All sounds had gradually died away in the town. A marabout had climbed
to the terrace of the great mosque and was crying "Allah is great!
Allah is great!" The surrounding terraces were peopled with white forms
which stood out against the summits of the palm-trees and the green of
the baobab. Their backs were turned to the purple splendours of the
dying light, for their faces looked towards the already darkened east,
lighted for them by that eternal light in which Mecca is to be found.
The silence was harshly broken by a brazen sound. It was the tamtams in
the Kasbah sounding the call for prayer.
The plain was now a vast desert phantasmagorically illuminated. Above,
the sky flamed into every imaginable colour, and the small
water-channel, scarcely visible a moment before, blazed into a
reflection of the ardour of the sky, while the rows of ospreys on its
banks looked like necklaces of pink pearls. Then all the enchantment
was overwhelmed by the sudden twilight that heralds the tropical night.
Well mounted on a swift camel, with water-skin and provision-bag filled,
and escorted by my guards, I had ridden through the crowded markets, and
passing out of the Kofa-n-Magaidi, or eastern gate, set forth across the
wide, sandy plain in the direction of prayer. The brief glimpse I
caught of the place as I passed hurriedly through its streets surprised
me. The inhabitants seemed to some extent a cultured people, and the
women apparently enjoyed considerable personal freedom, although the
majority were veiled. The men, despite their bellicose spirit and the
chronic state of warfare maintained, were not naturally cruel, and
treated their slaves kindly.
The towers, cupolas and high white walls of the great, impregnable
palace, wherein dwelt the woman who had enchanted me, stood dark and
frowning against the crimson brilliance of the after-glow, and from my
exalted position on the back of my _meheri_ I turned once to glance at
them, wondering if Azala knew of my expulsion. Perhaps from her lattice
in the great square tower rising above the city she was watching my
departure, but she had given no sign, and sorrowfully I at length turned
my back upon the White City of the Sultan 'Othman, and urged my camel
onward towards the horizon, which seemed a sea of mirage, with a feeling
that Fate had, indeed, laid her hand upon me with undeserved harshness.
In the cooler hours that succeeded, when the light had entirely faded,
and the wind, whirling up clouds of find sand into our faces, compelled
us to cover them as we rode on, leaving only our eyes visible, Shu'ba,
the chief of the black horsemen accompanying me, declared that if we
were to reach Kukawa, in Bornu, within three days, we should be
compelled to press forward constantly, resting but a few hours during
the heat of noon. My guards were heavily armed, each carrying a very
keen, straight sword, a dagger suspended from the left wrist, and a
spear six feet long, while with several this arsenal was also
supplemented by a rifle. Acting no doubt under the Sultan's orders,
they treated me with every consideration, and proved themselves
lighthearted, genial fellows; yet the long ride through the great,
silent wilderness, eternally warm, eternally gloomy, gave me many
opportunities for dismal reflections upon the strange turn events had
taken. Azala had fascinated, entranced me, and I loved her with all the
strength of my being. Yet I had been thus forcibly torn from her, never
to return on penalty of death. Each long stride of the animal beneath
me took me further from her, yet she trusted in me to save her. From
the words uttered by Khazneh in reply to the Sultan, it was evident that
the latter had had no knowledge of my capture and imprisonment, and
Azala had, on account of her father's absence, been unable to secure my
release.
The mysterious symbol that seemed to link me in some inexplicable manner
to the woman I loved had apparently produced in the Sultan a feeling of
dismay, for when he noticed it a sudden terror had enthralled him.
Awe-stricken at its significance, he had instantly rescinded the order
for my execution, sending me forth from his empire as if apprehensive
that my presence was a harbinger of some dreaded evil.
For a brief space we halted in the date-grove of Maifoura at midnight,
eating a little _tiggra_ with curdled milk diluted with water, and some
_ngaji_ or paste of sorghum, and having thus recruited our strength the
cry of "_Ala e'dhahar! ala e dhahar_!" (Mount! mount!) sounded, and we
resumed our ride over the low hills of Kobiri, and through the great,
gloomy forest of Gounel. South of the Lake Tsad the country is fertile,
and only here and there are there wide, sandy deserts reminding one of
the waterless, sterile regions of Azawagh and Taganet in the Great
Sahara, that arid, monotonous, and almost impassable gulf that separates
the regions of Sokoto, Bornu, Baguirmi and Gando from the European
civilisation of Northern Algeria. Having passed through the forest, the
wooded level became interrupted from time to time by bare-naked
concavities, or shallow hollows, consisting of black, sedimentary soil,
where, during the rainy season, the water collects, and drying up
gradually leaves a most fertile sediment for the cultivation of the
_masakwa_, a kind of holcus which is the most important article in the
agriculture of Sokoto. We saw herds of ostriches, troops of gazelles
and many moufflons as, on our forced march, we passed the great ruins of
Thaba, grim, grey, time-worn monuments of the Roman occupation, forded
the Yoobe river at Ngouroutoua--where my guards told me an English
traveller named Richardson had died many years ago--skirted the lagoon
of Mouggobi, and continuing for nearly eight hours along narrow, verdant
valleys, where, side by side with the diminutive, stunted palms, grew
the colossal baobabs, the mastodons of the vegetable kingdom, whose
gigantic branches were inhabited by vultures, serpents, bats and
lizards. Then at last we passed out upon the great granite plateau of
Koyam, dotted over with hillocks and in part strewn with quartz sand,
home of the nomad Uled-Delim, "pirates of the desert," a sun-baked,
stony wilderness devoid of any living thing. The third day was occupied
wholly in crossing this vast solitude, where incessantly we were
compelled to shout "_Hai_! _Hai_!" the ejaculation of caution to our
camels, as the beasts, weary and jaded, plodded on until, about an hour
after we had knelt to repeat our _majhrib_, while the shadows were
lengthening as the sun declined, the tall, white watch-tower at the
principal gate of Kukawa rose before us, and beyond lay the waters of
Lake Tsad shimmering like liquid gold in the glorious evening light.
When the cry was raised that the town was in sight, my guards held
consultation and halted. Then Shu'ba, drawing up his camel close to
mine, exclaimed,--
"Thou hast performed the journey within the time stipulated by our lord
the Sultan, therefore we now leave thee to continue thy way alone."
"Wilt thou not rest yonder for a while before returning?" I asked,
surprised.
"Nay," he answered, shrugging his shoulders significantly. "The people
of Bornu are our enemies. We would rather take our ease upon the plains
than within the city of those who seek our overthrow"--a speech that was
greeted by low, guttural sounds of approbation by the others perched on
their camels around. Then, continuing, he said, "It is our Sultan's
will that the _meheri_ thou ridest shall be given unto thee, together
with this rifle, ammunition and _jambiyah_," and as he uttered these
words he handed me the gun he carried, together with his pouch and a
crooked knife in a silver scabbard he drew from his sash.
"Alone in these regions thou mayest require them," observed a
light-hearted young negro, with a broad grin.
"Unto thy Sultan, whose dignity be increased, render thanks in my name.
Tell him that Zafar-Ben-A'Ziz is his grateful servant, and that he
beareth neither malice nor hatred," I answered.
"Behold, I am also charged with a further duty," said Shu'ba, with a
solemnity quite unusual to him. "Before we left the Fada one of the
eunuchs of the Courts of Enchantment gave this unto me to deliver into
thine hands," and he drew from the breast of his gandoura a small box of
delicately-chased gold, securely sealed.
"Whence didst thou obtain it?" I asked, in surprise, taking it in my
hands.
"From Hisham, the eunuch. He refused to tell who had given it unto him,
but gave me strict command to place it in thine hands at the moment when
we parted, with an injunction that it must not be opened until thou art
actually within the walls of Kukawa."
"May I not investigate its contents now?" I asked, puzzled.
"Nay, curb thine impatience. Behold, the sun is already declining," he
answered, glancing around. "Spur onward, or, of a verity, thou wilt not
obtain entrance to yonder city ere its gate is closed."
His prompting influenced me to make hurried adieu, and, as with one
accord they gave me "Peace," I sped away in the direction of the town,
turning once to wave back a farewell. As I rode forward, four armed
horsemen, their white burnouses flying in the wind, sped across the
plain to meet me. With rifles held high in air with threatening
gesture, they in a few minutes pulled their horses to their haunches
before me, loudly demanding whence I came.
"I am Zafar-Ben-A'Ziz of the Ansar of thine ally, the Khalifa of
Omdurman," I replied, laughing a moment later at the effect my words had
produced.
"From Omdurman?" they gasped. "How earnest thou hither in company with
horsemen of the Sultan 'Othman, who fled at our approach?"
Briefly, I told them how I had been held prisoner, and subsequently
expelled by the Sultan.
"Allah hath indeed covered thee with the cloak of protection," observed
one of the men, "None who descends to the terrible dungeons beneath the
Fada of Kano ever comes forth alive."
"Yea, thou hast assuredly narrowly escaped," agreed another, and, as
they turned to ride back with me, they related news of how, on the
advance of the Khalifa's troops towards Sokoto, the iron cymbals of war
had been silenced, for the Dervishes had been attacked and routed by the
Kanouri and Tuaregs in the swamps outside Massenya, after which it was
believed the survivors had returned in confusion to Omdurman. Thus I
found myself in sorry plight, without resources, and with a thousand
miles of gloomy forest and burning desert between myself and the Dervish
headquarters beside the Nile. With my companions I entered the
ponderous gate which was being kept open for our arrival, and, passing
the little daily market (the _dyrriya_), which was crowded, we rode
along the _deudal_, or promenade, past groups of Arabs and native
courtiers in all the finery of their dress and of their
brightly-caparisoned horses, until we came to the house of the sheikh, a
spacious place with a single _chedia_ or caoutchouc-tree in front. But
the sand into which we had floundered as if it were a mire pursued us
everywhere--in the streets, in the houses. The lounging slaves stared
at my ragged attire, but the Sheikh Mohammed Ben Bu-Sad, to whom I was
conducted, was very gracious, and after hearing the story of the defeat
of my comrades-in-arms, my captivity, and my narrow escape, gave orders
that for the present I should be lodged with one of the horsemen who had
met me, and whom I discovered was named Lamino (properly El-Amin), his
confidential officer. Thus, an hour later, I found myself installed in
a small, clay-built house in the _billa gedibe_, or eastern town, and
when alone I drew forth the small, golden box Shu'ba had given me. It
was square, about the length of the middle finger, covered with
quaintly-graven arabesques, and securely sealed with yellow wax.