Chapter 2“A slave market?” the Duke exclaimed. “I thought that they were abolished when the Barbary pirates were defeated.”
“The pirates sold Christian slaves, the majority of them men,” Nicholas Vlastov answered, “but Algerians never change. Today they sell women!”
The Duke raised his eyebrows and his friend went on,
“That again is not peculiar to this country, but, in the market I shall take you to this evening, the slaves are all European.”
“I have heard of such things,” the Duke said slowly, “but I did not believe them.”
“You will be able to see for yourself,” Nicholas Vlastov answered.
“And the buyers?” the Duke enquired.
“They are usually rich Sheiks who come to Algiers from the desert just for these markets,” Nicholas Vlastov explained. “They leave their wives at home and bec
