'Aye, indeed. You have nicked it there! If a thing must be done, then
take a lead in it, whatever it may be. A plaguy good precept, which has
stood me in excellent stead before now. I cannot bear in mind whether I
told you how I was at one time taken prisoner by the Turks and conveyed
to Stamboul. There were a hundred of us or more, but the others either
perished under the bastinado, or are to this day chained to an oar in
the Imperial Ottoman galleys, where they are like to remain until they
die under the lash, or until some Venetian or Genoese bullet finds its
way into their wretched carcasses. I alone came off with my freedom.'

'And pray, how did you make your escape?' I asked.

'By the use of the wit wherewith Providence hath endowed me,' he
answered complacently; 'for, seeing that their accursed religion is the
blind side of these infidels, I did set myself to work upon it. To this
end I observed the fashion in which our guard performed their morning
and evening exercises, and having transformed my doublet into a
praying cloth, I did imitate them, save only that I prayed at greater
length and with more fervour.'

'What!' I cried in horror. 'You did pretend to be a Mussulman?'

'Nay, there was no pretence. I became a Mussulman. That, however,
betwixt ourselves, as it might not stand me in very good stead with some
Reverend Aminadab Fount-of-Grace in the rebel camp, who is no admirer of
Mahmoud.'

I was so astounded at the impudence of this confession, coming from the
mouth of one who had been leading the exercises of a pious Christian
family, that I was fairly bereft of speech. Decimus Saxon whistled a