The glimmer of sunset struggling through the chink above faded quickly.
Upon my strained ears the sound of hurrying footsteps fell, but again
died away. My pursuers were returning after their fruitless errand.
Yet would they relinquish the search now they knew a stranger held their
secrets?
The conspiracy was against Christians in general and the power of France
in Algeria and Tunis in particular, therefore they knew that if the
military authorities in Algiers were acquainted with the facts, the
great Army of Africa would be held in readiness to crush the revolt in
its earliest stages. No doubt the memory of the great insurrection
which commenced at Souk Ahras in 1871, and which eventually proved so
disastrous to them, had not yet been obliterated, and they still
recollected how, although the revolt spread everywhere through Kabylia
at the word of the Sheikh el-Haddad, yet their people had struggled in
vain against the invaders, and the standard of Al-Islam was at last torn
down by the Infidels, and their mosques were defiled by their
conquerors' feet. Since that day, Turcos, Spahis, Zouaves, artillery,
and infantry had posts everywhere throughout the French sphere of
influence, and conspiracy was punishable by the guillotine. True, the
plot I had discovered was being perfected beyond the frontier, yet the
conspirators were no doubt members of a tribe under French rule,
therefore amenable to the laws of their conquerors. Thoughts such as
these caused me to reflect that these men who had schemed revenge were
not likely to content themselves with the knowledge that I had escaped.
If, as I supposed, I was still in the ruined Hall of the Great Death, it
would be impossible for a man to get away unnoticed, the ruins being
situated on high ground in the centre of a barren wilderness. But
evidently they were unaware of the existence of that secret chamber, and
doubtless they considered my sudden disappearance most remarkable.
As, however, the dead silence remained unbroken, I at length resolved to
wait patiently till the morrow, and in the pitch darkness groped my way
towards my couch. The violent exertion had almost exhausted me, and I
sat for some time feeling very faint and ill. My wound pained me
considerably, for the bandages had shifted and haemorrhage had again
been produced. Presently, however, I felt better, and after a draught
of water and a few dates, I stretched myself and fell asleep.
Until the streak of sunlight told me that the noon had passed, I waited
patiently, with ears open to catch every sound, and, hearing nothing, I
at last resolved to make another dash for liberty. Placing some food
and the leathern case containing my prize in my sash, I pushed forth the
stone drawer gently and crept through its narrow aperture. Gaining the
dark passage, I hesitated for a few seconds, then decided to explore it
in the opposite direction, for I had no intention of again approaching
the chamber wherein the secret rites had been performed. A few feet
from where I had emerged, the passage, like a rabbit's burrow, declined
steeply, and grew so narrow and low that I was compelled to stoop.
Advance was difficult in the darkness, yet I crept on, hoping to arrive
eventually at some exit. To my disappointment, however, the passage
penetrated still deeper into the earth, and gradually narrowed until I
was compelled to creep along on all fours. The atmosphere was choking,
and I began to fear asphyxiation.
Suddenly I emerged into what appeared to be a larger space, and my feet
struck stone steps. Finding I could now stand upright again, I
ascended, wondering whither they might lead. Not a ray of light showed,
and in the darkness I stumbled onward, for the steep stairs were worn
and in some places fallen away. As I toiled upward, the air seemed more
fresh, and I felt that in the immediate vicinity there must be some
outlet from that subterranean labyrinth. Gaining the top, I groped
about until I felt a door strengthened by strips of iron. It was small,
but very heavy. What, I wondered, did it conceal?
Discovering a handle, I slowly turned it. To my satisfaction, the door
yielded noiselessly, and I found myself in a great luxuriously-furnished
chamber, the air of which was fragrant with attar of rose and the downy
divans were of pale yellow silk.
Scarce daring to enter, I paused. It was, I could see, a woman's
apartment.
A man's deep voice was raised in anger, and I saw lying in a lazy
attitude on a divan before me, with her hair unbound, a beautiful girl
with face unveiled. She was richly dressed in silk of palest
heliotrope, with a heavy golden girdle and a tiny sleeveless zouave
jacket of rose-pink velvet, heavily trimmed with gold. Her skin was as
fair as an Englishwoman's, but her eyebrows were darkened with kohl, and
her forehead was almost hidden beneath its sequins. A dainty little fez
trimmed with seed pearls was set jauntily upon her handsome head, and as
she lay, one bare foot hanging over the edge of the divan in an attitude
full of languid grace, she toyed with her rings, and her bejewelled
breast heaved and fell in a long, heavy sigh.
Her companion, a well-dressed Arab, tall, long past middle life, with a
face in which brutality was strongly marked, was striding up and down
the sweet-scented apartment, hurling at her fearful imprecations and
insults, and expressing profound disgust that he had ever stooped to
caress her.
My feet fell so noiselessly upon the soft carpet that neither had
noticed my entrance, therefore I stepped back, re-closing the door, but
leaving it ajar, in order that I might witness the domestic
disagreement.
"Thine harsh words wound more deeply than thy blows," she observed, with
a sigh, as the man paused to gain breath.
"By my beard, wench! thou art verily the off-scum of Eblis, upon whom
the mercy of the One Merciful can never rest! Thou hidest in thine
heart secrets, and refusest to tell me that which I demand. I will
degrade thee, woman, to the meanest slavery; thou shalt wash the feet of
those who have been thy slaves. Though thou art a beauteous damsel--a
houri fitted for the Sultan of the Ahir--thou--"
"Hast thou lived thy threescore years, and failed to discover that
sometimes the face is not an index to the mind?" she interrupted, with a
flippant air.
"With thee, accursed betrayer of secrets and worker of iniquity, have I
learned that soft caresses may prove as the coils of a venomous serpent,
and that a woman's lips may conceal poison!" he cried, halting before
her with clenched fist.
Throwing her head back upon her silken cushion, she laughed at his
passion.
"Thou thinkest that thou hast cleverly deceived me--eh?" he hissed.
"Thy dark eyes sparkle like the stars, because thou, thrice-cursed
offspring of Satan, knowest that--that I have been fooled, tricked by
thee, who hast received from me every luxury! Had it not been for me,
thou wouldst have been at this moment the slave of some common
camel-driver, and--"
"Even that would have been preferable to imprisonment within thine
harem. Would that thine accursed generosity had been showered upon some
other woman than upon me," she cried, rousing herself and looking
straight and fearlessly into his angry, bearded visage. "True, in
return for thy favours, I have tried to love thee. Thou hast been
pleased to exalt me to be chief of thy wives, to bestow upon me jewels
of great price, and to place me above those who were envious because
their faces pleased thee not. Towards thee I have been faithful, and I
have ever kept thy private affairs locked within my bosom."
"And thou hast now exposed the greatest of all our secrets--the
intentions of the Senousya!" he said.
"I tell thee thou liest!" she cried in anger, clenching her small white
hand; "I have divulged nothing--I swear!"
"Perhaps not personally; nevertheless thou hast been instrumental in
allowing the designs of our brotherhood to become known, and punishment
will of a verity overtake thee. May the judgment of Allah fall upon
thee! upon thy father, and upon thy tribe of murderers and harlots, and
may their vitals be devoured by the fire unquenchable! Thou, bringer of
evil upon our house, hast done thy best to thwart the _Jihad_, [Holy
War] against the dogs of Infidels."
"I cannot understand thy meaning," she said, puzzled. "Thine
accusations are as complicated as the lock of the Holy Ka'abah."
"Vile offspring of Shirm!" he cried in a sudden paroxysm of passion,
seizing her roughly by the wrist. "To feign ignorance will not avail
thee. I have discovered the depths of thy perfidy. Perhaps thou wilt
deny that, on thy return hither with thy slaves, thou didst discover
amid the ruins of the Hall of the Great Death a man who had been
wounded?"
She started, turned pale, and looked at him with an expression that
betrayed fear of his terrible wrath.
"Thou, cursed handmaiden of hell, viewing this stranger from beyond the
Atlas with compassion because his face found favour in thine eyes, bound
up his wound, and, placing him in a _jakfi_ upon one of thy camels,
secretly bore him hither. Though thou didst not know him, thou gavest
him food, and tended him while he lay fever-stricken and unconscious;
and when thou arrivedst here, thy women, acting under thine orders,
assisted thee to secrete him in some place the existence of which
thyself only hast knowledge. Speak!" he added, twisting her white arm
until a cry of pain escaped her. "Speak, woman! tell me if I utter the
truth."
"Release me, brute!" she cried, springing to her feet, with her
beautiful eyes flashing angrily. "Thinkest thou that I will endure thy
tortures longer? No! I hate thee! I will depart. Another may rule
thine harem, and may she find her position happier than mine hath been!"
"But remember thou art my prisoner. Dost thou admit or deny what I have
said?" he demanded, pale with passion.
"If thou accusest me of infidelity, I can deny it upon the Book of the
Everlasting Will," she replied, drawing herself up haughtily. "Other
allegations I deign not to answer, even though thou art my captor, and I
am in thy power."
"Then know, O woman of evil, who hast been defiled by the eyes of a
stranger, the man thou hast aided now holdeth the secret of the Ghuzzat,
and--"
"He--he hath learned of the plot against our Oppressors?" she gasped.
"Tell me, how did it occur?"
"At the council of the Brotherhood he was discovered behind a curtain in
the secret Chamber of Assembly, and no doubt can exist but that he
watched and obtained knowledge of our rites and intentions. Upon me,
therefore, will fall the fierce and fatal wrath of the Brotherhood, for
within my walls hath their secret been betrayed!"
"But--how did he gain the Chamber of the Assembly?" she stammered.
"Thou canst best answer that question," the old Arab replied sternly.
"I am in ignorance, truly," she declared, a deadly pallor overspreading
her fair countenance. "I have done naught of which I am ashamed."
"But canst thou not, perfidious wench, see that our secret is out?" he
continued angrily. "The stranger, though pursued, disappeared
mysteriously, and though every search hath been made, he hath not been
found. By this time he is most probably on his way into Algeria, where
he will spread the warning, and thus the armed hordes of the Roumis will
be on the alert, and our aims utterly defeated."
"And thou hast attributed the misfortune of thy fellow-conspirators to
me?" she exclaimed, in a tone of reproach.
"I tell thee thou alone art the author of the evil that hath befallen
us," he cried, with flashing eyes. "For women of Eblis who betray True
Believers, the fire of hell is already prepared. There, the flame and
smoke shall surround thee like a pavilion, and if thou beggest relief,
thou shalt be relieved with water like molten brass that shall scald thy
face. The mischief is worked, the secret is divulged, and already the
Brotherhood are leaving, never to return. Thee, devilish daughter of
Waila, have we to thank for introducing secretly a spy into our midst!"
"I have acted as I thought fit. Leave my presence!" she commanded, with
imperious gesture. "I will no longer suffer the brutal insults of a man
I hate. Ere the sun hath set I shall have freed myself of thine hateful
bonds and left thine accursed roof."
"Thou shalt never go from here alive!" he hissed in her ear, holding her
slim white wrist and dragging her roughly towards him. "Already thou,
the cause of our downfall, hast defiled thine hands with the blood of a
stranger, and allowed him to obtain knowledge whereby our secret designs
will be thwarted. For such offences there is but one penalty. It is
death!"
"Thou, who art tired of me, bring these accusations in order to justify
my murder!" she gasped in indignation and alarm. "My people have not
forgotten, and assuredly will they seek blood revenge."
"Enough!" he growled between his teeth, as in a second he drew a knife
from his waist, and, clutching her by the throat, forced her upon her
knees. "Thou art the handmaiden of Al-Dajjal, and the mark of the Cafer
is set upon thy brow. Thou shalt die!"
She shrieked as his powerful arm poised in mid air.
"Spare me! Spare me!" she implored piteously. "Be thou merciful!"
But he jeered at her appeal, and, forcing her backward in his iron
clutches, gripped the gleaming, murderous weapon.
"Thy people, thou Misriyah! will never know thy fate, for ere sundown
thou wilt be as offal, and vultures will strip thy bones," he said, with
a fiendish grin. "See! this my knife seeketh thy polluted heart."
Unhesitatingly I dashed forward, springing upon him from behind and
wrenching the weapon from his grasp. I was not a moment too soon, for
in another instant the keen steel would have been plunged into the
heaving white breast of the fair, fragile jewel of the harem.
"Who, pray, art thou, who darest obstruct me?" he demanded angrily,
turning upon me in amazement.
"Thy wife hath saved my life, and it is my duty to save hers," I
answered boldly.
"See!" she panted, suddenly recognising me. "See! it is the stranger
who was wounded!"
"The stranger who hath learned at his peril the secret of the Ghuzzat,"
he added, with grim sarcasm. "As he is thy protector, he is most
probably thy lover also!"
"That I deny," I answered quickly. "I have known nothing of this lady
until to-day."
"Liar!" he shrieked in rage. "Thou boldest our secret. Only thy death
will expiate thine eavesdropping!" and ere I could realise his
intention, he had drawn a second knife from his waist and made a
desperate lunge at me. With difficulty I managed to parry the blow, and
for a few moments we engaged in deadly combat. His young wife, alarmed,
rushed to a door which led into a beautiful courtyard, and shouted for
help. Her cries were answered immediately by two black slaves of
gigantic stature, who, in obedience to her commands, flung themselves
upon their master, twisted the knife from his fingers, and in a trice
had bound his hands behind his back with a cord they seemed to have
brought for the purpose.
"Slaves! Suffer not thine hands to thus defile me!" he cried, with a
look of murder in his flashing eyes, but they gagged him immediately.