h her. She dreaded being
refused, and sent back to the horrid dungeon she was leaving where no
difference was paid to rank, and slaves of all conditions were huddled
together. She went therefore prepared to accept of anything short of
these sufferings. She was refused, as being in every respect opposite to
the description of the person sent for. At length her entreaties and
tears prevailed; compassion overruled every obstacle; and she, with her
little girl, was accepted. But there remained another difficulty; she
had left her son chained in the midst of that dungeon from which she had
just been rescued. Her kind patrons soon learned the cause of her
distress; but to send for the youth and treat him kindly, or in any way
above that of a common slave, must hazard the demand of so large a
ransom for him and his mother, as would forever preclude the hope of
liberty. He was, however, sent for, and the menial offices they were
both engaged to perform were only nominal. With circumspection the whole
family were sheltered in this manner for three years; when the war with
the Spaniards growing more inveterate, the Algerines demanded the youth
back to the Bagnio, to work in common with the other slaves, in
repairing the damages done to the fortresses by the Spanish cannon. He
was now compelled to go, loaded with heavy stones, through the whole of
the town; and at almost every step he received dreadful blows, not being
able to hasten his pace from the great weight.

Overcome at last with ill usage, the delicacy of his form and
constitution gave way to the excessive labor, and he one morning refused
the orders of his master, or driver, to rise from the straw on which he
was stretched, declaring they might kill him if they chose, for he would
not even try to carry another load of stones. Repeated messages had
been sent from the Venetian consul's, where his mother and sister were
sheltered, to the Aga, to return him; and when the Algerines found that
they had absolutely reduced him so near death, they thought it best to
spare his life for the sake of future ransom. They agreed, therefore, to
let him return to the Christians. His life was for some time despaired
of; but through the kind attention he received, he was rescued from the
threatened dissolution. His recovery was concealed, for fear of his
being demanded back to work; and a few months after, the Spanish peace
of 1784 being concluded, a ransom was accepted by the Algerines for