Page:Devonshire Characters and Strange Events.djvu/211

Rh Pitts tells us how that secretly he received a letter from his father, advising him "to have a care and keep close to God, and to be sure, never, by any methods of cruelty that could be used towards him, to deny his blessed Saviour; and that he—his father—would rather hear of his son's death than of his becoming a Mahommedan." The letter was slipped into his hands a few days after he had become a renegade. He dared to show this to his master, and told him frankly, "I am no Turk, but a Christian." The master answered, "If you say this again, I will have a fire made, and burn you in it immediately."

The then Dey, Baba Hasan, died in 1683, and Pitts' master being rich and having friends, attempted a revolt against Hasein "Mezzomorto," his successor, and was killed in the attempt. This led to the sale of Pitts again, and he was bought by an old bachelor, named Eumer, a kindly old man, with whom he was happy. "My Work with him was to look after his House, to dress his Meat, to wash his Clothes; and, in short, to do all those things that are look'd on as Servant-maids' work in England." With the old master he made the pilgrimage to Mecca, and thence went on to Medina, and he was the first Englishman to give a description of these sacred towns. Moreover, his account is remarkably exact. He was a young fellow full of observation and intelligence, and he made good use of his eyes. At Mecca, Eumer gave Pitts his freedom, and Pitts remained with him, not any longer as a slave, but as a servant.

By being granted his freedom this did not involve the liberty to return to his home and his Christian religion. But he looked out anxiously for an opportunity to do both. This came in a message arriving from Constantinople from the Sultan to demand the