ABDULLAH THE POCK-MARKED, AND THE STORY OF FERRAJ AND DAOUD
Abdullah, the pock-marked, undersized, fiery little Bedouin who
commanded Lawrence’s personal body-guard, although in appearance
a dried-up stick of a man, is one of the most daring and chivalrous
sons of Ishmael that ever rode a dromedary. He would take keen
delight in tackling ten men by himself. Apart from his fearlessness,
he was a valuable lieutenant, because he knew how to deal with
unruly members of the body-guard. Lawrence would urge his followers
on with the promise of extravagant rewards—gold, jewels, and
beautiful clothes—if they succeeded. Abdullah would promise them
a sound beating if they failed, and the certainty that he would
fulfil his threat carried at least as much weight with the
body-guard as did Lawrence’s milder method. As for Abdullah himself,
his most frequent boast was that he had served under all the
princes of the desert and had been imprisoned by every one of them.
The English shereef’s personal body-guard, consisting of eighty
carefully picked men, was the corps _d’élite_ of the desert. All
its men were famous fighters who possessed powers of endurance
which would enable them to ride hard for a day and a night on end,
if necessary. They were required to be ready for a raid on the
Turks at any moment, and always to keep up with their leader on
the trek. No man was accepted who could not, with one hand free,
leap into the camel-saddle at the trot while carrying a rifle in
the other. Taking it all round, the bodyguard was an extraordinary
collection of mettlesome, gay-spirited, good-natured scalawags.
Its members were devoted to their Anglo-Bedouin shereef; but to
guard against the possibility of a conspiracy among them, never
more than two men were selected from each tribe, so that intertribal
jealousy might prevent any group from plotting against their
leader. Nearly every man in the Hedjaz army wanted to belong to
the body-guard, because Lawrence took it on all of his raiding,
bridge-blowing, and train-wrecking expeditions, “stunts” which
provided much loot and many thrills—gifts dear to the heart of the
Bedouin. Then, too, the pay was greater than that given to any of
the other volunteers in the Arabian army. Furthermore, they received
a liberal allowance for costly raiment, for they spent all their
money on clothes, and when gathered in a body they produced an
effect similar to that of an Oriental flower-garden.
A familiar saying among them was that they might as well spend
their gold on clothes and a good time, since Allah might take them
to paradise at any moment. Among Colonel Lawrence’s personal
retinue the percentage of casualties was far greater than among
other regulars and irregulars of Feisal’s army, for they were
continually being sent across the desert on dangerous missions.
Frequently they were despatched through the Turkish lines to act
as spies, a service for which the body-guard was especially
suitable, since it contained at least one man from each district
between Mecca and Aleppo. Lawrence always arrogated to himself more
than his full share of these hazardous missions.
To accompany Lawrence and his body-guard on an expedition was a
fantastic experience. First rode the young shereef, incongruously
picturesque with his Anglo-Saxon face, gorgeous head-dress, and
beautiful robes. Likely enough, if the party were moving at walking
pace, he would be reading and smiling to himself over the brilliant
satire of Aristophanes in the original. Then in a long, irregular
column his Bedouin “sons” followed in their rainbow-colored
garments, swaying to the rhythm of the camel gait. And whether they
were passing over the sands east of Akaba, or the stony hill
country of Edom and Moab, they always sang and jested.
At either end of the cavalcade was a warrior-poet. One of them
would begin to chant a verse, and each man, all along the column,
would take his turn to cap the poet’s words with lines of the same
meter. There were war-songs and songs that caused the camels to
lower their heads and move at a faster pace. Often in the verses
the men commented on each other’s love-affairs or on the Emir
Feisal or Sidi (Lord) Lawrence.
“I wish he would pay us another pound a month.” This, decorated
with rhetorical flourishes in Arabic, was the theme of the
body-guard’s song one day.
Another time it was: “I wonder if Allah has seen the head-cloth
which has the good fortune to cover our Lord Lawrence’s head? It
is not a good head-cloth. The Lord Lawrence should give it me.” As
a matter of fact, the head-cloths that Shereef Lawrence wore were
more resplendent than any they had ever seen. His playful “sons”
coveted them.
The harmonic scale of Arabian music is different from ours, so that
to Western ears unused to it Arabian singing sounds like a medley
of discords. Yet the Bedouin delighted in Western music churned
out by a phonograph that Lawrence brought from Cairo. Its success
encouraged a Scotch sergeant in Akaba to provide some instruments
and organize a band. He helped the Arab bandsmen to create an
Arabian national anthem and taught them to play “Annie Laurie” and
“Auld Lang Syne” after a fashion. The Scotch airs we could stand
for a time, even though every instrument was out of tune and every
man chose his own key; but whenever the Arabs practised their own
national anthem around the camp we preferred swimming and left at
once for a deserted island down the gulf for a dip in the surf just
below the ruin of a Crusader castle, where Godfrey de Bouillon and
his knights had bathed a thousand years before us.
The Bedouin body-guard’s sense of humor sometimes took the form of
practical jokes. If one of their number fell asleep in his saddle,
a companion would charge his camel straight at the slumberer and
knock him off. Whenever their Lord left them for a visit to Cairo
or to Allenby’s headquarters, most of his body-guard managed to
get themselves imprisoned by the Emir Feisal as a result of their
wild humor and general unruliness. Nobody but Lawrence could handle
his devils, as they were called.
Once, having just returned to Akaba from Egypt, he wanted to set
out on a secret mission without delay. As usual, he found the
majority of his personal followers in the lockup. Among the
prisoners were two specially daring men named Ferraj and Daoud.
Lawrence immediately sent for Sheik Yussef, the civil governor of
Akaba, and asked what had happened. Yussef laughed and cursed, then
laughed again.
“I had a beautiful white camel,” he said, “and one night she
strayed away. Next morning I heard a great commotion in the street,
and when I went out I found every one in the bazaar laughing
uproariously at an animal with blue legs and a red head. Not
without difficulty I recognized it as my camel. Ferraj and Daoud
were found at the waterfront washing red henna and blue indigo dye
off their arms, yet they denied all knowledge of my beautiful white
camel. Allah will pardon me for doubting them.”
Ferraj and Daoud were well known as inseparable in a land where
lonely desert and the need for mutual protection called for close
friendship. David and Jonathan were not more intimate than Ferraj
and Daoud, until, as an eastern story-teller might say, there came
to them the Destroyer of Delights and the Garnerer of Graveyards.
Daoud died of fever in Akaba, whereupon Ferraj became intensely
miserable and soon afterward committed suicide by galloping his
camel headlong into the Turks.
Occasionally members of Lawrence’s body-guard accompanied him to
Cairo. Those thus honored would don their most vivid robes, rouge
their lips, darken the hollows under their eyes with kohl, and
saturate themselves with bottles of scent. Then, bristling with
weapons, they swaggered contemptuously past the town Arabs of
Cairo, ogling the veiled ladies, buying richly brocaded garments,
and causing much excitement, in which they reveled.
Abdullah, lieutenant of the body-guard, once traveled with his
leader to General Allenby’s headquarters at Ramleh. While Lawrence
was in consultation with the commander-in-chief, the Arab lieutenant
roamed off alone. Six hours passed, and he did not return. Then
Lawrence was informed by telephone that the assistant provost-marshal
had arrested the fiery little Arab because he looked like a hired
assassin who might be prowling around with the intention of shooting
General Allenby. Abdullah, said the assistant provost-marshal, had
explained through an interpreter that he was one of Sidi Lawrence’s
“sons” and demanded a ceremonious apology for having been arrested.
Meantime, he was eating up all the oranges in the quarters of the
head of the military police.
Punishment for the misdeeds of the various members of the body-guard
was difficult, for a nomad Arab can scarcely be imprisoned on his
camel, and he cares naught for words of reproof. A conscientious
beating from Abdullah was perhaps the most effective solution. A
common form of punishment among the Bedouins is to throw at a man’s
head a short dagger, so that it shall chop through the hair and
cause a superficial but very painful scalp wound. Bedouins who are
conscious of transgression sometimes wound themselves in this
manner, and then, with blood streaming over their faces, crave
pardon of the person they have wronged.