CHAPTER XXVI

ALI'S RETURN TO TETUAN


The plan which the Mahdi thought of had first been Ali's, for the black
lad was back in Tetuan. After he had fulfilled his errand of mercy at
Shawan; he had gone on to Ceuta; and there, with a spirit afire for the
wrongs of his master, from whom he was so cruelly parted, he had set
himself with shrewdness and daring to incite the Spanish powers to
vengeance upon his master's enemies. This had been a task very easy of
execution, for just at that time intelligence had come from the Reef, of
barbarous raids made by Ben Aboo upon mountain tribes that had hitherto
offered allegiance to the Spanish crown. A mission had gone up to Fez,
and returned unsatisfied. War was to be declared, Marteel was to be
bombarded, the army of Marshal O'Donnel was to come up the valley of the
river, and Tetuan was to be taken.

Such were the operations which by the whim of fate had been so strangely
revealed to Ali, but Ali's own plan was a different matter. This was
the feast of the Moolood, and on one of the nights of it, probably the
eighth night, the last night, Friday night, Ben Aboo the Basha was to
give a "gathering of delight," to the Sultan, his Ministers, his Kaids,
his Kadis, his Khaleefas, his Umana, and great rascals generally. Ali's
stout heart stuck at nothing. He was for having the Spaniards brought up
to the gates of the town, on the very night when the whole majesty and
iniquity of Barbary would be gathered in one room; then, locking the