708 THE RED TABTANE. 



been present, arrived from the town, and once more addressed the 

 young Spaniard. 



" A demon alone, my son, could have charged thee with such a 

 commission. I am innocent, but vengeance will fall heavily on thee, 

 and on those who instigate thee." 



<e May heaven be as merciful to thee as I am, Zamarik," said 

 Fasillo, offering him his hand, which the Jew shrunk back from in 

 horror. " Ah, true," he continued, " I did not think of it. Adieu, 

 Zamarik, an revoir." 



"An revoir? We must meet then to-morrow; for, in three days 

 thy mother will no longer have a son." 



" Perhaps so, Jew ; but, still we shall meet again thou under- 

 standest down below, where our first greeting will be the gnashing 

 of teeth for, though / may visit first the fiery furnace, thou mayest 

 depend the hottest nook will be reserved for thee therefore, again, 

 au revoir." 



" He thrills me with horror and affright," said the Jew, as stand- 

 ing immoveable on the shore, he followed with his eye Fasillo, who 

 speedily regained his Tartane, weighed anchor, and made sail. Pro- 

 fiting by a favourable south-east wind, which carried her rapidly to- 

 wards the straits of Gibraltar, he hauled up to the north-east, and gra- 

 dually disappeared in the mist of the horizon. 



When the Jew had somewhat recovered himself, he slowly re- 

 turned to the town ; but, coming to a low vault, which opened on 

 the sea-shore, he redoubled his speed, arid raised his clasped hands to 



heaven it was the fearful entrance to his magazines. 



*####** 



A few days after the execution of the Gitano in Cadiz, a Tartane 

 was run on shore and abandoned at the foot of fort St. Catherine. 



The news soon spread through the city ; and, ere long, the vessel 

 was entirely pillaged of its cargo by the people, who appeared dressed 

 in the richest shawls, silks, and cachmeres, and the richer classes, 

 finding it very agreeable to procure these articles at a low price, pur- 

 chased considerable quantities j even the Alcade and the members of 

 the Junta could not resist the desire to see their wives and daughters 

 clad like the nobility of Spain. Thus the cargo of the stranded vessel 

 was dispersed throughout the city. 



When Fasillo bought these stuffs of the east, then desolated by 

 pestilence, he knew they were infected, and that the Jew* only 

 waited a favourable opportunity to purify them. Accordingly, three 

 days after the appearance of the Tartane, the plague broke out with 

 frightful violence, and, in an inconceivable short space of time, car- 

 ried off upwards of thirty thousand souls. 



What became of Fasillo and the blacks was never known ; but he 

 had indeed kept his word the death of the Gitano was fearfully 

 avenged. E. B. S. 



* Several Jews at Tangiers made a profitable business of buying infected 

 goods at a low price, purifying, and selling them again in Europe. This was the 

 real cause of the plague of Cadiz. 



