Allah took me into his keeping. I made a solitude and called it peace.
Half-an-hour later I succeeded in escaping unrecognised from the Fada,
and passing out by the great gate, hurried breathlessly through the
slave-market, already alive with Arabs, negroes and herds of
half-starved slaves, through the Yaalewa quarter, past the Palace of
Ghaladima, and down many quaint and narrow streets of square,
flat-roofed houses, their walls intensely white against the bright,
unclouded blue, with passages from the Koran inscribed over the doors.
The great market presented a most animated scene, for business is
transacted in Kano before the sun becomes powerful. All the idioms of
the Sahara, Soudan and Northern Africa, from the blue Mediterranean and
grey Atlantic to Lake Tsad, were to be heard there, and beneath the
white turban or red fez were all the different types of negro races--
Berber, Songhoi, Bambara, Toucoulem, Malinka, among the blacks; and
Foulbes, Moors, Tuaregs, and Tripolitans among the whites. Rows of
shops bordered three sides of the market, and the fourth opened upon the
Mosque, as if in reminder that honesty and good faith should preside
over all its transactions. Sitting surrounded by calabashes and
potteries, the women, with neatly-plaited black hair, sold vegetables,
milk, manioc, incense, baobab flour, karita, spices, soap and fagots of
wood. In the centre of the market were three shops in which were sold
the choicer goods--native and European textiles principally, Manchester
calicoes and Lyons silks, with salt, kola nuts, slippers, mirrors,
pearls, knives, etc. The money-changer was also stationed there, with
his black face showing out from between his little mountain of cowries.
For native gold (in rings like the money of the Pharaohs) he gave and
took hundreds and thousands of the little shells, grinning broadly the
while. Further on, amid a perfect babel of tongues, magic roots, gold
dust, emeralds, pearls and amber, provisions dried in the sun, hair torn
from the heads of dead negresses, old Korans, gongs, poniards, ancient
jewellery, ginkris, flint guns, and amulets, were bought and sold, while
everywhere beggars, ragged and dirty, and lepers, rendered hideous by
their horrible white ulcers, held forth lean, talon-like hands, crying
aloud in the name of the One Allah for alms.
The people who crowded the narrow thoroughfares beyond the market were
of every variety of national form--the olive-coloured Arab, the dark
Kanouri with his wide nostrils, the tall, stately, black-veiled Tuareg,
the small-featured, light and slender ba-Fellenchi, the broad-faced
ba-Wangara, the stout, masculine-looking Nupe female, and the comely
ba-Haushe woman. But I sped onward, thinking only of the dastardly plot
by which the Sultan was to be overthrown, and the woman I loved spirited
away to the great harem in far-off Omdurman. Assuredly the register of
the actions of the wicked is in Sejjin, the book distinctly written,
which cannot be denied as a falsehood.
At first I had felt impelled to seek an audience of the Sultan, but on
reflection I saw that such a course would achieve no purpose. Already
he had forbidden me to set foot within his Empire, and it was not likely
that he would believe my statement if flatly contradicted by both the
Khalifa and the villainous Khazneh, as undoubtedly it would be.
I strove to invent some means of acquainting the Sultan 'Othman of his
impending doom, but could devise none. As I crossed the Zat Nakhl
(Place of Palm Trees), I reflected that my secret assassination would
probably be the only result of my exposure of the plot. Four months
must elapse ere the Dervishes could reach Kano, therefore I resolved to
preserve silence, and go forth to fulfil my promise to Azala to try and
elucidate the mystery.
At a little distance outside the Kofa-n-Kura, I found, as she had
stated, two camels kneeling, with their bags ready packed, in charge of
the dwarf Tiamo, who, when he saw me, ran forward, greeting me
effusively, and urging me to hasten, so that we might leave the city ere
our absence from the Fada was discovered. This advice I followed, and a
few minutes later we were seated on the animals, speeding quickly away
over the loose sand, leaving the gigantic white walls of Kano behind.
Once I turned to gaze upon the tower of the Fada that stood out clear
and white, knowing that from behind one of those small lattices Azala
was watching our departure with anxious, tearful eyes. Raising my hand
I waved her a last farewell, then, with face set doggedly towards the
west, I rode forward with my queer companion, in quest of the
undiscovered spot that had so many times been reflected with such
clearness of detail upon the sky.
On over the arid sands we journeyed, pausing not even during the blazing
heat of noon, but pursuing our way with rapidity in order to put as
great a distance as possible between ourselves and the city by sundown.
Instead of taking the caravan route to Kaoura we had turned off in a
south-westerly direction over a confused agglomeration of _aghrud_, or
high sandhills, almost impassable, in order to baffle our pursuers in
case we were followed.
Just before sundown we paused at a spot where the light shadows of the
palms, tamarisk, alfa and mimosa rested on the dry, parched thirst-land,
and decided to halt for the night. Unloading and tethering our camels,
I knelt to my two-bow prayer and repeated my _dua_, after which the
dwarf became communicative. He was a pagan and believed not in Allah,
or the Prophet. During the day he had apparently been too much
concerned regarding my personal safety to speak much, but now we ate and
took our _Cayf_ in the blue and purple haze, sitting silent and still,
listening to the monotonous melody of the oasis, the soft evening breeze
wandering through the brilliant sky and tufted trees with a voice of
melancholy meaning, lounging in pleasant languor and dreamy
tranquillity. Briefly my impish companion told me how his mistress had
entrusted him with the arrangements for our journey, and had given him
instructions to accompany me as servant.
I smoked my _shisha_ (travelling pipe), listening to the croaking voice
of this strange being with his large, ugly head and small body, in whom
Azala reposed such confidence; then I questioned him regarding his past.
It always pleased him if I addressed him by the soubriquet El-Sadic
that Azala had bestowed upon him. His eyes grew brighter, his grin more
hideous, and he fingered his numberless heathen amulets as he related to
me the exciting story of how he had been captured by Arab slave-raiders
at his home in the forest of Kar, beside the Serbeouel river in
Baguirmi, and taken to Kano, where he was purchased by the Grand Vizier,
and afterwards given to the Lalla Azala. As he spoke the mouth of this
human monstrosity widened, displaying a hideous row of teeth, and this,
combined with his croaking voice, rendered him a weird and altogether
extraordinary companion. Yet his strength seemed almost double mine,
for he had unloaded the camels without an effort, carrying with perfect
ease packages that would have made me pant.
Sitting together on the mat we had spread, watching the sun sinking on
the misty horizon, and the bright crescent moon slowly rising, I asked
him whether he was aware of the nature of my quest.
"The Lalla Azala hath explained to me, O master, that thou seekest the
Rock of the Great Sin," he answered.
"What knowest thou of the rock?" I inquired.
"Only that which hath been related by the storytellers," he answered.
"As in Kano, so we away on the Serbeouel river believe in its existence,
though none has discovered its whereabouts. By my people, the negroes
of Baguirmi, it is believed to be the entrance to the sacred land to
which those who die valiantly in battle are transported, while those who
betray cowardice are thrown into the Lake of the Accursed, wherein dwell
crocodiles of great size, water-snakes who live on human flesh, and all
kinds of venomous reptiles. The story-tellers of our tribe say that the
reason none has found it is because there is emitted, from the Lake of
the Accursed, vapours so deadly as to prevent any one from approaching
the rock sufficiently near to distinguish its outline. It is the abode
of the Death-god."
"Art thou not afraid to accompany me in this search?" I asked, knowing
how superstitious are the negroes.
"It is the Lalla's will," he answered, simply. "Thou, an Arab from the
North and my lady's friend, art seeking to deliver her from bondage,
therefore where thou goest, there also will I bear thee company."
"Bravely spoken," I said, and after a pause told him of the conspiracy
that had been formed against the Sultan. With breathless interest he
listened while I related how I had discovered its existence; then, when
I had finished, he half rose, saying,--
"But the Lalla shall never grace the harem of the cruel, brutal Khalifa.
I myself will save her."
"I cannot give her warning, for I dare not again approach her," I
pointed out, with sorrow.
"Shall I go back and tell her, while thou remainest here until my
return?" he suggested.
"No," I answered, on reflection. "Silence is best at present. For four
months, at least, Kano is safe. If the Sultan is warned within that
time, his enemies may be overthrown."
"The dastardly plot of the abuser of the salt, the vile offspring of
Shimr, shall be thwarted," he cried, fiercely. "The heads of its
originators shall rot upon the city gate, and none shall enter the
presence of the Lalla, with whose beauty none can compare."
"Act not rashly," I said. "We know the secret of the conspirators,
therefore we may be able to thwart them so neatly that they fall victims
to their own plot. Let us act with care and discretion, that the Empire
may be saved from falling into the hands of the wild-haired fanatics of
Omdurman, who, although my comrades-in-arms, are not my tribesmen."
"Be it even as thou commandest," he answered. "My life is equally at
thy service to secure the undoing of the traitor, as for the diligent
search we are about to make for the Rock of the Great Sin," and the
claw-like fingers of the dwarf slowly grasped his pipe-stem, as he
smoked on thoughtfully.
In the deep silence of the desert, under the pale light of the moon,
that rose from the direction of the city from which we were fleeing, I
sat, plunged in reverie, wondering whether my search would prove
successful. My head ached, my lips were parched, and I felt spent with
long travel, therefore, scooping a hole in the sand, I threw myself down
to snatch a few hours' repose, as we had decided to be moving again
before sunrise.
Sleep must have come to my eyes quickly, for I was suddenly awakened by
the dwarf shaking me, and saying in a low whisper, as he placed his
quick ear to the sand,--
"Hearken! Canst thou not hear the thud of horses' hoofs? Thine absence
hath been detected, and we are pursued!"
And, as I strained my ears, I could distinctly detect the regular,
monotonous thud of a horse urged across the desert at terrific pace;
and, as I knelt upon the sand, I grasped the rifle that I had found
packed on the camel, and held it loaded in readiness--prepared to defend
myself, an example which Tiamo immediately followed. In the desert no
law is recognised but that of the strong arm and the keen blade.