Brief were the moments allowed me for lamentation over my irreparable
loss. Amid the wild scenes of carnage the thief had disappeared, and
though I just caught a glimpse of his profile, his features had been
partially hidden by the haick surrounding his face, and in the dark
shadow it was impossible to distinguish his countenance sufficiently to
again recognise him. Had my treasure consisted of gold or gems there
would have been some ground for hoping for its eventual recovery, but a
mere piece of rusted metal, apparently valueless, would doubtless be
quickly cast aside. Even now--even while I stood helpless in the hands
of my captors--it might have been already tossed away into the rank
vegetation of the oasis; it might be lying hidden and unheeded within a
few yards of me! Yet so tightly was I bound hand and foot, that the
cords cut into my flesh each time I attempted to move. While three tall
fierce men of the Fade, armed to the teeth and as sinister-looking a
trio as ever it had been my lot to meet, mounted guard over me, others
were with scant mercy securing those of my companions who had survived
the sudden ferocious attack, while the remainder of the band gleefully
investigated the contents of our camels' packs, replacing them upon the
animals ready for transportation to their own region.
Those of the captured caravan who struggled to get free were shown no
quarter. One of my whilom friends, a fine, stalwart fellow, held fast
by several of the hostile band quite close to me, fought desperately to
rescue a woman of his tribe who was being brutally cuffed by two hulking
fellows. For a few seconds he struck right and left, felling one of the
men who held him, but ere he could rush forward to protect the
defenceless female, a quick knife-thrust caused him to stagger and fall.
"Cowards!" he gasped in his death-agony. "May Allah curse thee and thy
sons' sons! Thou canst not fight fairly! Thou canst only strike by
stealth, and make war on women. May thy bodies moulder and drop limb
from limb; may the flames of the Land of Torments devour thee; may thine
accursed dust be scattered afar by the sirocco, and may thy souls
descend into Hawiyat."
"Silence! Wouldst thou, son of a dog! speak thus insolently unto thy
masters?" cried the dark-faced brute who had dealt the cowardly blow.
"Go thou to join the Companions of the Left Hand, and may torments ever
rack thee in the fire unquenchable! Take that--and that!" and, bending,
he raised his hand swiftly, burying his long dagger twice in the
prostrate man's breast.
One agonised groan and the unfortunate Arab rolled over a corpse. The
murderer's companions laughed heartily.
Scenes of relentless butchery such as these were occurring on every
hand. Our fierce captors were merciless; their hatred deadly. A word
was quickly followed by a cruel, unerring blow that either maimed or
proved fatal. A wounded slave is only an encumbrance, therefore, in
almost every instance, when an enemy's knife struck, it entered a vital
part. The horrors of that night were sickening, the bloodshed truly
awful. Men, women, even children were slaughtered out of the mere
fiendish delight felt by the victors in causing agony to their
vanquished foe, and passive and appalled I stood in the grip of my
enemies, wondering vaguely how soon I too should share the same fate as
those whose horrible death I was being compelled to witness.
The sun had already risen an hour when my captors lifted me upon a
horse, securing my feet so that I could not dismount, and soon
afterwards we moved away, an armed man riding on either side of each
prisoner. From the first it occurred to me that only by affecting the
religion of Islam could I escape death, therefore from that moment I
spoke only Arabic, declaring myself a native of Mequinez and a True
Believer. My accent in speaking Arabic and the whiteness of my skin my
captors attributed to my Moorish parentage, and, judging from the manner
in which the sinister-faced Sheikh of the slave-raiders inspected me, I
was considered a valuable prize.
Leaving the palms, we struck due south through a great clump of batum
trees into the barren, inhospitable region of the Admar, the desert that
has never been explored by Europeans, and which is still a blank upon
the maps. On setting out we travelled quickly, perhaps owing to the
great dreariness of the country and the impulse of the camel-drivers and
their beasts to get to their homes. Gradually, however, the day grew
very hot and uncomfortable, a stifling west wind scattering the sand of
the dunes into our faces and totally obscuring the way. Keeping along
the valley, wild and desolate, sometimes nearly a mile wide, we had on
our left a broad mount, rising first with gradual ascent, but in its
upper part forming a steep and lofty wall which the two men guarding me
called El Khaddamiyeh. Passing along a small defile and crossing
another valley, which my captors called the Tanarh, we once more gained
the great open desert of ever-shifting sand.
"Once I crossed this plain alone in face of the sirocco," observed one
of the men guarding me to his companion. "I would not attempt it again
for all the Treasure of Askia."
The Arab addressed grunted, but made no reply, and there was a long
silence.
"What is the treasure of which thou hast spoken?" I asked, interested,
after a pause. "I come from the north, and have never heard of it."