passport.'

To this the Dutchman consented.

Whereupon the skipper began to wring his hands, and piteously to
beseech Madame to intercede for him, but the Dutchman cut him short
before she could speak. 'Dog of an Italian, the lady knows better!
You and your fellows are our prize--poor enough after all the trouble
you have given us in chasing you.'

Madame de Bourke spoke kindly to the poor man, telling him that though
she could do nothing for him now, it was possible that she might when
she should have rejoined her husband, and she then requested the Reis
to land her and her suite in his long-boat on the Spanish coast, which
could be seen in the distance, promising him ample reward if he could
do so.

To this he replied: 'Madame, you ask what would be death to me.'

He went on to explain that if he landed her on Christian ground,
without first presenting her and her passport to the Dey and the French
Consul, his men might represent him as acting in the interests of the
Christians, and as a traitor to the Algerine power, by taking a bribe
from a person belonging to a hostile state, in which case the bowstring
would be the utmost mercy he could expect; and the reigning Dey,
Mehemed, having been only recently chosen, it was impossible to guess
how he might deal with such cases. Once at Algiers, he assured Madame
de Bourke that she would have nothing to fear, as she would be under
the protection of the French Consul; and she had no choice but to
submit, though much concerned for the continued anxiety to her husband,