I
I am not naturally superstitious. The Saharaman is. He has many strange
beliefs. When one is at close quarters with him, sees him day by day
in his home, the great desert, listens to his dramatic tales of desert
lights, visions, sounds, one’s common-sense is apt to be shaken on its
throne. Perhaps it is the influence of the solitude and the wide spaces,
of those far horizons of the Sahara where the blue deepens along
the edge of the world, that turns even a European mind to an Eastern
credulity. Who can tell? The truth is that in the Sahara one can believe
what one cannot believe in London. And sometimes circumstances--chance
if you like to call it so--steps in, and seems to say, “Your belief is
well founded.”
Of all the desert superstitions the one which appealed most to my
imagination was the superstition of the desert drum. The Sahara-man
declares that far away from the abodes of men and desert cities, among
the everlasting sand dunes, the sharp beating, or dull, distant rolling
of a drum sometimes breaks upon the ears of travellers voyaging through
the desolation. They look around, they stare across the flats, they
see nothing. But the mysterious music continues. Then, if they be
Sahara-bred, they commend themselves to Allah, for they know that some
terrible disaster is at hand, that one of them at least is doomed to
die.
Often had I heard stories of the catastrophes which were immediately
preceded by the beating of the desert drum. One night in the Sahara I
was a witness to one which I have never been able to forget.
On an evening of spring, accompanied by a young Arab and a negro, I rode
slowly down a low hill of the Sahara, and saw in the sandy cup at my
feet the tiny collection of hovels called Sidi-Massarli. I had been in
the saddle since dawn, riding over desolate tracks in the heart of the
desert. I was hungry, tired, and felt almost like a man hypnotised. The
strong air, the clear sky, the everlasting flats devoid of vegetation,
empty of humanity, the monotonous motion of my slowly cantering
horse--all these things combined to dull my brain and to throw me into
a peculiar condition akin to the condition of a man in a trance. At
Sidi-Massarli I was to pass the night. I drew rein and looked down on it
with lack-lustre eyes.
I saw a small group of palm-trees, guarded by a low wall of baked brown
earth, in which were embedded many white bones of dead camels. Bleached,
grinning heads of camels hung from more than one of the trees, with
strings of red pepper and round stones. Beyond the wall of this palm
garden, at whose foot was a furrow full of stagnant brownish-yellow
water, lay a handful of wretched earthen hovels, with flat roofs of
palmwood and low wooden doors. To be exact, I think there were five of
them. The Bordj, or Travellers’ House, at which I was to be accommodated
for the night, stood alone near a tiny source at the edge of a large
sand dune, and was a small, earth-coloured building with a pink tiled
roof, minute arched windows, and an open stable for the horses and
mules. All round the desert rose in humps of sand, melting into stony
ground where the saltpetre lay like snow on a wintry world. There were
but few signs of life in this place; some stockings drying on the wall
of a ruined Arab café, some kids frisking by a heap of sacks, a few
pigeons circling about a low square watch-tower, a black donkey brooding
on a dust heap. There were some signs of death; carcasses of camels
stretched here and there in frantic and fantastic postures, some
bleached and smooth, others red and horribly odorous.
The wind blew round this hospitable township of the Sahara, and the
yellow light of evening began to glow above it. It seemed to me at that
moment the dreariest place in the dreariest dream man had ever had.
Suddenly my horse neighed loudly. Beyond the village, on the opposite
hill, a white Arab charger caracoled, a red cloak gleamed. Another
traveller was coming in to his night’s rest, and he was a Spahi. I could
almost fancy I heard the jingle of his spurs and accoutrements, the
creaking of his tall red boots against his high peaked saddle. As he
rode down towards the Bordj--by this time, I, too, was on my way--I saw
that a long cord hung from his saddle-bow, and that at the end of this
cord was a man, trotting heavily in the heavy sand like a creature
dogged and weary. We came in to Sidi-Massarli simultaneously, and pulled
up at the same moment before the arched door of the Bordj, from which
glided a one-eyed swarthy Arab, staring fixedly at me. This was the
official keeper of the house. In one hand he held the huge door key, and
as I swung myself heavily on the ground I heard him, in Arabic, asking
my Arab attendant, D’oud, who I was and where I hailed from.
But such attention as I had to bestow on anything just then was given
to the Spahi and his companion. The Spahi was a magnificent man, tall,
lithe, bronze-brown and muscular. He looked about thirty-four, and had
the face of a desert eagle. His piercing black eyes stared me calmly out
of countenance, and he sat on his spirited horse like a statue, waiting
patiently till the guardian of the Bordj was ready to attend to him. My
gaze travelled from him along the cord to the man at its end, and rested
there with pity. He, too, was a fine specimen of humanity, a giant,
nobly built, with a superbly handsome face, something like that of an
undefaced Sphinx. Broad brows sheltered his enormous eyes. His rather
thick lips were parted to allow his panting breath to escape, and his
dark, almost black skin, was covered with sweat. Drops of sweat coursed
down his bare arms and his mighty chest, from which his ragged burnous
was drawn partially away. He was evidently of mixed Arab and negro
parentage. As he stood by the Spain’s horse, gasping, his face expressed
nothing but physical exhaustion. His eyes were bent on the sand, and
his arms hung down loosely at his sides. While I looked at him the Spahi
suddenly gave a tug at the cord to which he was attached. He moved in
nearer to the horse, glanced up at me, held out his hand, and said in a
low, musical voice, speaking Arabic:
“Give me a cigarette, Sidi.”
I opened my case and gave him one, at the same time diplomatically
handing another to the Spahi. Thus we opened our night’s acquaintance,
an acquaintance which I shall not easily forget.
In the desolation of the Sahara a travelling intimacy is quickly
formed. The one-eyed Arab led our horses to the stable, and while my two
attendants were inside unpacking the tinned food and the wine I carried
with me on a mule, I entered into conversation with the Spahi, who spoke
French fairly well. He told me that he was on the way to El Arba, a long
journey through the desert from Sidi-Massarli, and that his business was
to convey there the man at the end of the cord.
“But what is he? A prisoner?” I asked.
“A murderer, monsieur,” the Spahi replied calmly.
I looked again at the man, who was wiping the sweat from his face with
one huge hand. He smiled and made a gesture of assent.
“Does he understand French?”
“A little.”
“And he committed murder?”
“At Tunis. He was a butcher there. He cut a man’s throat.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, monsieur. Perhaps he was jealous. It is hot in Tunis
in the summer. That was five years ago, and ever since he has been in
prison.”
“And why are you taking him to El Arba?”
“He came from there. He is released, but he is not allowed to live
any more in Tunis. Ah, monsieur, he is mad at going, for he loves a
dancing-girl, Aïchouch, who dances with the Jewesses in the café by
the lake. He wanted even to stay in prison, if only he might remain in
Tunis. He never saw her, but he was in the same town, you understand.
That was something. All the first day he ran behind my horse cursing me
for taking him away. But now the sand has got into his throat. He is so
tired that he can scarcely run. So he does not curse any more.”
The captive giant smiled at me again. Despite his great stature, his
powerful and impressive features, he looked, I thought, very gentle and
submissive. The story of his passion for Aïchouch, his desire to be near
her, even in a prison cell, had appealed to me. I pitied him sincerely.
“What is his name?” I asked.
“M’hammed Bouaziz. Mine is Said.”
I was weary with riding and wanted to stretch my legs, and see what
was to be seen of Sidi-Massarli ere evening quite closed in, so at this
point I lit a cigar and prepared to stroll off.
“Monsieur is going for a walk?” asked the Spahi, fixing his eyes on my
cigar.
“Yes.”
“I will accompany monsieur.”
“Or monsieur’s cigar-case,” I thought.
“But that poor fellow,” I said, pointing to the murderer. “He is tired
out.”
“That doesn’t matter. He will come with us.”
The Spahi jerked the cord and we set out, the murderer creeping over the
sand behind us like some exhausted animal.
By this time twilight was falling over the Sahara, a grim twilight, cold
and grey. The wind was rising. In the night it blew half a gale, but
at this hour there was only a strong breeze in which minute sand-grains
danced. The murderer’s feet were shod with patched slippers, and the
sound of these slippers shuffling close behind me made me feel faintly
uneasy. The Spahi stared at my cigar so persistently that I was obliged
to offer him one. When I had done so, and he had loftily accepted it, I
half turned towards the murderer. The Spahi scowled ferociously. I put
my cigar-case back into my pocket. It is unwise to offend the powerful
if your sympathy lies with the powerless.
Sidi-Massarli was soon explored. It contained a Café Maure, into which
I peered. In the coffee niche the embers glowed. One or two ragged Arabs
sat hunched upon the earthen divans playing a game of cards. At least I
should have my coffee after my tinned dinner. I was turning to go back
to the Bordj when the extreme desolation of the desert around, now
fading in the shadows of a moonless night, stirred me to a desire.
Sidi-Massarli was dreary enough. Still it contained habitations, men. I
wished to feel the blank, wild emptiness of this world, so far from the
world of civilisation from which I had come, to feel it with intensity.
I resolved to mount the low hill down which I had seen the Spahi ride,
to descend into the fold of desert beyond it, to pause there a moment,
out of sight of the hamlet, listen to the breeze, look at the darkening
sky, feel the sand-grains stinging my cheeks, shake hands with the
Sahara.
But I wanted to shake hands quite alone. I therefore suggested to the
Spahi that he should remain in the Café Maure and drink a cup of coffee
at my expense.
“And where is monsieur going?”
“Only over that hill for a moment.”
“I will accompany monsieur.”
“But you must be tired. A cup of----”
“I will accompany monsieur.”
In Arab fashion he was establishing a claim upon me. On the morrow, when
I was about to depart, he would point out that he had guided me round
Sidi-Massarli, had guarded me in my dangerous expedition beyond its
fascinations, despite his weariness and hunger. I knew how useless it is
to contend with these polite and persistent rascals, so I said no more.
In a few minutes the Spahi, the murderer and I stood in the fold of the
sand dunes, and Sidi-Massarli was blotted from our sight.