Haran-din caught the word “dagger” and raised a long wail.
“Fool, that won’t kill me,” he howled. “A thousand daggers of pain and woe have pierced me in vain. You must beat me to death with clubs. Make sure that no breath of life remains before you cast me forth. Don’t cut off my head, because it will be lost, and belike it must search forever for my trunk, and then I can’t ever feast in Paradise!”
I looked up from the terrible face to the remorseless foe. So long a time had passed with me kneeling here that I expected to see her looming above our mast. Instead she was still no longer than my finger. Where she had been three miles away, now she was two miles, six cable lengths. Her oarsmen maintained their same steady pace.
“Will you help me kill him?” I asked my comrade.
“No. I can’t touch him. I’ll be hanged first.”
“Hearken, young noblemen!” Haran-din broke in. And now the horror that had engrossed me let go its icy grip, because the frenzy of his face and voice had given way to calm. He spoke in a low, even tone. I held my breath lest I miss one word. My skin crept in wonder.
“My great countryman, Mustapha Sheik, sent me your name, and I have put it in a parchment as your reward,” he told me. “If the Christians take me away alive, I charge you to burn it in Mustapha’s sight, or your hands that have touched me will rot away. So if you would have my jewel, my treasure, my white pearl worthy of a king’s throne, wield your club manfully, and with a right good will!”
White-faced, Felix plucked at my sleeve. “Are you going to kill him, Marco?”
“Yes,” I answered. “Be still.”
“I’ll wait, but don’t take too long. You must drop him over the starboard rail while the rowers screen you.”
“And for your comfort, Christian, know that I’m content to die here in the sun,” Haran-din went on. “It is written that those who fall on the road to Mecca come to the same glory as those who live to shout ‘Labbeyka’ on the Hill of Mercy. It is clean here, and warm. And—and though they find and carry away my body and feed it to swine, still my pearl in your hand will not lose its luster, although it will win you only half the glory that I wished for you.”
“What must I do—what must happen—for me to win it all?”
“By great cunning, save my body from their evil hands.”
I looked around as in a daze, intending to speak to Felix of this strange thing. Then my eyes fell on a common thing and my hair rustled up on my head.
“Tell the rowers to ship their oars and drift to a stop,” I ordered.
His eyes round as doubloons, he obeyed.
“Let half the rowers stand by the capstan, to screen what I must do.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Will you help me? If you will, it will take half the sin off my soul and mayhap we’ll both be saved.”
“I can’t lay hand on the leper for good or ill.”
“This is for good. I declare it before God or may He strike me dead! Get me three fathoms of rope, the strongest aboard.”
Felix uncoiled the inch-thick yellow serpent. It was made of new hemp and would hold a boat of this size in a heavy gale. When Felix had cut off twenty feet, the boat’s forward drift had checked and she had begun to lurch sideways in the wind.
“Haran-din, will you walk with me once more?” I asked.
“Yes, my son. Wherever you lead me.”
I took his arm and raised him to his feet and led him toward the bow. Without my asking, some of the rowers walked opposite him, screening him from the eyes of watchers on the approaching galley. Truly he did not need this shield, because distance hid him still, and they were careful not to touch him.
It was then that Haran-din guessed my intention. A last terror came into his face, dreadful to behold, but I thought it changed to glory and his half-blind eyes caught fire.
“Allah! Allah! Allah!”
I think it was only a second later that all my comrades made a like discovery in the same stopped breath. Only one of them spoke—a bow oarsman, new to the sea, crying “Mother of God!”—but there rose a sound like a long sigh, and every man stood still.
I began to fix the rope. As it looped about Haran-din’s shoulder, he freed his arm, brought forth a folded parchment that he had concealed under his tight-fitting cap, and handed it to me. Then he stood deathly still. I pocketed the parchment and went on with my work. Round and round went the rope, knot after knot I tied, until the rotted body could not possibly fall from the arms of its protector until it was utterly dissolved.
“Will any of you help me heave?” I asked, when all was ready.
No man spoke or moved. The only sound was the lapping of water against the drifting ship, and the shrill of the wind.
“Forgive us, comrade,” Felix said. “We can’t help you.”
It came to me then that I did not need them. Alone I lifted the great iron anchor with its strange rider. For a second I rested it on the edge of the bow.
“Farewell, Infidel,” I said. “May you find bliss in Paradise!”
“Farewell, Christian. May God be merciful to you in Hell!” Then his voice rose in a wild triumphant shout that rang through the heavens.
“Labbeyka! Labbeyka! Allah akbar!”
I thrust lightly against the iron. It fell with a great splash. Out ran the anchor rope with a rattling rumble—ten, twenty, thirty fathoms. It slacked, and I fixed the pin. The ship drifted half her length, then heaved in vain.
“He’ll lie quietly while the galley captain’s looking us over,” I told Felix in a queer, thin, shaking voice. “Then we’ll cut the rope and leave him to Allah’s mercy.”
“Why, ’tis Heaven’s mercy too,” Felix answered in almost the same tone. Then it deepened with resurgent power. “Fishers, spread your nets!”
CHAPTER 4
THE PEARL
Not once on our homeward sail did I glance at my parchment. Mostly, no doubt, this was to help keep the secret from Felix and his crew, but partly it was to maintain our fellowship as long as possible. The business of a great jewel’s paying my way to Cathay would sever us soon enough. I need not deal with it here, on the sunny deck. I almost wished we could stay together always.
I paid Felix and his crew out of the hundred bezants Mustapha Sheik had lent me. We made our farewells and I went my way to Mustapha. Then in his presence I broke the seal of the parchment.
It read, in the best Venetian language:
To Simon ben Reuben
By the Sign of the White Stag
San Stefano’s Gate
Greetings
When this parchment comes to your hands, count me among the dead.
I bid you deliver without cost to the bearer, Marco Polo of San Felice, the jewel I have put in your keeping according to the laws of your tribe.
I charge you to give him the very jewel brought from the Western Sea, a precious and most beautiful pearl. It is so fine that I have given it a name which, translated into his tongue, is Admirable. Does it not deserve the name? It is a female pearl, more soft, light, white, and lustrous than the male pearls, which are harder and redder, and Allah knows it is most admirable, which its name means.
All who have seen it admire it. But do not covet it, Simon ben Reuben, first because it is against the commandment that your God Jehovah gave unto Moses, and second because I gave you moneys to keep it safe for me.
If the pearl be broken, woe unto you, Simon ben Reuben, and to all your posterity.
Put it in the hands of the aforesaid Marco, as I bade you, for he has won it by a certain service; and he is to have it without charge or claim by you. Truly it is worthy to adorn the throne of a king, but do not lay covetous hands upon it, in the name of your father Abraham. It is my treasure, my gem, my greatest joy, my flawless pearl of pearls. But deliver it to Marco Polo, in the name of Allah.
Haran-din
Mustapha Sheik, wearing a long black surcoat and a high fur cap, went with me to claim my reward. In a high house, shabby without but elegant within, we were shown into a kind of office, where there was a long table with benches, pens and inkhorns and scrolls, lamps, forceps, and scales of different sizes, one of which was the most delicate instrument I had ever seen, capable of weighing a third of a carat, or approximately one grain. “Shall I let the parchment out of my hands until the jewel is delivered to me?” I whispered to Mustapha while we were waiting.