n slave,
whose eyes had been put out in wanton cruelty. I learned that she was an
Italian by birth, a native of a small village in the environs of Porto
Fiero, a seaport not far from Genoa. She had no relatives who could pay
her ransom, and she had consequently been fastened to the plough like a
beast of burden until death should come to deliver her. The frightful fate
of this miserable slave so filled me with compassion, that I shed tears of
grief and rage when I heard afar off her piercing cries as the rod of the
overseer descended upon her. One day my indignation was so roused, when
the pagan wretches had knocked her down and were treating her even more
cruelly than usual, that I dared to defend her by force. Had not my master
expected a large sum for my ransom, a frightful death would have been the
punishment of my audacity. After being kept a few days in prison and
harshly treated, I was sent back to the fields to work as before. The
condition of the blind slave was not in the least changed; she was still
inhumanly beaten. Her misfortunes pierced my heart, and I was maddened by
my inability to protect from pagan cruelty a woman who was my sister by
our common faith and a common misfortune. No longer venturing to have
recourse to force, I sought other means to mitigate her sufferings. During
the few hours of repose granted to us, or rather to our overseers, I
hastened to the blind woman and shared with her the best of my food; I
strove to fortify her by the hope that God would liberate her from this
terrible slavery; I told her, that should I ever become free, I would
procure her liberation, even were it necessary to renounce for years my
own pleasures that I might amass sufficient for her ransom. I spoke to her
of our country, of the goodness of God, and of the probability of my
liberation. The poor blind woman kissed my hands, and called me an angel
sent by God to illumine the darkness of her life by the sweet rays of
consolation and piety. I was only a few months her fellow-slave. My uncle,
learning my captivity through messengers I had employed, sent to Algiers
an armed vessel to liberate me. Besides the amount of my ransom, he sent
me means to transport some valuable merchandise from Barbary to Italy.
When I took leave of the blind woman, I was so deeply touched by her
sorrow, that I pondered upon the means of restoring her to liberty. It is
true that in order to effect this, I would be obliged to employ a large