"Two days before being torn from my people," she continued bitterly, "I
met, by mere chance, a man of mine own people whom I have never ceased
to remember. It was a chance meeting, and by no fault of mine own was
my veil drawn aside. Neither of us spoke, but I knew we loved each
other. My father told me he was one of the most daring of the
men-at-arms Hadj Absalam sends against the _homards_, a notorious thief
and cut-throat, to secure whose capture the Roumis away at Algiers have
offered two bags of gold." She sighed, then added simply, "Though he
may be a murderer, I shall love him, even until Allah bringeth me to
Certainty." [The hour of death.]
She spoke with the passionate ardour of her race. The love of the Arab
woman knows neither the shame nor the duplicity of vice. Proud of her
submission as a slave, she can love even a murderer without losing any
of her self-respect. In her eyes, her tenderness is legitimate; her
glory is to conquer the heart. The man she loves is her master, she
abandons herself to him without failing in any duty. A daughter of
Al-Islam, she fulfils her destiny according to the moral traditions and
beliefs of her country, and she remains faithful to them by loving the
man she chooses; her religion has no other rule, her virtue no other
law.
"And you have escaped in order to seek this man?" I observed, smoking
calmly.
"Yes. I seek him because I love him. His eyes gave me a sign of
affection, the remembrance of which time hath not effaced. I shall find
him, even though I am compelled to journey from Ghat to Mequinez, or
from the Tsad to Algiers." The eventuality did not occur to her that,
being a warrior of an outlaw band, his bones might long ago have been
bleaching in the Desert like those of so many of his fellow marauders.
Such a thought, I reflected, would cause her acute anxiety, therefore I
did not suggest it. She was hopeful, confident, content; tender and
passionate in her love, fierce and relentless in her revenge. Night had
fallen, and as under the myriad stars we travelled over rising ground
towards the camp of the Desert pirates, she formed a delightful study.
Her ingenuous ignorance and intuition of coquetry, the Eastern
fascination striving with modest reserve, charmed and amused me, and
although the wind commenced to blow up choking clouds of fine sand,
compelling her to adjust her veil, yet she would not draw the curtains
of her _jakfi_, but continued chatting until we halted an hour after
dawn.
The slave guiding us predicted a sandstorm, therefore, before encamping,
we turned our faces towards the Holy City, and, as pious travellers,
recited the Hizb al-Bahr, the prayer which is supposed to make all safe
on either land or sea. Halima with her slaves prostrated themselves
upon the sand, and in impressive tones repeated aloud the prayer that
commences--
"O Allah, O Exalted, O Almighty, O All-pitiful, O All-powerful, Thou art
my God, and sufficeth to me the knowledge of it!" and which has the
following strange conclusion:--"Thou didst subject the Moon and Al-Burak
to Mohammed, upon whom be Allah's mercy and His blessing! And subject
unto us all the Seas in Earth and Heaven, in Thy visible and in Thine
invisible Worlds, the Sea of this Life, and the Sea of Futurity. O Thou
who reignest over everything, and unto whom all Things return. _Khyas!
Khyas! Khyas_!" [Mystic words that cannot be translated.]
Halima told me afterwards that in this great waterless region of
shifting sand, so fraught with perils, a storm was always brewing and
the dreaded poison-wind always blowing, therefore men raised their hands
to pray as they crossed it.
At sunrise three days later my pretty companion was lying unveiled in
her _jakfi_, smoking and chatting to me, her two women riding a little
distance behind, when our guide suddenly raised a loud shout of warning
which in a moment alarmed the whole caravan. Halima instinctively
twisted her veil across her face as she inquired the cause.
The slave drew up his camel near her, replying, while he glanced to make
certain that his gun was loaded, "Know, O beauteous Lalla, that we are
discovered! Six mysterious, armed horsemen are spurring towards us!"
and with his finger he indicated the direction in which his keen,
hawk-like eyes had detected them. We all gazed away into the dusky grey
where he pointed, and there I saw several mounted Bedouins tearing
headlong across the desert in our direction, their long guns held high
above their heads, and their white draperies flowing in the wind.
Each of us grasped our rifles, prepared to fight for the protection of
our fair charge, while Halima herself, pale and determined, drew a long
and serviceable-looking poignard from her girdle and felt its edge. It
was evident that the strangers had from afar espied Halima's _jakfi_,
and were resolved to possess themselves of its occupant. In this
country of lawless slave-raiders those who show fight are treated with
scant mercy, therefore we could expect no quarter, and dismounted ready
for the combat. On came the horsemen, fleet as the wind, until they got
within a short distance of us, when suddenly, without slackening, and
still holding their weapons high above them, they poured out a sharp,
decisive volley upon us. It was a warning that they intended attack,
and that we might surrender if we were so disposed. The bullets sang
over our heads unpleasantly, but no one was hit, and without hesitation
our seven rifles rang out almost simultaneously. Again and again we
fired, but without result, for the six fierce Sons of the Desert
galloped onward, shouting a weird war-cry, and dashed in upon us,
calling upon us to lay down our arms. One of them, evidently the
leader, swinging himself from his grey stallion, seized Halima by the
wrist before we could prevent him, but in a second, with a sudden
movement, the harem beauty had slashed him with her dagger, inflicting
an ugly wound across his hairy arm.
Raising his rifle, he would have shot her dead, had not one of her
slaves flung himself between them, crying--
"Pause, O strangers! Tell us of what tribe thou art. If thou leviest
tax upon us in this thy country, our Lalla is prepared to accede to thy
just demands. If a hand is raised against her, the wrath of the
Kel-Fade will assuredly fall upon thee!"
"Naught care we for the Kel-Fade, who are accursed by Allah, for they
pray not, neither go they upon pilgrimages!" the man answered, with a
harsh laugh. "From the waters of the Tsad, even unto the green slopes
of the Atlas, we hold power supreme, and none dare withstand us, for we
are feared alike by the Roumis of Algeria and the True Believers of the
Desert." Then, brandishing his _jambiyah_ [a very keen crooked dagger]
above his head, he added, "We are of the Ennitra, and our lord is the
mighty Hadj Absalam, Sultan of the Sahara!"
"Then hear me, O brothers!" Halima exclaimed in a loud, firm voice. "I
am thy sister!"
"Our sister? But thou art of the Kel-Fade, our enemies!" the horsemen
cried with one accord.
"True. Hear thou mine explanation. Dost thou not remember that the
Kel-Fade--whom may Allah confound!--attacked and burned our village of
Afara Aouhan?"
"The sons of dogs killed my father in the massacre," declared one of the
men, a brawny giant, who stood leaning on his gun.
"Mine shared the same fate. He was the _oukil_," cried the beautiful
girl, whose veil had in the struggle been torn away.
"His name--quick!" exclaimed the leader of the marauders in surprise.
"Hamed ben Abderrahman."
"Then thou art--"
"His daughter Halima."
The black-bearded scoundrel immediately released her, and, bowing,
expressed sorrow at having caused her undue alarm, after which, in a few
quick sentences, she told him of her captivity and her escape,
afterwards presenting me as one by whose aid she was enabled to return
to her own people. She did not, however, declare me to be a Christian,
therefore they thanked me and gave me peace. They told us that we were
distant three hours from the encampment, which they, as scouts, were
guarding, but advised us to rest till sundown, as the poison-wind was
unusually virulent. Acting upon their suggestion, our tents were
pitched, and the six outlaws ate with us, afterwards wrapping themselves
in their burnouses and sleeping through the long, blazing day. From
them I could gather but little regarding the movements of their people,
and though I mentioned that I had heard many reports of the wondrous
powers possessed by their Daughter of the Sun, they nevertheless
preserved a studied silence. They did not even descant upon her beauty,
as I expected they would do. They only grunted approbation. Towards
four o'clock, Halima, wrapped in her haick, came from her tent, and very
shortly afterwards we were on our way to the camp, guided by the six
cut-throats of Hadj Absalam, who rode along with careless ease, carrying
their weapons across their saddles, smoking cigarettes, and talking
gaily. Strange indeed was this latest freak of Fate. Long had I
regarded these people as the most deadly of my enemies, yet I was now
entering their camp as their friend!
Our way wound among bare rocks and hills of granite and over broken
ground, weird in its desolation, flanked by high blocks and boulders.
Several parties of horsemen, evidently scouts, appeared, but, on
recognising our escort, allowed us to pass unmolested, until at length,
about the hour of _el maghrib_, we came to a vast cleft in the hideous
face of earth, and, passing through, found ourselves in a valley in the
midst of a great encampment. The ravine seemed covered with tents;
indeed, it appeared as if a whole army had encamped there, and I was not
surprised when one of the outlaws told me that the fighting force
numbered over three thousand.
On descending the rocky defile, I saw in an open space in the centre of
the camping-ground three tents close together and more handsome than the
rest, while against the clear, rose-tinted evening sky there waved over
the centre pavilion the dreaded green silken banner of Hadj Absalam.
"Then thy lord is present with thee?" I exclaimed in surprise,
addressing the marauder who rode beside me.
"Yes. When he leadeth us we fear no evil, for he is the Great Sultan of
the Sahara, who cannot be overthrown."
Wending our way slowly onward among the tents, our arrival caused a good
deal of excitement and speculation among the robbers, who doubtless
believed us to be captives. One incident impressed me as especially
remarkable. Just as we had entered the camp, three women, enshrouded in
silken haicks and wearing their ugly, out-door trousers, were strolling
together slowly, as if enjoying the cool zephyr after the breathless
day.
No word escaped either of them, but one reeled and clutched her
companion's arm, excited and trembling, as if her eyes had met an
apparition. I smiled at her intense agitation, wondering whether she
had recognised in Halima a hated rival; but until we had turned to wend
our way among the tents, she stood motionless, staring at us fixedly
through the small aperture of her veil, apparently much to the
consternation of her two companions.
The tragic little scene, though unusual, was apparently not noticed by
my companions.
Was it Halima's presence that caused the closely-veiled woman such
sudden and profound consternation--or was it mine?