Onward we went across the camel market, where a body of the Ennitra were
carousing, and, having managed to escape their notice in the deep
shadow, we hurriedly traversed several irregularly-built streets,
wherein corpses lay thickly, mute witnesses of the frightful massacre;
then suddenly we plunged into a narrow, tortuous passage that I
remembered I had sped along in my wild scamper for life after fleeing
from my taskmasters. The further we went, the nearer we approached the
houses that were burning unchecked like veritable furnaces, and as we
rounded a bend in the narrow, alley-like thoroughfare, where was
situated the well called Shedwanka, and came into full view of the great
fire, my guide gave vent to an ejaculation of dismay.
"Behold!" he cried excitedly. "The flames! They are spreading rapidly,
and will consume that upon which thine eyes must rest. Let us hasten
with all speed!"
This portion of the city seemed deserted, therefore we dashed forward
with one accord, the _imam's_ nimbleness of foot surprising me. It was
well that none of Hadj Absalam's cut-throats detected us, otherwise my
guide would no doubt have fallen a victim to their ever-increasing
bloodthirstiness. No one had been spared. The whole city had been
mercilessly swept with fire and sword.
As we drew nearer, we could see plainly that the great conflagration was
spreading in our direction, for the heat and smoke stifled us, and great
sparks fell in showers around. Suddenly, however, he halted before the
arched door of an ancient house, towards which the flames were rapidly
darting. Indeed, only two houses remained uninjured between us and the
blazing, roaring mass, and already they were being licked by great
tongues of fire.
"Though dangers beset thee, O Roumi, let not fear dwell within thee," my
aged companion said, taking a key from the inner pocket of his gandoura
and quickly unlocking the heavy door. "Know, O wanderer from beyond
seas, thou now goest in with me unto the bower of Al Barzakh, the
Presence-chamber of the Marvellous, whence those who enter issue forth
changed men!"
"Changed?" I cried, amazed. "Shall I also be changed?"
"A transformation, strange but invisible, is wrought in all who enter
here," he croaked, as, breathless and excited, with eyes smarting under
the choking volumes of smoke, I stumbled onward after him. Closing the
door quickly, he sped across the open patio, into which pieces of
ignited wood were falling thickly, and entered another door the arch of
which was supported by handsome twisted columns of marble. Through two
small apartments, hung with beautiful hangings and furnished with
luxurious divans, we passed, until he halted at a door which sprang open
at his touch. Evidently it opened by means of a spring, but I sought
not explanation, for I held my breath, wondering into what strange
chamber I was about to enter. With mumbled words, as he fingered his
rosary, Mohammed ben Ishak advanced slowly into the darkness, where a
single light in a globe of cut crystal glimmered without illuminating
the objects around. As we stepped inside, and the door closed after us
automatically, there was a loud, vicious hiss close to me.
I halted, startled, for I knew the sound was that of a serpent, and I
feared to tread, lest its deadly fangs should be fastened in my feet.
The old _imam_, droning a strange incantatory chant, advanced to the
altar upon which the light was burning, and, turning the wick higher, so
that it shed a brighter light, raised both hands piously and called
aloud for forgiveness.
Glancing about me in amazement, I found that my surroundings, weird and
extraordinary, were almost an exact reproduction of the mysterious
subterranean temple to which Zoraida had conducted me in Algiers! The
black carpet and hangings reminded me vividly of European funeral palls,
while the curious open-work screen, the inlaid _kursy_, or table, of
arabesque filigree, and, most remarkable of all, the stone sarcophagus,
were all of exactly the same design as those in the mysterious chamber
wherein the Crescent of Glorious Wonders had been first revealed unto
me.
Amazed, I stood with transfixed gaze and bated breath. There were
movements on the carpet, and I became aware of the unpleasant proximity
of several snakes. Some coiled themselves and raised their heads,
holding them immovable, with their tiny, bead-like eyes riveted upon us,
while others darted away, holding themselves on the defensive in darker
corners.
A few seconds of silence, and Mohammed ben Ishak turned to me, with
hands still uplifted, asking--
"Believest thou that unto Allah belong the hosts of heaven and earth;
that Allah is mighty and wise; that unto those who obey the Everlasting
Will He showeth mercy?"
"I do," I answered.
"Speak not with thy tongue that which is not in thine heart, for of a
surety they who believe not will be chastised with a severe
chastisement," he exclaimed solemnly. Then again facing the altar, he
cried, "Whoso believeth not in the One Allah and in Mohammed his
Prophet, verily shall he be cast into the fire prepared for the
unbelievers; but whosoever shall perform that which he hath covenanted,
so surely shall he receive great reward, and be admitted to the gardens
beneath which rivers flow, to dwell therein for ever. Verily hath a
Sura been revealed commanding war against the Workers of Iniquity, and
they look towards us with the look of those whom death overshadoweth.
Those are they whom Allah hath cursed and hath rendered deaf, and whose
eyes He hath blinded. Assuredly have we armed ourselves with an armour
invulnerable, and we await the word from the Holy City to rise in our
might and sweep from earth the Infidels, in obedience to the law that is
written. In that day will the Senousya, whose teeth are as spears, and
whose tongues are as sharp swords, fight valiantly and persevere with
constancy, for they are the True Believers, who will, ere many moons,
rejoice with a great rejoicing."
He paused, prostrating himself, devoutly gabbling a two-bow prayer with
many quotations from the Koran, at the same time swaying himself
backwards and forwards, throwing his head energetically to and fro till
the perspiration streamed down his face. In his paroxysm of religious
fervour, he suddenly grasped a serpent and wound it around his head in
such a manner that it remained there with its flat head reared in front
in the place where an aigrette might have been. Then he arose, and,
with the snake still coiled upon him, advanced and held my hands.
Instinctively I drew back, for the energy of his devotions had wrought
in him a hideous transformation. His cheeks were more sunken, his face
seemed but a skull covered by brown, wrinkled skin, and from his wild,
wide-open eyes there flashed the terrible fire. With his glittering
orbs upon mine, he held me in a grip of steel. Under his searching gaze
I flinched, and tried to extricate my hands, but he had pinned me
powerless, and so strange was his demeanour that I grew alarmed. He
seemed possessed of demon strength; in his hands I was helpless as a
child.
I was an Infidel, and he a religious fanatic. Might not this sudden fit
of uncontrollable _diablerie_ cause him to kill me?
The fiery eyes had fixed themselves searchingly upon me in a manner that
seemed to fascinate and draw me closer towards him, causing my strength
to fail, and inducing a feeling of languor and helplessness. Setting my
teeth, I struggled against it, and, remembering we were in a house that
in a few minutes must fall a prey to the flames, demanded release.
But he took no heed. Crying aloud his intentions of leading the Ghuzzat
in a merciless campaign against the Infidel invaders, and predicting
that the soldiers of the Faith would obtain great spoils, he suddenly
released my left hand, but still kept his grip upon the right.
"Thou desirest to learn the Great Secret," he exclaimed. "Thou, the
beloved of our Queen of Beauty, art the only person to whom the strange
wonders may be revealed. Verily I say unto thee, thou must fight a
great fight in regions unknown, exerting a power that I will impart to
thee, the secret whereof none can discover."
His eyes seemed to dilate and glow like live coals, while the pain at
first caused by the steady pressure upon my wrist was succeeded by a
strange tingling sensation, rather pleasant than otherwise. Held in
fascination by his glance, every nerve was strained to its
utmost tension; then gradually I seemed to sink into a dreamy
half-consciousness. With all the self-control I possessed, I strove
against the curious delirium into which I was slowly lapsing, but
without avail. He held my hand, and with his glaring eyes riveted to
mine he seemed gradually to bring me under his thrall by some
irresistible magnetic influence. Mingled sensations of delight and
repugnance such as I had never before experienced ran through me, and I
seemed seized by an indescribable horror of being compelled to perform
deeds that in my inner consciousness I regarded as crimes. I felt
myself in a state of mind that permitted the creation of hallucinations,
for rapidly I saw the weird objects around me distorted into grotesque
shapes, sometimes ludicrous, sometimes horrible, with the ever-changing
face of Mohammed ben Ishak always the central figure. My limbs felt
limp, and I had an inaptitude for any spontaneous action. I was fully
conscious of all this, and the inertia alarmed me.
"Verily shalt thou know the Truth that hath so long remained hidden.
Thou shalt save the woman thou lovest and who loveth thee so
passionately. Behold!" he cried in a loud voice. "Hearken, and
likewise let thine eyes bear witness!" and, releasing me, he stepped
back to the altar, and, taking a pinch of some white powder, he cast it
into the flame of the lamp. Instantly the place was filled by a
brilliant light, followed by pungent, suffocating fumes. Then, having
repeated this action three times, he drew forth the Wonderful Crescent
from his girdle and placed it upon the altar, bowing low in silence.
The strange feeling of half-consciousness faded quickly, and in a few
moments I had quite regained my normal state of mind. All had been, I
felt convinced, due to over-excitement, combined with the weakness
induced by the wound from which I had not yet completely recovered.
"Miserable shall be the abode of the proud!" cried the aged reciter of
the daily prayers. "Verily, the Day of the Great Wrath is at hand, when
the unbelievers who dwell in darkness shall be driven before the troops
of the Senousya. The world shall become paralysed by the awful
slaughter of the Christians, who will be cast into hell, therein to
dwell for ever. It is written that excellent is the reward of those who
work righteousness, and turn not aside from the right path. To Thee who
alone canst direct us unto the Behishst of Delights we make
supplication, and ask of Thee Thine aid."
Impatiently I awaited the conclusion of his curious prayers, rites, and
ceremonies. He seemed to have forgotten the imminent peril in which the
house was placed, as with his string of black beads between his skinny
fingers, he murmured prayer after prayer, expressing at every breath
fervent hope that I might turn from the ways of the Infidels and embrace
the Faith.
With a long, final appeal for forgiveness for bestowing the key to the
Great Secret upon one who had not been initiated into the mysteries of
the Senousya, he turned slowly, and, walking towards the tomb of carved
stone, commanded, "Come hither."
As I obeyed, he raised the heavy lid with his hands and cast it aside.
Then, peering in, I saw a body. I recognised the face. It was the same
man who had been so strangely resuscitated by Zoraida!
Her actions in stabbing the body were repeated by the old _imam_ with
almost identical sequence, and at length, in response to Mohammed ben
Ishak's command, he rose slowly from his tomb, and, stepping forth in
his white grave-clothes, advanced in silence to the altar. Taking up
two asps that squirmed and writhed under his touch, he knotted them
together, heedless of their vicious bites. As he placed them upon the
slab of hewn jade that formed the altar, my companion uttered some
incantation which was to me unintelligible, and then a few seconds later
the ghastly visitant who had risen from the tomb took up the Crescent
and with it smote the serpents as they lay. The single blow killed
them.
"Assuredly as the _af'a_ are in an instant struck dead, so also will the
Senousya smite the Infidels and sweep away all evil from our land,"
Mohammed ben Ishak cried, his voice growing deeper. In the short pause
that followed, the weird figure at the altar placed the Crescent upon a
great perfuming-pan of gold, afterwards lighting the small brazier of
wrought silver beneath. Again my companion, the _imam_, droned his
guttural chant, while the white-robed figure, whose back was always
turned towards me, sank upon his knees and remained statuesque and
motionless.
"Bear witness, O Roumi," cried the aged official of the mosque.
"Earnestly I seek permission to impart unto thee that knowledge which
thou seekest;" and, taking from a niche in the wall a great golden
goblet, filled to the brim with water, he placed it upon the little
inlaid table in the centre of the sanctuary. Advancing to the altar, he
took from it the crystal lamp and held it over the goblet. In his hand
was a lump of yellow wax, and, uttering an incantation in a language
unknown to me, save that the words _abarkan_ (black), _adhu_ (wind), and
_thamat't'uth_ (woman), I distinguished as being in the Kabyle tongue,
he presently melted the wax in the flame, and allowed the liquid drops
to fall into the water. Breathless, and with eager eyes, he gazed into
the bright goblet, watching each drop as it fell and hardened, until
suddenly his contenance relaxed, and he ejaculated--
"Yes! Thou mayest know! The key to the Great Mystery may now be given
into thy keeping."
Casting the wax down, he replaced the lamp, for the ceremony was over.
By the formation of the drops in the water, he had become convinced that
he might, without harm accruing, divulge the secret locked in his heart.
On putting the lamp back into its place, he took from the altar a
crystal mirror, about a foot square, in a broad frame of solid gold,
delicately chased. Placing it in my hands, he said--
"Breathe upon this; then tell me what thou seest."
I dimmed the surface with my breath, as he had commanded, and, lo! in an
instant there appeared a picture that entranced me.
"What seest thou?" he inquired.
"There is revealed unto me a landscape, strange and weird," I answered.
"By what magic is this effect produced?"
"Describe what is therein revealed," he urged.
"I see the Desert at sunset," I said. "The sky is ablaze, and against
it there riseth from the sea of burning sand a single mountain, shaped
like a camel's hump. It is far distant, and growing purple in the
evening hour, but I can distinguish upon its summit three giant palms.
In its side there is apparently a cave."
"And in the foreground?"
"There is a single traveller. He is an old man, who hath fallen from
his horse, and while one hand clutcheth at his throat, the other is
outstretched towards the mountain. He is in pain," I added; "apparently
he is dying of thirst, for birds of prey hover about him, and his eyes
have in them the glitter of madness. The picture is beautiful, yet
terrible!"
"Good!" he said. "It is finished!" and taking the mirror from me, he
returned it to its place. The illusion puzzled me, yet he would not
allow me to investigate. At that moment, however, I became aware that
the place was filling with a dense smoke, and from beyond the closed
door there came a noise as of the roaring and crackling of flames.
The house in which we were was already on fire!
Pointing out the fact to him in alarm, I urged him to tell me at once
how to use the Crescent; but he heeded not my words, so absorbed was he,
bowing before the mysterious tenant of the grave in pious devotions.
"Tell me," I cried. "For Zoraida's sake, withhold not from me the
Secret which thou hast promised, so that I may save her!"
The flames had burst through some panelling behind the altar, and the
place was filled with sparks and dense smoke. Just at that instant the
statuesque figure turned, raising its hand wildly. For a moment a
gleaming knife trembled aloft in the dull glare of the flames, and next
second it was buried deep in the breast of Mohammed ben Ishak!
I shrieked, but my companion only laughed a mocking, hideous laugh, and,
reeling slightly, stood contemplating the approaching flames quite
calmly. The shock seemed to have paralysed him.
"Come, let us fly!" I urged, dashing wildly across to save him. "See,
the door is still intact! There is yet time!"
Turning upon me fiercely, he shook me off. It was a terrible moment. I
stood transfixed by horror.
"No," he cried, with a strange light in his eyes. "It--it is the blood
revenge, the swift vengeance that I dreaded, the punishment I deserve
for my sin against the Brotherhood--I--I am a traitor--but I fear not to
die--I go--through fire--to the cool waters of Tasnim!"
"Surely thou wilt not seek thine own destruction, and take thy Secret
with thee?" I gasped.
He remained silent; he did not even turn towards the man who had struck
the fatal blow. The flames were roaring, and the heat had become so
intense that the perspiration in big drops rolled from my face.
"Speak!" I shrieked. "For the sake of the woman whose young life
dependeth upon thy word! Be merciful unto her! Tell me what to do!"
But, with a hoarse, defiant laugh, he folded his arms, saying, "I
refuse!"
"By Heaven!" I burst out, in sudden anger, "this is no time for
dallying words. If thou wilt not, then may the curse of the Daughter of
the Sun, whose life thou sacrificest, hang upon thy neck, heavy as a
millstone, and may it drag thee down to the place that is prepared for
evil doers."
The effect of my words was electrical.
"No! No!" he cried, evidently in as deadly fear of the imprecations of
Zoraida as the Ennitra had been. "No! I--I have reconsidered!" he
gasped.
As the words left his lips, I saw that the flames had ignited the
flowing robes of the man from the tomb, and though he rushed about in
paroxysms of intense pain, and at last fell, unconscious, he uttered not
a sound! Swiftly, indeed, was he punished for his crime.
"Tell me, quickly!" I cried aloud. "In another moment we shall both be
lost. Fly! Let me assist thee. Even now we can escape!" and as I
spoke, a tongue of fire singed my hair and burned my eyebrows.
"No!" he shrieked, his voice sounding shrill above the dull roar, as his
eyes rolled wildly. Undoubtedly a terrible madness had seized him, and
so vigorously did he threaten, rave, and curse, that I felt half
inclined to make a desperate dash for life through the door by which we
had entered.
Again I clutched him, frantically appealing to him to tell me the
secret, and as I did so, the flames leaped past us, and we were both
half suffocated by the smoke. Fortunately, I possessed sufficient
presence of mind to snatch up the Crescent, and, regardless of the
manner in which it blistered my fingers, I wrapped it in my burnouse,
crying--
"Impart unto me the Great Secret, I beseech thee! Quickly!"
Reeling, he staggered and fell. The mysterious vengeance of the
Senousya had descended upon him, and the life-blood flowed from the ugly
wound. In a moment I dropped upon my knees and supported his head,
determined that he should not lapse into unconsciousness, and so carry
with him to the grave the key to the extraordinary enigma.
In desperation, I shrieked a final appeal to him to fulfil his pledge.
Death stared us both in the face, for already had I become seized with a
sudden faintness.
It all occurred in a few brief moments.
"Yes," he gasped, wildly and with difficulty, at last. "I--I will save
the beauteous Lalla Zoraida. She shall lead the Senousya into--into the
holy war, as she hath done the Ennitra. In the great fight every
Infidel shall be slain with sharp swords. Yes!--I will tell thee how
thou canst save her. Travel with all speed over the Desert to the Oasis
of Agram, in the country of the Kanouri, which lieth in the direction of
the sunrise. Thence ride onward across the plain of Ndalada, past the
town of Dibbela, until thou comest to the Well of Tjigrin, and when thou
hast accomplished two days' journey still due eastward from the latter
place, past the ruins of a town, thou wilt find a single clump of palms.
Then take the Crescent, and--"
His thin lips moved, but no sound came from them. His eyes slowly
closed! It was, indeed, a critical moment. My heart sank, for it
seemed as though he was no longer aware of the things about him.
"Speak!" I yelled in his ear. "What must I do with the Crescent?"
His eyes opened, but they were dim. In their depths a film was
gathering, as life fast ebbed. With a supreme effort, however, he
raised his bony hand, pulling down my head until my ear was close
against his mouth. Then, struggling to articulate, he whispered
hoarsely, and with extreme difficulty--
"Obey my injunctions strictly. Take the Crescent, and--and when thou
hast arrived at the spot I have indicated--not before, or thou wilt
never gain the Great Secret--_place--it--upon--thy brow_! Then--will--
marvels--undreamed of--be revealed. Remember--attempt not to fathom the
Mystery until--until thou hast passed the Well of Tjigrin two whole
days! May--may Allah--preserve and guard thee, and may thy--"
But his final blessing was never completed, for convulsions shook his
frame, and he fell back heavily and breathed his last.
Springing to my feet, I stood for a second. Flames seemed threatening
me from every side, but, with a sudden desperate dash, I rushed, half
blinded, towards the door, which at that moment was being licked by the
darting fire. Then, opening it by raising a curious latch, I fled
quickly through the two small apartments, now filled with smoke, out
across the patio, finding myself in a few moments standing in the road
fainting and unsteady, clutching at a wall for support.
How I accomplished that flight for life I scarcely know. Panting, I
stood, unable for a few moments to realise how near I had been to a
horrible end. Though my clothes were brown and scorched, my arms
blistered, and my hair and beard severely singed, I cared not.
Zoraida's future was now in my hands, for at last I had succeeded in
obtaining the key by which the Great Mystery might be elucidated--at
last I should know the Truth--at last the hidden Secret of the Crescent,
the undreamed-of marvel, would be revealed to me!