"'These slaves are my property. I bought them in Darfour and Kordofan. The Khedive has no right to take them from me, and I will not give them up!'
"'Then,' I replied, without hesitation, 'we shall be obliged to arrest you.'
"'Take care,' said he, falling back a pace or two, 'I shall defend myself.'
"'As you please! But you are acting in disobedience of the orders of the Khedive, and I have a right to put you to death—don't forget that.'
"I was determined, in order to intimidate the escort, to lay hands on their leader, when, suddenly, loud shouts were heard, followed immediately by a series of shots. On turning our eyes in the direction of the caravan, we understood at once what had happened.
"I have already told you that amongst the slaves, there were several whose necks were fastened in a sort of collar or yoke. These were the intractable ones, the incorrigibles, as they say on the hulks, who railed against their fate, and were on the look-out for an opportunity of escape. They were, moreover, robust and stalwart men who would command a good price, but would be dangerous in case of revolt. These men, negroes mostly from Darfour, had perceived that we wished to rescue them. At first they awaited patiently the result of our interview, and then, very likely, they whispered to each other that, as we were not numerous, they had better help themselves and take advantage of such liberty as we had already given them. They had gradually gathered together in one group of about thirty, and by signs, and by words passed from mouth to mouth, they had hit upon a plan of escape.
"The moment they saw me advance towards the leader, a proceeding which rather flurried his escort, they got rid of their loads, and took to flight with marvellous agility. Though their necks and wrists were fettered, their legs were perfectly free, and the negroes have a great reputation as fast runners.
"But the escort had opened fire on the runaways, one of them was hit in the thigh, and already their progress was retarded.
"'Shall we let these people be massacred?' I exclaimed, as I heard the chief order the escort to reload.
"'No,' shouted my friends, 'let us go to their rescue.'
"Périères, Delange, and I galloped off, after having given strict injunctions to the two interpreters to watch over the safety of Madame de Guéran and Miss Poles, who were still on their knees by the side of the slave, in whom they had by this time succeeded in restoring animation.
"We very soon came up with the fugitives, who stopped when they saw who we were, and made us understand that, if we wished to save them, the first thing to do was to remove the yokes which kept their necks fixed in one position, and the chains which fastened them to one another.
"The operation was by no means easy, but Périères and I set to work at once, whilst Delange attended to the wound of the negro who had been hit by a bullet and was bleeding copiously.
"I had just released one of the slaves from both his yoke and chains, when Périères, astonished at not hearing any more firing, looked up towards the place where we had left the escort, and uttered an exclamation of alarm.
"The chief and his men, instead of keeping up a continuous fire on the negroes, and so destroying the human live-stock from which they hoped to net so goodly a haul, turned their attention to the spot where we had left our two companions and the couple of interpreters. Omar and Ali, fearing to draw the fire of the escort upon the two ladies confided to their protection, did not defend themselves, and, as they were knocked down at once, Madame de Guéran was left at the mercy of these wretches.
"You may well imagine, my dear fellow, that it was no question of bursting bonds or binding up wounds—all we had to do was to rush to the rescue of her whom our imprudence and fool-hardiness were exposing to such terrible danger.
"The escort, as soon as we were seen advancing, opened fire upon us.From out ten muzzles fired the messengers of death, and Périères andDelange rolled over at my feet.
"When I saw my two friends fall I cast an anxious glance in the direction of Madame de Guéran and Miss Poles, but I saw at once that they were in no immediate danger, the escort having left them for a moment, in order to unite all their force against us and put an end to us as quickly as possible. Reassured on that point, I dismounted to assist my friends. They, however, were already struggling to rise, and I found to my great joy that they were not hurt. Their horses had been hit, one in the head and the other in the chest, and had fallen, dragging their riders down with them into the sand.
"But just as Delange and Périères were getting on their legs I put my two hands on their shoulders and held them down.
"'What are you doing?' asked Périères.
"'Hush!' I said, in a whisper as I knelt beside them, 'I am saving you, and re-establishing the balance of the struggle. These wretches have us within range of their guns, as the two poor horses fully prove, but they are themselves out of pistol-shot. Let them believe that we are wounded; they will come on then to put an end to us, and we can at all events defend ourselves.'
"'But Madame de Guéran—' murmured Périères.
"'At this moment,' replied I, 'she does not run the slightest risk, and if she should be again menaced we shall know what to do with our lives.'
"Anybody seeing me lying alongside my friends would have believed that I had been wounded by the same volley which had brought them down. The two horses, one of which was dead and the other in his last agony, served as a rampart for us, and enabled us to follow all the movements of the enemy.
"They advanced towards us, exulting in, as they fondly believed, their complete success, but as soon as they were within range of our pistols we, without raising our bodies, let fly.
"Three men fell, and the remainder recoiled, but the old chief rallied the latter, pointing out to them that they were still numerically stronger, and they advanced once more.
"We were just going to fire again when we heard loud shouts on our right.
"The negroes whom we had set free were running towards us. Do not, my dear fellow, allow yourself to be deluded into the idea that, actuated by gratitude, they were coming to our aid. If, perchance, there were one or two of them who were acted upon by such a sentiment, the remainder thought, first of all, of revenge. For a long time they had submitted with resignation to a thousand and one tortures and indignities, for were they not the weaker? But, thanks to the man whose fetters we had struck off, the others now forced themselves free. They called the roll, found that they had now become the stronger party, armed themselves with their yokes, which, in their hands, were converted into formidable clubs, and, shouting their war-cry, and yelling like wild beasts, they rushed on the foe.
"The old chief saw the danger that threatened him, and attempted to break ground towards the left. He advanced a few paces in that direction, but was obliged to fall back, for the whole of his slaves had crowded together in one impenetrable mass. Several amongst them had succeeded in bursting their bonds, and incited by the cries and gesticulations of the women, appeared anxious to take part in the battle. The rebellion was a terrible one on this side, too. There were so many old scores to wipe off, and the victims had for so long a time craved to play the part of executioners!
"In this way the chief and his escort saw themselves confronted by us, and they dared not advance within range of our revolvers. The strongest and most dangerous of their slaves, the only ones whom they had up to this time feared, held them in check on the right, and, on the left, an enormous crowd, hostile and already threatening danger, barred every avenue of escape.
"Their only plan, therefore, was to fall back to their rear and so endeavour to get away, and that was the course they adopted. But here they were stopped by the two interpreters, who, by this time, were on their feet again, by Miss Poles, armed with a pistol, which she seemed bent on using, and by Madame de Guéran, who, calm and determined, surveyed the field of battle, like a regular commander-in-chief.
"This last was our weakest point, I admit, and the escort could have easily broken down all opposition from that quarter, but instead of acting at once, they made the mistake of hesitating, and of so allowing the two wings to join hands. They were, in consequence, very soon hemmed in on all sides by the terrible circle of enemies.
"And now our beloved Sultana thought it high time to interfere, and she directed the interpreters to step to the front and inform the chief that she would answer for his life and those of his men, if they all would lay down their arms at once, but if, on the contrary, they fired a single shot, she would leave them to the mercy of their revolted slaves.
"The chief looked long and anxiously around him, and, after a careful survey of his position, he threw his gun down on the sand, with a gesture of despair, an example which was followed by his men.
"Périères, Delange, and I, as you may well imagine, lost no time in joining Madame de Guéran and Miss Poles. But we were soon brought sadly down to earth again, and had to ask ourselves if it was wise to act on every good impulse, if sometimes it was not necessary to stifle our generous feelings, and if it was not dangerous to let loose the passions of the people of Africa.
"For as long as our black friends of Darfour and Kordofan saw their whilom masters fighting or defending themselves, they contented themselves with threats and a cautious advance. But as soon as they beheld them, on the contrary, disarmed and capitulating, they rushed on them, eager for their prey. At one and the same time the whole caravan—the two hundred and odd slaves, of every age and sex, the weak and the strong, the hale and the sick, rushed forward brandishing their yet chain-bound wrists, and giving tongue like a pack of hounds at the death.
"Ought we to allow these fifteen men to be massacred under our very eyes? We had attacked them in the first instance; they had not provoked us in any way, and had only defended themselves. Three of them were already wounded, and not one of us had been hit. They were, it is true, wretched slave-drivers, gaol-birds, renegades, degraded traffickers in human flesh; but Madame de Guéran had promised, in our name, that if they laid down their arms their lives should be spared. And were these negroes, of whom we had constituted ourselves the champions, any better than their masters? A short time ago they were unhappy, and oppressed, and we were moved with compassion for them; but now that they were restored to liberty, they seemed so bent on abusing it that they no longer inspired us with much sympathy. In short, we were tempted to ask ourselves whether we had any right to sacrifice the lives of fifteen persons for the sake of resisting the slave trade and rescuing a few men from bondage.
"These reflections (we imparted them to each other later on, in our moments of confidence) occurred to us all simultaneously, but this was no time for bothering our heads with the solution of a philosophical problem. We had acted on impulse, and on impulse we must rely for escape, by deeds and not arguments, from the sad position in which we were placed.
"Each of us, without consulting his neighbour, and yielding to the thoughts which I have endeavoured to explain to you, drew nearer to the captured escort for the purpose of protecting them.
"The slaves continued to shout and threaten, and Périères then hit upon the plan of directing the interpreter, Ali, who knew all the dialects current in Darfour and Kordofan, to step forward, restore order and silence, and make them understand that he wished to speak to them in our name.
"The interpreter obeyed, and the negroes ceased their clamour sooner than we anticipated. They said to themselves, no doubt, that the whites were about to propose the infliction of some novel torture on their enemies, and their condemnation to some punishment unknown to them, but in common use amongst the Franks. From this impression they drew a premature pleasure, opened their eyes and lent their ears. However, when Ali set himself to repeat an old-fashioned discourse, prompted by Miss Poles, of which the duties one owes to one's neighbour, humanity, and religion form the staple commodity, the slaves, after having given evident signs of indifference, commenced to manifest a spirit of discontent, and we had evidently fallen in their esteem.
"I then advanced with the second interpreter, and, following out my little idea, I spoke of General Baker, the liberator of the blacks. 'He has sent us,' I exclaimed, 'to the rescue of all slave caravans, but with a positive order, after freeing the captives, to bring their masters to him for punishment.'
"This speech, and I say it with pride, produced more effect than its predecessor, but I must also modestly confess that it was very far from bringing conviction home to my audience. These people, without exception, were blind to every feeling except that the pleasure of revenge was being withheld from them, and that the victors in the fray, instead of themselves killing their prisoners, wished to relegate that duty to a third person, and give him all the enjoyment. Their shouts recommenced, and the circle contracted itself more and more.
"To Madame de Guéran alone belongs the credit of having caught the public ear and touched the right chord. She ordered one of the interpreters to simply tell the blacks that they would be acting unfairly if they deprived the white people of prisoners whom they hoped to sell in their own country for a good round sum. This argument, my dear fellow, like all arguments suited to the particular audience to which they are addressed, produced an instantaneous effect. The negroes looked at each other, wagged their heads, and seemed to say—'they are right.' At war from their infancy, one tribe against another, for the sole purpose of taking as many prisoners as possible and selling them to the slave-dealers, would they not be very likely to think it natural that we should share their instincts and their tastes?
"Madame de Guéran had summed up the situation admirably. She saved the escort, and, perhaps, saved us also, for we were determined to defend these men, even at the risk of our own lives.
"The blacks stepped back a few paces to consult, and then, suddenly, returned towards us shouting as loudly as ever."
"We were soon enlightened as to the meaning of the uproar.
"The negroes were gifted with inexorable logic. According to them, since we wished to carry off our prisoners into bondage, we ought to take the same precautions with them that they had with their slaves. As their own wrists had been hung with chains, and their necks forced under the yoke, we ought to put the same measures in force, and to this end they very kindly handed over to us the necessary articles.
"It would have been positively unfair to deprive these good folk of their little enjoyment, and, as regards the escort, seeing that they had had every sort of reason to believe that they were doomed to be massacred, they might very well think themselves lucky in getting off with a simple application of thelex talionis. Consequently, we did not see any use in protesting against this decidedly African idea, and we let our new friends fetter their prisoners to their heart's content.
"At such moments as these, my dear fellow, men who have any pretensions to common sense will go with the stream, yield to circumstances, and give up their sentimental tendencies. And, moreover, I will not attempt to conceal from you that I felt a thrill of enjoyment at the prospect of seeing those worthy traders undergoing for several hours the identical treatment which for so many years they had been inflicting upon the tribes in these regions. They made the most ludicrous efforts to get their heads out of the yokes and to free their shoulders from the heavy loads with which their former slaves were weighing them down.
"I rejoiced also, you may be sure, over the moral torture they were undergoing. Please understand that I do not by this mean that they had any sense of humiliation—they were incapable of any such feeling; I allude to the injury done to their commercial interests. Just think for a moment—after having undertaken, and almost accomplished, so hazardous a journey, after having gone through such toilsome exertions to provide slaves for the markets of southern Africa—after all this, to see the fruits of their labour gone at one fell swoop! To have to surrender a certain profit, as they thought, and be at all the expense of their first purchase, besides the cost of provisions, cords, chains and yokes! The chains and the yokes, it is true, had been generously restored, and they could take them with them on their necks, but the bags of rice and durra, of which they had provided a supply sufficient to meet their wants across the deserts of Bahiouda and Nubia, became the property of the negroes. These inconsiderate people were even indiscreet enough to lay violent hands on the private supplies of the chief and his escort, dried meat, dates, coffee, tobacco, which up to now they had been compelled to carry on their heads without the power of touching them.
"This wholesale robbery of eatables, however, created a diversion; for the negroes, after having securely rivetted their prisoners and handed them over to us, gave themselves up to the enjoyment of such a meal as they had not made for a long time. We took advantage of the liberty thus accorded to us, and commenced our preparations for departure.
"At least five leagues separated us from Matamma, and some amongst us would be obliged to accomplish the journey on foot. Périères and Delange, who had been dismounted in the fray, might have made use of the horses allotted to our interpreters; but they preferred handing them over to our wounded enemies, on whom the Doctor had operated, to the great astonishment of the negroes. In fact, when the latter saw Delange open his instrument case and take out the forceps to extract the bullets, they thought we had returned to a better frame of mind, and were arranging the preliminaries of an execution. They speedily recognized that we have a peculiar way of our own as regards the infliction of torture, by which health is restored to the victim, and he is set on his feet, and it is just possible that this lesson of practical morality was not thrown away on these overgrown children, cruel, as all children are, by instinct and through ignorance.
"Madame de Guéran was anxious to take with her the female slave, the primary cause of all the trouble, whom she had already restored to consciousness, and hoped, by care and attention, to save altogether. It would, moreover, have been downright inhumanity to have left the unhappy woman with her companions, for she could not have followed them throughout the long journey necessary in order to regain their own country, and she would have died of hunger and sickness in the midst of the desert. Our two Arab interpreters improvised a sort of litter, on which they laid her, themselves undertaking the task of carrying her.
"We started off, and I am bound to admit that the majority of the negroes left off feasting to give us a few parting cheers. Several of them, indeed, escorted us for a considerable time, yelling frantically all the way; but I am constrained to record also that if they did come near us and kiss our hands and our garments, they at the same time indulged our prisoners with a pretty liberal allowance of the leathern strap they knew so well. The old chief, in spite of all our efforts, was the recipient of most of their attentions, and they did their best to pay him back in one hour all they had received from him in two months.
"What would become of all these people, so unexpectedly restored by us to liberty? Our interpreters told us that they had advised many of them to go to Khartoum, where we might meet them again and take them into our employ, if, as was very probable, we should form there a large caravan for our explorations southwards.
"After getting well away from them we lost no time in taking the chains and yokes off our prisoners, and we, in so doing, merely told them that, unless they felt a particular vocation in connection with pistol bullets, they had better keep quiet.
"Why all these precautions? you will say. Had we made up our minds to reduce these men to slavery? No, certainly not; they had disgusted us so much that their society was unbearable. But their restoration to liberty might, possibly, lead to their again taking a fancy to their former slaves, and, should they fall on the latter in the midst of their feasting and revelry, a number, if not all, would speedily be recaptured. Then it must be borne in mind that these men looked upon us as robbers and highwaymen, who had attacked a perfectly legitimate caravan, and had plundered respectable traders.
"They never gave a thought to what we had done for them. They said, and so far they were right, that we should never have had to protect them if, instead of attacking them, we had allowed them to pursue the even tenour of their way.
"And do not imagine, my dear Pommerelle, that all the world will approve of our conduct. There are, even in Europe, plenty of persons inclined to laud the sweets of slavery and to maintain that the slave-traders confer a great boon on the blacks in rescuing them from their own wretched country and landing them in Turkey, where they certainly enjoy a greater amount of ease and comfort than they can do at home.
"Without inflicting any lengthy arguments on you, I will commence by saying that the regions inhabited by the negroes are wretched, principally because the interest of the slave-dealers lies in perpetually fomenting in them civil war. I will add that out of every three hundred slaves dragged from their homes, scarcely one-third reach the, comparatively speaking, civilized country alluded to, and that the remainder are left to rot in the desert, victims of fatigue, exhaustion, and disease.
"Looking at the question from an elevated point of view, I will sum up in these words—Slavery is a disgrace, is contrary to all the laws of morality, and ought to be opposed in every possible way and destroyed. There you have my sentiments, frankly and concisely expressed, and they are the more worthy of respect, seeing that if I fall back upon my ancestors I find in my maternal great-uncle, the Count de Chabanne, one who was, before the Revolution, the largest slave-holder in St. Domingo. My memory also recalls the fact that I was born in a French colony, Guadaloupe, where slavery was in full force, and that the emancipation, proclaimed by Lamartine, in 1848, and decreed by the Provisional Government, deprived me of the greater portion of my revenues, a circumstance which I cannot regret.
"Without re-entering Matamma, we made direct for the Nile, where we found our vessel, and towards ten o'clock at night we set our prisoners down gently on the bank, after having distributed some eatables amongst them, so that they should have nothing wherewith to reproach us. I could not feel any uneasiness as to the fate of these men; they would not be long before they resumed their usual calling, about which Omar and Ali had, during the return journey, given us some curious information. Any penniless adventurer, by the mere mention of his intention to form a slave-catching expedition, can easily borrow in Egypt the funds necessary for his enterprise. He then engages a number of villains, renegades of all religions, runaway criminals, escaped convicts, blackguards of every hue, the scum of every country, and with this retinue he sails up the Nile as far as Gondokoro; there he disembarks, and proceeds into the interior until he arrives at some negro village. Here he displays his glass beads, necklaces, bracelets, and all the countless trifles with which he has provided himself to excite the cupidity of the negroes. The latter hasten to make their purchases, and offer in payment their current coin. 'No,' say the traders, 'we want slaves in exchange for our wares.' The buyers have none to give, but that difficulty is soon overcome. The chief of the tribe proposes a razzia into the neighbouring district, and, as this is the sole object the traders have in view, the offer is accepted. The village selected for attack is surrounded and set on fire, the herds of cattle are taken possession of, and violent hands are laid on all the women, children, and such men as have not fallen in the fight.
"Then comes the dividing of the spoil; the glass beads, &c., are generously handed over to the negroes, whilst the traders keep the slaves for their own share, subsequently either selling them to other adventurers, who take them to the south-east, to the great slave-market of Zanzibar, or leading them, at their own risk and peril, further north to the countries where Islamism and slavery prevail.
"Do not ask me for anything more now, my dear fellow, for after so eventful a day I am in a hurry to find a quiet nook on board our vessel, wherein, with a quiet conscience, I may obtain a well-earned repose."
"When I awoke my eyes were greeted by the most charming, peaceful scene it has ever fallen to my lot to witness.
"The Nile, for a considerable distance, is interspersed with a number of islets (called in these parts the ninety-nine islands) which may be very easily mistaken for clumps of verdure and flowers. On either bank innumerable aquatic plants and tropical creepers float in the stream, or, springing up from the shore, seek shelter under the tamarinds, soonts, and palms. The rounded roofs of the riverside villages recall to our minds the summer-houses of an English garden.
"To this pleasing tableau succeeds very quickly a most picturesque sight. We now began to feel the influence of the sixth cataract. The Nile, instead of flowing in majestic breadth, becomes suddenly contracted, and is converted into a torrent, walled on either side by cliffs, and carrying us in imagination to the passes in the Pyrenees. The peak of Raouian and the valley-straits of Sablouk complete the illusion.
"We land for the purpose of visiting the little village of Dasrurab and the green plain surrounding it. In the middle of this plain I notice a number of tripod-shaped tressels, the object of which it is beyond me to describe. Ali undertakes to enlighten me. It appears that just about harvest time flocks of birds fly from all parts of Nubia to collect the grain, in anticipation of the owner thereof. The latter have hit upon no better idea for the protection of their property than to place at intervals these tressels or stands, on each of which a slave has to squat during the whole of the day, thus taking the place of those dressed-up figures with which we in France frighten away the birds. The wretched creatures condemned, under a scorching sun, to play the part of living scare-crows, are as a rule the aged of both sexes, who, incapable from infirmity of gaining a livelihood in any other way, thus terribly earn the morsel of bread which their master condescends to throw to them. Most assuredly, my dear Pommerelle, the more I reflect, the less I regret, if indeed I ever regretted it, my yesterday's expedition against the slave-traders. Don't let anybody talk to me again of the ease and comfort enjoyed by the Eastern slave. As long as they are ornamental they are taken the greatest care of, they are decked out and polished till they positively shine, but as soon as age deteriorates them, they may rot on any dung-hill.
"We are approaching Khartoum, and the villages on the right bank become more numerous. The patches of verdure have disappeared, and the Nile has lost its picturesque character. On the right nothing can be seen but sandy wastes, apparently skirting the district of Akaba, an extensive tract of uncultivated country merging into the desert of Bahiouda.
"Passing by Kerrieri, we arrive at last at Khartoum, a town replete with bustle and movement, in the full tide of Turkish and African civilization, crowded with the countless vessels and boats of all sorts and sizes, which, at this time of the year, throng the port. In a few days, towards the middle of December, the navigation of the White Nile will become easy, and all the merchants of the country are hard rat work preparing their cargoes of European commodities for the south—silk, cotton, and woollen goods, muslins, powder, sugar, spices, coffee, and arrack—in exchange for the produce of equatorial countries, such as gum, gold dust, ostrich feathers, rhinoceros horns, hippopotamus and elephant's tusks, and last but not least, a goodly number of slaves, whom, in spite of the Government edicts, they know how to hide in some den and sell to a pacha or a bey, whose position places him out of the reach of the law. We must admit this fundamental principle—in Eastern countries nothing changes, old manners and customs are always more powerful than laws and firmans. The Turk is, so to speak, steeped in the past; he sometimes is subject to superficial reform, but he soon returns to his former errors, and stagnates afresh in his ancient traditions.
"I promised to take you as far as Khartoum, and I have kept my promise. I will not, however, limit you to your pound of flesh, but, before taking leave of you, perhaps, for some time, I will give you a few concise notes about this town, curious in more ways than one. These notes are indispensable to you, if you really take any interest in our journey and wish to follow our onward course. A little patience, and Périères and Delange will take you for a walk through this wonderful place, and will unfold to you its secrets; for, so I am told, there is a truly marvellous freedom of morals in Khartoum, and in it the scent of European corruption mingles with the acrid stench of savage life.
"Starting into existence in 1823, the town has developed rapidly, and now can certainly boast more than 50,000 inhabitants, divided into several classes. The first class is composed of, at the most, fifty Europeans, whose numbers are annually decreased by one-third owing to the unhealthy climate, but are regularly recruited from Cairo by fresh arrivals eager for rapid fortunes. The principal business is almost entirely confined to ten of these Europeans, amongst whom there are some honourable men. The ivory trade is, in fact, distinct from the slave trade, and it is a mistake, very generally made, to suppose that the first is merely a cloak to the other. All these large men of business have agencies in the equatorial provinces where elephants' tusks are bartered for home produce. Unfortunately, these agencies, lawful in themselves, have become rendezvous for the slave hunters, and serve as starting points for their expeditions into the unexplored regions, thus affording additional facilities for the prosecution of their infamous trade. Hence the confusion which exists in the minds of most men on this subject.
"The remaining classes of the population of Khartoum comprise a number of Turks, still more Arab traders from Upper Egypt, El-Hejaz, and the western shores of the Red Sea, and a crowd offakis, a race of quacks who combine the occupation of schoolmaster with that of a dealer in fetiches or charms. The greater part of them pursue another calling, and occupy themselves in a shameless trade, which, to speak very mildly, does not conduce to the morality of Khartoum.
"Finally, the most numerous class, in itself as large as all the others put together, is composed of a mixture of negroes, soldiers, and sailors, whom every leader of a White River expedition is compelled to enlist into his service, of petty itinerant dealers, Almehs licensed or otherwise, slaves of all nationalities, and a garrison of about four thousand men, recruited from the Nubians or Bashi-Bazouks. The rapid rise of the town is to be attributed to its admirable position from a commercial point of view. Khartoum is, in fact, situated at the junction of the Bahr-el-Abiad, or White River, and the Bahr-el-Azrek, or Blue River, which, when united, form the Nile, properly so called. To the south of Khartoum, and ascending towards the Equator, the people of the country rarely make use of the word Nile. They say the White River when they wish to describe the stream which flows directly from the south, and the Blue River when they allude to the other stream which passes Sennaar and rises in Abyssinia.
"The White Nile, or River, is undoubtedly the more important of these two streams, and its importance is so great that it very often gives its name to the sister stream. It is itself formed by the confluence, at about 8° latitude N, of two other affluents; the Bahr-el-Djebel, more commonly called the Sobat, and the Bahr-el-Gazal, or Gazelle River, which flows eastwards. These various water routes take the vessels either to Gondokoro, the extreme navigable point, and where most voyages of discovery have ended, or to the ivory country, amongst the Nuehr, Djours, and Dinka tribes, or in the direction of the great lakes.
"But to come back to Khartoum, of which you will now have some idea both as regards its population and its geographical position. A few lines will suffice to show you over its streets, its gardens, and its monuments. The only public buildings to be met with are Government House, called the Divan, the prison, some Mosques, without anything remarkable about them, a hospital, tolerably well managed, thanks to the assistance rendered by European doctors, a powder manufactory, and a few barracks, But Khartoum is worthy of mention for the truly exceptional beauty of its gardens, which extend for some miles along the left bank of the Blue River. The plants, half a century old, afford the most delicious shade, and ought to have a beneficial effect on the sanitary condition of the town. They have, however, no such effect, owing to the place having been built originally in the midst of a pestilential marsh, and to render it healthy it must be pulled down altogether—a measure far too radical for this country.
"And now, my dear fellow, as soon as I have told you about the markets, you will know Khartoum as well as I do. I could only judge of them by the people who crossed each other's path in them, in every sense of the phrase, and whose complexions, of every hue, indicated their varied origin. All the races who inhabit the world pass by, one after the other; from the white-skinned Greek to the ebony Negro, the intermediate stages being the dark brown Arab, the copper coloured Abyssinian, certain tribes whose colour verges on the blue (asrak), others on green (ahkdar), and others still partaking of red (ahmar), a sort of human rainbow in fact.
"My task is ended, my dear Pommerelle, and you will have no more descriptions from me. I yield my pen to other hands."
The first visit paid by the members of our expedition was to the Telegraph Office, to announce to their friends in France and England their safe arrival at Khartoum. The despatches had to be couched in Arabic, and were forwarded by Assouan, in Upper Egypt, to Alexandria, whence the clerks, after having translated them, transmitted them to Europe.
From the telegraph office, the whole party proceeded to the French Consulate, where each one found his or her expected letter. Even M. de Morin's valet had a missive or two, addressed to Mohammed-Abd-el-Gazal, dragoman, but Joseph, after his misadventures in El-Hejaz, had renounced all claim to this style and title. He loathed the Bedouins as much as he had formerly loved them, and he at once, without reading it, tore up the letter addressed to him by his former instructor in Arabic.
Amongst their correspondence, MM. de Morin, Périères, and Delange found a letter from M. de Pommerelle, addressed to all three of them, and together they perused the latest news from their beloved city. The very paper had a perfume of Paris, wafted to them through space into the centre of Africa, and was, in itself, a source of enjoyment.
"You are angels!", wrote M. de Pommerelle. "Forgive my former abuse, for I am heart-broken at the idea of having written a harsh word to such friends as you. I thank you a thousand times for your letters, and the records of your travel. As yet I have only read Périères, but I feel that de Morin and Delange are on their way to me. I put implicit faith in their promises, and I am revelling in a foretaste of their narrations.
"If you only knew with what delight I welcome the arrival of the post from Egypt! Do not, however, imagine that I am selfish enough to reserve to myself the pleasure of living with you. No—I share that with another of my friends, and there are two of us to read you. Read you, did I say? We spell you, syllable by syllable, and follow you step by step on the maps which are hung in every corner of my room.
"I need hardly tell you the name of this friend, for you must have guessed it already—it is the trusty Doctor Desrioux, who longed to accompany you, and whom duty alone retained in France. I only knew him slightly before—knew him as a genial, charming companion, sincere and worthy of all respect. The wish to talk about you, and to amuse ourselves with your interesting trip has drawn us together, and now we are inseparable.
"'Where are they?' says the Doctor. 'At Berber, I suppose.' 'No,' I reply, 'I know de Morin, he is an eccentric genius; by this time he has involved them in some fresh scrape, and they are still far from the Nile.' 'Perhaps you are right,' answers the Doctor. 'Let us find the exact spot where they halted last.' Behold us, armed with our eye-glasses, bending over the maps and on the road with you.
"Our journey is not as fatiguing as yours, I admit. Instead of pitching our tents in the desert or on the mountains we content ourselves with sticking large-headed, many-coloured pins to mark your different halting-places. Of late we have been ashamed of this passive travelling, and, after a good dinner, excited by your letters, and enamoured of your descriptions, we suddenly conceived the idea of joining you. Yes, my dear friends, joining you in Africa, at Khartoum!' They were screwed,' you will exclaim. I was, perhaps, a little gone, but I assure you that Desrioux was as sober as a judge. He spoke quite seriously, adding that his usual patients, the poor, were, for the time being, in the enjoyment of perfect health, that his mother had never been better in her life, and that he could, without fear or imprudence, leave her for a few months.
"'How long would it take us to reach Khartoum?' he continued. 'Five or six weeks at the most, if we do not stop anywhere, but hurry through the country and scatter our money by the handfull. We could spend a fortnight with our friends and be back in Paris within three months.'
"He grew quite hot and excited over the idea, and so did I, so much so that when we separated, at about 3 a.m., our prompt departure was all arranged.
"On the following morning, when I was still in bed, and cogitating over our plans, not quite so enthusiastic, perhaps, as I had been the night before, but still firm in my purpose, the Doctor was announced. He came to tell me that since the previous evening several cases of small-pox had been brought into hospital, that there were fears of an epidemic, and that he did not think himself justified in leaving Paris before these fears had subsided. I can assure you that this was no protest for getting out of the affair, for he appeared very doleful, and repeated over and over again.
"'This idea had made me so happy, and here I am dying of despondency and grief!'
"The fact is that Desrioux is a right-down good fellow, but cheeriness is not one of his strong points. I believe that his wandering instincts are as strong as my sedentary ones, that he is weary of being tied down to the same spot, and that his burning desire is to see those countries about which you discourse so charmingly.
"The small-pox epidemic was only too serious, and, out of regard for you, it had evidently awaited your departure to declare itself. It is committing fearful havoc, and is, this year, more than usually malignant and contagious. Consequently the poor Doctor no longer thinks about leaving; he is too busy for that. He visits every hospital, garret, and den; and, thanks to his entire forgetfulness of self, his science, and the calm courage with which he confronts and braves every danger, he has succeeded in saving a number of poor sufferers who had been given over by their regular attendants.
"As for myself, always an outrageously useless member of society, but especially so in times of epidemic, I hinted to myself one day that the air of Paris was becoming unwholesome, and I made up my mind to betake myself to some more genial clime.
"You don't believe me? You remember what I wrote to you about Trouville. Well, this time, I got as far as—I will not tell you all at once, lest you should be unjust enough not to believe me. Either your example made me brave, or the small-pox made a coward of me— whichever it was, I packed up my traps. Yes, I did, with all due deference to you, and I took my ticket for Lyons, so as to be nearer to you. One never knows, said I to myself, what may happen; once on the shores of the Mediterranean, I may, perhaps, eventually find myself at Khartoum.
"Moreover, I hit upon a capital plan for getting away as far as possible. Instead of taking a morning train, as I did when I went—I mean, when I attempted to go to Trouville, I followed your example and took the night mail. I engaged a sleeping compartment all to myself, and went regularly to bed. You see my idea, do you not? I reckoned on my habitual laziness to prevent my attempting to rise when once I had laid down. And so it happened that 11 a.m., on the following day found me still asleep—at Marseilles!
"Yes, I, Pommerelle, I have set eyes on Carcassonne. I beg your pardon, I was thinking of the song. I mean, I have seen Marseilles!
"Since I arrived I have been strolling on the quayde la Jolliette, and watching the steamers of the Messageries Maritimes. If one of them had only taken it into its head to get up steam and start at once I should have jumped on board, and the thing would have been over, because, unless I threw myself into the sea, which is against my principles, I must have gone as far as Egypt. But there was no steamer for forty-eight hours, and that was asking too much of me. Home-sickness once more claimed me for its own; I sought for Paris, and Paris only, at every turn. I cried aloud for Paris, and the echoes of the Cannebière alone responded. From that moment I was lost.
"Nevertheless, I did not withdraw myself from you too abruptly. I went to the railway station and took my ticket for Monte-Carlo, where I was sure to stumble across some acquaintance, good, bad, or indifferent.
"What splendid vegetation! What a sky! What flowers! What trees! What an idea all this gives one of the tropics! How wonderfully happy you fellows must be, living in the midst of nature, real, unsophisticated nature. I was in the seventh heaven of delight, and I said, 'If it is so pretty here, what sights they must be seeing beyond there!' And, upon my word, without any further ado I sent Doctor Desrioux a whole series of telegrams in the laconic, or negro style—'I determined— start—Africa. You leave small-pox—join me—Monte-Carlo.'
"But Desrioux did not turn up, and, whilst I was waiting for him I was cleaned out at roulette and trente-et-quarante. I was, therefore, obliged to set out speedily on my return to Paris, where I found the small-pox on the decline, and Doctor Desrioux in the zenith of his fame, for from chevalier he had just been promoted to be an officer of the Legion of Honour.
"And that, my dear fellows, is all that I have to say to you. You see that I have been very close to you. Scarcely four hundred leagues divided us. I do not despair of joining you one day. What I have already done is stupendous! As far as Monte-Carlo! I cannot get over it! Let me come to it by degrees—every year I will manage a few extra kilometres, and, in twenty years' time, I shall be up to a journey worth talking about."
MM. de Morin and Périères, like men of honour, or, at all events, adversaries who no longer feared a rival, read to Madame de Guéran the passages in this letter which referred to Dr. Desrioux.
The intimacy which, since their departure from Paris, had always existed between Madame de Guéran, Miss Poles, and their three fellow-travellers, at Khartoum appeared scarcely so close. The Baroness had expressed a wish to live alone with her companion, and for that purpose had taken a species of little villa on the bank of the Blue River, surrounded by a magnificent garden, and almost hidden by a mass of date and palm trees.
Madame de Guéran, however, did not seem to have isolated herself for the sake of peace and quietness. If she did not frequent Khartoum to any great extent, and very rarely left her own domicile, she received, every day, a great number of visitors. Putting aside the English and French Consuls and the various Consular agents, who thought themselves bound to offer her their services, she opened her doors eagerly to every European traveller who expressed a wish to be introduced to her. Nor did she in many cases wait for the expression of such a wish, but sent out her invitations spontaneously.
It was in this way that she became acquainted with an English officer, who, after having left Baker south of Gondokoro, was on his way to Cairo to take up an appointment in the service of the Khedive, and, afterwards, with one of the members of the expedition under Lieutenant Cameron, Dr. Dillon, and Mr. Murphy. This traveller had entered Africa by Zanzibar, and had seen the great lakes, but fever had compelled him to return northwards, and he had left his companions.
Madame de Guéran was not satisfied with talking to these distinguished guests only. She sent Miss Beatrice Poles, and Omar and Ali, the two interpreters, in search of every person who, in any capacity, had accompanied Europeans, during the preceding year, in expeditions towards the south. She questioned them very closely and at great length about the person or persons whom they had escorted, and if the portrait they drew was devoid of personal interest to her, she examined them on a thousand and one details, and made them go into every minute particular of their travels.
The expedition of Schweinfurth, who had lived for several years amongst the Nuehr, Djour, Bongo, and Niam-Niam tribes, was of special interest to her, and she was loud in her expressions of gratitude to Ali when, on a certain occasion, that interpreter brought with him an old soldier of the Dinha tribe, who was reported to have accompanied the great German traveller as far as the territory of the Monbuttoos, within three degrees of the Equator, and who had returned to Khartoum with his master in July of the preceding year, 1871. The conversation of this man became of such engrossing interest to Madame de Guéran that very soon she talked with him alone, and left all her other visitors out in the cold.
At the same time her character appeared to become completely metamorphosed. If, during the progress of the voyage, she had occasionally seemed nervous, such occasions had been exceptional; as a rule (nearly always, in fact) her manner had been easy, light-hearted and frank.
She appeared to have forgotten that she was a woman and beloved, and, without the least affectation, she treated MM. Morin and Périères as friends, and set her wits to work to pass herself off with them as a good fellow and a boon companion.
Now, on the contrary, she avoided their society, got out of their way, and seemed actually to dread meeting them. Any one, seeing her, would have said that she had some confidential communication to make to them, some secret to unfold, but that she lacked the courage to speak.
On their side, MM. de Morin and Périères were astonished at her mode of treating them, and took umbrage at it. Their love for Madame de Guéran was above suspicion and beyond doubt. Both of them young, rich, clever, well-born and good style, they had asked her hand in marriage; and, to please her, and in the hope of winning that hand, they had given up their cherished Parisian habits, the pleasures of thebeau monde, and had undertaken a voyage, to the dangers of which, as we have already recorded, they were fully alive. This love, the main-spring of their entire conduct and conspicuous at every turn, had naturally increased during the voyage. Men who are already in love cannot with impunity be thrown into close intimacy with the loved one, especially if they are ever of necessity summoned to her side to undergo with her the innumerable vicissitudes of travel, to follow her up hill and down dale, and to share her dangers.
* * * * * *
With a view to prevailing on them to accompany her to Africa, Madame de Guéran had said to them—"I do not know you sufficiently yet, and I look upon this journey as a method of instruction, so far as your characters are concerned."
She had, perhaps, become as wise as she wished to be, but all the time she was pursuing her studies they, in their turn, were learning to know her better, and to appreciate her more fully. Every time they halted she was seen in a new light. Yesterday, so to speak, she was intrepid, cool, and resolute; to-day, in the desert, with the slave caravan before her, she is once more the sympathizing, tender-hearted woman. And, moreover, under the glorious sun of Africa, in the midst of this so luxuriant Nature, her beauty was so transcendent—it burst into full bloom—it positively shone! In the afternoon under a tent, in the evening on board their vessel, she held them captive under the spell of her feeling tones, her exquisite sensibility.
They were, consequently, but involuntarily, more in love than ever, absolutely conquered and enslaved, and they suffered, in proportion, from the coolness with which for some days past she had treated them. If they had made up their minds together to find out the cause of this, they might not, possibly, have been so uneasy, but, unfortunately, they mutually distrusted each other.
A moment's confidence would have taught them that they had equal grounds of complaint against her, and that she had put them both on identically the same footing. But love would be love no longer if it took to reasoning; it warps the finest natures, and inspires the sincerest hearts with jealousy.
M. de Morin attributed the coldness of Madame de Guéran to the love she was beginning to feel for M. Périères, and the latter in his turn, persuaded that his friend was also his successful rival, so far forgot himself as to positively detest him.
They rarely saw each other, and, when they did meet, all that passed between them was a commonplace word or two, or a frigid shake of the hand. Then each one went his own way, and, avoiding the town, betook himself to the open country, and, on the banks of the White, or the Blue River, hid his sorrow in his own breast and mourned over his defeat.
Dr. Delange alone preserved his liberty of mind and action, and, as the inquiring traveller, pried into every corner of Khartoum. He had enlisted into his service a faki, who, for a piastre per diem, took him all over Khartoum from morning till night, and from night till morning, and initiated him into all the mysteries of that mysterious place.
One evening, his guide proposed to take him to the house of an old sorceress, or witch, of high renown throughout the district, and he gladly accepted the offer. These Egyptian women, under the protection of the authorities, to whom their various services are of great value, enjoy very extensive privileges at Khartoum, and are in constant communication with all classes of society, from the Pashas, whose harems they help to fill, to the Arabian women who go to them for medicine for their actual, and charms for their imaginary, ills.
To these secret sources of employment they add others even less reputable, but equally connived at by the powers that be, one of them being the proprietorship of music and dancing halls, where the dances of the country are exhibited by a dozen or more young girls, for the most part natives of the Soudan.
Into one of these dens M. Delange made his way, and, for a few piastres, witnessed an entertainment which gold would not have procured for him in any other town but Khartoum. He was shown into a spacious room furnished with low and roomy Arab lounges. The walls, painted white, were brilliant with resinous torches of great illuminating power.
A door opened, and in walked the mistress of the place, a woman of about thirty, tall, thin, copper-coloured, and hard-featured. Her regular, but strange, cast of countenance, and the gold circlet, in the shape of a diadem, which decked the long bands of her plaited hair, drawn flat across her temples, made her look like some old Egyptian queen. In her hand she held a small whip, her conductor'sbâton.
After having cringingly saluted M. Delange, she squatted down in a corner, and, at a word from her, eight slaves, who had been awaiting her summons, appeared on the scene. They were enveloped in thefezdah, a large piece of linen fringed on both edges.
At a fresh signal they laid aside this garment and appeared in theraat, their orthodox dancing costume, made of leather, and of somewhat scanty dimensions.
They were black as ebony, but with nothing of the negro type about them—on the contrary, their noses were straight, their mouths small, and their faces oval. Their figures were perfect, and their beauty altogether was on a par with their youth.
Each of them danced in turn, without any musical accompaniment, her companions meanwhile grouping themselves in a circle round her, and encouraging her with their savage shouts, and by clapping their hands together. Gradually her body turns, her knees are bent, and her arms become rigid. She seems to be trying to resist some magnetic force which slowly draws her on towards one comer of the room. She advances, step by step, trembling in every limb, always following the gaze of her companions, and swayed by their shouts, which degenerate into howls like those of a wild beast.
The woman in the diadem has not left her place; she squats in the same corner, but her yells mingle with the others, and her gaze, fixed on the dancer, seems to mesmerize her. Her right arm is extended at full length, and her claw-like fingers nervously clutch the leathern-thonged whip.
Finally, the dancer, weary of struggling, appears to yield to the influences which surround her, and to obey orders mysteriously conveyed to her, and she ends by falling exhausted at the feet of the spectator in whose honour the entertainment has been given.
M. Delange might very well have had enough of dancing, but he was bent on seeing everything and comparing everything. So having made the acquaintance of these dancing slaves, he thought he would see what the dancing girls, who are their own mistresses, the Almehs to wit, were like. He wished to ascend from the black to the copper-coloured votaries of Terpsichore, and his visit to this other locality in Khartoum was within an ace of having a very disastrous result.
The guide whom M. Delange had hired, before fulfilling his engagement with regard to the Almehs, suggested a visit to a slave-merchant. In obedience to the orders of the Khedive, public sales are forbidden by the Governor, and have been so for some years past, but certain houses known to, and tolerated by the police, have ever been and will always be devoted to the exchange or the sale of slaves, new and old. At the door of one of these houses, a sombre-looking building in a dismal, narrow street, the guide stopped, and, after having knocked in a peculiar way, the door was opened.
M. Delange, who was made to pass in first, was shown along a dimly-lighted passage, and emerged into a court-yard surrounded by high walls. The master of the house quickly came out to meet his fresh customers, as he thought. The animal predominated in his countenance, and his eyes were small, with red-rimmed lids, his nose hooked, his lips colourless and thin, his skin yellow, and his beard sparse and reddish. The guide took him aside and whispered a few words in his ear, explaining, doubtless, that he had not brought with him a purchaser, but merely a traveller anxious for information and ready to pay high for a cursory inspection of what was to be seen.
Accustomed to these visits, from which he derived a certain revenue, the man at once proceeded to display his wares. First of all he conducted his visitor towards some mud hovels built against the walls. He opened a door, and about a score of negresses were exposed to view, some half-naked and the remainder clothed in garments of a dirty yellow. Many of them were nursing children, and others, lying here and there, were sleeping, as negroes so well know how to sleep, so soundly that nothing disturbed them. A few laughed carelessly as they saw M. Delange, and showed their white teeth.
"I have something better than this," said the merchant.
For the fun of the thing he had first of all exposed only his inferior brands, commercially speaking. He was now about to display his choice goods.
He led the Doctor to another shed, where several purchasers were already congregated. A slave was at that moment being led up and down before them, just as a horse-dealer trots out the animal he may have for sale. She was a fine, handsome girl, a massive creature, an Abyssinian Roman Catholic, as one of the by-standers informed the Doctor.
The buyers, as soon as she was brought to a standstill, went up to her, opened her mouth to look at her teeth, undid her hair to examine its texture, and slapped her on the back and chest to see if she had any latent defects. Insensible, apparently at all events, to all this, the wretched girl was perfectly mute, and made no sign. After much parleying, further most minute examination, and biddings and counter-biddings, she fell at last to the nod of an Arab of about fifty, as ugly as she was handsome. He threw a veil over her head, and over her shoulders a covering which he had brought with him, and, after having paid over the price, he ordered his new slave to follow him. She obeyed, silent and passive as ever.
"I have something better even than that," said the merchant, trying to squeeze out a smile, which after all was nothing better than a hideous grimace.
M. Delange crossed a court-yard, and went up sundry flights of a worm-eaten staircase. A negro eunuch hastened to open a door, and the doctor found himself in a spacious, lofty apartment, without any windows, but lighted from above.
A dozen girls, draped in voluminous folds of blue, white, and rose-coloured muslin, fastened round their waists, lay reclining on an old circular divan, the only piece of furniture in the room. As soon as they saw their master they stood up altogether, like automatons, and ranged themselves against the wall, in positions which had evidently been assigned to them beforehand.
Then the merchant, followed by his visitor, passed them in review, stopping before each one, and expatiating on her merits. There were specimens there to please all tastes—slim and stout, short and tall, black, copper-coloured, yellow, bronze, and white. There were straight noses and flat, thick lips and mouths exquisitely small, round eyes, almond-shaped, and some with oblique lids, such as are met with in Jara. From an artistic point of view it was a pretty sight, and the oldest of these girls was not yet twenty. Over that age a woman is old in the East; nobody would buy her as a slave, unless indeed she happened to be a good musician, a clever sempstress, or a first-rate cook. Slaves are most valuable when from eleven to fifteen years of age. They are then calledsedassi, before elevencommassi, and from fifteen to twentybalègues. After twenty they are, as we say of horses, "aged."
The whole establishment had now been inspected, and M. Delange, slipping a couple of piastres into the merchant's expectant hand, left the place, his heart moved to pity by the sight he had just witnessed.
A company of Almehs, to whom his guide, adhering to his programme, next took him, were destined to modify his impressions considerably. Now-a-days if you wish to see the genuine Almehs, you must visit Khartoum, for they have for some time past been driven out from Upper Egypt. Those whom travellers see at Cairo are simply courtesans, who call themselves Almehs, just as their counterparts in India call themselves bayaderes. The real Almeh ora'ouâlem, dates from the times of the Pharaohs, and forms a distinct class. She has been educated to a certain extent, and is frequently a good musician. She never marries, at all events so long as she follows her profession, and is noticeable for her independent bearing. Apart from her profession she forms a part of thedemi-mondeof her country, and, when very talented, or very lovely, frequently and rapidly becomes rich.
The house to which the faki conducted M. Delange was in a court-yard not far from the slave-merchant's place of business, in a street as narrow and gloomy as his, but more remote from the centre of the town, and opening on to one of the quays of the Blue River.
After some preliminary overtures, for access to an Oriental interior, of whatever kind it may be, is always difficult, M. Delange was allowed to enter a large room where a troupe of Almehs were going through the customary exercises in the presence of about twenty spectators, Arabs mostly, seated on roomyangarebs, drinking coffee and smoking chibouks.
In large censers, on copper plates covered in with arabesques, Eastern perfumes were burning, the smoke from which ascended in spiral columns, and mingling with that from the chibouks, created a tolerably dense cloud. In spite of the vapour surrounding him, M. Delange, as he took his seat, thought he could recognize, amongst the spectators, a well-known face or two. He thought for some time, called on his memory to aid him, and soon hit the right nail on the head. The man who had particularly attracted his attention was none other than the chief of the caravan which he and his friends had attacked in the desert of Bahiouda. Three of his men were with him.
These fellows, despoiled of their slaves, and without any object in continuing their journey towards northern Nubia, had thought fit to wend their way to Khartoum, only a few miles distant from the spot where they were released. Unfortunately, if the Doctor had picked them out from amongst their co-religionists and friends, they had, in their turn, with far greater facility recognized the European who had, alone and unexpectedly, made his appearance amongst them. They might, no doubt, have already met in the streets of Khartoum the man who had helped to ruin them and take from them the goodly caravan on which they had built such extravagant expectations, but it would have been imprudent in that case to attack him. Now he was at their mercy; fate, to which all Orientals attribute such unlimited power, had delivered him into their hands. They addressed a silent thanksgiving to the Prophet, and, under their breath, whilst smoking their chibouks, they plotted a terrible revenge.
The Almehs went on with their dancing, accompanying themselves with thetar, a species of tambourine, and copper castanets, called in Arabicsaganetorsadjar. Their plaintive, monotonous chant lulled the senses, and produced a feeling of languor, possessing an indescribable charm. Their dance is varied; the feet play their part, and do not appear rivetted to the floor, as was the case with the bayaderes and the black slaves. It is more active, and has more movement in it, but without in the least degree resembling our European ballets. Certain movements, certain poses, rather recall the Spanish fandango, or would do so if the Almeh had avis-à-visof the masculine gender, but they invariably dance with others of their own sex.
When M. Delange entered this sanctuary, they were finishing the sword dance, the sword at times being brandished above their heads and flashing in the light, and sometimes being brought down as if to despatch a fallen foe. After a short interval, they commenced the bee-dance, very celebrated amongst the Turks. To understand this pantomime, somewhat difficult to describe, a too inquisitive bee must be supposed to have lighted on the Almeh, and to defy all her efforts to drive it away. The insect settles at first amongst the gold-entwined locks of the dancer, and on the scarlet velvettarbouck, but, driven from this refuge, it descends, little by little to the neck, arms, and shoulders. The dancer, to get rid of her importunate visitor, divests herself of her veil, her necklace, her bracelets and her rings.
The bee, thus pursued, becomes bolder and more enraged, and hides beneath the richly embroidered bodice. Determined to get rid of her enemy, the Almeh sacrifices this garment also, and it is thrown down on the floor to keep company with the veil and the other ornaments.
And so the pursuit was going on, but M. Delange thought it had gone far enough and retired, considering, and rightly, too, that this species of manifestation in public is entirely devoid of attraction.
He left, therefore, before the end, and without noticing that the gentlemen of the caravan rose at the same time and glided behind him along the wall. When he gained the door of the house, he called out for his guide, looked about for some time in vain, and at last set out alone on his return to his domicile. But, scarcely had he gone a dozen yards along the street, when five or six individuals, starting at once from different hiding-places, sprang out from beneath the shadow of the wall, threw themselves upon him before he had time to defend himself, stopped his mouth with a gag, bound him hand and foot, and carried him off in the direction of the Nile.
Before setting out on his expedition to the slave-merchant and the Almehs, the Doctor asked M. de Morin to go with him, but the invitation was declined with thanks. The young painter, as we have before remarked, had not for some time past been in the humour to partake of any pleasure that Khartoum could offer him. None of the curious sights of the place had any charms for him, and he did not take the slightest interest in unravelling those mysteries which M. Delange, for the purpose of cheering him up and rousing him from his apathy, from time to time described. On the evening when his friend made this latest suggestion to him, he was less disposed than ever to listen. For several days past he had had recourse to the favourite device of lovers—avoiding the beloved one, abstaining from paying her any visits, giving no sign of existence, waiting to be summoned. But Madame de Guéran did not appear to notice his disappearance, and pursued the even tenor of her way, just as if he had no existence so far as she was concerned. How could she have become so completely indifferent to what became of him? She was not bound to love him, he was quite aware of that, and she had a perfect right to prefer somebody else. But, at the same time, had she any right to carry to such an extreme her indifference for the man who had sacrificed everything to accompany her, and to share her fatigues and her dangers? Surely, even as a mere travelling companion he was worth the display of a little interest.
Nay, more, in defiance of all her promises she was already displaying her preference for M. Périères! She had not even waited until the journey should be more advanced, but at the very first stage of any importance, in the first town where she had stayed for any time, she threw aside all reserve, made no secret of her choice, and, whilst opening her heart to one admirer, banished the other for ever and a day! Ought she not, at all events, to have frankly sent for him, told him how the case stood, and offered him his liberty?
Or did she think that on their present terms he was going with her to the very heart of Africa, the end of the world, perhaps, to watch over her and the man she loved, to shield them from every danger, to save their precious lives, and with them to return to Paris to be present at their marriage, after having been a witness to their protracted love-making! No, a thousand times, no! he would leave her, flee from her, return to France, to Paris, forget her, plunge into the vortex of pleasure, stifle his passion, and harden his heart so as never to suffer for another what he had gone through for her.
But, before he took himself off, he was anxious to put all these thoughts into words, to reproach her with her want of candour towards him, with having caused him to appear in a perfectly ridiculous light, with having forgotten all the claims of friendship, with having treated him as an ordinary acquaintance, or a too persistent companion, with having sacrificed him entirely to the man who had won her love, and all this without one kind word, without a single expression of regret. The reproaches he would utter, the withering words he would hurl at her, straight to her face! And not to her alone would he speak! She was not the only one to blame, she was not the only false friend, Périères, too, had deceived and betrayed him!
He did not reproach him for being beloved. But why had he not come forward openly and said—"I have succeeded more quickly than I anticipated. You are no longer in the betting. Banish all hope from your heart. Drive away this love, against which you struggle now; later on it would have killed you." But, no; like Madame de Guéran, M. Périères preferred to keep by his side his companion, the friend ready to do any deed of devotion. It was shameful to act thus in the exceptional circumstances in which they were placed! If such want of confidence, such caution, such hypocrisy, and such cowardice pass muster in the world, in the drawing-rooms and boudoirs of Parisian society, they ought not to exist between friends who have together braved death and are ready to brave it again, between wanderers on a savage Continent, in a deadly climate!
He went in search of his rival, so that he might cast on him all this reproach and abase, and he was inclined to be the more violent, because at the bottom of his heart he was conscious of a feeling that he was both unjust and absurd. For was not M. Périères perfectly right to be reticent about his success, out of respect to Madame de Guéran? But what did M. de Morin care about respect, or truth, or propriety? He was jealous, his mental vision was obscured, he had lost his head.
Just as he was leaving the house he saw the interpreter Ali getting off his horse, and he asked him if he knew whether M. Périères had gone out since sunset, and, if so, in what direction.
"I have just met him on the quay," replied the interpreter. "He was going along the road leading to Madame de Guéran's house."
"I might have known as much," said M. de Morin to himself. "I was a fool to ask the question."
And, trembling with rage, he asked—