Page:Ballantyne--The Pirate City.djvu/251

Rh "I bid you not to fail in the performance of your duty, but I counsel you to lay on lightly," returned the jester, with a grim smile.

"And how if the Dey should expect to hear thy cries, and afterwards to see thee limp into his presence?" asked the man in a tone of indecision.

"Depend on't he shall both see and hear," exclaimed Baba, with a laugh. "Thinkest thou that my head is not equal to the saving of my feet? Lay on lightly, so that there may be somewhat to show; but see thou dost not over-do it. I will engage to let the tyrant hear on the deafest side of his head, and will limp into his presence with most unfeigned sincerity."

"Well, then, I begin," said the man, applying a few strokes with a lithe rod to the soles of the jester's feet.

Baba was true to his word. He suddenly gave vent to a yell so appalling that the very executioner, accustomed though he was to such sounds, quailed for a moment, and said anxiously—

"Did I hit you too hard?"

"Hard!" echoed Baba, mingling a roar of laughter with his next yell. "Fear not, good comrade; go on, do thy duty—ha! ha!—ho-o-o! Stop! Why, it is worse than I had imagined," he added, as the man delivered a cut that was rather sharp. "But go on," cried Hadji Baba, with another yell; "I