The professor had hardly finished speaking when something dark loomed up
through the silvery gloom, and the camels began making a peculiar,
complaining sound, while they slightly increased their pace and soon
after stopped short, craning their necks and muttering and grumbling
peevishly.
A water-hole had been reached, where the beasts were refreshed, after
they had been relieved of their living burdens--those which were loaded
with the travellers' baggage having to be content with a good drink and
then folding their legs to crouch in the sand and rest.
"Yes, it's all very well, Mr Frank," said Sam, "but I don't believe
that thing which carries me is half so tired as I am. Oh my!
See-sawing as I've been backwards and forwards all these hours, till my
spinal just across the loins feels as if it had got a big hinge made in
it and it wanted oiling."
"Lie flat down upon your back and rest it."
"But won't the grass be damp, sir?"
"Grass?" said Frank, smiling. "Where are you going to find it?"
"I forgot, sir," said the man wearily. "No grass; all sand. That comes
of being used to riding in a Christian country."
"That's right," said the professor, joining them, for Frank had set Sam
the example and was lying flat on the soft sand. "I've just been
telling the Hakim to do so. Don't sit down to rest out here; lie flat
whenever you get a chance. It does wonders. Are you thirsty, Frank?"
"Oh no," was the reply.
"That comes of travelling by night. If we had come this distance under
the burning sun we should have been parched."
"Better move, hadn't we?" said Frank, a minute or two later, as he
glanced significantly towards Sam.
"I think we had," replied the professor, laughing. "I thought it was
one of the camels."
The sound that came regularly was not unlike that uttered by one of the
grumbling creatures, but it was due to their man's ways of breathing in
his sleep, for not many seconds had elapsed before he had forgotten all
his weariness, and the troubles of the first lesson in camel-riding, in
a deep slumber which lasted through the two hours' halt, during which
the Sheikh and his men had sat together and smoked in silence, while
Frank and his companions had lain chatting in a low tone about the
beauty of the moon-silvered rocks and the soft, transparent light which
spread around.
At last the Sheikh rose and stalked softly towards them in his long
white garments, looking thoroughly in keeping with the scene, and made
his customary obeisance.
"Are their Excellencies rested?" he asked gravely.
"Oh, yes; let us get on," said the professor, looking at his watch.
"Four o'clock. I did not know it was so late. How are you, Frank?
Stiff?"
"Terribly."
"Yes," said the doctor, stretching himself. "We have been giving some
idle muscles work to do that they had never had before."
"Their Excellencies will soon be as much used to it as their friend,"
said the Sheikh; and he led the way towards where the camels crouched,
some moving their under jaws, chewing after their fashion, others with
their long necks stretched straight out and their heads nestling in the
sand.
"Here, Sam," cried the professor, breaking the silence that reigned
around, and his words were echoed from the rocks on the far side of the
water-holes.
But the man's reply was only a gurgling, camel-like snore.
"Sound enough," said the professor; and he was stepping towards him, but
Frank interposed.
"I'll wake him," he said. "The poor fellow feels fagged and
low-spirited. We must not be hard upon him. He hasn't our motive to
spur him on."
"No," said the professor, "but he must try and brace himself up a bit."
"Give him time," replied Frank, and he bent down on one knee--pretty
stiffly too--and laid his hand upon the sleeper's breast.
"Come, Sam," he said; "we're ready to start."
But there was no reply, and the touch had to be followed up by a shake,
and that by one far more vigorous, before there was a loud yawn, and two
fists were thrown out in a vigorous stretch.
"What's the matter? Night bell?"
"Wake up, man."
"Eh? Who is it?--Where am I?--You, Mr Frank?"
"Yes. Your camel is waiting for its load. Up with you!"
"Oh, Mr Frank," moaned the poor fellow, "never mind me. I'm about done
for."
"Nonsense, man! Don't let the professor see how weak you are."
"But I can't help it, sir. I'm that sore all over that it's just as if
I'd been broken. Go on and leave me; I ain't a bit o' good."
"Leave you here in the desert to die?"
"Yes, sir; it don't matter a bit. I'm regularly done for."
"Nonsense! Rouse yourself like a man."
"I couldn't do it, sir. I only want to lie still and die decently.
Daresay the next people who come along will cover me over with a bit of
sand."
Frank laughed.
"I do call that unfeeling of you, sir," moaned the poor fellow. "It's
heartless, that it is!"
"I can't help it, Sam," said Frank merrily; "the idea is so absurd."
"What, me dying out here in the desert?"
"No, what you said about being covered over with the sand."
"I don't see anything absurd, sir. It's very horrible."
"Not a bit," said Frank. "There wouldn't be anything to bury."
"What!" said Sam, rising up on one elbow and staring wildly at the
speaker.
"You see, there are the vultures to begin with, and then there would be
the jackals."
"Ugh! Don't, Mr Frank," cried the poor fellow, shuddering. "I never
thought about them. That's worse than the camel."
"Ever so much," said Frank. "Come, be a man. How do you spell
`pluck'?"
"I dunno, sir," whined the poor fellow. "I suppose it would be with a
very small `p'."
"Try and spell it with a big capital, Sam. Come, don't let the doctor
feel ashamed of you."
"But I don't seem to mind anything now, sir."
"Yes, you do, Sam. You came to help us, didn't you?"
"Yes, sir, I did, but--"
"Are you going to break down over the first difficulty."
"No, I ain't, sir. I--oh dear!--oh my!--I--ugh! what a scrunch!--Hah!
Would you mind lending me a hand, sir?"
"Not a bit, Sam," said Frank. "I'll help you in any way, as you will
me; but I want to see you master all this."
"That's right, sir. Here goes, then."
The next moment the man had made a brave effort, and he walked at once
to his camel and mounted, Frank standing by as the ungainly beast
see-sawed to and fro and sprawled out its legs, and grumbled and snarled
as it rose upright.
"Don't make that row!" cried Sam. "You ought to be used to it by this
time. That's done it, Mr Frank. Don't tell the doctor what I said."
"Not I, Sam. Bravo! You have plenty of pluck, you see."
"Have I, sir?" said the man pitifully. "I began to think I hadn't a
bit. It had got to the bottom somewhere."
"Yes," said Frank; "now keep it up at the top."
In another minute the little camel train was steadily pacing on again
over the sands, with the air feeling fresher. The moon, too, was
beginning to cast the shadows in a different direction, while the whole
party had become silent, no one feeling the slightest inclination to
talk.
But it did not seem long now before the silvery radiance of the moon
began to grow pale before the soft opalescence in the east, and the
far-spreading desert sands took a less mystic tint. Then all at once
far on high there was a soft, roseate speck, which grew orange and then
golden as if it were the advance guard of the gathering array of
dazzling hues which now rapidly advanced till the east blazed with a
glory wondrous to behold.
"Your first desert sunrise, Frank," said the professor quietly, as he
saw the young man's rapt gaze. "Ah, we have some splendid sky effects
here to make up for the want of flower and tree! The desert has glories
of its own, as you will see."
For the next half hour Frank forgot his weariness, the want of sleep,
and his anxieties in the grandeur of the scene around, as the glories of
the day expanded till the sun rose well above the horizon, sending the
shadows of the camels long and strange over the yielding sand. Then
hour after hour the monotony increased, and the silence grew more
oppressive, the heat harder to bear, and but for the calm, contented
ease exhibited by the Sheikh and his men, and the example they felt
bound to show to their followers, both the Doctor and Frank would have
put in a plea for another halt.
As it was they sat firmly as they could, swaying to and fro with the
monotonous motion of the camels, and growing more and more faint, while
at last Frank spoke to the Sheikh to set one of his young men to keep an
eye upon Sam, for he felt at times too much irritated to meet the poor
fellow's pleading eyes, and followed close behind the professor, who
kept turning in his seat to make some remark to cheer him up.
Then apparently all at once, after he had been straining his eyes vainly
over the far-spreading, interminable plain in search of their
halting-place, the Sheikh rode alongside, smiling and apparently as
fresh as when they had started, to point away in the direction they were
going.
"The tents, Excellency," he said.
Frank felt as if he had taken a draught of renewed life, as he raised
his hand to his brow and shaded his eyes from the sun.
"I see nothing," he said.
"Look again, Excellency. Your eyes are not used to the desert. There,
straight past the Hakim's camel."
"Ah, yes! I can see something like a heap of sand."
"Look again in half an hour," said the Sheikh smiling, "and that which
you see will have changed to something more than a heap of sand."
"Can you make out the tents, Landon?" said Frank.
"Oh, no; my eyes are not like Ibrahim's," was the reply; "but I take it
for granted, and I shall be very glad to get there. I want my breakfast
badly. I say, Ibrahim, there will be some coffee?"
"I sent one of my sons yesterday with two camel-loads of necessaries,
Excellency," replied the old Arab. "They can see us coming, for they
will have been watching, and there will be all their Excellencies need."
"Come, Frank, that does you good, doesn't it?" said the professor.
"Oh, yes; and I shall, I hope, make a better show of endurance after a
day or two."
"The young Excellency has done well," said the Sheikh, smiling
pleasantly. "The way is long; he is not accustomed to travelling like
this, and his mind is not at rest. He and the Hakim have borne the ride
well."
"Does the Hakim know that we are in sight?" said Frank, who was watching
the bent, weary figure in front.
"No, Excellency."
"I'll go and cheer him up with the news," said the professor, urging on
his camel, while Frank checked his to let Sam's long-legged steed come
abreast, and boldly now met the poor fellow's appealing eyes.
"It's you at last, Mr Frank," said the man faintly. "I've been asking
that native chap how long a man could go on like this before he's
knocked over by the sun."
"And what does he say?" replied Frank cheerily.
"Only grunted like this beast does. I might just as well have asked
it."
"Feel very tired, then?"
"Tired, sir? I feel as if--as if--as if--"
"As if you wanted rest and a good breakfast."
"Rest?--breakfast?" said Sam faintly. "Oh, don't talk about such
things, sir! if it's only to keep me lingering on for another hour, sir.
Mr Frank, I used to grumble sometimes in Wimpole Street about my
pantry being dark and made mizzable by the iron bars and the old,
yellowish, wobbly glass; but it seems a sort of place now as I'd give
anything to get back to--parrydicey, and that sort of thing. Rest--
breakfast! There can't be either of them out here, only sand. Oh, sir,
you're a-laughing. I know what you're going to say. You're going to
make jokes about the breakfast, and say we're to have the sand which is
there."
"Wrong, Sam," replied Frank laughing; "but I'm glad to see that you can
think about jokes. There, sit up, man, and look yonder straight ahead.
The tents are in sight."
"Tents? Where?" cried the man, changing his tone. "I can't see 'em."
"They are not very plain yet, but there they are."
"White uns, sir, with flags flying, and that sort of thing? What are
they--marquees, or bell-tents like the soldiers have?"
"I don't suppose they are either, but native tents," said Frank, shading
his eyes again. "They look very low and small, right away on the
horizon, and they seem to be brown."
"On the horizon, sir? Why, that means out at sea, and we sha'n't be
there before night."
"Well, right away on the horizon of this sea of sand," said Frank
cheerfully; "but I don't think we are above a mile or two away."
"Oh!" groaned Sam. "Say two miles, then, and chuck in another because
places are always farther away than you think. Three miles, and we're
going a mile an hour. Mr Frank, sir, have you got a pencil and a bit
o' paper?"
"Yes, in my pocket-book. Will you have them now?"
"Me, sir," said the man faintly. "I couldn't write, sir; I want you to
do it for me."
"A letter? Well, when we get to the tents."
"No, sir, now. I sha'n't live to see no tents. There ain't much, sir;
only a silver watch and chain, a bit in the Post Office Savings Bank,
and my clothes, as my brother 'll be very glad to have."
"Oh, I see! you want to make your will, Sam," said Frank seriously.
"That's it, sir; and you'd better write it as plain as you can, sir, so
as there sha'n't be no mistakes after, and I dessay I can manage to make
my cross."
"A will made on a camel in the desert, Sam!" said Frank seriously.
"Rather a novelty in wills, eh? Better wait till after breakfast."
"Breakfast, sir?"
"The Sheikh says there'll be coffee."
"Coffee out here, sir?"
"Yes, and these people know what good coffee is."
"Yes, sir; it was very good at the hotel. 'Most as good as ours at
home."
"And he said that he sent two camel-loads of necessaries on before us
yesterday."
"He did, sir?" said Sam, whose voice sounded stronger.
"Yes, and look now: the tents are getting quite plain. They look
peculiar, and there are camels about them, and there are green trees--
palms, I think. There must be a water-hole there, I suppose."
"Yes, I can see the trees, sir--toy-shop sort o' trees."
"Here's a man coming to meet us on a camel too--a man all in white."
There was a pause for a few minutes, during which period the camels
stepped out more freely, as they blinked and looked from under their
eyelids in a supercilious way, drooping their lips and sniffing as if
they smelt water.
"Think there's likely to be a pen and ink yonder, sir?"
"There is with the doctor's medicine chest, I know."
"These camels do move about in a dreadful, wobbly way, sir, don't they?"
"Yes; but I'm growing more accustomed to the motion already."
"That's because you're young, sir, and not set like I am. But I was
thinking that it would be rather hard to write plain, going as we are."
"Very, Sam."
"And there are so many troubles about wills when the lawyers get hold of
'em, and often just about a word or two."
"Quite true, Sam," said Frank seriously.
"You see, there's a nice bit of money I've saved up, sir--over fifty
pound--and I shouldn't rest easy if it all went in law through the will
being made hasty like. P'r'aps it would be better if we stopped till we
got to the tents. What do you say, sir? Might be a table there for you
to write on."
"Well, I feel very doubtful about the table, Sam; but I can't help
thinking that I could write a good deal more clearly lying on the sand
with the paper on a box or a biscuit-tin."
"Yes, sir, I feel sure it would be better to wait now, and I'll risk
it."
"Risk what--the writing?"
"No, sir; holding out till we get to the tents. Seems as if we shall
get there a bit sooner than I thought for."
"Oh, yes! we shall be there in less than half an hour."
"Soon as that, sir?"
"Yes."
"Think I can hold out till then?"
"If you try very hard, Sam," said Frank seriously. "You seem terribly
knocked up; but I feel in hope that a good breakfast and a few hours'
sleep will do you a lot of good, and then if the doctor takes you in
hand, you will feel a different man by to-morrow."
"To-morrow, sir? Think I shall ever see to-morrow?"
"I hope so. Ah, here's the man from the tents! What a good-looking
young Arab he seems, and what a clean-limbed, swift camel he is on--a
beauty!"
"Ugh! Don't say that, sir. They seem to me the most unnatural-looking,
big, birdy creatures I ever set eyes on; and oh, Mr Frank! do you think
it's possible for a man to get to ride them and like it?"
"Look at that fellow," said Frank; "he seems as if he were part of the
beast he rides."
"P'r'aps he is, sir; being a native."
"Oh, come, Sam, you're getting better," cried Frank cheerily. "Look,
there's a fire outside that tent--two fires. That means cooking, and
cooking means breakfast. I feel as if I shall be ready for some after
all. Look at the place here."
Sam began to grow interested, for they were approaching an oasis of some
two or three hundred acres in extent, where, consequent upon the welling
up of a spring of water at the foot of a clump of rocks, a few dom and
date palms rose up gracefully, and the ground was covered pretty
liberally with closely nibbled-off herbage, and dotted with sheep and
goats, a few camels lying about here and there close to the group of
booth-like tents, while for three or four hundred yards the course of
the flowing water which rose from the spring could be clearly traced, by
the richness of the plants and shrubs which owed their existence to its
presence.
The clump of tents proved to be more extensive than they had seemed to
be at a distance, and the Sheikh's little patriarchal family greater
than the travellers had anticipated. Children could be seen staring
curiously at the newcomers; dark-eyed women stole from tent to tent, and
quite twenty tall, dark, well-featured men came forward to bid them
welcome and relieve the laden camels of their loads; while when the
Sheikh led the way to the largest tent, into whose shadowy gloom the
party entered with a feeling of relief, it was to find ample traces of
the fact at which the old man had hinted in conversation, that he was
comparatively wealthy. For the tent boasted divans; handsome carpets
were spread over the sand, and upon one there was that European luxury,
a white linen cloth, upon which was already prepared, simple and good,
all that was necessary for the welcome breakfast, while in a little side
tent, greatest luxury of all, there were brass basins, towels, and great
earthen vessels full of clear, cool water.
"Hah, Sheikh," said the doctor, with a sigh of relief, "this is grand!
I'm coming to life again."
"I am glad the learned Hakim is satisfied with his servant's
preparations," said the Sheikh humbly. "There will be breakfast in a
very short time. It was hastened by the women as soon as the camels
came in sight."
"But of course we cannot travel with tents like this," said the doctor.
"Oh, no, Excellency," replied the Sheikh; "only two that will be
smaller; but everything necessary for their Excellencies' comfort will
be done. It will be right, and impress the Baggara and others of the
Mahdi's followers. For the Hakim is not a poor dervish who tries to
cure; he is a great Frankish doctor who travels to do good. He does not
treat the sick and wounded to be paid in piastres, or to receive gifts,
but because he loves to cure the suffering."
"Quite right," said the doctor gravely.
"Then it is right and fit that he should travel with good tents and
camels, and such things as suit his dignity."
"But this will be travelling like an eastern prince," said the doctor,
who was beaming with satisfaction, after a refreshing sluice in some
cool water.
"A learned Hakim such as his Excellency Landon assures me that you are,
is greater than any eastern prince," said the Sheikh, handing a fresh
bath-towel; "and I have a petition to make to his Excellency."
"A petition? What is it, Ibrahim?"
"I have a son here, Excellency; he is my youngest, and the light of my
old eyes, but he is weak and sickly, and there are times when I feel
that I am fighting against fate, and that it would be better that I
should let him die in peace. But I love him, and I would have him live.
Will the Hakim see the boy and say whether he is to live or die?"
"Yes. What is his ailment?"
"It was through a fall from a camel. A fierce old bull rushed at the
young one he rode, and fell upon him and crushed him."
"Ah, I see," said the doctor. "That is in my way."
"Then the learned Hakim will see the boy?"
"Yes, at once. Where is he?"
"No, no, not at once," said the Sheikh. "Poor Hassan has waited three
years; he can wait another hour till the Hakim has eaten and rested.
Then his Excellency will be refreshed, his eyes will see more clearly,
and may be then he will be able to make an old man's heart rejoice. If
it is not to be--well, His will be done."
"Yes," said the doctor gravely, as he laid his hand upon the Sheikh's
arm.
"And there are other sufferers here, Excellency, who would pray to you
for help, for we are not free from the ills which afflict mankind. A
mother would ask you if her little one will live. There is a little
girl whose sight is nearly gone, and one of my young men whose broken
leg does not grow together again. Shall we be asking too much of the
Hakim if we say, look at these sufferers and give them words of comfort
if you can give them nothing more, not even hope?"
"I am a learned Hakim, you say, Sheikh, and I have come out here to use
my knowledge without fee or reward. Heaven helping me, I hope to do
much good, and I place myself in your hands. You will lead us where you
think best, and you will bring the people whom I ought to see. That is
enough."
"Yes, Excellency, and as soon as your friends are ready the breakfast
waits."