr. Foot pursued him holding up a yawning purse into which Turks flung money-mostly, whole pieces of eight. Jack liked the looks of this-until the whole purse was delivered direct into the hands of a large Turkish gentleman who was sitting on a sort of litter at ringside, his feet mummified in white linen and propped up on an ottoman.

"IN R RUSSIA, I I BELONGED BELONGED to a secret society, wherein we trained one another to feel no pain under torture," Yevgeny said, offhandedly, later. to a secret society, wherein we trained one another to feel no pain under torture," Yevgeny said, offhandedly, later.

This remark dampened all conversation for a few minutes, and Jack took stock of his situation.

After a long series of wrestling-bouts, the torcheres had been extinguished and the Turks and free Algerines had departed, leaving the banyolar banyolar to the slaves. Both the starboard and the larboard oars, in their entirety, had now convened on the roof of the to the slaves. Both the starboard and the larboard oars, in their entirety, had now convened on the roof of the banyolar banyolar to smoke pipes. The night was nearly moonless, with only the merest crescent creeping across the sky-out over the Sahara, as Jack supposed. Consequently there were more stars out than Jack had ever seen. A few lights glimmered from the embrasures of the Kasba, but other than that, it seemed that these ten galley-slaves had the night to themselves: to smoke pipes. The night was nearly moonless, with only the merest crescent creeping across the sky-out over the Sahara, as Jack supposed. Consequently there were more stars out than Jack had ever seen. A few lights glimmered from the embrasures of the Kasba, but other than that, it seemed that these ten galley-slaves had the night to themselves: Larboard Oar Y YEVGENY THE R RASKOLNIK, a.k.a. "Rus"MR. F FOOT, ex-proprietor of the Bomb & Grapnel, Dunkirk,and now entrepreneur-without-portfolioDAPPA, a Neeger linguistJERONIMO, a vile but high-born SpaniardNYAZI, a camel-trader of the Upper Nile Starboard Oar "H "HALF-c.o.c.kED" J JACK S SHAFTOE, L'Emmerdeur, L'Emmerdeur, King of the Vagabonds King of the VagabondsMOSEH DE LA C CRUZ, the Kohan with the PlanGABRIEL G GOTO, a Jesuit Priest of NipponOTTO VAN H HOEK, a Dutch marinerVREJ E ESPHAHNIAN, youngest of the Paris Esphahniansfor the Armenian they'd picked up in the market was none other*

"We are held captive in this city by the ineffable will of the market," Moseh de la Cruz began.

These words sounded to Jack like the beginning of a well-rehea.r.s.ed, and very long presentation, and so he was not slow to interrupt.

"Pah! What market can you possibly be talking about?" But looking around at the others it seemed that he was the only one showing the least bit of skepticism.

"Why, the market in tutsaklar tutsaklar ransom futures, which is three doors down yonder alley-way, on the left," Moseh said, pointing. "It is a place where anyone with money can buy into the deed of a ransom futures, which is three doors down yonder alley-way, on the left," Moseh said, pointing. "It is a place where anyone with money can buy into the deed of a tutsaklar, tutsaklar, which means, captive of war-thereby speculating that one day that person will be ransomed, in which event all of the shareholders divide up the ransom, minus certain duties, taxes, fees, which means, captive of war-thereby speculating that one day that person will be ransomed, in which event all of the shareholders divide up the ransom, minus certain duties, taxes, fees, et cetera, et cetera, levied by the Pasha. It is the city's primary source of revenue and foreign exchange-" levied by the Pasha. It is the city's primary source of revenue and foreign exchange-"

"All right, pardon me, I did not know that, and supposed you were framing some occult similitude," Jack said.

"As I watched Yevgeny's bout this evening," Moseh continued, "it came to me that said market is a sort of Invisible Hand that grips us all by the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es-"

"Hold, hold! Are you babbling some manner of Cabbalistic superst.i.tion now?"

"No, Jack, now now I am using a similitude. For there is no Invisible Hand-but there might as well be." I am using a similitude. For there is no Invisible Hand-but there might as well be."

"Very good-pray continue."

"The workings of the market dictate that tutsaklar tutsaklar who are likely to be ransomed, and for large fees, are well-treated-" who are likely to be ransomed, and for large fees, are well-treated-"

"And ones like us end up as galley-slaves," Jack said. "And 'tis clear enough to me why I I am a.s.sessed a low value by this market, and my nuts gripped most oppressively by the Invisible Hand of which you spoke. Likewise, Mr. Foot is broke, Yevgeny's of a daft sect whose members torture one another, Dappa is persona non grata in all lands south of the Sahara, Vrej Esphahnian's family is chronically ill-funded. Senor Jeronimo, whatever fine qualities he may possess that I haven't seen evidence of yet, is not the sort that anyone who has spent much time with him would be disposed to pay a lot of ransom for. I know not the tale of Nyazi but can guess it. Gabriel is on the wrong side of the f.u.c.king world. All plain enough. But van Hoek is some kind of a naval officer, and you are an intelligent-seeming Jew-why have you two not been ransomed?" am a.s.sessed a low value by this market, and my nuts gripped most oppressively by the Invisible Hand of which you spoke. Likewise, Mr. Foot is broke, Yevgeny's of a daft sect whose members torture one another, Dappa is persona non grata in all lands south of the Sahara, Vrej Esphahnian's family is chronically ill-funded. Senor Jeronimo, whatever fine qualities he may possess that I haven't seen evidence of yet, is not the sort that anyone who has spent much time with him would be disposed to pay a lot of ransom for. I know not the tale of Nyazi but can guess it. Gabriel is on the wrong side of the f.u.c.king world. All plain enough. But van Hoek is some kind of a naval officer, and you are an intelligent-seeming Jew-why have you two not been ransomed?"

"My parents died of the Plague that ravaged Amsterdam when Cromwell cut off our foreign trade, and so many honest Dutchman were cast out of their homes and took to sleeping in pestilential places-" van Hoek began, rather peevishly.

"Avast, Cap'n! Do I look like a Roundhead? 'Twasn't my my doing!" doing!"

"I was suckled by government-issue wet-nurses at the Civic Orphanage. The worthies of the Reformed Church taught me reading and figures, bless them, but in time I grew up into a difficult boy."

"Fancy that-who would've expected it from a short, Dutch, ill-tempered, red-headed step-child?" Jack exclaimed. "Still, I'd think some corsair-captain could find a use for you more exalted than barnacle-sc.r.a.per."

"When I was eighteen, the ca.n.a.ls froze, and King Louis's troops swarmed over them on ice-skates, raping everything that moved and burning all else. The Dutch Republic prepared to take s.h.i.+p and move to Asia en ma.s.se. Seamen were wanted. I was sprung from jail and compelled to join the V.O.C.* Following the refugees north, I went to Texel, where I was issued a sea-chest containing clothes, pipes, tobacco, a Bible, and a book called Following the refugees north, I went to Texel, where I was issued a sea-chest containing clothes, pipes, tobacco, a Bible, and a book called The G.o.d-Fearing Sailor. The G.o.d-Fearing Sailor. Twenty-four hours later I was on a man-o'-war in the Narrow Seas dodging English grape-shot and lugging sacks of gunpowder. That, and a year of manning pumps, made me a sailor. Thrice I sailed to India and back, and that made me an officer." Twenty-four hours later I was on a man-o'-war in the Narrow Seas dodging English grape-shot and lugging sacks of gunpowder. That, and a year of manning pumps, made me a sailor. Thrice I sailed to India and back, and that made me an officer."

"Fine! Why're you not an officer here here?"

"A dozen years I lived in continual fear of pirates. Finally all of my nightmares came true and my s.h.i.+p was stolen from me-you can see her riding at anchor in the harbor some days, flying the Turk's flag, and if you c.o.c.k an ear, and the wind's right, you can hear the lamentations of the captives she has taken, being brought in to wait for ransom."

"I am beginning to collect that you have a certain dislike of pirates and their works," Jack said, "as any upright Dutchman should, should, I suppose." I suppose."

"Van Hoek refuses to turn Turk-so he rows alongside us," Moseh said.

"What of you, Moseh? Reputedly, Jews stick together."

"I am a crypto-Jew," Moseh said. "In fact, more Crypto than Jew. I grew up on the Equator. There is an island off the coast of Africa called Sao Tome, which is the sovereign soil of whichever European country has most recently sent a fleet down there to bombard it. But for many years only the Portuguese knew where the h.e.l.l it was and so it was Portuguese. Now, my ancestors were Spanish Jews. But two hundred years ago, in the very same year that the Moors were finally driven from Spain, and America discovered, Queen Isabella threw all of the Jews out. Those who, in retrospect, were intelligent, intelligent, put on the stockings of Villa Diego-which is an expression meaning that they ran like h.e.l.l-and settled in Amsterdam. put on the stockings of Villa Diego-which is an expression meaning that they ran like h.e.l.l-and settled in Amsterdam. My My ancestors simply edged across the border to Portugal. But the Inquisition was there, too. When Alvaro de Caminha went down to Sao Tome to be its governor, he took with him two thousand Jewish children whom the Inquisition had torn from the bosoms of their families. Sao Tome had a monopoly on the slave trade in that part of the world-Alvaro de Caminha baptized those two thousand and put 'em to work in its management. But in secret they kept their faith alive, performing half-remembered rituals behind locked doors, and muttering in broken Hebrew even as they knelt before the gilded table where the body and blood of Christ were dished up. Those were my ancestors. Almost fifty years ago, the Dutch came and seized Sao Tome. But this probably saved my father's parents' lives, for, in all the lands controlled by Spain and Portugal, the Inquisition went on a rampage after that. Instead of being roasted alive in some Portuguese ancestors simply edged across the border to Portugal. But the Inquisition was there, too. When Alvaro de Caminha went down to Sao Tome to be its governor, he took with him two thousand Jewish children whom the Inquisition had torn from the bosoms of their families. Sao Tome had a monopoly on the slave trade in that part of the world-Alvaro de Caminha baptized those two thousand and put 'em to work in its management. But in secret they kept their faith alive, performing half-remembered rituals behind locked doors, and muttering in broken Hebrew even as they knelt before the gilded table where the body and blood of Christ were dished up. Those were my ancestors. Almost fifty years ago, the Dutch came and seized Sao Tome. But this probably saved my father's parents' lives, for, in all the lands controlled by Spain and Portugal, the Inquisition went on a rampage after that. Instead of being roasted alive in some Portuguese auto da fe, auto da fe, my father's parents moved to New Amsterdam and worked for the Dutch West India Company in the slave trade, which was all they knew how to do. Later the Duke of York's fleet came and took that city for the English, but not before my father had grown up and taken a Manhatto la.s.s for his wife-" my father's parents moved to New Amsterdam and worked for the Dutch West India Company in the slave trade, which was all they knew how to do. Later the Duke of York's fleet came and took that city for the English, but not before my father had grown up and taken a Manhatto la.s.s for his wife-"

"What the h.e.l.l is a Manhatto?"

"A type of local Indian," Moseh explained.

"I thought there was a certain je ne sais quoi je ne sais quoi about your nose and eyes," Jack said. about your nose and eyes," Jack said.

Moseh's face-illuminated primarily by the red glow of his pipe-bowl-now took on a sentimental, faraway look that made Jack instinctively queasy. Undoing the top-most b.u.t.ton of his ragged s.h.i.+rt, Moseh drew out a sc.r.a.p of stuff that dangled round his neck on a leather thong: some sort of heathen handicraft-work. "It is probably not easy for you to see this tchotchke, in this wretched light," he said, "but the third bead from the edge in the fourth row, here-it is a sort of off-white-is one of the very beads that the Dutchman, Peter Minuit, traded to the Manhattoes for their island, some sixty years ago, when Mama was a little papoose."

"Jesus Christ, you should hang on to that!" Jack exclaimed.

"I have been have been hanging onto it," Moseh returned, showing mild irritation for the first time, "as any imbecile can see." hanging onto it," Moseh returned, showing mild irritation for the first time, "as any imbecile can see."

"Do you have any conception of what it could be worth!?"

"Next to nothing-but to me, it is priceless, because I had it from Mama. At any rate-getting on with the story-my parents put on the stockings of Villa Diego and ended up in Curacao and there I was born. Mama died of smallpox, Papa of yellow fever. I fell in with a community of crypto-Jews who had collected there, for lack of any other place to go. We decided to strike out for Amsterdam, which was where our ancestors should have simply gone in the first place, and seek our fortunes there. As a group, we bought pa.s.sage on a slave-s.h.i.+p bringing sugar back to Europe. But this s.h.i.+p was captured by the corsairs of Rabat, and we all ended up galley-slaves together, rowing to the strains of the Hava Negila; which, owing to its tiresome knack for getting stuck in the head, was the only Jewish song we knew."

"All right," Jack said, "I am satisfied, now, that it is true what you said: namely that the Invisible Hand of yonder market is gripping our cojones cojones just like that Nubian wrestler did Yevgeny's. And now I suppose you're going to say we should all do like the Rus and ignore the pain and swelling and score some sort of magnificent triumph of the human spirit, or some s.h.i.+t like that. Anyway, I am willing to listen, as it seems preferable to bedding down in the just like that Nubian wrestler did Yevgeny's. And now I suppose you're going to say we should all do like the Rus and ignore the pain and swelling and score some sort of magnificent triumph of the human spirit, or some s.h.i.+t like that. Anyway, I am willing to listen, as it seems preferable to bedding down in the banyolar banyolar to listen to the antiphonal coughing of a thousand consumptive oar-slaves." to listen to the antiphonal coughing of a thousand consumptive oar-slaves."

"The Plan will no doubt strike you as implausible, until Jeronimo, here, has acquainted us with certain amazing facts," said Moseh, turning toward the twitchy Spaniard, who now stood up and bowed most courteously in Moseh's direction.

The vain-glory vain-glory which consisteth in the feigning or supposing of abilities in ourselves, which we know are not, is most incident to young men, and nourished by the histories, or fictions of gallant persons; and is corrected oftentimes by age, and employment. which consisteth in the feigning or supposing of abilities in ourselves, which we know are not, is most incident to young men, and nourished by the histories, or fictions of gallant persons; and is corrected oftentimes by age, and employment.-HOBBES, Leviathan Leviathan "My name is Excellentissimo Domino Jeronimo Alejandro Penasco de Halcones Quinto, Marchioni de Azuaga et de Hornachos, Comiti de Llerena, Barcarrota, et de Jerez de los Caballeros, Vicecomiti de Llera, Entrin Alto y Bajo, et de Cabeza del Buey, Baroni de Barrax, Baza, Nerva, Jadraque, Brazatortas, Gargantiel, et de Val de las Muertas, Domino Domus de Atalaya, Ordinis Equestris Calatravae Beneficiario de la Fresneda. As you have guessed from my name, I am of a great family of Caballeros who, of old, were mighty warriors for Christendom, and famous Moor-killers even back unto the time of the Song of Roland-but that is another story, and a more glorious one than mine. I have only dim tear-streaked memories of the place of my birth: a castle on a precipitous crag in the Sierra de Machado, built on land of no value, save that my forefathers had paid for it with blood, wresting it from the Moors, inch by inch and yard by yard, at sword-and dagger-point. When I was only a few years of age, and just beginning to talk, I was taken out of that place in a sealed black carriage and brought down the high arroyos of the Guadalquivir and delivered into the hands of certain nuns who took me on board a galleon at Seville. There followed a long and terrifying pa.s.sage to New Spain, of which I remember little, and will relate less. Suffice it to say that the next time I set foot on dry land I was treading on silver. The s.h.i.+p had taken me and the nuns, as well as many other Spaniards, to Porto Belo. As you may know, this lies on the Caribbean sh.o.r.e of Panama, at the very narrowest part of that isthmus, and directly across from the City of Panama, which shelters on the Pacific side. All of the silver that comes from the fabulous mines of Peru (save what is smuggled over the Andes and down the Rio de la Plata to Argentina, that is) is s.h.i.+pped up to Panama and thence borne over the isthmus by mule-train to Porto Belo, where it is loaded on treasure-galleons for the pa.s.sage back to Spain. So you will understand that when Porto Belo is expecting those galleons-such as the one on which I had arrived-bars of silver are simply piled in heaps on the ground, like cord-wood. Which is how it came to pa.s.s that, when I disembarked from the lighter that had brought me and the nuns in from the galleon, the first thing my foot touched was silver-an omen of what was to happen to me later, which in turn, G.o.d willing, is only a foreshadowing of the adventure that awaits us ten."

"I believe I can speak for all the other nine in saying you have our full attention, there, Excellentissimo-" Jack began, amiably enough; but the Spaniard cut him off, saying, "Shut up! Or I'll cut off what remains of your poxy yard and ram it down your Protestant throat with my hard nine inches!"

Before Jack could take exception to this, Jeronimo continued as if it hadn't happened: "Not for long did I linger in this El Dorado, for we were met at dockside by a wagon, driven by nuns of the same order, save that these were Indias. Indias. We traveled up winding tracks out of the jungle and into the mountains of Darien, and at last came to a convent that, as I then understood, was to be my new home; and my misery at having been torn from the bosom of my family was only made more We traveled up winding tracks out of the jungle and into the mountains of Darien, and at last came to a convent that, as I then understood, was to be my new home; and my misery at having been torn from the bosom of my family was only made more doloroso doloroso by the resemblance of this nunnery to my ancestral home. For this, too, was a vertiginous fortress rising out of a crag, making queer moans and whistles as the trans-isthmian gales blew across its narrow cross-shaped embrasures. by the resemblance of this nunnery to my ancestral home. For this, too, was a vertiginous fortress rising out of a crag, making queer moans and whistles as the trans-isthmian gales blew across its narrow cross-shaped embrasures.

"Those sounds were almost the only ones that reached my ears until I had grown up, for these nuns had taken a vow of silence-and in any case, I soon enough learned that the Indias Indias came from a certain vale in the mountains where in-breeding had been practiced on a scale exceeding even that of the Hapsburg Dynasty, and none of them could hear. The only speech I ever heard was that of the carters and drovers who came up the mountain to bring victuals, and of the several other guests who, like me, were the beneficiaries of the nuns' Christian hospitality. For at no time were there fewer than half a dozen residents in the guest-house: men and women both-who, judging from their clothes and personal effects, were of gentle or even n.o.ble families. My fellow-guests appeared healthy, but behaved strangely: some spoke in garbled words, or remained as mute as the nuns, others were continually tormented by fiendish visions, or were imbeciles, unable to remember events that had occurred a mere quarter of an hour previously. Men who had been kicked in the head by horses, women whose pupils were of different sizes. Some spent all of their time locked in their rooms, or tied into their beds, by the nuns. But I had the run of the place. came from a certain vale in the mountains where in-breeding had been practiced on a scale exceeding even that of the Hapsburg Dynasty, and none of them could hear. The only speech I ever heard was that of the carters and drovers who came up the mountain to bring victuals, and of the several other guests who, like me, were the beneficiaries of the nuns' Christian hospitality. For at no time were there fewer than half a dozen residents in the guest-house: men and women both-who, judging from their clothes and personal effects, were of gentle or even n.o.ble families. My fellow-guests appeared healthy, but behaved strangely: some spoke in garbled words, or remained as mute as the nuns, others were continually tormented by fiendish visions, or were imbeciles, unable to remember events that had occurred a mere quarter of an hour previously. Men who had been kicked in the head by horses, women whose pupils were of different sizes. Some spent all of their time locked in their rooms, or tied into their beds, by the nuns. But I had the run of the place.

"In due time I was taught to read and write, and began to exchange letters with my beloved Mama in Spain. I told her in one such letter that I could not understand why I was being raised in this place. The letter went down the mountain in a donkey-cart and traversed the ocean in the hold of one of a fleet of treasure-galleons, and about eight months later I had my answer: Mama told me that, at the time of my birth, G.o.d had blessed me with a gift given only to a few, which was that I fearlessly spoke the truth that was in my heart, and said what everyone else was secretly thinking, but too cowardly to voice. She told me that it was a gift normally given only to the angels, but that I had been granted it in a sort of miracle; but that in this fallen and corrupt world, many were the benighted, who hated and feared aught that was of the angels, and who would surely abuse and oppress me. Hence my dear Mama had broken her own heart by sending me away to be raised by women who were nearer to G.o.d than any in Spain, and who, in any case, could not hear me.

"Satisfied, though never happy, with this explanation, I applied myself to the improvement of my mind and spirit: my mind mind by reading the ancient books that Mama s.h.i.+pped over from the library of our castle in Estremaduras, which told the tales of my ancestors' wars against the Saracens during the Crusades and the Reconquista, and my by reading the ancient books that Mama s.h.i.+pped over from the library of our castle in Estremaduras, which told the tales of my ancestors' wars against the Saracens during the Crusades and the Reconquista, and my spirit spirit by studying catechism and-at the behest of the nuns-praying, an hour a day, for the intercession of a particular Saint who was depicted in a stained-gla.s.s window in a side-chapel of the church. This was Saint etienne de la Tourette, and his emblems were as follows: in his right hand, the sailmaker's needle and thong with which his lips had been sewn shut by a certain Baron, and in his left, the iron tongs with which his tongue, on a later occasion, had been ripped out by the Bishop of Metz, who was later canonized as St. Absalom the Serene. Though at the time the significance of these tokens did not really penetrate my thoughts. by studying catechism and-at the behest of the nuns-praying, an hour a day, for the intercession of a particular Saint who was depicted in a stained-gla.s.s window in a side-chapel of the church. This was Saint etienne de la Tourette, and his emblems were as follows: in his right hand, the sailmaker's needle and thong with which his lips had been sewn shut by a certain Baron, and in his left, the iron tongs with which his tongue, on a later occasion, had been ripped out by the Bishop of Metz, who was later canonized as St. Absalom the Serene. Though at the time the significance of these tokens did not really penetrate my thoughts.

"But my body body was never developed until one day, around the time my voice changed, when a new visitor came to lodge with us: a tall and handsome Caballero with a hole in the center of his forehead, something like a third eye. This was Carlos Olancho Macho y Macho: a great sea-captain renowned throughout New Spain for his magnificent exploits against the boca-neers who infest the Caribbean (which-never mind what the was never developed until one day, around the time my voice changed, when a new visitor came to lodge with us: a tall and handsome Caballero with a hole in the center of his forehead, something like a third eye. This was Carlos Olancho Macho y Macho: a great sea-captain renowned throughout New Spain for his magnificent exploits against the boca-neers who infest the Caribbean (which-never mind what the English English think of it-is, to us, a pit of vipers lying astride the route from our treasure-ports to Spain; a gantlet of fire, flying lead, and b.l.o.o.d.y cutla.s.ses that must be run by every one of our galleons). Many were the pirates who had been slain by Carlos Olancho Macho y Macho, or El Torbellino as he was called in less formal settings, and a score of galleons would not carry all the silver he had kept out of the clutches of the Protestants. But in a struggle against the pirate-armada of Captain Morgan, off the Archipielago de los Colorados, he had taken this pistol-ball between his eyes. Ever since he had been moody to an extent that put all around him-especially his superior officers-in fear of their lives, and he had been unable to put ideas into words, unless he wrote those words backwards, with his left hand, while looking into a mirror-which had proved to be fatally impractical in the heat of battle. And so with great reluctance El Torbellino had agreed to be pensioned off to this nunnery. Every day he knelt beside me in the side-chapel and prayed for the intercession of St. Nicolaas of Frisia, whose emblem was a Viking broad-axe embedded in the exact centerline of his tonsure: a wound that had given him the miraculous gift of understanding the speech of terns. think of it-is, to us, a pit of vipers lying astride the route from our treasure-ports to Spain; a gantlet of fire, flying lead, and b.l.o.o.d.y cutla.s.ses that must be run by every one of our galleons). Many were the pirates who had been slain by Carlos Olancho Macho y Macho, or El Torbellino as he was called in less formal settings, and a score of galleons would not carry all the silver he had kept out of the clutches of the Protestants. But in a struggle against the pirate-armada of Captain Morgan, off the Archipielago de los Colorados, he had taken this pistol-ball between his eyes. Ever since he had been moody to an extent that put all around him-especially his superior officers-in fear of their lives, and he had been unable to put ideas into words, unless he wrote those words backwards, with his left hand, while looking into a mirror-which had proved to be fatally impractical in the heat of battle. And so with great reluctance El Torbellino had agreed to be pensioned off to this nunnery. Every day he knelt beside me in the side-chapel and prayed for the intercession of St. Nicolaas of Frisia, whose emblem was a Viking broad-axe embedded in the exact centerline of his tonsure: a wound that had given him the miraculous gift of understanding the speech of terns.

"Now I will encompa.s.s the entirety of several years in one sentence: El Torbellino taught me, of the arts of war, everything he knew; as well as some things I suspect he made up on the spur of the moment. In this way he brought the phant'sies and romance of those musty old books within my reach. But not within my grasp; for never mind my skill with the cutla.s.s, the rapier, the dagger, pistol, and musket. I still lived in a nunnery in Darien. As I grew into the fullness of manhood, I began to make a plan of escaping to the coast, and perhaps raising a crew of sea-dogs, and going out on the Caribbean to hunt for boca-neers, and, after making a name for myself, offering my services as privateer to King Carlos II. That King was in my thoughts every day: El Torbellino and I would kneel before the image of St. Lemuel, whose emblem was the basket he had been carried around in, and pray on His Majesty's behalf.

"But as it happened, before I could go out and find the pirates, they came to me.

"Even men such as you, so ignorant and stupid, probably know that some years ago Captain Morgan sailed from Jamaica with an armada; sacked and pillaged Porto Belo; and then crossed the isthmus at the head of an army and laid waste to the city of Panama itself. At the time of this atrocity, El Torbellino and I were off on a long hunting trip in the mountains. We were trying to find and kill one of the were-jaguars that are spoken of, with such apparent sincerity, by the Indios Indios..."

"Did you catch one?" Jack asked, unable to contain himself.

"That is another tale," said Jeronimo with obvious regret, and uncharacteristic self-restraint. "We ranged far down the isthmus, and were a long time returning, because of los parasitos los parasitos of which the less said the better. During our absence, Morgan's fleet had fallen upon Porto Belo, and his advance parties had begun to penetrate the interior, searching for the best way over the divide. One of these, comprising perhaps two dozen sea-sc.u.m, had come upon the nunnery, and were well advanced in sacking it. As El Torbellino and I approached, we could hear the shattering of the stained-gla.s.s windows, and the cries and moans of the nuns who were being dishonored-the only sounds I had ever heard from their lips. of which the less said the better. During our absence, Morgan's fleet had fallen upon Porto Belo, and his advance parties had begun to penetrate the interior, searching for the best way over the divide. One of these, comprising perhaps two dozen sea-sc.u.m, had come upon the nunnery, and were well advanced in sacking it. As El Torbellino and I approached, we could hear the shattering of the stained-gla.s.s windows, and the cries and moans of the nuns who were being dishonored-the only sounds I had ever heard from their lips.

"El Torbellino and I were armed with all of the necessaries that two gentlemen would normally take on a long were-jaguar-hunting campaign in the ravenous and all-destroying jungles of Darien, and we had the advantage of surprise; furthermore, we were on the side of G.o.d, and we were very, very angry. Yet these advantages might have gone for naught, at least in my case, for I was untested in battle. And it is universally known that many are the young men who have filled their heads with romantic legends, and who dream of fighting gloriously in battle-but who, when plunged into a real flesh-and-blood conflict, with all of its shock, confusion, and gore, become paralyzed, or else throw down their weapons and flee.

"As it turned out, I was not one of those. El Torbellino and I burst out of the jungle and fell upon those drunken boca-neers like a pair of rabid were-jaguars descending upon a sheep-fold. The violence was exquisite. El Torbellino killed more than I, of course, but many an Ingles Ingles tasted my steel on that day, and, to summarize a very disagreeable story, the surviving nuns carred barrow-loads of viscera into the jungle to be torn by the condors. tasted my steel on that day, and, to summarize a very disagreeable story, the surviving nuns carred barrow-loads of viscera into the jungle to be torn by the condors.

"We knew that this was no more than an advance-party, and so we then turned our energies to fortifying the place, and teaching the nuns how to load and fire matchlocks. When the main force arrived-several hundred of Captain Morgan's rum-drenched irregulars-we gave them a warm Spanish welcome, and decorated the court with a few score bodies before they forced their way in. After that it was hand-to-hand combat. El Torbellino died, impaled on thirteen blades as he stood in the infirmary door, and I fought on for some while despite having been b.u.t.t-stroked in the jaw with a musket. The commander outside ordered his men to withdraw and regroup. Before they could make another attack-which certainly would have killed me-he received word from Captain Morgan that another way over the mountains had been found, and that he should disengage and go via that route. Seeing that there was more profit, and less peril, in sacking a rich city, defended by poltroons, than a modest convent, defended by a single man who was not afraid to die in glory, the pirates left us alone.

"So both Porto Belo and Panama were sacked and destroyed anyway. Despite this-or perhaps because of it-the story of how El Torbellino and I had defended the nunnery created a sensation in Lima and Mexico City, and I was made out to be a great hero-perhaps the only hero of the entire episode, for the performance of those who had been charged with defending Panama was too miserable to be related in polite company.

"I knew nothing of this, for I had fallen gravely ill of my wounds, as well as various tropical maladies picked up on the were-jaguar-hunt which only now were coming into their full flower. I had taken leave of my senses, despite the prodigious bleedings, and volcanic purges, administered every day by doctors who came to the convent during the aftermath of the battles I have described. When next I was aware of my surroundings, I was on a galleon coasting along the Bahia de Campeche, approaching Vera Cruz, which, as even b.u.mpkins such as you may understand, is the sea-port most convenient to Mexico City. I could not open my mouth. A Jesuit doctor explained to me that my jaw-bone had been fractured by the blow of the musket-b.u.t.t, and that bandages had been wound tightly round my head to clench my jaw shut and hold all in place until the bone knit. In the meantime my left front tooth had been punched out to create a small orifice through which a paste of milk and ground maize was injected, using a sort of bellows, three times a day.

"In due time we threaded the Western Channel of Vera Cruz and dropped anchor under the walls of the castle, there, then waited out a sandstorm, then another, and finally went ash.o.r.e, forcing our way through fog-banks of gnats, and keeping our pistols at the ready in the event of alligators. We parleyed with the crowd of Negro and Mulatto mule-thieves who make up the citizenry, and arranged for transportation to the City. The town was crowded with shabby wooden houses, all boarded up-it was explained to me that these were the property of white men, who flocked to town when the treasure-fleet was forming up around the Castle, but otherwise retired to haciendas up-country, which were more salubrious in every way. The only part of Vera Cruz that can be called civilized is the square of the churches and the Governor's house, where a company of troops is garrisoned. When the officer in charge there was informed of my arrival, he had his artillery-men fire a salute from their field-pieces, and gladly wrote out a pa.s.s for me to travel to the Capital. So we rode out of the landward gate, which had been wedged open by a pa.s.sing dune, and began our pa.s.sage west.

"The less said about this journey, the better.

"Mexico City turned out to be everything that Vera Cruz was not in the way of beauty, magnificence, and order. It rises from a lake, joined to the sh.o.r.e by five causeways, each with its own gate. All of the land is owned by the Church and so it is, perforce, a most pious city, in that there is no place to live unless one joins a holy order. There are a score of nunneries and even more monasteries, all of them rich, and besides that a numerous rabble of criollos criollos who sleep in the streets and are forever committing outrages. The Cathedral can only be called stupendous, having a staff of between three and four hundred, headed by an Archbishop who is paid sixty thousand pieces of eight a year. I mention these facts only to convey how impressed I was; had my jaw not been lashed shut by many yards of linen, it would have hung open for a week. who sleep in the streets and are forever committing outrages. The Cathedral can only be called stupendous, having a staff of between three and four hundred, headed by an Archbishop who is paid sixty thousand pieces of eight a year. I mention these facts only to convey how impressed I was; had my jaw not been lashed shut by many yards of linen, it would have hung open for a week.

"For several days I was squired around town and feted by various important men including the Viceroy and his wife: a d.u.c.h.ess of very high birth, who looked like a horse when the lips are pulled back to inspect the teeth. Of course I could not eat any of the fine meals that were set before me, but I learned to drink wine through a hollow reed. Likewise I could not address my hosts, but I could write after-dinner speeches, which I did in the heroic old-fas.h.i.+oned style I'd learned from those family histories. These were very well received.

"Now I am come to the part of my Narration where I must summarize many years' events quickly. I think you know what occurs next: in time the bandage came off my jaw and I was conveyed to the Cathedral where, in a splendid Ma.s.s, I was knighted by the Viceroy.

"When the ceremony was finished, the Archbishop came up to give his compliments to me, and to the Viceroy, and to the Viceroy's wife, whom he praised for her chast.i.ty and her beauty.

"To which I said as follows: that this was certainly the most wretched piece of brown-nosing I had ever heard, for whenever I laid eyes on the Viceroy's wife I could not decide whether to give her the vigorous b.u.t.t-f.u.c.king she so obviously craved, or to climb on her back and ride her around the zocalo zocalo firing pistols in the air. firing pistols in the air.

"The Viceroy clapped me in irons and put me in a bad place for a long time, where I probably should have died.

"Letters made their way down the King's Highway to Vera Cruz and into the holds of galleons, to Havana and finally to Madrid, and other letters returned, and evidently some sort of explanation was proffered, and an arrangement made. After a while I was moved to an apartment where I recovered my health, and then I was conveyed back down to Vera Cruz and given command of a three-masted s.h.i.+p of thirty-two guns, and a fair crew, and told to go out and kill pirates and come ash.o.r.e as infrequently as possible until I was given other instructions.

"And here I could cite any amount of statistics concerning tonnage of pirate-s.h.i.+ps sunk and pieces of eight recovered for the King and the Church, but for me the highest honor was that, among the boca-neers, I became known as the second coming of El Torbellino. I was given the name El Desamparado, which I will now explain to you ignorant filth who know not its meaning. 'Desamparado' is a holy word to those of us who profess the True Faith, for it is the very last word uttered by Our Lord during His agony on the Holy Rood-"

"What's it mean," asked Jack, "and why'd they paste it on you, who already had such a surfeit of other names?"

"It means, Forsaken by G.o.d. For tales of my struggles, and my confinement in the dungeons of Mexico, had preceded me; from which even one such as you, Jack, who has parts missing both fore and aft, may understand why I was called this. Know that whenever I sailed into Havana I was saluted by many guns, though I was never invited to come ash.o.r.e.

"Then, two years ago, the treasure-fleet was scattered by a hurricane after it had departed Havana. I was sent out into the Straits of Florida to round up stragglers-"

"Wait a moment there, El Desamparado. Is this going to be one of those yarns about how you, but only you, know the whereabouts of some sunken treasure-s.h.i.+p? Because-"

"No, no, it's better than that!" the Spaniard exclaimed. "After combing the sea for many days, we found a smaller vessel-a brig of perhaps seventy-five tons' displacement-trapped among sand-banks in the Muertos Cays, which lie between Cuba and Florida. The storm surge had carried her into a sort of basin whence she could not now escape, for fear of running aground on the s.h.i.+fting sands that encompa.s.sed her. We anch.o.r.ed in deeper water nearby and sent out longboats to take soundings. In this manner we discovered an aperture in the sand-bank through which this brig could pa.s.s, provided that we waited for high tide, and also offloaded some of her cargo, giving her a shallower draught. The master of this s.h.i.+p was strangely reluctant to follow my advice, but at length I convinced him that this was the only way out. We brought our longboat alongside and set all hands to work lightening the brig's load. And as any seaman will tell you, the quickest way to get weight off a s.h.i.+p is to remove those objects that are heaviest, but least numerous: typically, the armaments. And so, by means of blocks and tackle rigged to the yards, we raised her cannons up out of the gundeck one by one, lowered them into the longboat, and took them out to my s.h.i.+p. In the meantime other sailors busied themselves carrying cannonb.a.l.l.s up from belowdecks. And that was how we discovered that this brig was armed, not with lead and iron, but with silver. For the strong places down below, the shot-lockers built to carry cannonb.a.l.l.s, were stacked full of pigs."

"Pigs?!" exclaimed several; but here Jack for once was able to make himself useful. "El Desamparado means, not the squealing animals with curly tails, but the irregular bars of silver made by the refinery at the head of a mine by pouring the molten ore out into a trough of clay." And here Jack was prepared to go on at some length about the silver refineries of the Harz Mountains, which he had once visited, and had explained to him, by the Alchemist Enoch Root. But it seemed that his comrades had already heard many of these details from his own lips, and so he moved on to what he a.s.sumed was the point of Jeronimo's story. "Pigs are strictly an intermediate form, meant for one purpose only: to be taken direct to a refining furnace, re-melted, purified, and made into bars, which are a.s.sayed and stamped-at which point the King would normally take his rake-off..."

"In New Spain, ten percent for the King and one percent for the overhead, viz. a.s.sayers and other such petty officials," Jeronimo put in.

"And so the presence of pigs aboard this s.h.i.+p proved beyond argument that it was in the act of smuggling silver back to Spain."

"For once, the Vagabond has spoken truthfully and to the point," said Jeronimo. "And you will never guess what person we discovered in the best cabin on the s.h.i.+p: the Viceroy's wife, who still remembered me. She was on her way back to Madrid to go shopping."

"What did you say to her?"

"It is better not to remember this. Knowing that she would make a full report of these events to her husband in Mexico City, I did not delay in writing the Viceroy a letter, in which I related these events-but obliquely, in case the letter was intercepted. I a.s.sured him that his secret was safe with me, for I was a Caballero, a man of honor, and he could rely upon my discretion; my lips, I told him, were sealed forever."

There was now a long and somewhat agonizing silence there on the roof of the banyolar. banyolar.

"Some months later, I received a communication from this same Viceroy, inviting me to go to the Governor's House in Vera Cruz on my next visit to that port, to receive a gift that awaited me there."

"A lovely new set of neck-irons?"

"A pistol-ball to adorn the nape of your neck?"

"A ceremonial sword, delivered point-first?"

"I have no idea," said Jeronimo, a bit ruffled, "for I never reached the house of the Gobernador. It is important to mention that our purpose in visiting Vera Cruz was to pick up a s.h.i.+pment of small arms from a merchant I had come to know there-a fellow who had a knack for taking delivery of the King's armaments before they reached the King's soldiers. Several of my men and I accomplished this errand first, in a couple of hired wagons, and then we told the teamsters to take us to the Governor's House via the most direct route, for we were running late even by the standards of New Spain. I was in my finest clothes.

"We entered the central plaza of Vera Cruz from a direction that they did not expect, for instead of proceeding up the main street with its boarded-up houses, we had come in from the depot of the arms merchant, which lay on the other side of the town. Our first hint that something was amiss came from the countless fine tendrils of smoke spiraling up from various places of concealment around the town square-"

"Matchlocks!" Jack said.

"Of course our pistols were already loaded and at the ready, for this was Vera Cruz. But this gave us warning to break out the muskets and to knock the lids from several cases of granadoes. The matchlock-men opened fire on us, but raggedly. We charged them with cutla.s.ses drawn, intending to kill them before they could reload. Which we did-but we were astonished to discover that these were Spanish soldiers of the local garrison! At this point fire came down on us from all around: the windows of the Governor's House and of the churches and monasteries ringing the square all served as loop-holes for this emboscada. emboscada."

"The soldiers had occupied all all of those buildings?" exclaimed Mr. Foot, whose capacity for indignation knew no limits. of those buildings?" exclaimed Mr. Foot, whose capacity for indignation knew no limits.

"So we a.s.sumed at first; but when we returned fire, and flung our granadoes, the burnt and dismembered bodies that sprayed out of those windows were those of monks and mid-level government officials. And yet still we were stupid, for our next mistake was to drive the wagons forward, out of the square, and into the main street of the town. Whereupon planks began to fall away from the windows and doors of the sorry wooden houses that the Viceroy's officials had put up there, and the true battle began. For it was here on this street where they had planned to make the ambush. We overturned both of the wagons, and made a fortification out of them; we shot all of the horses and piled their corpses up as ramparts; we fought from doorway to doorway; we got a runner out to my s.h.i.+p, and she opened fire upon the town with her guns. In return she came under fire from the cannons of the castle. We never would have survived against such a force, except that the guns set some of those buildings afire, and a wind blew the flames down the street as if those rows of wooden buildings had been trails of gunpowder. Many bodies fell in the dust of Vera Cruz on that day. Most of the town burned. My s.h.i.+p sank before my eyes. I escaped from the town with two of my men, and we made our way down the coast as best we could. One of my men was killed by an alligator, and one died of a fever. At length I came to a little port where I bought pa.s.sage to Jamaica, that den of English thieves, now the only place in the Caribbean where I could hope to find sanctuary. There, I learned that in the weeks following the catastrophe, what remained of Vera Cruz had been taken and sacked by the pirate Lorenuillo de Petiguavas, and utterly leveled with the ground, so that it would have to be built again from nothing.

"As for myself, I tried to make my way back to Spain so that I could return to the place of my birth in Estremaduras. But when Gibraltar was almost in sight, my s.h.i.+p was captured by the Barbary Corsairs, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. et cetera, et cetera, et cetera."

"It is a ripping yarn," Jack conceded, after a few moments' silence, "but the best story in the world does not amount to a Plan."

"That is my concern," said Moseh de la Cruz, "and I have a Plan that is nearly complete. Though it has one or two leaks in it, which you might be able to plug."

Book 5