THE ODYSSEY OF RENÉ DU CHASTELET DES BOYS – PART 13

(This post is a continuation of The Odyssey of René du Chastelet des Boys – Parts 1 through 12. If you haven’t done so already, it’s probably best to read at least the more recent of those posts before continuing on here.)

This episode continues the story of René du Chastelet des Boys’ attempts to devise a way to have himself ransomed.

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On the evening that I entered Car-Ibrahim’s household, the taste of half-liberty granted to me by my change of owner was quite pleasant, and I spent that first night in tranquility.

This did not last, however, for I grew apprehensive about the Sieur de Cahaignes’ plan to send me off to a Christian land. Also, I realized that my new owner’s main trade consisted in the purchase and sale of slaves—that is, he was a professional slave dealer—and that his only concern was profit.

While I was there, he had fourteen or fifteen slaves of different ages, sexes and nations, for which he hoped to recoup large ransoms.

Car-Ibrahim had sufficient wealth to maintain three spacious maceries [country estates] near the sea. He financed these primarily by his trade in slaves, purchasing these slaves cheaply and reselling them at a high price. He prospered also, with the help of the Jewish merchants of Livorno, by providing supplies for the city militia and the corsairs, especially grain, sails, and rigging.

The day after I entered his household, Car-Ibrahim granted the Sieur de Cahaignes and me the freedom to go about the city—so long as the plan to send me to collect the Sieur’s ransom remained in place. This gave me hope. But I still worried that something could go wrong. For though the Sieur de Cahaignes seemed completely sure of the assistance he would get from his family, I was not so confident. So I waited anxiously and impatiently for the arrival of some Christian ship that could provide me passage out of Algiers.

Finally, such a ship did arrive.

As was the custom, the ship’s sails were brought ashore and stored in a shed set aside for such things. I learned that it was a ship from Livorno, in Italy, belonging to some of that city’s Jewish merchants, who traffic in the stolen goods which, thanks to the corsairs, can be found inexpensively in the cities of Barbary.

I went to Car-Ibrahim, to whom I gave news of the ship’s arrival. I explained to him that this ship proved a convenient way for me to get to Italy, and that from there I could easily travel to France where I could set in motion arrangements for the ransom of the Sieur de Cahaignes and myself.

Car-Ibrahim seemed quite willing to go along with this, not asking me for any assurance other than the particular promise to complete the ransom arrangements. He even offered to provide me with a document to serve as a safe-conduct and offered to let me go whenever I and the Sieur wished—for he considered the risk of loss in this venture small, and the potential profit great.

I then took leave of Car-Ibrahim and went in search of the Sieur de Cahaignes. I heard that he was at the residence of the consul of France, and it was there that I found him. He had just finished talking with the newly arrived merchants from Livorno. From them, he had learned that his friends and family had already made arrangements for his ransom.

This news was carried in a letter stating that a group of Trinitarians [a Catholic religious order based in France] carrying funds derived both from public alms and private donors was in the harbor at Marseilles waiting for a good wind in order to make the passage to the Barbary coast. In keeping with their pious mission, they intended to ransom as many of the unfortunate slaves in Algiers as they could, some with money derived from public charity, others with funds provided by relatives and friends for the special assistance of certain individuals—among whom, the Sieur de Cahaignes believed, was himself.

Upon learning this, and considering his chains broken and his slavery ended, the Sieur dismissed my upcoming expedition, considering it now a useless and ineffective intrigue.

I tried to accept this setback with patience, but I could not help but complain to Car-Ibrahim about the wrong the Sieur de Cahaignes, his slave, had done me, having forced me away from my previous owner, Beiram Ouda Bachi, by whom I might have been given my freedom eventually, and how I now found myself abandoned, for there was nobody putting up special funds to ransom me. Car-Ibrahim reassured me that he would not allow me—or him—to be taken advantage of.

A few days later, Car-Ibrahim called me and the Sieur de Cahaignes into his presence and declared that he had come to a decision about our ransom. He insisted that we stick to the original plan, that one of us would go away to Christian lands to solicit the ransom for both, while the other would stay with him. It was, he said, his choice as to which of us would go. And since the loss of my ransom would not be as great as the loss of the Sieur’s, he had decided that I would be the one to go.

The Sieur de Cahaignes seemingly acquiesced to this, but I could tell that he secretly refused to accept it because of the hope that had been given to him by the letter received from the Livorno merchants.

I, however, began to feel despondent about my chances of ever being freed, and for two or three days I entered into a kind of retreat, trying to console myself and escape the grip of anger and resentment.

One day, I was walking along the breakwater of the Mole when a Turk, descending from a frigate mounted with four iron cannons, approached me. After greeting me in good French, he pulled me aside and asked me which canton of France I was from and offered to render me what assistance he could to alleviate the sufferings of my slavery. I replied, not without some unease, that I was a native of Anjou, without designating any city in the province, and was a soldier by profession, without specifying anything else.

After this, the man pointed to the frigate which lay at anchor, and told me that in five or six days it would sail, and that if I wished I could go along with him to Salé, where I would stay. Or I could go to Marakesh, which is not far away, to look for an opportunity for a ship to La Rochelle, for traffic from La Rochelle to Saphie, Azamor, Salé, Marakesh, and other cities in this empire provided abundant opportunities for travel.

This Turk was, by his own confession, originally from La Rochelle. He seemed about aged forty years, quite dignified and polite. He was a creature of Aly Calcris, one of the captains and governors of the city and castle of Salé, held on behalf of Muley Musmagnan Abdelmelek, Emperor of Morocco and King of Fez.

This offer by Aly Alcaide, renegade from La Rochelle, sorely tempted me to abandon my design, which was now nothing less than to wait for the arrival of the Mercdarians in hopes that I could somehow manage to get myself ransomed by them.

I thanked Aly Alcaide, without either accepting or rejecting his offer, for I was not sure what I might now do.

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For the next (and final) installment of René du Chastelet des Boys’ adventures, see The Odyssey of René du Chastelet des Boys – Part 14.

For those who may be interested…

The above excerpt (which, as usual, has been considerably abridged) comes from des Boys’ L’Odyssée ou diversité d’aventures, rencontres et voyages en Europe, Asie et Affrique, pp. 89 – 98.