GARRAM ACCUSED
Garram’s face darkened with anger, but he made no reply to his
accusers. The scene was in the Emir’s audience hall, where he had been
called to answer the charge. A long, low room of the universal red mud,
supported on squat pillars, each of which had, at building, enclosed a
living slave, as was the custom of the country. Its mud floor had been
beaten and polished to the texture of black marble by the passing of
countless feet. The Emir himself reclined on a dais, the front of which
was ornamented with white cowrie shells in an intricate pattern.
In front of the Emir and on his right stood the Liman and Ladan,
leaning on their black staves. On the left stood the young hunter,
striving to keep back his rising anger.
The Liman had detailed his charge. That Garram was a _kafiri_--an
unbeliever, who said no prayers, made no protestation of his belief in
the One God whose Prophet is Mohammed, and never attended the mosque on
Fridays. That he spent his time with a dog, a thing unclean as declared
by the Law of Allah and the Prophet Mohammed.
He had got as far as this when the Emir interrupted. “But being all
these things, he and his dog have saved me, the head of the State, from
death when others whom you would call true men, since they are true
believers, plotted my death!”
“Saved you, but by witchcraft,” heatedly the Liman responded.
The Emir smiled wearily. He had explained the method of detection to
the Assembly to avoid just such accusations, but in vain. People will
always believe what thrills them most, and probably he and Garram alone
of the whole State believed the story.
“And Shaitan the Evil One, who showed the dog and boy, undoubtedly put
the crime into the minds of the poor plotters, in order that this boy
and dog, the servants of the Evil One, might by the detection of the
plot, be exalted among the true believers.” In spite of the presence of
the Emir, the speaker spat upon the ground to show his hatred of the
Evil One and his helpers.
This was indeed distorted and fanatical reasoning, but the Emir looked
grave for a moment. The holy man was more learned in such matters than
he. The supposition, if true, put another interpretation upon the
facts. He looked doubtfully at Garram and Kon. But he was first of all
a man, and only second a Mohammedan. Gratitude prevailed over fear,
and he again took up the defence.
“Have I priestly water in my veins instead of red blood! What you ask
is too hard--that I should abandon those who have helped me even to
saving my life and kingdom!”
A vengeful glint appeared in the eyes of the Liman. Garram could see
his hands, clawlike as the talons of a bird of prey, clasping and
clutching upon his staff. “Why, then, when all true believers sleep,
does he depart, this son of the Evil One, to be absent all night? Where
does he go, engaged upon his wicked practices, returning only long
after the morning sun has risen?” He paused, and the look of surprise
on the Emir’s face told him this was news. With quick cunning he added,
“But Garram, an innocent man, will no doubt have told you all this.”
Garram too looked surprised. He had kept in touch with the happenings
in his tribe by meeting the messenger from the Rainmaker once a month
at the foot of the Hills. But he had done so with caution, traveling by
night. This was the first news that his movements had been watched.
The Emir spoke again in defence. “This no doubt is untrue, like all the
rest.”
“It is the truth,” interrupted Garram. “I leave the city and return in
the morning. But what I do is not wrong and is no business but my own.”
The Emir’s look was ominous. Coldly he dismissed the Liman and his
follower and turned to Garram, expecting an explanation. But none
was forthcoming. Garram, silent and always inclined to keep his own
counsel, was angered by the ease with which his friend the Emir had
been persuaded to suspect him. Further, it might incriminate Ibrahim
the Captain of the Guard, who since his restoration had, out of
gratitude, permitted the boy to pass the gates at night.
The Emir, puzzled and so recently reminded how even so trusted a man
as the Waziri could turn against him, suspected some sort of treachery
in the unaccountable silence. For a while he waited. Then angrily but
sadly motioned Garram to withdraw. Flushed in the face and with a
feeling of guilt which he knew he did not deserve, the boy went.
At a loss for a plan, he wandered aimlessly about the palace. Then
decided to go and consult his new friend, the Captain of the Guard.
Particularly on the matter of a pig, a small black pig, a most amusing
small black pig. But if these people thought so badly of a man not
being of their own religion, and of a dog for being ceremonially
impure, what would they think of his pig? For he knew that pigs were
still more impure than dogs, according to the Sharia, the Holy Law of
Islam. When Garram had first planned the catching of the plotters the
Emir had given him some money and with this he had purchased a gift of
flint and steel for the old Rainmaker. In return the magician had sent
him a present of a small pig, for he knew the boy’s taste for meat.
But, unwilling to kill the cheery and playful little beast, Garram had
smuggled it into a disused stable which his exploring instinct had
discovered in a ramshackle corner of the far-flung palace. Now, as
he went his round of the city guard inquiring for Ibrahim, he began
to get more and more anxious. These fanatics would consider it a
sufficiently grave crime that he had brought the pig within the city.
Supposing they discovered it within the Emir’s own house?
[Illustration: Garram smuggled it into a stable]
“If just wandering at night is so grave a crime,” thought Garram, “what
would they make this look like?”
Finding Ibrahim at length, Garram explained his needs. He was in
disgrace, he said, and wanted to get away where he could think out what
to do.
“I would have your aid.” The tall black Captain of the Guard smiled at
the boy. “Cannot you accompany me?” continued Garram.
Ibrahim both could and would. Garram’s talk of the bush had whetted
the young soldier’s appetite for hunting, and Garram’s fame promised
something special in that line.
He had some small matter to attend to that night, Garram explained, so
they should wait until dawn. This too suited Ibrahim well. He would
have to ask permission to be absent from his duties, though this was a
mere matter of form.
MENUD “TROUBLES TROUBLE”
[Illustration]