Here the ship was visited by a high officer of the army of
Morocco, who was the possessor of almost unbounded wealth. He was
fascinated by the beauty of Miss Blanche, and his marked attentions excited
the alarm of her father and mother, as well as of the commander. He had
promised to visit the ship again, and take the party to all the noted
places in the city.
The parents and the captain regarded such a visit as a calamity, and the
steamer made her way out of the harbor very early the next morning, towing
the yacht. The Guardian-Mother sailed for Madeira, accommodating her speed
to that of the Blanche. The party had been there only long enough to see
the sights, before the high official, Ali-Noury Pacha, in his steam-yacht
come into the harbor of Funchal.
The commander immediately beat another retreat; but the Fatime, as the
Moroccan steamer was called, followed her to Gibraltar. Here the Pacha
desired an interview with Captain Ringgold, who refused to receive him on
board, for he had learned in Funchal that his character was very bad, and
he told him so to his face. When the commander went on shore he was
attacked in the street by the Pacha and some of his followers; but the
stalwart captain knocked him with a blow of his fist in a gutter filled
with mud. Ali-Noury was fined by the court for the assault, and, thirsting
for revenge, he had followed the Guardian-Mother to Constantinople, and
through the Archipelago, seeking the vengeance his evil nature demanded.
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