Old Tom of Nantucket: A Novella — Joseph Altsheler

Leaving the sloop Eagle, Old Tom ceases being a man-o'-war's-man, and sails for a while as a seaman on a merchant ship.

But only for a short while, because the merchant ship falls into the hands of corsairs, and Old Tom becomes a slave on the corsair ship Hafiz. And this is for a long while, many years in fact.

Old Tom faces a crisis when his captors sight an American ship and are eager to take it for a prize. Old Tom is ordered to sit on deck and play American music on a violin to deceive those on board the American ship into thinking that the Hafiz is friend and not foe.

Old Tom tries to resist leading his fellow countrymen into a trap, but he is given a taste of torture and told to obey or get more of the same.

So Tom plays the violin.

But things are not what they seem!