GUESTS OF THE AENIZA.
How long we should have slept if left undisturbed I cannot imagine. The
sun must have been up an hour or more before we were suddenly awakened
by shouting in the camp almost amounting to an uproar. On jumping up and
looking out, we found that the small black tents were being hastily
struck, and the whole place was in confusion. We saw, at a little
distance, Sedjur talking excitedly to a couple of dozen horsemen armed
to the teeth. Presently he moved towards our tent, the mounted men
following him. As they drew near we stepped outside to receive them, and
were greeted by a shout from Sedjur, who was walking by the side of the
horse ridden by a great gaunt Arab. That this was the sheik himself we
instantly realised--so much alike were father and son--and any doubt
that we had was soon dispelled by the introduction that followed.
[Illustration: "THAT THIS WAS THE SHEIK HIMSELF WE INSTANTLY REALISED"]
The sheik welcomed us cordially, and thanked Edwards for all the
kindness that he had shown to his son in Baghdad. Unfortunately, he
said, he could not now ask us to partake of his hospitality, as it was
absolutely necessary that he and his people should get away at once, to
avoid capture at the hands of the Turkish authorities. Sedjur then
related to us what had occurred. His father had, the night before, had a
brush with a strong party of Shammar, some of whom had been left either
dead or wounded on the field, and the fight only ended when it did
because of the sudden appearance of a Turkish patrol.
"We must get away immediately," concluded Sedjur, "but my father and I
hope that some day, when things are quieter, we shall be able to show
you and your friend true desert hospitality. You will easily find your
way back to Hillah, and so to Baghdad, by keeping straight for the high
mound yonder, from which you will see the river and the roof-tops of
Hillah at no great distance."
"But," replied I, not at all wishing to lose Faris just as we had found
him, "my friend the Hakim does not desire to return until he has seen
more of the desert. Besides, we might ourselves be captured by the
Turkish soldiers, and be forced to betray your whereabouts."
"That would be difficult," laughed Sedjur, "for, look, our women and
children are already out of sight, and safe; and, ere the sun has crept
up another spear-head in the heavens, our horses will have carried us
out of harm's way."
I looked round. The camp had vanished, the tent in which we had slept
included. Our horses, with their saddles on, stood hobbled close by. The
sheik, standing by his horse, was shading his eyes with one hand, and
scanning the horizon.
Suddenly there arose a cry of "Tourki," and with one accord the sheik
and his men swung into the saddle, and commenced to move off. Sedjur
quickly mounted his mare, and calling to us that he regretted having to
leave us thus discourteously, soon caught up the rest of the party, now
settling down to a fast canter.
"Well," exclaimed Edwards, turning to me, "they are in a desperate hurry
to clear out. I cannot even see the soldiers, can you?"
I looked for some time, and at last, when my eyes had become accustomed
to the glare, I thought I could detect some small black objects, like
flies, in the far, far distance.
"I think I have spotted them," I answered. "There, miles away to the
north-east. Look along my finger."
"Oh, I see them," said Edwards.
"Well," said I, "I suppose we had better wait here till they come up,
tell them that it is useless for them to try and catch the wily Arabs,
and ride back with them to Hillah, or wherever they come from."
"Not a bit of it," said Edwards excitedly. "We must not meet them. I
know the gentlemen; and if they find us here and their quarry gone, they
are quite capable of shooting us off-hand as conspirators, and quietly
putting us into a hole in the sand. Come on; there's plenty of time."
"Where to?" I asked, as we ran to our horses and mounted.
"After our Arab friends," was the reply. "They are not going any pace as
yet."
So we dug our spurs into the flanks of our little beasts, and made them
gallop over the baked desert. But gallop as we would, we did not appear
to be gaining on our friends, and it seemed to us, on glancing back,
that the Turkish troopers were overhauling us. Then, as we looked ahead,
we saw the Arab horsemen suddenly disappear.
"Where on earth have they gone?" asked Edwards, turning to me.
"Heaven only knows," I replied, "unless they have got into a
watercourse. We shall probably see them come out again in a minute."
We kept our eyes fixed ahead of us as we rode on, but no sign did we see
of the reappearance of the party, and before long we discovered the
cause. The track brought us to a deep dry watercourse, running almost at
right angles to the route that we were following, and there, in the
loose sand which formed the bed, we could see the footprints of the
horses. We drew rein, and looked at each other, for the horsemen seemed
to have gone both ways--up the watercourse and down it.
"Which way?" I asked Edwards.
"Haven't a ghost of an idea," said he.
"Well, it cannot matter very much," said I; "whichever way we go, we
shall find some of them. We must trust to luck to take our Turkish
pursuers the other way."
So we rode westward in the trough of the nullah, which in places was
sunk almost twenty feet below the surrounding country, and which turned
and twisted at every fifty yards. For half an hour or more we pressed
on, ever looking behind, to see if we were being pursued, until at last
we reached a point where a smaller nullah joined the main one, and here
again the horsemen had divided, as many going one way as the other.
"This is worse than a paper-chase," said Edwards, drily. "Suppose we
give it up, wait for the Turks, and hail them as our friends and
deliverers."
As we stood at the junction of the watercourses, debating which one to
follow, we suddenly became aware of the presence of a horseman, standing
motionless at the bend of the smaller nullah. He beckoned to us, and, on
riding up, we found, to our joy, that it was Sedjur himself.
"You were fortunate, Hakim," said he smiling, "in taking the right way.
We could not wait for you, for fear of the Turkis. We are all safe
enough now, for they never follow the windings of the watercourse,
knowing that at any turn they might be ambuscaded. Come along to our
tents, and we will make you truly welcome."
The mention of tents was a great relief to both of us, for I at any rate
had had visions of travelling day and night for ever so long, and
enduring endless privations. Still, the encampment was not as near as I
at first imagined, for, although Sedjur described it, with a wave of his
hand, as "yonder," it proved to be distant several hours' ride. For a
mile or more we followed the bed of the nullah, until it grew too narrow
to ride in, when our guide suddenly turned his horse's head up the steep
bank. Thence we crossed a wide strip of desolate desert leading
gradually up to a sandy ridge, from the summit of which Sedjur pointed
out, several miles away, a green patch of vegetation, around which
there appeared to be a goodly collection of tents.
"What are all these tents?" I inquired of Sedjur, as we drew near the
encampment.
"This is our large camp," he replied, "with all our people and flocks.
Where you spent last night was only a _ghazu_ camp, from which my father
was making a foray."
We were duly impressed by what we saw before us, and we began to
understand that the sheik was a man of some importance. A considerable
number of horses, camels, and sheep were grazing on the outskirts of the
encampment, and quite two hundred tents lay scattered among the tamarisk
and other bushes. On the extreme flank was pitched the somewhat
imposing-looking tent of the sheik--large enough, as we afterwards
found, to accommodate not only himself and his family, but also two of
his mares. In front of the tent, fixed upright in the ground, was his
long, gleaming spear, adorned with tufts of black ostrich plumes. As we
approached, men came to take our horses, and we were ushered into the
audience-room of Faris's tent, where we were received with much
ceremony, being reintroduced by Sedjur, as if the sheik had never met us
before. This procedure puzzled me at first, but later on I discovered
that it was a matter of Bedouin etiquette, as at our previous meeting
the sheik had had nothing to offer us. Now we were made welcome to all
he possessed, and a special tent was handed over to us.
The conversation was most formal; spiced coffee was handed round, and
long pipes were brought in. Then, after a short while, Sedjur relieved
our minds by suggesting that we might like to go to our tent and rest,
after our long ride. We jumped at the idea, and being warned that we
were expected to have supper with the sheik a little before sundown, we
sought the seclusion of the goat's-hair dwelling that had been reserved
for us.
"Thank goodness," said Edwards, sitting on his saddle-bags, which had
been brought into the tent, "that they have given us a place to
ourselves. Now let us hold a mass meeting of two, and discuss the whole
situation."
"What situation?" I asked.
"Why, yours and mine," said he.
"Right you are," said I. "So far I think we have done pretty well. We
have discovered old Faris, and have become his honoured guests. We have
only got to persuade him to tell us about the Golden Girdle, and then we
shall be as right as rain."
"All very nice," said Edwards. "But suppose it does not come off, what
is going to happen? We are miles and miles from anywhere."
"Oh, we will get along. Don't you fret," I replied. "Besides, we are
seeing desert life, living with real Bedouins, and all that sort of
thing. Do be a bit romantic. But, to be serious, I will take on our host
to-night, if we can make him at all communicative; and if we fail to get
anything out of him, we will take an affectionate farewell in the
morning, and ride back to Hillah. I daresay we are not more than fifty
miles away."
"How shall you start the subject?" asked my companion.
"That is the difficulty," said I. "I expect the best way will be to
mention Shahzadi and her shoe, and see how the old man takes it."
So we continued to talk and puff at our pipes, until at last Sedjur came
and told us that supper was ready. We found that one or two of the
headmen of the tribe had been invited to meet us, and after going
through the usual ceremonial introductions, we settled down to our meal,
Edwards being placed on the right hand of the sheik, I on the left, and
Sedjur on the other side of Edwards. It was our first Bedouin feast, and
the novelty of everything interested us considerably. A huge copper
bowl was brought in and placed in front of us, its steaming contents
consisting of a kind of porridge in which lumps of meat and vegetables,
some hard-boiled eggs, and dates were concealed. Into this each member
of the party plunged his hand, and after the manner of dipping in a
bran-pie, brought out a prize in the shape of something to eat. Hunger
and the desire to appear _au fait_ in the customs of the desert enabled
Edwards and myself to do fair justice to the meal, even without spoons,
knives, or forks. Little conversation was indulged in while the eating
was in progress, but at length the dish, replenished again and again,
had satisfied everyone, and at a signal from Faris we rose, washed our
hands, and went and sat outside, to smoke our pipes and chat in the cool
evening air.
While at supper I had made a study of our host, and although apparently
a reserved and silent man, his quiet dignity and courteous manner made a
great impression on me. In appearance he was tall--far above the average
Arab height, spare in form, but with broad, square shoulders, which made
his flowing robes hang loosely from his body. He was a fair man, and his
brown beard as yet showed few white hairs, though his handsome face was
weather-beaten, and bore more than one tell-tale scar. His eyes were
remarkable, and their actual colour impossible to describe; at times
they were the eyes of an eagle--almost golden red, wide open and
piercing; then, while he was speaking, they would suddenly change to the
soft liquid eyes of a deer, full of tenderness and compassion. As I
learned later, the sheik's whole character was discoverable from a study
of his eyes.
Puffing at my pipe, I began to think that the time had come when I ought
to give our host some idea of our future movements, for I knew that he
himself would consider that he would be outraging all the laws of
hospitality if he even displayed any curiosity as to our wanderings in
the desert. How I was to turn the conversation round to the Golden
Girdle I could not see, but I made a beginning by discussing the day's
ride, and the relative merits of our horses and the sheik's horses,
their paces and staying powers. To my delight I found that the great man
gradually unbent, and in a few minutes became voluble. Thinking that I
was deeply interested in the subject, he insisted on taking me into his
tent to see his two favourite mares, one of whom he fondled, and
addressed in the most loving terms.
"She is your favourite, sheik," I said.
"Yes," he replied, "even so. She has carried me in many a bloody fight
with the accursed Shammar, and has borne many good colts. Moreover, her
grand-dam was my father's much-prized mare, a true Kuhailan, so he
always affirmed. He captured her from the Shammar--a fact which I cast
in their teeth when I prevail over them by reason of the handiness and
swiftness of the mare. She is indeed a bird without wings."
I now had my opening, for of course I remembered what was written in the
document wherein mention had been made of the Golden Girdle.
"I have heard of the Kuhailan mare," I remarked quietly.
"Of what mare?" inquired Faris, looking at me intently.
"Shahzadi," I replied, "the daughter of a Kuhailan Haifi, out of the dam
Labadah. Was it not so?"
"That indeed was what my father always told me, and the Shammar
themselves told him how the mare was bred. How do you, an Ingleezee,
know of such matters as these? It may be that you have learned them from
the Shammar."
"Not so, Sheik of Sheiks," I replied. "What I know of the mare I have
read in my own country."
"Wonder of wonders!" exclaimed Faris. "They speak truly when they say
that you Englishmen know everything. Tell me more of what you know."
"I will tell you _all_ I know," I said, "and if you will allow me to go
to my tent, I will fetch you a translation of what I believe to be a
true document relating to the famous mare, which your father captured
from the Shammar."
"You astonish me beyond measure," said the sheik; "be pleased to go and
bring the paper."
At that moment the thud of horses' hoofs broke the stillness of the
night air, and, thinking that it meant a night attack, I turned to the
sheik, who stepped out in front of his tent, and shouted a few words in
a deep voice. An answer came back out of the darkness, and then Faris
explained to me that the horsemen were those of his party whose duty it
had been to lay a false scent for the Turkish police to follow, and who
had ridden into camp by a circuitous route.
"For years," said he, "we have done the same thing. On reaching the
nullah, some of us go one way and some another. The Turkis fear to
follow either party, knowing that if once they enter the nullah, they
are liable not only to be ambuscaded by one party but to be taken in
rear by the other party. But they are simple folk these town-bred
Turkis, and in driving us as far as the nullah, they consider that they
have done their duty. So they return to their coffee-houses to drink
their coffee and tell their companions how they encountered the
Bedouins, and defeated them. Yet, to-morrow, if we wished, we could ride
in and pillage half the villages on the outskirts of Hillah. However,
the ways of these Turki dogs are of no interest to either you or me, for
I know, from my many friends in Baghdad, what you Englishmen think of
them. Let us talk again of our horses, and let me hear what you know of
Kushki's ancestors."
I went off to my tent, and returned with my note-book, when the sheik
took me into his private apartment, and motioned me to a seat on a pile
of soft cushions. I showed him the sketch of Shahzadi's shoe, and he at
once commented on the eight nail holes. Then I turned to my copy of the
document, which, re-translating into Arabic, I read out to my host. He
was deeply moved, and drank in every word that I uttered, nodding his
head as I concluded each sentence, and vouchsafing that what I said was
true. When I came to the last line I hesitated for a second--from
excitement, I suppose--but, recovering, I translated leisurely, "The man
bore away the serpent belt of pure gold coveted by the desert tribes."
"Quite true," said the sheik. "Everything that you have read is true.
But now tell me, was it indeed an accident that brought you and your
friend the Hakim to our tents?"
The question came so suddenly, that I confess it quite staggered me. But
I felt that the man with whom I was dealing was upright and honest, and
I decided that I would meet him on his own ground, and risk the
consequences. I stood up and met his gaze.
"Faris-ibn-Feyzul, Sheik of the Jelas Aeniza," I said, "I am an
Englishman, and, I trust, a man of honour. Believe me, that in accepting
your hospitality, I had no intention of deceiving you. I waited only for
an opportunity to speak to you, and that opportunity has now come. It
was no accident that brought us to your tents."
I then explained fully the nature of my mission, and how I hoped to be
able to obtain from him some information about the Golden Girdle. He
listened attentively, and without showing any sign of displeasure. At
last he took my hand in his, and spoke solemnly and quietly.
"Friend and honoured guest," he said, "you have spoken to me
straightforwardly, and straightforwardly shall I always deal with you.
Stay with us as long as you will, and you shall be welcome, but take my
advice, and abandon all idea of possessing that accursed belt of gold.
Did you but know the havoc that it wrought among the tribes ere it
disappeared, you would let it lie for ever in its resting-place. If you
would hear more of it, then to-morrow will I tell you what I know, and
willingly. To-night we have already talked late."
* * * * *
"What a time you have been," grunted Edwards, as I entered the tent
after saying good-night to the sheik. "You have lost all your beauty
sleep. I have been in bed for hours."
"Business, my boy," I replied. "I have been having a most interesting
talk with Faris."
Edwards sat up wide awake, while I related, as shortly as possible, what
our host had told me.
"Do you think I did right," I asked, when I had finished, "in making a
clean breast of everything?"
"You could not well have done anything else," he replied. "Both the
father and the son are thorough gentlemen. Besides, one cannot humbug
these Bedouins; they would see through you at once. I wonder if they
really know where your golden treasure is buried. I did not say a word
about it to Sedjur, as I was afraid of making a mess of things. By the
way, he and his father are going off in the morning to an oasis
somewhere or other miles away in the desert, where they have got some
brood mares and camels, and he thought we might like the ride with them.
So I accepted for both of us. Are you on for it?"
"Of course I am," said I. "I don't let old Faris out of my sight until I
have heard what he has to tell about that blessed belt."