"What knowest thou of me?" I gasped eagerly.
"That thou hast risked all in order to report to thy people upon the
Black Sultan's strength," she answered, sinking upon my narrow divan,
throwing back her handsome head and gazing into my eyes. "But our
interests are mutual. I have these ten months been held captive, and
desire to escape. By bribing one of the slaves with the Sultan's ring I
contrived to have poison placed in the kouss-kouss of the guards--"
"You have killed them!" I cried, peering forth, and noticing the
ghastly look upon their faces as they slept at their posts.
"It was the only way," she answered, shrugging her shoulders. "To
obtain me the Sultan's men murdered my kinsmen, and put our village to
the sword. Mine is but a mild revenge."
"Of what tribe art thou?" I enquired eagerly, detecting in her soft
sibillations an accent entirely unfamiliar.
"I am of the Kel-Oui, and was born at Lebo."
"At Lebo!" I cried eagerly. "Then thou knowest of the Three Dwarfs of
Lebo?"
"Yea. And furthermore I have learnt their secret, a secret which shall
be thine alone in return for safe conduct to my people."
"But my clansmen are in deadly feud with thine," I observed
reflectively.
"Does that affect thy decision?" she enquired in a tone of reproach.
I reflected, and saw how utterly impossible it seemed that I myself
could escape the vigilance of these ever-watchful guards of the many
gates which lay between myself and freedom. I glanced at the frail girl
lying upon my poor ragged divan, her girdle and throat blazing with
jewels, and felt my heart sink within me.
"Thou thinkest that because I am a woman I have no courage," she
observed, her keen eyes reading my secret thoughts. "But hist! listen!"
I held my breath, and as I did so the footsteps of men fell upon the
flags of the courtyard. We peered forth through the chink in the wooden
shutter, which at night closed my window, and saw two men carrying a
bier, followed by two gigantic negro eunuchs. Upon the bier was a body
covered by a cloth; and as it passed we both caught sight of
gay-coloured silks and lace. Below the black pall a slim white hand,
sparkling with diamonds, moved convulsively, and as the _cortege_
passed, a low stifling cry reached us--the despairing cry of a woman.
"All!" gasped my companion, dismayed. "It is Zulaimena! Yesterday she
ruled the harem, but this morning it was whispered into our lord's ear
that she had tried to poison him, and he condemned her and myself to be
given alive to the alligators," and she shuddered at thought of the fate
which awaited her if detected.
Conversing only in whispers, we waited till the palace was hushed in
sleep. Then, when she had attired herself in one of my old
serving-dresses and bound her hair tightly, we crept cautiously out into
the moonlit court. Over the horse-shoe arch of the harem-gate the
single light burned yellow and faint, while on either side the guards
crouched, their dead fingers still grasping their ponderous scimitars.
All was still, therefore quietly and swiftly we passed into the Court of
the Treasury, and thence into that of the Eunuchs. Here we were
instantly challenged by two guards with drawn swords, clansmen of those
who lay dead at the harem-gate.
"Whence goest thou?" they both enquired with one voice, suddenly
awakened from gazing mutely at the stars, their blades flashing in the
moonbeams.
"Our master, the Grand Vizier, has had an apoplexy, and is dying!" I
cried, uttering the first excuse that rose to my lips. "Let not his
life be upon thine heads, for we go forth to seek the court physician
Ibrahim."
"Speed on the wings of haste!" they cried. "May the One Merciful have
compassion upon him!"
Thus we passed onward, relating the same story at each gate, and being
accorded the same free passage, until at last we came to an enormous
steel-bound door which gave exit into the city; the gate which was
closed and barred by its ponderous bolts at the _maghrib_ hour, and
opened not until dawn save for the dark faced Sultan himself.
Here I gave exactly the same account of our intentions to the captain of
the guard. He chanced to be a friend of my master's, and was greatly
concerned when I vividly described his critical condition.
"Let the slaves pass!" I heard him cry a moment later, and, with a loud
creaking, the iron-studded door which had resisted centuries of siege
and battle, slowly swung back upon its creaking hinges. At that
instant, however, a prying guard raised his lantern and held it close to
my companion's face.
"By the Prophet's beard, a woman!" he cried aloud, starting back, an
instant later. "We are tricked!"
"Seize them!" commanded the captain, and in a moment three guards threw
themselves upon us. Swift as thought I drew my keen _jambiyah_, my
trusty knife which I had ever carried in my sash throughout my
captivity, and plunged it into the heart of the first man who laid hands
upon me, while a second later the man who gripped Zohra, received a cut
full across his broad negro features which for ever spoilt his beauty.
Then, with a wild shout to my companion to follow, I dashed forward and
ran for my life.
Lithe and agile as a gazelle in the desert she sped on beside me along
the dark crooked silent streets. In a few minutes the tragedy of the
harem-gate would be discovered, and every effort would be then made to
recapture the eloping favourite of the brutal Black Sultan. We knew
well that if captured both of us would be given alive to the alligators,
a punishment too terrible to contemplate. But together we sped on, our
pace quickened by the fiendish yells of our pursuers, until doubling in
a maze of narrow crooked streets, we succeeded at last, with Allah
directing our footsteps, in evading the howling guards and gaining one
of the four gates of the city, where the same story as we had told in
the Fada resulted in the barrier being opened for us, and a moment later
we found ourselves in the wild, barren plain, at that hour lying white
beneath the brilliant moon. We paused not, however, to admire
picturesque effects, but strode boldly forward, eager to put as great a
distance as possible between ourselves and the stronghold of the Ahir,
ere the dawn.
Fortunately my bright-eyed fellow-fugitive was well acquainted with the
country around Agadez, therefore we were enabled to journey by
untravelled paths; but the three days we spent in that burning
inhospitable wilderness, ere we reached the well where we obtained our
first handful of dates and slaked our thirst, were among the most
terrible of any I have experienced during my many wanderings over the
sandy Saharan waste.
On that evening when the mysterious horizon was ablaze with the fiery
sunset, and I had turned my face to the Holy Ca'aba, I was dismayed to
discover that, instead of travelling towards the country of her people,
the Kel-Oui, we had struck out in an entirely different direction, but
when I mentioned it she merely replied--
"I promised, in return for thine assistance, to lead thee unto the Three
Dwarfs of Lebo, the secret of which none know save myself. Ere three
suns have set thine eyes shall witness that which will amaze thee."
Next day we trudged still forward into a stony, almost impenetrable
country, utterly unknown to me, and two days later, having ascended a
rocky ridge, my conductress suddenly halted almost breathless, her tiny
feet sadly cut by the sharp stones notwithstanding the wrappings I had
placed about them, and pointing before her, cried--
"Behold! The Three Dwarfs!"
Eagerly I strained mine eyes in the direction indicated, and there
discerned in the small oasis below, about an hour's march distant, three
colossal pyramids of rock of similar shape to those beside the Nile.
"Yon fertile spot was Lebo until ten years ago, when the men of the
Black Sultan came and destroyed it, and took its inhabitants as slaves,"
she explained. "See! From here thou canst distinguish the white walls
of the ruins gleaming amongst the palms. We of the Kel-Oui had lived
here since the days of the Prophet, until our enemies of the Ahir
conquered us. But let us haste forward, and I will impart unto thee the
secret I have promised."
Together we clambered down over the rocks and gained the sandy plain, at
last reaching the ruined and desolate town where the cracked
smoke-stained walls were half overgrown by tangled masses of greenery,
welcome in that sunbaked wilderness, and presently came to the base of
the first of the colossal monuments of a past and long-forgotten age.
They were built of blocks of dark grey granite, sadly chipped and worn
at the base, but higher up still well preserved, having regard to the
generations that must have arisen and passed since the hands that built
them crumbled to dust.
"By pure accident," explained the bright-faced girl when together we
halted to gaze upward, "I discovered the secret of these wonders of
Lebo. Thou hast, by thy lion's courage, saved my life, therefore unto
thee is due the greatest reward that I can offer thee. Two years ago I
fell captive in the hands of thy people, the Azjar, over in the
Tinghert, and it was by thine own good favour I was released. That is
why I recognised thee in the palace of Agadez. Now once again I owe my
freedom unto thee; therefore, in order that the months thou hast spent
in Agadez shall not be wholly wasted, I will reveal unto thee the secret
which I have always withheld from mine own people."
Then, taking my hand, she quickly walked along the base of the giant
structure until she came to the corner facing the direction of the
sunrise; then, counting her footsteps, she proceeded with care, stopping
at last beneath the sloping wall, and examining the ground. At her feet
was a small slab, hidden by the red sand of the desert, which she
removed, drawing from beneath it a roll of untanned leopard-hide. This
she unwrapped carefully, displaying to my gaze a worn and tattered
parchment, once emblazoned in blue and gold, but now sadly faded and
half illegible.
I examined it eagerly, and found it written in puzzling hieroglyphics,
such as I had never before seen.
"Our marabout Ahman, who was well versed in the language of the
ancients, deciphered this for me only a few hours before his death. It
is the testimony of the great Lebo, king of all the lands from the
southern shore of Lake Tsad to the Congo, and founder of the Kel-Oui
nation, now, alas! so sadly fallen from their high estate. The
parchment states plainly that Lebo, having conquered and despoiled the
Ethiopians in the last year of his reign, gathered together all the
treasure and brought it hither to this spot, which bore his name, in
that day a gigantic walled city larger by far than Agadez."
I glanced around upon the few miserable ruins of mud-built houses, and
saw beyond them large mounds which, in themselves, indicated that the
foundations of an important centre of a forgotten civilisation lay
buried beneath where we stood.
"Lebo had one son," continued Zohra, "and he had revolted against his
father; therefore the latter, feeling that his strength was failing, and
having been told by the sorcerers that on his death his great kingdom
would dwindle until his name became forgotten, resolved to build these
three pyramids, that they should remain throughout all ages as monuments
of his greatness."
"And the treasure?" I asked. "Is it stated what became of it?"
"Most precisely. It is recorded here," she answered, pointing to a
half-defaced line in the mysterious screed. "The king feared lest his
refractory son, who had endeavoured to usurp his power in the country
many marches farther south, would obtain possession of the spoils of
war, therefore he concealed them in one of yonder monuments."
"In there!" I cried eagerly. "Is the treasure actually still there?"
"It cannot have been removed. The secret lies in the apex of the third
and lastly constructed monument," she explained.
"But the summit cannot be reached," I observed, glancing up at the high
point. "It would require a ladder as long as that of Jacob's dream."
"There is a secret way," she answered quite calmly. "If thou art
prepared for the risk, I am quite ready to accompany thee. Let us at
once explore."
Together we approached the base of the third pyramid, and Zohra, after
careful calculation and examination, led me to a spot where there was a
hole in the stone just of sufficient size to admit a human foot. One
might have passed it by unnoticed, for so cunningly was it devised that
it looked like a natural defect in the block of granite.
"Behold!" she cried. "Climb, and I will follow."
The day was hot, and the sun had only just passed the noon, nevertheless
I placed my foot in the burning stone, and scrambling forward found that
she had made no mistake. At intervals there were similar footholds,
winding, intricate, and in many instances filled with the nests of
vultures, but always ascending. For fully half an hour we toiled upward
to the apex, until we at length reached it, perspiring and panting, and
minutely examined the single enormous block of stone that capped the
summit. By its size I saw that no human hands could move it. If the
treasure lay beneath, then it must remain for ever concealed.
"That parchment giveth no instructions how the spoils of war may be
reached. We must discover that for ourselves," she observed, clambering
on, still in her ragged male attire with which I had furnished her
before leaving the stronghold of the Black Sultan.
I was clinging with one arm around the apex itself, and with the other
grasping her soft white hand. She had looked down from the dizzy height
and shuddered, therefore I feared lest she might be seized with a sudden
giddiness. But quickly she released herself, and proceeded to scramble
along on hands and knees, making a minute investigation of the wall.
Her sudden cry brought me quickly to her side, and my heart leapt wildly
when I discerned before me, in the wall of the pyramid, immediately at
the base of the gigantic block forming the apex, an aperture closed by a
sheet of heavy iron, coloured exactly the same as the stone and quite
indistinguishable from it. Some minutes we spent in its examination,
beating upon it with our fists. But the secret how to open it was an
enigma as great as that of the closed cavern in our book of the
"Thousand Nights and a Night," until suddenly, by merest chance, we both
placed our hands upon it, and it moved slightly beneath our touch. Next
moment, with a cry, we both pushed our hardest, and slowly, ever so
slowly, it slid along, grating in the groove, which was doubtless filled
by the dust of centuries, disclosing a small, dark, low chamber roofed
by the apex-stone.
Stepping inside, our gaze eagerly wandered around the mysterious place,
and we at once saw that we had indeed discovered the treasure-house of
Lebo the Great, for around us were piled a wondrous store of gold and
gems, personal ornaments and great golden goblets and salvers. The
aggregate value of the treasure was enormous.
"Of a verity," I cried, "this is amazing!"
"Yea," she answered, turning her fine eyes upon me. "I give this secret
entirely and unreservedly unto thee, as reward for thine aid. At the
going down of the sun I shall part from thee, and leave this home of my
race for ever. In six hours' march, by the secret gorges, I can reach
our encampment, therefore trouble no further after me. Close this
treasure-house, return to thine own people, and let them profit by thy
discovery."
"But thou, Zohra, boldest me in fascination," I cried passionately.
"Thou hast entranced me. I love thee!"
"Love can never enter mine heart," she answered with a calm smile, but
sighing nevertheless. "I am already the wife of thine enemy, Melaki,
ruler of the Kel-Oui."
"Wife of Melaki!" I exclaimed amazed. "And thou hast done this?"
"Yes," she answered in a lower voice. "I have given thee thy promised
reward, so that thou and thy people may become rich, and some day make
brotherhood with us, and unite against the Black Sultan."
"If such is in my power it shall be done," I said, stooping and
imprinting a passionate kiss upon her soft white hand. Then soon
afterwards we closed the mouth of the chamber and descended, finding the
task no easy one. At the base of the "Dwarf" we parted, and never since
have mine eyes beheld her beautiful countenance.
Ere a moon had passed away, I had conducted a party of my clansmen unto
the Three Dwarfs, and we had removed the treasure of the great founder
of the Kel-Oui. Of such quantity was it that seven camels were required
to convey it to Mourzouk, where it was sold to the Jews in the market,
and fetched a sum which greatly swelled our finances.
True to my promise, when I assumed the chieftainship of the Azjar, I
effected a friendly alliance with the Kel-Oui, and endeavoured to seek
out Zohra.
But with poignant grief I learnt that soon after her return to her
people she had been seized by a mysterious illness which proved fatal.
Undoubtedly she was poisoned, for it was her evil-faced husband, Melaki,
who told me how he had found in her possession a mysterious screed
relating to the treasure of Lebo, and how, when questioned, she had
admitted revealing its secret to the man who had rescued her from the
harem of the Black Sultan.
Melaki never knew that the man with whom she fled from Agadez, and who
loved her more devotedly than any other man had ever done, was myself.