The Sum Which He
Demanded Appeared Exorbitant To The Hadji, Who, Forgetting That He
Was A Saint, And Fresh From Mecca, Fumed Outrageously, And In
Broken Spanish Called The Boatman Thief.
If there be any term of
reproach which stings a Spaniard (and such was the boatman) more
than another,
It is that one; and the fellow no sooner heard it
applied to himself, than with eyes sparkling with fury, he put his
fist to the hadji's nose, and repaid the one opprobrious name by at
least ten others equally bad or worse. He would perhaps have
proceeded to acts of violence had he not been pulled away by the
other Moors, who led him aside, and I suppose either said or gave
him something which pacified him, as he soon got into his boat, and
returned with them on shore. The captain now arrived with his
Jewish secretary, and orders were given for setting sail.
At a little past twelve we were steering out of the bay of
Gibraltar; the wind was in the right quarter, but for some time we
did not make much progress, lying almost becalmed beneath the lee
of the hill; by degrees, however, our progress became brisker, and
in about an hour we found ourselves careering smartly towards
Tarifa.
The Jew secretary stood at the helm, and indeed appeared to be the
person who commanded the vessel, and who issued out all the
necessary orders, which were executed under the superintendence of
the old Genoese mate.
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