Chapter 37 | A Question of Ransom | Yussuf the Guide

“Nice state of affairs this, Mr Preston,” said the little prisoner holding out his arms. “Here’s a dress for a gentleman;” and he displayed the rags of Turkish costume he wore. “Chaps saw me at my club now.”

“Charley, will you hold your tongue,” cried his lady angrily. “How am I to explain our position if you will keep on chattering so?”

“But, my darling—”

“Will you be quiet, Charley. Look here, Mr Preston,” she continued, “it’s just three weeks ago, as we were travelling in this horrible country at least ten miles away, we were seized by these horrid men, and brought here. They’ve taken everything we had, and given us these miserable clothes, and every night they come to us and say—”

“They’ll cut off our heads to-morrow morning.”

“Will you be quiet, Charley,” cried the lady, stamping her foot. “How am I to explain? Am I not always telling you what a chatter-box you are.”

“Yes, my dear, always.”

“Silence, sir! Mr Preston,” she continued, as her little husband went softly to Lawrence, and drew him aside to go on whispering in his ear—“Mr Preston, no one knows what we have suffered. As I was saying—I hope you are listening, Mr—Mr—Mr—Mr—”

“Burne, ma’am,” said the old lawyer bowing.

“Oh, yes, I had forgotten. Mr Burne. I beg your pardon. As I was saying they come every night, and say that to-morrow morning they will cut off our heads and send them to Smyrna as an example, if our ransom does not come.”

“Your ransom, madam?” said the professor.

“Yes. Five thousand pounds—three for me and two for poor Charley; and though we have sent for the money, it does not come. Isn’t it a shame?”

“Scandalous, madam.”

“And you can’t tell how glad I am to see you here. Have you brought the money?”

“Brought the money, ma’am? Why, we are prisoners too.”

“Oh, dear me, how tiresome!” cried the lady. “I thought you were at first; and then I thought you were sent with our ransom. What are we to do? Mr Burne,” she continued, turning to him, “you said you were a lawyer. Pray, send for these people at once, and tell them that they will be very severely punished if they do not set us at liberty.”

“My dear madam,” said the old lawyer, “I am only just getting myself thawed, and I have had nothing but snuff since breakfast. I must have some food before I can speak or even think.”

Meanwhile little Mr Chumley was whispering to Lawrence on the other side of the fire, and relating all his troubles. “Taken everything away, sir,” he said—“watch, purse, cigars, and I actually saw the scoundrel who is at the head of them smoking my beautiful partagas that I brought with me from England. I say, what had we better do?”

“Try and escape, I suppose,” said Lawrence.

“Escape! Look here, young man; are you a fly, or a bird, or a black beetle?” whispered the little man.

“I think not,” said Lawrence laughing.

“Then you can’t get away from here, so don’t think it. Why, it’s impossible.”

Just then the fierce-looking chief entered, followed by a man carrying a great smoking dish, and as the leader drew near the fire, Lawrence bit his lip, for he saw that the tall ruffian was wearing his sword, and carrying his handsome gun in the hollow of his arm.

The chief turned to Yussuf, who was seated in one corner of the room, and said a few words to him.

Yussuf rose and addressed his little party in a low voice.

“The brigand captain says, excellencies, that you are to be prepared to send in one of his men to-morrow morning as messenger to your agent where you like. You are to write and say that, if injury is done to the messenger, you will be killed. The messenger is to bring back six thousand pounds—two for each of you—as a ransom, and that, upon the money being paid, you will be set free.”

“And if the money be not paid, Yussuf, what then?” said the professor quietly.

“The chief says no more, excellency.”

“But he will to-morrow or next day,” cried Mr Chumley. “He’ll say that if the money is not paid he’ll—”

“Will you be quiet, Charley?” cried his wife. “How you do chatter, to be sure! Are you going to send for the money?”

“I don’t know yet,” said the professor smiling. “I must think over our position first.”

“But, Mr Burne!” cried the lady.

“My dear madam,” said Mr Burne, “I can say nothing till after supper. Here is a dish of fowl and rice to be discussed before we do anything else. Here, Snooks, Brown, Hassan, Elecampane—what’s your name?—lay the cloth and bring some knives and forks.”

The man addressed did not stir. He had placed the smoking brass dish upon a stone near the fire, and with that his duties seemed to be ended.

“They won’t give you any knives or forks,” said little Mr Chumley.

“Will you be quiet, Charley?” cried his lady. “No, gentlemen, you will have to sit down all round the dish like this, and eat with your fingers like pigs.”

“Pigs haven’t got any fingers,” whispered little Chumley to Lawrence. “Come along.”

“What is he whispering to you, Master Lawrence?” said the lady sharply. “Don’t take any notice of what he says. He talks too much and thinks too little. If he had thought more and said less we should not be in this predicament.”

The chief and his follower had passed silently behind the great rug stretched over the doorway, and, led by their hunger, the prisoners all sat down round the dish “like this,” to use Mrs Chumley’s words—this being tailor fashion, or cross-legged à la Turcque; and then, in very primitive fashion, the supper of poor stringy fowl and ill-cooked rice began.

The food was very poor, the bread being heavy and black; but all were too hungry to be particular, and at last the dish was completely finished, and conversation respecting their position began, while Yussuf sat aside and waited patiently to be questioned.

“Look here, Yussuf,” said the professor at last; “what is to be done?”

“I fear, excellency,” replied the guide, “that the only way of escape is by paying the ransom.”

“But, man, it is ruinous, and they dare not injure us. Why, if the English people knew of our position troops would be sent to our assistance.”

“And the brigands would resent their coming by killing you and your friends, excellency.”

“They would not dare, Yussuf.”

“I’m afraid they would, effendi. They are utterly reckless scoundrels, the sweepings of the country, and they are so powerful, and secure here that they laugh at the law, such law as we have in this unhappy land.”

“But such a state of affairs is monstrous, sir,” said Mr Burne. “I am a lawyer, sir, and I ought to know.”

“It is monstrous, excellency,” said Yussuf; “but these men are outlaws. You see what a stronghold they have if it came to a fight; but your friends or the government would not dare to let it come to a fight, for if they did they would be slaying you.”

“Tchah!” cried Mr Burne; “this is about the knottiest case I ever did meet. I say, you, Lawrence, a nice position you have placed us all in.”

“I, Mr Burne!” cried the lad wonderingly.

“Yes, sir, you. If you had only been quite well, like a reasonable boy of your age, we should not have come out here, and if we hadn’t come out here we should not have been in this mess. There, I’m too tired to talk. Good-night.”

He threw himself down upon one of the rugs and was asleep directly, while the professor walked to the doorway, and found two fierce-looking sentries outside, one of whom menacingly bade him go back.

He spoke in the Turkish language; but his manner made his meaning plain, so Mr Preston went back to the fireside, and sat talking to the Chumleys and Lawrence till the latter fell fast asleep; and at last, in spite of the peril of his position, the professor grew so weary that the account of the Chumleys’ troubles began to sound soothing, and, what with the long day’s work, the exposure to the keen mountain air, and the warmth of the fire, he too fell asleep, and silence reigned in the ancient structure that had been made their prison.