I am sure that those who read the following and know the East will say
that I exaggerate, that under no circumstances or stress of emotion
would an Arab so treat a camel, especially the most perfect of her
species.
But against this wish to hurt must be weighed the love that consumed
the man, a love mighty and sudden, and for the advent of which, and the
enjoyment thereof, he had trained himself from his youth, abstaining
from aught which might cause his perfect body to deteriorate, and all
that which by satisfying the senses might dull his mind. A love, in
fact, which, stronger than the wind of the hurricane, swifter than the
raging torrent, swept all before it.
The Arab's love for his camel is a love of gratitude, for does not the
Koran say, "And hath also provided you with tents and the skin of
cattle, which ye find light to be removed on the day of your departure,
and easy to be pitched on the day of your sitting down therein, and of
their wool, and their fur, and of their hair, hath he supplied you with
furniture and household stuff for a season." His love for his horse is
a love of delight in her beauty, and her endurance and her swiftness,
causing the master even at the point of death in battle to pour forth
the praises of his mare, and with his last breath call aloud her
pedigree to the lucky person, to whom she falls as booty.
But once let an Arab love a woman, with the love which has nothing to
do with the arranged marriage of his early youth, or his attraction to
some beautiful face which causes him to take the possessor thereof to
wife, of which Allah in his bounty allows him four, or his desire for
some one of his concubines, to the number of which there is no limit;
_then_ I say will the love of sons, love of beast, and thought for all
save his religion, go down before it as a young tree before the storm.
Hahmed the Arab loved the English girl with just such a love, also had
she been hurt through the brutish manners of the animal, who had been
expressly chosen for the honour of carrying her, therefore his love for
his camel had turned to seething hate, and when that happens in the
East, it is time to remove thyself, and that hastily.
Unfastening the lead from the pack camel, the man knotted it firmly to
the back of her flat saddle, which usually makes the foundation for the
animal's burden, then urging her to her feet led her in front of
Taffadaln, who, a little at sea as to the proceedings, was marking time
with her head. The same thing happened to the black animal, and then
with a swiftness which thoroughly befogged the small brain of all this
trouble, the leathered thong across her soft muzzle was tightened to
the verge of cruelty, and the reins twisted twice round the back of the
head, and then knotted to the leading reins fastened to the saddlebacks
of her two inferior sisters.
"Thus will I show thee who is master, O! shrew!" observed her master,
as he surveyed his handiwork. "Thou wilt not walk, then shall thy
sisters force thee to run; thou wilt lie down, then shall they drag
thee until thy mouth runs blood.
"Behold has thou brought misery to thy fair mistress, O! curse of
camels, and for each moment that thou shalt have lost unto her the
shade of the palm tree, for each moment shall thou shed a drop of
blood."
Howesha of her own free will scrambled to her feet, whilst the Arab
raised the girl, who, sunk in a sleep resembling unconsciousness, took
no heed of these untoward events, and placing her so that her head lay
softly against his shoulder, mounted his camel and brought the animal
to her feet.
The forcing to their feet of three camels by voice persuasion alone is
no mean performance, but no voice, not even the vocal chords of the
Archangel Gabriel, would have moved the cause of all this pother, for
at the word of command, in a tone which should have put fear of death
into her black heart, she slightly shifted her hind-quarters and lay
still.
"So thou wilt not move, thou daughter of a desert snail! Verily then
shalt thou so remain!"
A sharp word, and the two upstanding camels moved forward, coming to a
standstill as they felt the weight of their recumbent sister. There
was then heard a sharp swish, as the _courbaash_ delicately flicked
each astounded quadruped, astounded indeed, for never had they felt the
like before, and be it confessed, never had their master been possessed
of such a fury.
Simultaneously they bounded forward, if so one can describe their
action, bringing a snarl of rage from the unrepentant Desert Pearl.
Straining and tugging, with the whip constantly flicking and stinging,
they slowly dragged Taffadaln over the sand, until gradually the agony
of the tightening muzzle-thong cut not only into the flesh, but into
the very soul of the rebellious camel queen.
Foam began to gather round the bruised mouth, dripping from the teeth
only half closed by the leather strap; a drop of blood showed red near
the corner, cut by the cruel knot, sweat poured from the silky coat as
again and again she vainly tried to scramble to her feet, whilst the
eyes of her master, ablaze with hate, watched her futile efforts.
Suddenly he halted the animals, and sat contemplating the beautiful
Taffadaln, panting and moaning upon the sand.
"Get up!" he suddenly cried, with a ring of steel in the usually soft
voice, and obediently the brute scrambled to her feet, leaving red
patches where had rested her mouth.
"Now that I have almost broken thy neck, will I essay to break thy
heart." In which endeavour the Arab entirely failed.[1]
"Thou wouldst halt, therefore shall thou run!"
But Taffadaln was no fool, no, not one bit. For the first few yards,
as her sisters raced ahead, she hung back, pulling on the blood covered
thong, and tearing her tongue between her vicious teeth. Faster, and
faster, sped the forerunners, and how fast that can be may only be
understood by one who has pressed this swift moving animal's pace.
Resisting less and less, Taffadaln raced after, until the agony and
outrage of the proceedings suddenly drove her mad, and also to her
fastest speed, until with a positive shriek of hate she rushed upon the
pack camel, regardless of the slackened reins which were like to trip
her at every step, a scream of agony announcing the fact that the
bloody teeth had met in the camel's side. "Allah!" ejaculated Hahmed
as again and again he struck at the animal's infuriated face, when she
turned her attention to her black sister, whom she had the full
intention of savaging, what time the three were tearing like the wind
towards those palms under which figures in white could easily be
discerned.
Finding she was unable to wreak her vengeance with her teeth, her
crafty brain conceived the idea of harassing her fleeing companions, to
whom she was ignominiously fastened.
What were they but snails in speed compared to her, and if she could
not pass them for the bonds which held her captive, she could, at least
urge them on until they dropped from exhaustion. So into first one and
then the other she bumped, with an occasional nip at the tails, whilst
the air was rent with agonising shrieks, through which tumult Jill
slept sweetly upon the man's heart, until at last they raced up to the
caravan.
Many camels and four men watched the arrival, the former grunting and
groaning as they scented the trouble, the men calling upon Allah to
witness the madness which had befallen their master.
At the sight of the tents and the men who had tended them from birth,
Howesha and the black camel stopped dead, but too terrified to pay heed
to the voice that bade them get down, stood literally shaking with
fear, or wheeling sharply to dodge the gleaming teeth which seldom
failed to leave their mark, until Howesha, in a moment of absolute
terror, twisted and met her teeth in the upper portion of the back part
of Taffadaln's hind-leg, of which there is no tenderer part in the
camel's anatomy, following which action ensued a pitched battle.
With a scream, the rage-filled Taffadaln flung herself upon the two
camels and then upon her master and she who lay in his arms and who was
the real cause of this unseemly fracas. The Arab, essaying to hold the
cloak around the girl, so as to save her from the insult of a man's
gaze, struck again and again at the mouth which tore great pieces from
his flowing robes, the girl's covering, and chunks of hair from the
shrieking camel's body.
Blood and foam covered the animal's chest, the girl's cloak, and the
garments of the men, who, on account of the inextricable knotting of
the leads which bound the animals one to another, and the three sets of
teeth which were snapping and tearing at everything within their reach,
found themselves helpless to calm the tumult.
But suddenly there was peace, just as Jill opening her eyes murmured,
"What a dreadful noise the sea is making," and closed them again, for
the maker of sweet music, and head-tender of camels, had grasped the
danger to his beloved master, also the disaster impending among the
seething herd, who were all upon their feet and straining at their
tethers.
Swiftly divesting himself of his long, white, outer garment, he waved
it in front of the Glory of the Desert, whose price was above rubies,
and temper a direct gift from Eblis.[2]
To her everlasting undoing, she paused for one moment to stretch her
neck at length and eye the new menace. A fatal delay in which the
offending object lighted upon and around her head, shutting her
completely into outer darkness, whereupon she stood like a lamb whilst
hobbles were placed about her feet; after which the shade was lifted
slightly, leaving the eyes covered, whilst the blood-soaked thong was
cut away from the torn flesh, and a kind of leather cage slipped over
the muzzle, which would certainly prevent her from biting, or indulging
in her usual wide yawn of indifference.
The covering being lifted from her eyes, her bonds were undone, and
herself likened by the maker of sweet music, unto all that the Koran
calls unclean, even unto the vilest of the vile, the pig, into the
company of which she was relegated for all eternity. She was then
ordered to ground in a manner reminiscent of the tones used to bazaar
dogs, which order was emphasised with a flick of the _courbaash_ upon a
part which had known the meeting of Howesha's teeth.
But when at sunset Jill opened her eyes all sounds and signs of battle
were stilled.
[1]Having four times successfully foaled a she-camel, Taffadaln, the
Glory of the Desert, was ultimately shot on account of her demoniacal
temper.
[2]The devil.