UARGLA
Lost in the immensity of the desert, Uargla, the queen of the oases,
was, up to thirty years ago, little known. On the day Maldar had
conversed with the saint a dense mass of people crowded about one of the
chief gates of Uargla, and loud voices arose in the air. A horrible
monster, all tattered and torn, had swung himself on a pile of stones,
and begun to harangue the crowd.
"You think you are acting wisely," he cried, "and yet you are only
fools. In the prisons of Kiobeh you keep the enemies of Islam, and while
you are pondering over the mysteries of the Koran, the infidel dogs are
murdering your wives and children. Arise, believers of Islam, and kill
the Giaours!"
The crowd yelled like savages.
For more than six months prisoners had been kept in the fortress, and in
spite of all the protestations of the inhabitants, their lives had been
spared. It was time, many thought, to kill them and expose their heads
to the birds of prey. The marabout was right, they said, and the crowd
demanded the lives of the unfortunates. The marabout was delighted at
the effect of his words, and uttering a cry he sprang from his perch
and disappeared in the crowd. He knew the excited fanatics would follow
him to the Kiobeh, and while he was walking on he pictured to himself
the agonies the victims would have to endure. They must all die for the
glory of Allah. In their blind hatred of the Christians, the Aratins,
whose deep black color is not found in any other tribe, allied
themselves with the Arabs, the Soudanese with the Mozambites, and
yelling and shouting and armed with knives, guns and daggers, the
savages marched toward the Kiobeh. Woe to the unfortunates who fell
victims to such blind fanaticism--woe to the prisoners who were pining
away in the Kiobeh!