Othman Ibn Saad was for many years a name for which that of _Eblis_
was substituted because of his dare-devil exploits in highway robbery,
which prompted the Ottoman Government to set a price on his head. The
chief of Kerak was especially interested in Othman's capture, offering
to double the reward, but no claimant appeared on the scene; while
every week added new outrages to the long list of the brigand's
incredible perpetrations. Again and again had the armed men been on
the track of the dreaded _Eblis_ only to discover too late, after a
hot but fruitless chase, that the object of their hunt had posed the
while as their informer, guide, or delightful boon-companion, filling
their ears with tales of the blood-curdling atrocities of the robber.
Othman had the means of personating Greek, Turk, Jew, Armenian,--any
officer, dervish, saint, beggar, foreign gentleman--yes, or woman; and
even resorted to the guise of the devil, wherefore his sobriquet of
_Eblis_. It was the study of his life, and he plied his trade with
surprising dexterity and hardihood. Tall, wiry, of tawny complexion,
flashing eye, an iron grip, black hair, short beard, easy manner, and
ostentatiously scrupulous in matters appertaining to the mosque, it
never occurred to those who had met him in friendly intercourse, that
his hands reeked with the blood of murder committed with the least
possible compunction.
What puzzled the authorities was the contradictory descriptions given
of the bandit by such as had the good fortune, having met with him, to
escape his murderous rapacity; and as well the unaccountable
coincidence of his having shed blood at two distant spots at the same
hour. This was a point in favor of the popular conclusion that the
terrible highwayman was an incarnation of the devil, who held court
in some dismal recess on the shores of the Dead Sea, a fit abode for
the dark designs of Satan. The inference was further strengthened by
the fact that Othman's crimes were invariably associated with the
gloomiest nights in the valley of the Jordan, that he dealt with
Moslem and infidel alike without a shade of partiality, and treated
his victims with fiendish malice.
The pseudo _Eblis_, however, in reality rejoiced in the comforts of a
snug home in the Plain of Engedi, where a small hamlet finds
sustenance in the scanty vegetation of the cheerless oasis, hemmed in
by the bleakest of wildernesses made up of mountains which look as
though they have passed through fire,--of pestiferous marshes, rugged
cliffs, deep gorges, a rocky beach, or little vales covered with
saline incrustations, all forming the frame to the most depressed and
deadest of seas on the face of the earth. The region is sufficiently
bleak, miasmatic and impregnated with sulphur to have suggested to
Milton his infernal "sights of woe, regions of sorrow, doleful
shades, where peace and rest can never dwell, hope never comes that
comes to all."
Othman's plain habitation was kept neat by a devoted wife, and
enlivened by an affectionate son, Yezed, a boy in the early twenties,
who fed on the Koran's revelations imparted to him, with traditional
embellishments, by the _muezzin_ of the small mosque, the only public
building of the settlement. With an eye to business, Othman had
established his headquarters here, but extended his operations as far
as his fleet horse could carry him during the darker hours, on
pathways known to him alone.
A cultivated patch of grain and vegetables, a cow, a few sheep and a
couple of asses, were supposed to supply the necessaries of Othman's
household. There was little about the robber's life to stir the envy
of his neighbors, except this fiery steed _El Barak_, so named in
allusion to the lightning speed of the Prophet's horse that carried
him from heaven to heaven, up to the throne of Allah. El Barak was a
lamb in the hands of his master or Yezed, but a terror to strangers
whose approaches the brute resented with a ferocious fury. That the
horse had been taught to dash against people and trample them down
nobody suspected.
Othman was the most pleasant of neighbors, bothered himself about
nobody's business, and was counted among the most harmless of the
villagers, deriving a small revenue from his ability to act as guide
to such as were curious to explore the mysteries of the desolation
around the Dead Sea. This was the plausible reason for the keeping of
El Barak.
But the time had arrived when the secret could no longer be withheld
from Yezed. The son had to be familiarized with his father's business,
and the mettle of the lad had to undergo a test. Was he worthy of his
sire? Yezed knew whole surahs of the Koran by heart, and delighted his
mother's ear with their recitation. The youth was a dreamer, the
muezzin having stocked his memory with the most fabulous of Islam's
traditions. Othman did not like his son's visionary spirit, but there
was hope in Yezed's great fondness for horses and his expressed wish
to own one of El Barak's temper. His wish was gratified. A powerful
courser was Yezed's pleasant surprise on his twenty-first birthday,
and the Arabs of Engedi began to suspect that Othman was a much richer
man than he appeared. In a few weeks Yezed bestrode his horse like the
experienced horseman he in fact already was, and was asked by his
father to accompany him to a place he intended to visit the coming
evening. A dervish had passed through the village during the day and
had casually told the people that a party of foreigners would pass
some miles south of Engedi, their object being to see Jebel Usdum, a
towering ridge of rock-salt extending many miles, its crystalline
crest sparkling like diamonds in the beam of tropical sunshine, and
looking fantastically weird in the face of the moon. Othman was alert
to the opportunity, and the departing sun threw its mellow ray on two
riders, who had just issued from Engedi. They soon left the fertile
stretch behind them and advanced between the lifeless tide of the
melancholy sea on one side and the barren, dreary range of cliffs on
the other.
The ebbing daylight gave the sterile outlook an air of inexpressible
gloom, a leaden haze having gathered on the sea which looked more like
a vast basin of stagnant oil than water with not a stir of life to
break the deadly silence except the hoof-beat of the horses. Othman,
who thus far had not uttered a word, suddenly stopped his horse, threw
a side glance at Yezed who likewise drew in his reins, so that the
horsemen faced each other. Yezed's imagination had been enkindled by
the sight of the sinking orb; he thought of the unfading glories of
_Jannat al Naïm_, the Prophet's Garden of Delight.
"Yezed, I am thinking that thou hast passed thy twenty-first year and
art as helpless as a child; thou hast no ambition, not a wish to fire
thee to a manly deed. If I died this coming night what would become of
thee and thy mother?" began Othman, eying the unsophisticated youth
sharply.
"Yezed wished to own a horse, his father made him happy,--what else
shall Yezed wish? If one is happy he has no wish. Thou die to-night?
Why should it come to pass? But even while thou art alive Yezed is
willing to work for his mother and his father, who should live for
pleasure and for prayer," answered the son contentedly.
"Ah, Yezed knows too little of this world, has no desire to be rich
and strong, that is why he has no other wish. What joy is it to spend
one's days in such a waste as this?" cried Othman, disappointed at his
son's indifference to things for which he had no use. "Does not this
region look like a place good for the dead?"
"Yes, good to remind the wicked of their doom and the just of their
reward. What of that? Are we not happy even in this unfriendly valley?
Not where we live but _how_--is not this the sum of Islam? The joys of
mortal flesh what are they when put in contrast with felicities not to
be expressed in words?" asked Yezed.
"If Allah meant us not to enjoy this world, why are there so many good
things which the weak and the poor cannot have?" was Othman's
question.
"Let Allah in his wisdom answer that; we must be content and resigned
wherever we be, whatever our lot, lest we forfeit eternal bliss,"
replied Yezed piously.
"Thou art soaring above the gate of _Jannat al Naïm_," said Othman
ironically. "Who has been there to assure us that it is more than a
fable?"
"God has revealed the truth to Mohammed, and he to his followers, and
we have it from them; and as the sun is bright, the moon is blessed,
and the stars are the work of Allah, so is the Koran His word, and the
Prophet His messenger, and _Jannat al Naïm_ the paradise of the
faithful, and _Jehennam_ one of the seven divisions of hell wherein
the wicked curse the day of their birth," affirmed Yezed emphatically,
and stormed Othman's ear by a rhapsody on the blessedness of the
prophet's paradise.
"Those who shall pass the bridge _al Sirat_,--a span thrown over the
midst of hell, finer than a hair and sharper than the edge of a razor,
beset on each side with briars and hooked thorns,--will, refreshed
from the cistern of Mohammed, enter the abode of bliss never to leave
it again. _Jannat al Naïm_ is under the throne of God; its earth is as
fine as wheat flour, as odoriferous as musk, and shines like saffron;
its stones are pearls and jacinths; the walls of its dwellings are of
gold, as also are the trees,--all of gold, one of which, called
_Tuba_, blooms in the palace of Mohammed, with a branch reaching to
the habitation of every true believer. _Tuba_ is full to repletion
with dates, grapes, and a great variety of other fruits of enormous
size, having the taste of anything the blessed who eat may wish to
enjoy. Silken garments, magnificent horses ready bridled and
caparisoned to ride upon, are there, bursting from the fruits of that
pregnant tree, which is so prodigious that the fleetest racer could
not pass the entire length of its shade in a hundred years. From the
roots of _Tuba_ spring all the rivers and springs of paradise,--water,
wine, milk and honey affording variety. Seventy-two immortal virgins
of ravishing loveliness and free from mortal impurities will receive
each faithful in a tent of pearls, jacinths, and emeralds; eighty
thousand servants will await his orders; each meal will be served in
dishes of gold by three hundred attendants, each one offering a
different dish, and the last morsel being as palatable as the first.
Robed in garments of silk and brocade, and crowned with diadems of
priceless jewels, the Elect will rejoice in the company of those
black-eyed paradisial maidens called houris, on couches interwoven
with golden threads standing on silken rugs and set with precious
stones. Israfil, the greatest musician of the universe, will lead a
chorus of those houris for the enravishment of the faithful, and the
trees will make their heavenly bells, of which they are full, ring in
response to a sweet breeze wafted from Allah's throne. What, then, do
all joys here below amount to?"[11]
[11] _Cf._ the Koran (Surahs 13, 47 and 55).
Othman's eyes were riveted on the countenance of the enthusiastic
youth, but his mien betrayed not the displeasure of his faithless
heart. What could he expect of a lad who raved of fables meant for
fools? How divulge to him the secret, which would in an instant
shatter all his air castles? And how will it impress him?
"Answer me, son, art thou a coward?" asked the brigand, in a changed
voice. "By my troth, thou speakest like a woman, yet art thou sired by
a man who defies Eblis."
"What Mohammed taught me and his _imams_ that I speak of, father;
Yezed is a woman's child, but no woman; nor am I a coward. Set me a
task, however hazardous, it shall be done," returned the youth, in a
tone of challenge.
"That is my son's true self," resumed Othman, pleased with Yezed's
outburst of manly temper. "There is a task for thee to do this coming
night, and it is not one for a craven to meddle with. Son, this world
is made up of masters and of slaves; the few command, the multitudes
obey. That Yezed take rank among the masters is his father's wish;
wilt thou be guided by his advice?"
"Whatever Othman Ibn Saad tells his Yezed to do, that he will do,"
replied Yezed.
"Will he face danger without shrinking?" was the searching question of
the father.
"If the deed is in accord with Moslem duty," returned the son.
"Is there any wrong in slaying those who hate us,--those we
hate,--those Mohammed hated?" continued Othman, insinuatingly.
"No; whomever the Prophet hated no Mussulman can love. Yes, it was his
will that infidels be converted by the sword, if it must be. To shed
blood is fearful, however, except it be he whose flesh ought to be
torn by the fiends and bitten by the serpents of _al Hawiyat_, there
being no deeper place in hell. Yes, him I would this moment stab to
the heart, and cast his carcass to the dogs," cried Yezed, in a voice
which boded no good for the object of his detestation.
"And who is _he_ thou art speaking of," inquired the father, delighted
with the anger of his righteous offspring. "He must be indeed wicked
whom Yezed hates."
"I am speaking of him whose black deeds are matched by his black name,
Eblis, the highway murderer of men and women, ripe for Monkir's club,
and eternal perdition," asseverated Yezed, with flashing eyes and
clenched fists.
In speechless consternation the eyes of the older rested on the
younger man. He, who had ruthlessly driven cold steel through the
heart of many a victim, felt a chill of horror run through his veins
at the deathful hatred he had thus engendered in the unsuspicious soul
of his own child. Othman twisted the head of El Barak toward the last
glow of the western heaven, looked thither for a moment, as though
lost in wonder, then, turning round all composed, said in an
undertone: "Why, Yezed, that is the very man we are to intercept this
night. A great price has been set on his head, and my information
makes it certain that we will be in a position to waylay him, if we
use our time and arms well. This is the task I referred to. Is Yezed
prepared to share his father's daring exploit?"
"Yezed will follow whithersoever his father leads him, and face death
in the name of Allah; there is no craven blood in Othman's faithful
son," answered the youth.
"Thou art the lion's whelp," closed Othman, and spurred his horse to
ascend a gorge which in the rainy season gives passage to a mountain
torrent down to the dead water, but which was perfectly dry now. The
path followed by El Barak with ease was narrow, steep and
neck-breaking, a yawning gulf suggesting dreadful possibilities to the
right, while to the left rose masses of blackened rock, overshadowing
the horsemen by hanging projections which threatened to fall with
terrific effect.
After a ride of about an hour through deepening twilight, Othman
turned into a narrow break of the mountain, shot out of his saddle,
bade his horse wait, and told Yezed to do as he did. The youth obeyed
without a word, and followed his father who, nimble as a cat, began to
climb up an almost perpendicular wall to a considerable height, and
slipped into a hole scarcely big enough for an average human body to
pass through without difficulty. Once within, Othman put his head out
to encourage Yezed who, unfamiliar with the footholds so well known to
his guide, despaired of performing a feat perilous even for an acrobat
to attempt. Down came the end of a rope for Yezed to take hold of. It
was dense night when the form of the lad disappeared in the interior
of the rocky nest.
There was already a light, and Yezed was struck with wonder at the
spacious hollow before him. High and dry and clean, it was irregular
in shape, sloping down toward a narrowing deep which startled the
imagination of the youth. Who could tell the mystery of that black pit
which seemed to breathe like the mouth of a sleeping giant? Yes, a
gentle breeze proceeded from the mountain's heart, saturated with a
something that made Yezed feel uneasy.
Other surprises diverted Yezed's attention. What looked like a niche a
few feet above their heads, was soon reached by stepping on a loose
bowlder, and the young man's wonderment was not small to see in the
light of a lantern in his father's hand, a wardrobe of various
costumes, masks, bearded and unbearded, jack-boots, many uniforms, and
a regular armory of weapons and ammunition. That was not all. Several
leather bags were brought to light from under a tiger skin, and
Yezed's eyes dilated at the precious contents of each and all, as
Othman opened them as a surprise for his true-hearted offspring.
Costly watches, costlier jewels, rings, bracelets, necklaces, strings
of pearls, taken from murdered women; breastpins of every description,
gold and silver money, made up a treasure to feed the avarice of a
nabob. "If Yezed asks whose is all this? I will answer it is all
Yezed's," said huskily the brigand.
He scarcely breathed the few words when a puff from the black hole put
out the light, followed by a moan, a deep sigh and a light rumbling.
Othman held his breath. Yezed heard nothing more, but his pulse
throbbed nervously. What could he say? He had portentous feelings but
no thoughts; it all seemed like a dream.
The light was again burning. "It is all right," said Othman,
reassured, and nothing further happened to confirm his suspicion that
something had been astir in the unexplored deep. "The one who shall
attempt to get the fruit of my life must have the nerve to perish in
the attempt. Now, to business, Yezed. Here are this suit and mask for
thee, and this thy armor. My panoply is here; don't be disturbed; the
devil must match the devil. Hurry, the minutes count; the game will
not wait for us." Saying this, Othman amazed his son by transforming
himself into the blackest demon the youth had ever dreamt of in fancy.
The veritable Eblis could not look more deterring than the desperado
in his black mask with red eyes, red mouth, long, hooked nose, a
pointed beard, pointed shoes and tight leg coverings in one garment, a
coat ending in a cow's tail, black gloves which doubled the length of
his fingers, and a red spear with many points completed the equipment.
"Thou art too slow, son, for an expedition which requires haste not
less than courage," said the robber, and actually pushed the youth
into a strange garb, adjusted his mask, and threw a belt with pistols
around his waist. "Ready!" was the signal, and Othman burst forth from
the wall like a bomb from the mouth of a gun fired from the embrasure
of a fort. Yezed would not stay behind and found it much easier to get
down than up the steep.
Othman was now the real Eblis and his impetuosity seemed to wing El
Barak. Fear and pride spurred Yezed to keep pace with his father. It
was one of those nights when the moon is late in rising, and the
outlines of the robber as a devil astride of a fiery courser filled
his child with horror. Through night and desolation they sped onward,
the father leading, the son close behind, with not a sound to vary the
awful monotony. They had covered several miles when Othman's
experienced ear informed him that his game was near at hand. He
discerned the petrified figure of Lot's wife, a pillar of salt forty
feet high, and distinctly heard the tramp of the approaching
travellers.
"Thy first chance, Yezed, to show thyself a hero or a dastard. Here we
leave our horses; thou wilt plant thyself in the way of the beasts; I
will strike like thunder; if it prove too much for me, stab and fire;
if I hold to, fight; if I give it up, run. I fall on them with the cry
of Eblis! Having finished them, our horses will carry us home before
the moon is out," whispered the bandit, thrilling with excitement.
For the first time in his experience did Yezed feel the fighting lust
of his sire who was burning for the deadly encounter. If they
succeeded in capturing or slaying the scourge of the Jordan's plain,
their names would be on everybody's lips, including the Caliph of
Estamboul. A lantern in the hand of a horseman afforded a clear view
of the travelling company, made up of an armed escort of two
civilians, having between them a foreigner on horseback, accompanied
by an armed servant. With a yell that made the air shudder, Othman
fell on the group, unhorsing one and striking the other with the
ferocity of a savage brute. But the brigand was caught in a snare laid
for his ruin. It was the Chief of Kerak who had conceived the idea of
entrapping "Eblis" by spreading the rumor of the impending arrival of
a travelling company in the quarter where they had good reasons to
expect his attack. Three athletic Arabs stood by their Chief, but
Othman was not a bird to be caught and carried off. His red spear held
them at bay, but it was not possible for him to escape. He fired, was
fired at, bled from many wounds, but fought like a wounded bear, the
Arabs closing around him. "Give it to them," he cried in desperation.
In answer several shots struck the struggling group from a distance.
Three of the five fell never to rise; Othman was one of the three,
stretched lifeless by a bullet from the weapon of his Yezed. The son
had killed his father, and realizing the nature of the tragedy and the
peril of his situation, he made a rush for his horse, and vanished in
the darkness of night, with none to give him chase.
Whither flee? In his present apparel he durst not seek his home, even
if he had better news to bring than the slaughter of his father by his
own hand. To get his clothing he must retrace his way to that
frightful hole in the rock which he had gladly left in the earlier
hour of the night. He dreaded the thought of it, but it had to be; the
problem being how to find the way thither?
It was fortunate for Yezed that, in his precipitous flight, he had
mounted El Barak in mistake for his own horse, and the sagacious
animal carried him instinctively to the right spot, halting beneath
the entrance of the hollow to which his dead master had ascended so
often, especially after successful robberies. "Allah akbar," sighed
poor Yezed, as he got out of his saddle and prepared to reach the
black nest. There was the rope inviting him to ascend. It was a
horrible nightmare. So much had happened in a few short hours! Could
anything worse befall him? Come what might, that hollow must be
entered. He drew himself up, entered the cave, struck a light, threw
off his disguise, put on his plain garments, fell on his face and wept
bitterly. The pelf and the jewels will they revive his father who had
fallen by his hand?--The pelf and the jewels--horrid thought! It
flashed upon his mind like an inspiration.--Great Allah! Eblis--his
father was himself that terrible impersonation,--a murderer! How could
he doubt it? Did not everything point to the reality of that fact?
"Allah akbar. Yezed is the most miserable of sons," murmured the
unhappy youth.
But hark! Yes, there was a sigh,--and another,--and a groan, and now a
hoot,--and then a howl ascending from that unfathomed black mouth of
the hollow, which stared at him like the vicious eye of a Cyclops. The
blood froze in his veins. Once more a puff of wind, as of a whiff from
a monstrous gullet, left him in rayless darkness. But more appalling
than the dense obscurity was the faint glimmer of a hazy shimmer which
stole up from the deep, a phosphorescent illumining of the sepulchral
gloom, just bright enough to make the shades visible. Terror drove
Yezed to the verge of madness. Might not at any moment some apparition
break out upon him through that animated gap? Seizing a loaded gun
near by, Yezed emptied its contents into the outlet. The instantaneous
response was a terrific burst of the mountain, which sent Yezed
wheeling through the air with fragments of rock as great as pyramids.
That he was not crushed was not so much a wonder as that he landed on
top of a mountainous pile unhurt. New events threw previous happenings
into the shade.
By this time it took a great deal to astonish Yezed, but his position
of vantage placed under his survey a somewhat dim panorama, more
beautiful than anything he had ever hoped to see this side of _Jannat
al Naïm_. Through the shifting mists of an uncertain gloom the eye
swept over a plain of tropic luxuriance on the shore of a lake as
placid and limpid as the purest azure. As though ignited by a flash of
lightning, sprang a blaze from lamps without number, giving
distinctness to rich and noble forms of vegetation, studded here and
there by fruit-bearing trees thick with blossom, or loaded with those
Hesperian apples which rival sunshine in glow. From the shades of a
majestic grove flowed the ineffable notes of the bulbul. Fragrant
bowers stood decked with the vine's exuberant foliage and cumbered
with the clusters that produce the golden juice. Sparkling fountains
played in the light of the mystic illumination. A lofty arcade,
mocking the rainbow by a myriad multicolored lights, glowed like a
curved horizon, covering a great stretch of green meadow, and making
day for the fish, which swarmed in the transparent water. Underneath
the arcaded bow was room enough for armies to pass each other, or to
parade in military array.
Indeed the cymbal, fife and timbrel were heard, and a vast multitude
of a strange race overflowed the entire plain, moving toward the
arcade as the centre of attraction. It was a half-naked mass of
brutified humanity, wild and salacious, the sexes intermingling with
revolting indecency. At their head strode a ferocious biped, his hair
long, straight and matted, his eyes bloodshot, his visage tattooed,
his lips dyed,--chin, teeth and cheekbones of the gorilla, and limbs
sinewy like the buffalo's. In his grasp swayed a huge club; his breast
was covered by a shield, his shins by plates of bronze, and he
remained no secret to Yezed the moment his beastly cry was heard.
"Hear Nimrod the Huntsman speak, children of Sodom! The mighty sons of
Anak and those of the Rephaim, the sky-born, are coming to help us
build the tower yonder in defiance of Him who has drowned our sires
because of their having lived as we do, and because of their refusing
to worship Him as thralls. We shall build higher than His mountains,
and then scorn His rage. Yes, we shall climb above His clouds, laugh
at His floods, and storm His heaven. Who is He to be feared? He seized
the power, the winds and the thunderbolt, and treats beings like
Himself with cruel outrage."
The dehumanized masses yelled, leaped, made horrid faces, distorted
their bodies, swore blasphemously, and supplemented their blasphemies
by such abominable excesses as caused Yezed to turn away his eyes in
disgust. Bestial females rivaled with one another in winning their
male brutes by intoxicating drinks, which they made them swallow in
great quantities, drinking themselves until they reeled with
inebriation. Wild dancing and lewd gesticulations were the prelude to
the indulgence of nameless vices, and this was the opening of a
Saturnalia of lust and riot.
"The Anakim, the Rephaim, make room for the heroes!" thundered Nimrod
the Huntsman. Hereupon the Sodomites divided into two parallel lines,
leaving a road free to the triumphal arcade, which burned like a vault
of fire. Issuing from a shaded avenue, an army of hideous giants,
swollen with vanity and bristling with arms of every description,
advanced in two separate columns toward the blazing arcade where they
were to be received and regaled. Their powerful chests were shielded
by plates of bronze; so were their knees and down the shins. They wore
hides of beasts, the chief one a lion's skin. As they came in sight of
the immense vault their chief caused them to break up and pass through
a series of evolutions to the vociferous acclaim of the drunken
multitude. Nimrod was at hand to extend Sodom's welcome to the
warriors.
"Thou mighty leader of the invincible sons of giants, who durst storm
heaven to dethrone Him who revels in outrage, we welcome thee and
thine, we, the Sodomites, who welcome none, except it be to mutilate
or slay the fools who trust our honor. For know, O chief, that in our
midst the stranger gets stones to feed his hunger, mud to quench his
thirst, and a bed to sleep on, which must fit his length; if he be too
long we cut his limbs; if he be too short we stretch them to suit our
measure. Force is our law, valor our God, plunder our business, and
license our pleasure. What He above loves we hate, and what He hates
we love. We injure the innocent, respect no woman's virtue, roast the
brute alive that He may fume and fret, who is our common foe, our
tyrant. That you might join us in the work of raising that tower to a
height far above His clouds we called you hither. Let Him send another
deluge to drown us,--we shall defy His hereafter as we did hitherto,
and make His clouds break against the top of that pile. But whatever
work be ours to do, let this hour be given to feasting and pleasure,
drinking, dancing and loving."
What Yezed heard next was a myriad shriek of terror. As if the lake
had been a caldron of oil, its volume rose in a tremendous flame,
heaving toward the clouds, and in its conflagration the shores were
soon involved. A general upheaval of rock, brought about by an
impelling force from below, in its recoil dropped the bed of the lake
deep under its shores, creating a gulf buried in fire. Streams of the
consuming element shot up from a hundred cracks, crevices and chasms
opened by the disturbance, wiping out whatever had life and breath.
Swallowed by the fiery billows were the licentious revellers, no
vestige remaining to tell of the illumined Eden, which but a few
minutes before had been a scene of unspeakable depravity. The whole
dissolved itself into a black smoke, pregnant with deathful odors,
like the fetid exhalation that hung over the catastrophe of Sodom and
Gomorrah. Yezed alone escaped, and his trembling heart recognized
Allah's justice and mercy. On every side sulphurous damps, thick night
and the silence of death enclosed him.
Where was he? How shall he ever get down from the towering pile upon
which he had been dropped by some mysterious power? What will there be
around him when day shall rise on the devastation? Ah,--if it all were
but a nightmare, including his father's death in the guise of the
devil? But the night seemed endless, as though day would never come
again, and the position was one of horrid suspense and miserable
discomfort. To cap the climax of Yezed's unparalleled mishaps, there
soared before him the bleeding figure of his father in the attire of
Eblis, just as he had seen him hurry to his doom. "Thy hands are
clean, O, my son! but I am doomed to swim forever in a pool of blood,
the life-stream of the hearts I pierced!" came wailing to his ears
upon the passing breeze as the apparition faded from his vision,
chilling the boy to the centre of his being.
Yezed attempted to speak, but found his tongue paralyzed; he tried to
express himself by signs, but his arms and fingers were lame.
Gathering all his strength, he threw his frame in the direction in
which he had seen Othman depart, and he struck his head against a
stone. How did the stone come here? There had been nothing there
before. Yezed rose to his feet; there was no smoke to be seen. He
thrust out his arms sideways and struck against a wall. There was no
wall before. "Allah, great Allah, is not this the hollow where I
changed my clothing!" So it was. Why not make a light? It was made,
and, lo! there was the sequestered nest, there the armory and the
singular wardrobe, there the treasure of the dead brigand, and there
the fearful black hole which graciously hid those mysteries he had
witnessed. Yezed shook with chill. He felt that it was the dead of
night, and had overwhelming feelings to control. What remained of the
nightmare as an unescapable reality was horrible to dwell upon. Shall
he ever return to the infernal hollow again? No, never! never! Why
stay one second longer than necessary in the mouth of hell? Trembling
and shivering, Yezed crawled out of the accursed cave, lowered himself
to the ground, found the noble El Barak awaiting him patiently, threw
his arms around the neck of the faithful brute and lamented bitterly.
The horse neighed gently, as though he, too, understood his new
master's great sorrow.
Seated in the saddle, Yezed allowed the intelligent animal to take its
own course, and was shortly before daybreak landed before his mother's
habitation. There was weeping and wailing in the widowed house. Yezed
decided to divulge the whole truth to his friendly master, the
muezzin. The holy man shuddered as he listened to his pupil's tale,
but advised secrecy, lest widow and orphan be thrown into prison as
accessories to the numerous crimes of the guilty Othman. He took great
care, however, to inform himself about the location of the interesting
cave, and was ere long in a position to turn his back upon the humble
villagers of Engedi, not without inducing the widow and her son to
follow him to a happier place.