"'From Mohammed-ben-Ali of Mecca, to the most Holy Son of the Prophet, the Chosen of God, Senussi-el-Mahdi. Greeting."'With my own hands I write to thee commending to thee one who dwelleth among unbelievers yet worshippeth Allah according to his lights, and journeyeth to thee that a fuller light may shine upon his heart. Instruct him in the truth, O Mahdi! and he will be thy faithful servant. Nay, more, when instructed by thee in the Book, he shall in his turn instruct thee how the light may be spread among a people who yet live in darkness because their rulers hide the light. He is a man of a stout heart, moreover, and will draw the sword for thee at the hour when thou proclaimest the Jehad.'"Senussi-el-Mahdi read this calmly and without visible emotion. There was no outburst of cordiality such as I had hoped for; there was no outburst of anger such as I had feared in the event of his guessing that I had come to him with forged credentials. Perhaps he had some faint suspicions; perhaps he was only following the ordinary rule of procedure in such cases. I cannot say. I only know that his manner was cold and judicious—like that of a schoolmaster to whom a new boy has been brought to be examined."'You are sent to me for instruction? It is well. Speak, then, and tell me if thou knowest the Koran.'"It was a question that I was not prepared for, but I blurted out an ambiguous answer."'I know a little of most things, and my memory is good. As for the Koran, I know a very good translation of it, on which the skilled opinion of a scholar of your eminence——'"'So thou knowest not the Koran,' interrupted Senussi-el-Mahdi pitilessly. 'Or shall I question thee therein?'"This, too, was a proposal which I had not anticipated. It is not impossible that my face may have shown signs of my confusion. I stammered out the only excuse that occurred to me—"'I have had a long journey, and am tired. With rest and preparation—"But once more Senussi-el-Mahdi stopped me."'It is well,' he said. 'Thou knowest not the Koran. But thou hast asked for instruction, and thou shalt be instructed. When thou hast learnt the Koran, I will hear thee further on the subject of the letter.'"And he motioned to the guards, saying—"'Conduct him to the school, and place him in the lowest class.'"Need I say that things were happening by no means as I had intended them to happen? Need I add that the word 'instruct' would never have appeared in my credentials had I surmised that it would be interpreted so literally? Yet it is clear, I think, that at the moment no useful alternative to doing as I was told was open to me. So I followed my guides."No violence was used to me; no harsh words were spoken; though I must have been a puzzle to the inhabitants, they were too well disciplined to show it—all of them, that is to say, except Bottled Bass, who grinned at me with gleaming teeth."They showed me to the room that I was to live in. It was close to the residence of the Senussi himself, who wished, I suppose, to keep an eye on me. And then they put me to school. I—moi qui vous parle—a man of much general knowledge and wide experience of life, was put to school—and in the lowest class! I had to sit, cross-legged, in the midst of a semicircle of negro boys, while a learned Arab, with a stick and a manuscript, sat in the centre and taught."'No matter,' I said to myself, 'my time will come, and I will bide my time, and earn my promised fee.'"But I was curious to know the term of my probation; and I put the question to my teacher as politely as I could."'In view, sir,' I said, 'of the zeal for knowledge which I am demonstrating, would you mind informing me how long this interesting course of instruction is to last?'"'You are as a little child,' he answered kindly, 'but it may, be, if Allah wills it, that in seven years you will have acquired the knowledge of a man.'"Seven years of this tomfoolery! It was too terrible! My heart sank and my temper rose—the more so when I perceived that Bottled Bass, who was also a member of the lowest class, was grinning; and I retorted hotly—"'Do you take me for a fool, then? A little Koran is all very well in its way; but seven years of it! If you can't shorten the course considerably, sir, I'll get up and walk out of the place!'"The teacher answered, more in sorrow than in anger, that my words should be laid before Senussi-el-Mahdi. He went out to report them, and presently returned, and said, still more in sorrow than in anger—"'El-Mahdi says that it is written that you shall be chastised, in order that you may learn humility.'"And, almost before I knew what was happening, my teacher had motioned to two tall serving-men, and they had laid me on my back, holding my feet in the air, and the good old man himself was caning the soles of my feet."I know not whether the pain or the indignity was the worse, for both were very great. But the pain passed and the indignity remained. The more I reflected on the matter, the more certainly I felt that my position in the sacred city was untenable. Neither for the cause of Ireland nor for my promised fee would I consent to sit for seven years learning the Koran, and being caned when I displeased my teacher."Yet how to get away—that was indeed a knotty problem to think out. My teacher himself, who bore me no ill-will, but had merely punished me for what he considered to be my good, told me, in the kindness of his heart, that it would be impossible to get away."'Though thou shouldst take the swiftest camel in the city,' he said, 'yet wouldst thou be overtaken. For among the gifts of God to Senussi-el-Mahdi is this gift: he throws himself into a trance so that none can wake him, and his dreams are messages that flash across the desert, and become answering dreams in the brains of other faithful followers of the Prophet. Thus would he speed word of thy escape, and the faithful would lie in wait for thee and bring thee back. Wherefore be comforted, for it is written that thou shalt stay with us, and become, in the fulness of time, a holy man.'"This time I did not answer hotly, having learnt from experience that it would be better not to do so; but I withdrew to meditate."'Voyons!' I said to myself. 'Let me think things out. Surely I have thought out things as difficult in other days!'"And so I gradually framed my plan, examining it and adding to it nightly while I lay awake. This is how the plan slowly built itself—"'Shall I slip over the wall and get away at night? It might be done, but it would be of no use. I should only be in the desert, where I should die of thirst. Shall I steal a camel? But one cannot steal a camel quite so easily as one can steal a cat or dog—nor can one lift a camel over a wall at night. What then? There is no way of going without Senussi-el-Mahdi's leave.'"Thus I began thinking; and as night succeeded night my thoughts took more useful shape."'How to get leave to go? If I could lay Senussi-el-Mahdi under some great obligation—but that is hard. He is not the man to be sensible of obligations. He will let me go only if he can be made to feel that it is to his interest to be rid of me.'"That narrowed the problem. But how to prove to Senussi-el-Mahdi that it would be well for him to let me go? It took at least three weeks' hard thought to settle that; but, at the end of the three weeks, light flashed upon me."'Voyons!' I cried. 'He has trances, and when he is in a trance——'"I did not dare to speak aloud the thought that was in my mind; but I nursed it, filling in the details, and waiting patiently."As I have told you, I slept in a room quite near Senussi-el-Mahdi's own, and I now made it my rule every night to creep on tiptoe to his chamber and peep through his curtains to see whether his sleep was a trance or not. Night after night I crept back disappointed. But the night came at last when I saw that he lay stiff and still, with his eyes wide open and yet seeing nothing; and I knew that at last the hour for action had arrived."'He will either murder me or let me go,' I said to myself. 'I will take the risk. It is the only way.'"With that I crept back to my own room, and fumbling in the dark among my belongings, found my razor. I looked out of the window to make sure that no one saw or heard me; but the city was silent, save for the dismal howling of stray dogs, and the watchman pacing on the walls. Then I lit a tiny lamp, and covering it with my hand, crept back to where the Senussi lay."To murder him? A poor plan that in a city where every man would be eager to avenge his death. To threaten him? He was hardly a man who would keep a promise made under the influence of threats. I had a plan that promised better."'It is a great art, the barber's!' I whispered to myself, as I mixed the lather and plastered it gently on his chin."He did not wake; he did not even stir. His soul was far away, communing with the souls of other pious Musselmans elsewhere; and while it wandered, I—moi qui vous parle—shaved Senussi-el-Mahdi where he lay."To what purpose? You will begin to grasp my purpose when I describe the manner in which I shaved him."For I did not shave him altogether; nor did I shave him precisely as the barbers shave. Far from it. On the contrary, I shaved off the beard on the right side of his face and the hair on the same side of his head; and then I took cosmetics and twisted out his great moustache until it stretched six inches or more either way, like furious spikes of straw."'Now for a looking-glass,' I said to myself; and having found a mirror, I so fixed it that, when Senussi-el-Mahdi woke, he would look straight into it and see his altered image."To what purpose? Surely you have guessed. But I had not yet quite finished my strange task."'Voyons, mon cher,' I went on, soliloquising: 'I think I should like your portrait as a souvenir.'"So I crept back once more and fetched my camera, and blew magnesium powder through the flame of the little lamp to make a flash-light, and took my snap-shot of Senussi-el-Mahdi in his trance."The flash aroused him from his slumbers. His eyes opened, and he saw the reflection of his face. Doubtless he would have yelled in his amazement, but I took a quick step forward and clapped my hands upon his mouth."My self-possession and my quick wit had now returned to me. I was no longer the schoolboy, humbled and chastised. I was Jean Antoine Stromboli Kosnapulski, master of the situation. My tongue was loosened, and my words flowed quickly."'You know me?' I began. 'I am Jean Antoine Stromboli Kosnapulski.'"Senussi-el-Mahdi nodded his grotesque head slowly. Half his proud spirit seemed to have left him with the loss of half his hair."'You have trampled on me,' I continued, 'you have insulted me; you have inflicted shameful indignities on me. But no man with impunity treats Jean Antoine Stromboli Kosnapulski thus; and now my hour has come.'"A menace was rising to his lips; but I had only to hold the mirror once more before him to subdue him. As I have said, his self-confidence forsook him when he saw how ridiculous he looked. I continued—"'You have made me speak to you humbly as a pupil to his master—as a sinner to a saint. But that is over now. I have treated you with ignominy, even as you treated me; and now that account is squared between us, I speak to you as man to man.'"'Dog of a—' he began; but once more I held the mirror to him, and he changed his tone, and merely asked—"'What would you have with me, then?'"'Listen,' I replied. 'I know well that you have but to speak the word to have me slain. But I know also—and you, too, know—that, if you speak that word, the reputation of Senussi-el-Mahdi is for ever lost. Think of it, then! A Mahdi with half a beard and half a head of hair, and a waxed moustache like a Hungarian hussar's! The thing is too ridiculous! It could not be.'"And once more I emphasised my criticisms with the mirror; and he looked at me with impotent rage, and did not speak."'Listen,' I continued. 'You can keep your holy reputation only if you hide your shame by veiling yourself until your beard has grown again; you may even acquire an added holiness. Who knows? But you can only keep your secret if you let me depart from Jarabub in peace. What say you, Holy Man?'"He still seemed to hesitate; but this time I had merely to point to the mirror to decide him."'Depart in peace,' he said."'But I shall need guides and an escort,' I replied."'You shall have them.'"'And a letter of safe conduct. Take your pen and write.'"I put the materials before him, and he wrote at my dictation:—"'Senussi-el-Mahdi to all whom it may concern. Greeting—"'Jean Antoine Stromboli Kosnapulski, the stranger within my gates, goeth on a high errand for me to Cairo. Let him have guides and camels. Let him start at once. Protect him and speed him on his way.'"'Good,' I said; but then I remembered something else."There were his trances, and the murderous messages that he might send in them. Against that risk also I must make provision. So I made him add—"'Take warning, also, that there is a certain false prophet, an enemy of the stranger, who sendeth messages in my name. Haply he will send false messages compassing the stranger's death. Know, therefore, that such messages come not from me; and slay any man who seeks to harm one hair of the stranger's head. And in the meantime, let none disturb me for two days.'"'Now sign it,' I said. And Senussi-el-Mahdi signed; and having gained my end, I once more treated him with courtesy and consideration."'Farewell,' I said. 'May Allah make your hair and beard grow quickly! For your hospitality—such as it was—I thank you. Rest assured that I shall guard at least one pleasant recollection of my sojourn here.'"With that I bowed several times, and walking backwards respectfully, gradually left the room."And so—as I had no trouble in the desert—my adventure ended happily."My fee, indeed, is still unpaid; but I have not ceased to hope for it. Even now the Sect of the Senussi agitates and causes trouble; and many Irish members, having made wealthy marriages, are in a position to recompense, with interest on the over-due account, the service rendered them by Jean Antoine Stromboli Kosnapulski."THE END.WARD, LOCK & Co., LTD., LONDON, NEW YORK, & MELBOURNE.*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOKSTROMBOLI AND THE GUNS***
"'From Mohammed-ben-Ali of Mecca, to the most Holy Son of the Prophet, the Chosen of God, Senussi-el-Mahdi. Greeting.
"'With my own hands I write to thee commending to thee one who dwelleth among unbelievers yet worshippeth Allah according to his lights, and journeyeth to thee that a fuller light may shine upon his heart. Instruct him in the truth, O Mahdi! and he will be thy faithful servant. Nay, more, when instructed by thee in the Book, he shall in his turn instruct thee how the light may be spread among a people who yet live in darkness because their rulers hide the light. He is a man of a stout heart, moreover, and will draw the sword for thee at the hour when thou proclaimest the Jehad.'
"Senussi-el-Mahdi read this calmly and without visible emotion. There was no outburst of cordiality such as I had hoped for; there was no outburst of anger such as I had feared in the event of his guessing that I had come to him with forged credentials. Perhaps he had some faint suspicions; perhaps he was only following the ordinary rule of procedure in such cases. I cannot say. I only know that his manner was cold and judicious—like that of a schoolmaster to whom a new boy has been brought to be examined.
"'You are sent to me for instruction? It is well. Speak, then, and tell me if thou knowest the Koran.'
"It was a question that I was not prepared for, but I blurted out an ambiguous answer.
"'I know a little of most things, and my memory is good. As for the Koran, I know a very good translation of it, on which the skilled opinion of a scholar of your eminence——'
"'So thou knowest not the Koran,' interrupted Senussi-el-Mahdi pitilessly. 'Or shall I question thee therein?'
"This, too, was a proposal which I had not anticipated. It is not impossible that my face may have shown signs of my confusion. I stammered out the only excuse that occurred to me—
"'I have had a long journey, and am tired. With rest and preparation—
"But once more Senussi-el-Mahdi stopped me.
"'It is well,' he said. 'Thou knowest not the Koran. But thou hast asked for instruction, and thou shalt be instructed. When thou hast learnt the Koran, I will hear thee further on the subject of the letter.'
"And he motioned to the guards, saying—
"'Conduct him to the school, and place him in the lowest class.'
"Need I say that things were happening by no means as I had intended them to happen? Need I add that the word 'instruct' would never have appeared in my credentials had I surmised that it would be interpreted so literally? Yet it is clear, I think, that at the moment no useful alternative to doing as I was told was open to me. So I followed my guides.
"No violence was used to me; no harsh words were spoken; though I must have been a puzzle to the inhabitants, they were too well disciplined to show it—all of them, that is to say, except Bottled Bass, who grinned at me with gleaming teeth.
"They showed me to the room that I was to live in. It was close to the residence of the Senussi himself, who wished, I suppose, to keep an eye on me. And then they put me to school. I—moi qui vous parle—a man of much general knowledge and wide experience of life, was put to school—and in the lowest class! I had to sit, cross-legged, in the midst of a semicircle of negro boys, while a learned Arab, with a stick and a manuscript, sat in the centre and taught.
"'No matter,' I said to myself, 'my time will come, and I will bide my time, and earn my promised fee.'
"But I was curious to know the term of my probation; and I put the question to my teacher as politely as I could.
"'In view, sir,' I said, 'of the zeal for knowledge which I am demonstrating, would you mind informing me how long this interesting course of instruction is to last?'
"'You are as a little child,' he answered kindly, 'but it may, be, if Allah wills it, that in seven years you will have acquired the knowledge of a man.'
"Seven years of this tomfoolery! It was too terrible! My heart sank and my temper rose—the more so when I perceived that Bottled Bass, who was also a member of the lowest class, was grinning; and I retorted hotly—
"'Do you take me for a fool, then? A little Koran is all very well in its way; but seven years of it! If you can't shorten the course considerably, sir, I'll get up and walk out of the place!'
"The teacher answered, more in sorrow than in anger, that my words should be laid before Senussi-el-Mahdi. He went out to report them, and presently returned, and said, still more in sorrow than in anger—
"'El-Mahdi says that it is written that you shall be chastised, in order that you may learn humility.'
"And, almost before I knew what was happening, my teacher had motioned to two tall serving-men, and they had laid me on my back, holding my feet in the air, and the good old man himself was caning the soles of my feet.
"I know not whether the pain or the indignity was the worse, for both were very great. But the pain passed and the indignity remained. The more I reflected on the matter, the more certainly I felt that my position in the sacred city was untenable. Neither for the cause of Ireland nor for my promised fee would I consent to sit for seven years learning the Koran, and being caned when I displeased my teacher.
"Yet how to get away—that was indeed a knotty problem to think out. My teacher himself, who bore me no ill-will, but had merely punished me for what he considered to be my good, told me, in the kindness of his heart, that it would be impossible to get away.
"'Though thou shouldst take the swiftest camel in the city,' he said, 'yet wouldst thou be overtaken. For among the gifts of God to Senussi-el-Mahdi is this gift: he throws himself into a trance so that none can wake him, and his dreams are messages that flash across the desert, and become answering dreams in the brains of other faithful followers of the Prophet. Thus would he speed word of thy escape, and the faithful would lie in wait for thee and bring thee back. Wherefore be comforted, for it is written that thou shalt stay with us, and become, in the fulness of time, a holy man.'
"This time I did not answer hotly, having learnt from experience that it would be better not to do so; but I withdrew to meditate.
"'Voyons!' I said to myself. 'Let me think things out. Surely I have thought out things as difficult in other days!'
"And so I gradually framed my plan, examining it and adding to it nightly while I lay awake. This is how the plan slowly built itself—
"'Shall I slip over the wall and get away at night? It might be done, but it would be of no use. I should only be in the desert, where I should die of thirst. Shall I steal a camel? But one cannot steal a camel quite so easily as one can steal a cat or dog—nor can one lift a camel over a wall at night. What then? There is no way of going without Senussi-el-Mahdi's leave.'
"Thus I began thinking; and as night succeeded night my thoughts took more useful shape.
"'How to get leave to go? If I could lay Senussi-el-Mahdi under some great obligation—but that is hard. He is not the man to be sensible of obligations. He will let me go only if he can be made to feel that it is to his interest to be rid of me.'
"That narrowed the problem. But how to prove to Senussi-el-Mahdi that it would be well for him to let me go? It took at least three weeks' hard thought to settle that; but, at the end of the three weeks, light flashed upon me.
"'Voyons!' I cried. 'He has trances, and when he is in a trance——'
"I did not dare to speak aloud the thought that was in my mind; but I nursed it, filling in the details, and waiting patiently.
"As I have told you, I slept in a room quite near Senussi-el-Mahdi's own, and I now made it my rule every night to creep on tiptoe to his chamber and peep through his curtains to see whether his sleep was a trance or not. Night after night I crept back disappointed. But the night came at last when I saw that he lay stiff and still, with his eyes wide open and yet seeing nothing; and I knew that at last the hour for action had arrived.
"'He will either murder me or let me go,' I said to myself. 'I will take the risk. It is the only way.'
"With that I crept back to my own room, and fumbling in the dark among my belongings, found my razor. I looked out of the window to make sure that no one saw or heard me; but the city was silent, save for the dismal howling of stray dogs, and the watchman pacing on the walls. Then I lit a tiny lamp, and covering it with my hand, crept back to where the Senussi lay.
"To murder him? A poor plan that in a city where every man would be eager to avenge his death. To threaten him? He was hardly a man who would keep a promise made under the influence of threats. I had a plan that promised better.
"'It is a great art, the barber's!' I whispered to myself, as I mixed the lather and plastered it gently on his chin.
"He did not wake; he did not even stir. His soul was far away, communing with the souls of other pious Musselmans elsewhere; and while it wandered, I—moi qui vous parle—shaved Senussi-el-Mahdi where he lay.
"To what purpose? You will begin to grasp my purpose when I describe the manner in which I shaved him.
"For I did not shave him altogether; nor did I shave him precisely as the barbers shave. Far from it. On the contrary, I shaved off the beard on the right side of his face and the hair on the same side of his head; and then I took cosmetics and twisted out his great moustache until it stretched six inches or more either way, like furious spikes of straw.
"'Now for a looking-glass,' I said to myself; and having found a mirror, I so fixed it that, when Senussi-el-Mahdi woke, he would look straight into it and see his altered image.
"To what purpose? Surely you have guessed. But I had not yet quite finished my strange task.
"'Voyons, mon cher,' I went on, soliloquising: 'I think I should like your portrait as a souvenir.'
"So I crept back once more and fetched my camera, and blew magnesium powder through the flame of the little lamp to make a flash-light, and took my snap-shot of Senussi-el-Mahdi in his trance.
"The flash aroused him from his slumbers. His eyes opened, and he saw the reflection of his face. Doubtless he would have yelled in his amazement, but I took a quick step forward and clapped my hands upon his mouth.
"My self-possession and my quick wit had now returned to me. I was no longer the schoolboy, humbled and chastised. I was Jean Antoine Stromboli Kosnapulski, master of the situation. My tongue was loosened, and my words flowed quickly.
"'You know me?' I began. 'I am Jean Antoine Stromboli Kosnapulski.'
"Senussi-el-Mahdi nodded his grotesque head slowly. Half his proud spirit seemed to have left him with the loss of half his hair.
"'You have trampled on me,' I continued, 'you have insulted me; you have inflicted shameful indignities on me. But no man with impunity treats Jean Antoine Stromboli Kosnapulski thus; and now my hour has come.'
"A menace was rising to his lips; but I had only to hold the mirror once more before him to subdue him. As I have said, his self-confidence forsook him when he saw how ridiculous he looked. I continued—
"'You have made me speak to you humbly as a pupil to his master—as a sinner to a saint. But that is over now. I have treated you with ignominy, even as you treated me; and now that account is squared between us, I speak to you as man to man.'
"'Dog of a—' he began; but once more I held the mirror to him, and he changed his tone, and merely asked—
"'What would you have with me, then?'
"'Listen,' I replied. 'I know well that you have but to speak the word to have me slain. But I know also—and you, too, know—that, if you speak that word, the reputation of Senussi-el-Mahdi is for ever lost. Think of it, then! A Mahdi with half a beard and half a head of hair, and a waxed moustache like a Hungarian hussar's! The thing is too ridiculous! It could not be.'
"And once more I emphasised my criticisms with the mirror; and he looked at me with impotent rage, and did not speak.
"'Listen,' I continued. 'You can keep your holy reputation only if you hide your shame by veiling yourself until your beard has grown again; you may even acquire an added holiness. Who knows? But you can only keep your secret if you let me depart from Jarabub in peace. What say you, Holy Man?'
"He still seemed to hesitate; but this time I had merely to point to the mirror to decide him.
"'Depart in peace,' he said.
"'But I shall need guides and an escort,' I replied.
"'You shall have them.'
"'And a letter of safe conduct. Take your pen and write.'
"I put the materials before him, and he wrote at my dictation:—
"'Senussi-el-Mahdi to all whom it may concern. Greeting—
"'Jean Antoine Stromboli Kosnapulski, the stranger within my gates, goeth on a high errand for me to Cairo. Let him have guides and camels. Let him start at once. Protect him and speed him on his way.'
"'Good,' I said; but then I remembered something else.
"There were his trances, and the murderous messages that he might send in them. Against that risk also I must make provision. So I made him add—
"'Take warning, also, that there is a certain false prophet, an enemy of the stranger, who sendeth messages in my name. Haply he will send false messages compassing the stranger's death. Know, therefore, that such messages come not from me; and slay any man who seeks to harm one hair of the stranger's head. And in the meantime, let none disturb me for two days.'
"'Now sign it,' I said. And Senussi-el-Mahdi signed; and having gained my end, I once more treated him with courtesy and consideration.
"'Farewell,' I said. 'May Allah make your hair and beard grow quickly! For your hospitality—such as it was—I thank you. Rest assured that I shall guard at least one pleasant recollection of my sojourn here.'
"With that I bowed several times, and walking backwards respectfully, gradually left the room.
"And so—as I had no trouble in the desert—my adventure ended happily.
"My fee, indeed, is still unpaid; but I have not ceased to hope for it. Even now the Sect of the Senussi agitates and causes trouble; and many Irish members, having made wealthy marriages, are in a position to recompense, with interest on the over-due account, the service rendered them by Jean Antoine Stromboli Kosnapulski."
THE END.
WARD, LOCK & Co., LTD., LONDON, NEW YORK, & MELBOURNE.
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOKSTROMBOLI AND THE GUNS***