Through a vast, barren wilderness, peopled only by echoes, we journeyed
over drifted sand-heaps, upon which every breath of the hot poison-wind
left its trace in solid waves. It was a haggard land of drear silence,
of solitude, and of fantastic desolation. In the Desert a vivid sense
of danger is never absent; indeed, even more so than upon the sea, for
the mere lameness of a camel or the bursting of a water-skin is a
disaster that must inevitably prove fatal to the traveller.
Our caravan consisted of ten persons only, six trusted and well-armed
male slaves, two females, my pretty companion, and myself. Our
departure from the great ancient stronghold in which the handsome girl
had been held captive had not been accomplished without much exciting
incident; but luckily my disguise as a female slave, in ugly white
trousers and a haick that hid my features, proved complete, and, the
imperious pearl of the Sheikh's harem having announced her intention of
journeying to Assiou to join his two other wives, we were at last
allowed to depart without any opposition on the part of her husband's
armed retainers. The whole thing had been most carefully arranged, and
the details of the escape were cleverly carried out without a hitch.
On setting out, Lalla Halima--for such she told me was her name--and
myself, as her attendant, travelled together in one _jakfi_ placed upon
a swift camel, gaily caparisoned with crimson velvet; but as soon as we
had got fairly away, I slipped off my white shroud, and, resuming a fez
and burnouse, mounted one of the animals whereon our food was loaded.
In camping during those blinding days under a dead, milk-white sky, I
spent many pleasant, idle hours with Halima, and when travelling--which
we usually did at night--we generally rode side by side.
Notwithstanding the terrific heat, life in the Desert seemed to suit her
far better than the seclusion of her sweet-perfumed harem, for, true
child of the plains as she was, she felt her heart dilate and her pulse
beat stronger; declaring to me that she experienced a keen enjoyment in
"roughing it" in that trackless wilderness. Indeed, the spirits of all
of us became exuberant, the air and exercise seemed to stir us to
exertion, and, altogether, we constituted a really pleasant party.
Lolling lazily at her ease among the silken cushions in her _jakfi_, she
would chat with charming frankness through the night, as in the
moonlight we plodded steadily onward guided by one of the slaves to whom
the route was familiar. She told me all about herself, of her
childhood, spent in the barren desert of the Ahaggar, of a visit she
paid to Algiers one Ramadan, and of the attack by the Kel-Fade upon the
little village of Afara Aouhan, her capture, and her subsequent life in
the harem of the Sheikh. From her I gleaned many details regarding her
people, of their wanderings, their power in the Desert, and their raids
upon neighbouring nomad tribes. Many were the horrible stories she told
me of the fierce brutality of Hadj Absalam, who was feared by his people
as a wicked, unjust, and tyrannical ruler, and who, despising the French
military authorities, delighted in the torture of Christian captives,
and endeavoured to entice the Zouaves and Spahis into his mountain
fastnesses where he could slaughter them without mercy. The Great
Pirate's impregnable palace, the fame of which had long ago spread from
Timbuktu to Cairo, she described in detail, and if what she said proved
correct, the place must be of magnificent proportions, and a very
remarkable structure. The harem, she said, contained over four hundred
inmates, the majority of whom had fallen prisoners in various raids, but
so fickle was the pirate Sultan of the Sahara, that assassination was
horribly frequent, and poison, the silken cord, or the scimitar,
removed, almost weekly, those who failed to find favour in the eyes of
their cruel captor.
Yet, regarding Zoraida, I could gather scarcely anything beyond the fact
that the subjects of Hadj Absalam knew her by repute as the most
beautiful of women, and that few, even of the female inmates of the
palace, had ever looked upon her unveiled face. One evening, as we rode
beside each other in the brilliant afterglow, I admitted how utterly
mystified I was regarding the woman I loved; to which Halima replied
softly--
"Who she is no one can tell. Her name is synonymous for all that is
pure and good, her benevolence among our poorer families is proverbial,
and she possesseth a strange power, the secret of which none hath ever
been able to discover."
"Thou didst tell me that thy people sought my destruction," I said.
"Dost thou know the reason for their secret hatred?"
"I have heard that thou holdest the mysterious power of defeating thine
enemies once possessed by the Lalla Zoraida, and that until thy death it
cannot return to her," she answered. "But thou dost not seem so
terrible as report describeth thee," she added, with a coquettish smile.
I laughed. It was nevertheless strange that my would-be assassin
Labakan had made a similar allegation. Remembering that I was
accompanying my fair companion upon an adventurous journey to an unknown
destination, I said--
"Though we have travelled together these six days, thou hast not yet
told me whither our camels' heads are set."
Puffing thoughtfully at the cigarette between her dainty lips, she
replied, "Already have I explained that I am returning to my people.
The route we are traversing is known only to the trusty slave who
guideth us and to mine own people, for there are no wells, and no
adventurous traveller hath ever dared to penetrate into this deserted,
silent land of the Samun."
"Is it not known to thine enemies, the Kel-Fade?" I asked, recollecting
with bitterness that to the marauders of the tribe that had held her in
bondage I also owed my captivity in the Court of the Eunuchs.
"The Kel-Fade have never penetrated hither," she answered, gazing away
to where the purple flush was dying away on the misty horizon. "In
three days--if Allah showeth us favour--we shall reach the rocky valley
wherein my people are encamped. _Ana fikalak hatta athab ila honak_."
["I am very anxious to get there."]
"But for what reason are thy people so many weeks' journey from their
own country?" I asked.
Moving uneasily among her cushions, she contemplated the end of her
cigarette. Apparently it was a question which she did not care to
answer, for she disregarded it, exclaiming grimly, "I wonder if the
occupant of the secret chamber will discover the means of exit?"
"Suppose he faileth? What then?"
"He will share the fate that hath befallen others immured there," she
answered, raising her arched brows slightly.
"Immured there by thee?" I hazarded, smiling.
"No," she replied, with a musical laugh. "Thou must not judge me with
such harshness, even though my life hath become embittered by captivity
in the harem of a monster I hated."
Suddenly I recollected the strange recovery of my mysterious talisman,
the Crescent of Glorious Wonders, which was now reposing safely in its
case within one of the bags beneath me. Evidently it had been hidden
with other booty taken from the caravan with which I had travelled by
some one who had regarded it with curiosity.
"Is the existence of that hidden prison known to anyone besides
thyself?" I inquired.
"Why askest thou that question? Art thou afraid my lord will escape ere
we reach a place of safety?" she exclaimed, with a low, rippling laugh.
"No," I replied. "I have a serious object in seeking information."
"What, wert thou troubled by unwelcome visitors?" she asked, smiling
mischievously.
"No; on the contrary, the silence was appalling and the companionship of
the dead horrible."
"Ah, forgive me!" she exclaimed apologetically. "It was not my fault
that I could not have the place cleared of the bones. There was no
time. But in my written message I told thee to fear not."
"But whoever placed me there knew of the secret entrance," I urged.
"True," she answered. "Two of my slaves--he who guideth us towards the
encampment of the Ennitra and the man leading yonder camel--carried thee
to thine underground tomb, and placed food there for thee."
Her words gave me instant explanation. From the first the countenance
of our guide had seemed familiar, and I now remembered where I had seen
it. He was one of those who had held me when the Mysterious Crescent
had been wrenched so suddenly from my grasp! No doubt it had come into
his possession with other loot, which, in order to secure to himself, he
had hidden in that place where none could obtain entrance. As he rode
on top of his camel quite close to me, I peered into his dark, aquiline
face and found its features unmistakable. It was he who had secured me,
who had subjected me to slavery, and who had mounted guard over me until
I had been purchased by the agent of the Sultan Hamed. Apparently he
had not recognised me, and as I again held my treasure safely in my own
keeping, I had no desire to claim acquaintance with this slave, who was
himself a slave-raider. They were all brave, sturdy fellows, loyal to
their mistress, a quality that I admired, for both she and I had
interests in common in putting a respectable distance between ourselves
and the irate Sheikh of the Kel-Fade.
"If thy people seek my death, am I not unwise in accompanying thee into
their midst?" I queried, after a pause.
"By thine aid I, one of their daughters, have escaped from the bonds of
their enemies, therefore fear not, for though the Ennitra rule the
Desert harshly with rifle and bastinado, they harm not those who lend
them assistance."
I told her of my first experience of Hadj Absalam, and how I had been
tortured with the snake, concealing the fact that Zoraida had set me at
liberty.
"_Tabakoh casi_. [His disposition is cruel.] He is hated even by our
own people," she exclaimed, when I had concluded. "His brutality is
fiendish to us and to strangers alike; but when Infidels are brought
into his presence, his rage is absolutely ungovernable. Thy torture was
not so horrible as some I myself have witnessed. Once, near
Tehe-n-Aieren, at the foot of Mount El Aghil, a young Zouave soldier
strayed into our camp, and, being captured, was brought before him.
Because the Infidel's eyes had rested upon one of his women, he ordered
them both to be gouged out and sent to the French commandant at Ideles.
Then the man's ears followed, then his nose, then his hands, and after
keeping him alive in fearful torture for nearly three weeks, the body of
the wretched prisoner was covered with date juice and placed upon an
ant-hill, where he was literally devoured by the insects."
"Horrible!" I said, shuddering. "Are such tortures common among thy
tribe?"
"Alas!" she answered, rearranging her pillow; "cruelties such as these
are frequently practised, even upon us. Neither men, women, nor
children are safe. Those who give our mighty lord offence always pay
the penalty with their lives, but never before they have been tortured."
"Yet thou art anxious to return among them?"
"Yes," she replied, with an earnest look. As she lay curled up in her
cage-like litter, she had the air of a little savage with the grace of a
child. "I do not wish to be loved as I have been, like a slave," she
added in a confidential tone.
"But thou hast ruled the harem of the Sheikh, and hast been chief of his
great household," I observed.
"True," she answered. "But there are circumstances in our lives we
cannot forget; there are people who dwell always in the house of our
memory."