THE TREASURE TOMB
Through all my adventures in the desert campaign, from the time when
we first faced the hot, choking winds of the desert and covered our
eyes to keep from being blinded by the sand until the time when we
lifted the Stars and Stripes on the ramparts of Derne, the thought of
the treasure tomb had dwelt with me. According to the rector's map,
the buried chamber was within an hour's ride by camel of Tokra, a town
located between Derne and Tripoli, quite near to the former.
The coast of northern Africa jutted out into the Mediterranean at this
point, and made it a favorable spot for settlement by Phoenicians and
earlier races who ruled this sea.
When I perceived that Captain Eaton's campaign against Tripoli had
been blocked through lack of funds and that he himself had given up
hope of receiving from our naval officers the money and supplies
required to proceed against the stronghold of Joseph, I resolved to
begin my treasure search in earnest, hoping to turn the gems and gold
to the general's use. I resolved to take Mustapha along as my guide.
The attachment that had sprung up between us grew stronger as the
weeks passed. He was an Arab to the backbone. He could run all day
in the heat and fall asleep at night on bare stones. He was as quick
and noiseless in his movements as a wildcat, and his mood was a
queer mixture of gentleness and fierceness. Having adopted me, he was
fiercely jealous, and his brown face would become convulsed if strange
Arab boys from any of the camps we passed tried to follow me.
One night, on swift camels which we borrowed from Mustapha's sheik, we
rode away from Derne. It was a foolhardy enterprise, because Joseph
Bashaw's army lay between us and Tokra, yet we managed to avoid their
outposts and when morning broke we were well beyond their lines.
I had not taken the general into my confidence. He might have told me,
to keep me from going on what he would consider a wild goose chase,
that he would not avail himself of the gold, even if it were found.
I felt too, since the rector had tried so hard to keep the facts
concerning the treasure a secret, that I should not reveal it, even to
those I trusted most.
We joined ourselves to a caravan as we approached Tokra. Mustapha had
acquaintances among the camel-drivers, and his explanations created for
us a kindly reception. Mingling thus with the Arabs, we rode into Tokra
without attracting the attention of the people. That this was fortunate
for me, I was soon to find out. A larger caravan had entered the town
a few hours before us. Its people had thronged the cafés. As I rode
through the narrow street, holding my hood well over my face to keep
from being recognized as a hated "Nazarene," I caught sight of a tall
well-dressed Moor watching a group of dancing girls. His brilliant robe
attracted my attention, then something familiar about his figure made
me observe him more closely. My gaze traveled up his burly form to his
bearded face. I could see it only in profile, but the sight was enough
to set me to trembling. I had recognized Murad.
He did not see us. In the café before which he lounged were girls of
the Ouled-Nahil tribe, dancing. We could see over the heads of the men
these stately creatures gliding and twisting to the music of clarionets
and tam-tams. Their mountainous head-gear of plaited wool, bound by
brilliantly-colored silk kerchiefs shook with the movements of their
bodies. We could hear amidst the music the jingling of their bangles. I
saw also a boy bring a live coal in a pair of tongs to Murad, so that
the latter might light his long pipe.
A score of questions flashed through my mind. Had the Egyptian found
the treasure, and was he now enjoying the wealth? Or had he been
detained as I was in reaching this spot, and could it be that he had
been a member of the newly arrived caravan? Did he mean to spend the
night amidst the luxury of the café or would he soon come forth to hunt
for the treasure tomb?
I decided from his manner that he had newly arrived, and that, for a
few hours at least, he would smoke his pipe and drink his coffee and
watch the dance. During those few hours I resolved to push my search.
When we found a spot in which I could examine the map without being
observed I was puzzled to find that the location of the treasure tomb
was set down as being not outside of the city, but in its very midst.
Through Mustapha, I made inquiry of an old Arab. Yes, he said, in reply
to my questions, there had been a temple there once. The reason the
ruins could not be seen now was that successive tribes of Arabs had
come and camped on the ruins until the soil and filth they had left
behind them had covered the floors. There had been walls, but they
were now used for sheep folds, goat-yards, poultry-yards, donkey-sheds.
The rector's exploration had been made also at night. The upper tomb
he had found was known to everyone. It too had probably held riches,
but it had been plundered centuries since. None of the later tribes had
thought to look beneath it. The rector would not have had the curiosity
to explore if it had not been that in Greece a scientist had discovered
there double layers of tombs hewn out of the rocks.
Mustapha then translated to me the words written in Arabic at the foot
of the diagram:
"Walk along the north wall of the town until there rises from
the mud-huts and cattle-sheds a stone pillar that lifts about
eight feet above the surrounding roofs. This pillar will mark the
location of a tomb that is still respected as a holy place by
the people of the town. Under the floor of this tomb, lies the
treasure chamber. Its entrance is through the outer wall, where I
dug out a stone. Pry along south wall below ground till triangular
slab is found."
Past clusters of mud-huts, dirt-heaps, piles of broken pottery, and
odorous cattle-sheds we groped. The dogs barked and ran snarling about
our feet, but Mustapha had magic words that soothed and hushed them. At
last, against the star-filled skies, we saw a rugged pillar lift up.
The huts and sheds stopped at this point, and for several rods there
were no buildings. The loneliness of the spot I took as a good omen. It
meant that I could dig with little fear of disturbance.
From the town came sounds of singing and shouting. Drinking and dancing
and merry-making were engaging the people. With these unceasing noises
drowning the clink of our spades, we began to dig.
The dirt and debris was loose, and our arms were winged by excitement
and fear. I had told Mustapha that I expected that he should earn
enough money on this trip to give him a university education at Fez,
enough to make him respected as a sheik. Under the enchanting prospect,
and for love of me, he toiled.
After ten minutes of digging, I took my dirk and felt along the side
of the wall which we had uncovered. My dirk's point entered a crevice.
We dug again, frantically, and now I was able to trace all sides of
the loose block of stone that acted as a bar to the entrance. Mustapha
brought out his knife and aided me in the prying, and between us we
managed to move the stone outwards as if it worked on hinges. I thought
of the Arabian lad who entered the retreat of the Forty Thieves. I too
had found an "Open Sesame" to riches. Were my eyes also to be dazzled
by the sight of treasure?
The finding of the entrance, though it made me solemn, also created
something of a sense of security, for now we could continue our search
underground without attracting attention. One fear, however, still
lingered, and moved me to frantic haste--Murad's coming!
We lowered ourselves a depth of six feet into the rock room. The clammy
moisture chilled our faces; the foul smell choked us. Lifting our
torches, we peered into the darkness.
When our eyes grew accustomed to the gloom we found ourselves standing
among several skeletons, which had the appearance of having been
hurriedly buried. This discovery almost led us to a panicky retreat,
but I had risked too much to be turned from my quest by skeletons, and
I stepped across the bones and thrust my torch into the center regions.
There, buried in oblong chambers rudely hewn out of the rock floor of
the cavern, I saw six bodies that had moldered to dust. Girding their
bones, however, was jewelry such as I had never, even in my wildest
dreams, imagined.
Upon the time-blackened skulls were headbands of gold. Covering the
rib-bones were massive breast-plates of the same metal. As I held down
my flame the delicately-wrought patterns of rosettes and palmettos with
which these pieces were ornamented flashed out brilliantly. Upon the
wrist-bones hung loosely serpent-shaped gold bracelets. From this rich
metal dress jewels flamed out to match my beacon's fire.
Around these rock tombs lay more treasures--inlaid daggers with images
of cats engraved on their gold handles and with lotus patterns traced
on their blades; alabaster cups, hollowed out and painted inside with a
brilliant red; stone images of elks with heads of silver; jugs and cups
of ivory, alabaster, amber, silver, gold, and porcelain.
Scholars have since told me that the ancients considered that the
station of a person in the world of the dead depended upon the wealth
with which he was buried. The people who buried these corpses had
assuredly done their utmost to insure the eminence of their friends in
the dominions of death. I did not pause to wonder whether these were
the remains of Phoenicians, Egyptians or of a still earlier race that
had dominated the Mediterranean and exacted toll of treasure from the
surrounding barbaric tribes. Here the bodies lay. Above them, through
the centuries, strange peoples had settled and passed; caravans had
stopped and hurried on; dancing girls had whirled; dervishes had
practiced sorceries, yet none dreamed of this cool tomb with its
riches. The stuff was here for my taking. Murad was hard on my heels.
My lust for fortune overcame all thoughts of reverence for the dead.
"Open the sacks, Mustapha," I said, "the smallest treasures are the
most valuable. We will take what we can carry and trust to fortune for
a chance to bring out the rest--or perhaps they will fall as crumbs to
Murad!"
"Listen, master," Mustapha whispered. Men's voices came to us. I sprang
in terror towards the entrance with Mustapha at my heels. As I peered
out into the night my breath came again. The tinkle of camel bells came
to reassure me. A caravan was entering Tokra, with no suspicion that
they were passing within a stone's throw of such wealth.
The capacious sacks loaded, I climbed out of the tomb by making a
stepping-stone of Mustapha's back. He hoisted up to me the three bags.
I then leaned down and pulled him out. It was about midnight.
"Go to the stables," I said, giving him a coin, "and tell Achmet the
camel keeper that urgent business takes you back to Derne. Bring our
camels--Achmet knows that they belong to you. Put the gold into his
palm. Tell him that you are on business for Hamet Bashaw, who may
conquer Tokra next week!"
"I know that he sympathizes with Hamet," Mustapha assured me. "He will
help us, and keep his tongue!"
While Mustapha was gone, I replaced the stone door and shoveled back
the dirt. Mustapha returned with the camels. They knelt as we loaded
the sacks upon them. Around them we piled the bags of dates that had
already formed the camels' freight. We turned towards Derne and rode
like the wind.
Many hours would pass, I reasoned, before Murad would begin his
search. If then he suspected that the tomb had been robbed and made
inquiries, many more hours must pass before he could start in pursuit.
As things happened, however, it was not from behind us that danger
came. We came into the vicinity of Derne at nightfall, and drove our
jaded camels as fast as we could make them fly, fearing always an
encounter with the soldiers of Joseph Bashaw. We succeeded in gaining
the city's bounds with no adventure except passing through a volley
fired at random by guards whom we passed too swiftly to permit them to
arrest us, but as we rode through the town at gray dawn we observed no
signs of our troops.
We learned from old Omar, an inn-keeper who came drowsily out to open
for us, that the ship _Constellation_ had arrived bearing orders to
General Eaton to quit Derne at once, since Consul-General Lear had
concluded a peace with Tripoli. He told us that General Eaton and all
of the Christians in the party, together with Hamet Bashaw and his
suite, had embarked on the _Constellation_ in a secret manner, for fear
that the people of Derne, and their allies, the Arab supporters of
Hamet, would attempt to massacre the party when they found that the war
had been abandoned and that they were left to the mercy of Joseph.
Omar described how, when General Eaton had barely gotten clear of the
wharf, the soldiers and citizens of Derne had crowded down to the
shore shouting prayers to the general and Hamet not to leave them to
the mercy of Joseph's soldiers. Finding their pleas of no avail, the
soldiers had seized the horses the party had left behind, plundered the
tents of the departing officers, and fled towards Egypt.
After this occurrence a Tripolitan officer, a messenger from Joseph
Bashaw, had landed from the _Constellation_ under a flag of truce,
bearing a message to the people of Derne that Joseph Bashaw would
pardon all who laid down their arms and renewed their allegiance to
him. Joseph's troops were to begin the occupancy of Derne that morning.
Omar shook his head.
"For myself, I fear nothing. Allah is good. Under his guidance I
remained loyal to Joseph. The returning Governor will know that Omar is
faithful. But as for my neighbors--let them not trust too much in the
Bashaw's promises. If I had fought on Hamet's side I should flee to the
mountains!"
Mustapha and I exchanged worried glances. Here we were abandoned by our
friends and facing capture by Joseph's soldiers when they entered the
city. In that case, our gold and jewels would go to adorn the greedy
Joseph's throne. The main object of our treasure search, to provide the
general with funds to continue the expedition, could not be carried
out. There was nothing to do but flee--but where? From the camp of the
enemy came sounds of soldiers assembling. The triumphal entry would
soon begin.
"Cavalry! Mount! Escape!" cried Mustapha.
From a distance, swiftly coming nearer, we heard the sound of
hoof-beats. Around the corner of the inn came a blaze of color.
Galloping steeds were suddenly reined in. A Moorish officer, splendidly
uniformed, came towards me. Mustapha, who had stood several yards away,
began to lead his beast and mine down towards the river front.
"Alhamdulilah! (Praise be to God)" he sang, "My lord the Bashaw
returns to his own! The cowardly usurper Hamet has fled before Joseph
Bashaw's brave warriors!"
The troopers gave Mustapha but a fleeting glance. My head was uncovered
and they saw that I was an American.
There was a whispered conference. American warships might be still in
the mists that hid sea and shore. I had hopes that they would pass me
by unmolested. Instead the officer turned to his men.
"Bind the Nazarene! One at least of the Christian dogs shall pay the
penalty of starting rebellion against our worshipful ruler!"
I was bound hand and foot, thrown across a camel's back, and led out of
the city, to the enemy's camp.
In the possession of an Arab lad, who was now as a lamb among wolves,
were the gold and jewels I had risked so much to secure. One gem of
the collection would have purchased my ransom, but knowing that a hint
as to the contents of the sacks would lead to the loss of all of the
treasure, I resolved to suffer slavery before I spoke of them. I prayed
that Mustapha would keep the secret, yet how could I expect that fate
would not reveal the contents of the sacks to covetous eyes?