“The brave boy, a true descendant of the defenders of Christianity, stood with his head erect awaiting his sentence.”
“The brave boy, a true descendant of the defenders of Christianity, stood with his head erect awaiting his sentence.”
And the brave boy, a true descendant of the defenders of Christianity, stood with his head erect awaiting his sentence. On his sunken cheek, tanned by the desert wind, there was now a tinge of pink, his eyes shone brightly, and a thrill of exaltation passed through his delicate body. “Every one,” he thought, “has accepted his teaching, but I have neither renounced my Faith nor sacrificed my soul.” And the fear of what might happen and would happen remained buried in his breast, and he was filled with joy and pride. Then the Mahdi, putting down the bottle-gourd, asked:
“So you refuse to accept my teaching?”
“I am what my father is—a Christian!”
“Whosoever closes his ears to the heavenly voice,” said the Mahdi slowly, and in a changed tone of voice, “is nothing more than wood, to be cast into the fire.”
Calif Abdullah, who was known for his severity and cruelty, showed his white teeth like a wild animal and said:
“This boy’s answers are rude; therefore, sir, punish him, or permit me to do so.”
“All is over,” thought Stasch to himself.
But the Mahdi, who was always desirous that the fame of his mercy might spread not only among the Dervishes, but throughout the whole world, thought that too severe a sentence, especially against a small boy, might be bad for his reputation. For a while he passed the glass beads of the rosary between his fingers, and then said:
“No; these children were carried off on Smain’s account; therefore, though I have nothing to do with unbelievers, they must be sent to Smain. This is my wish!”
“It shall be done,” answered the Calif.
Then the Mahdi pointed to Idris, Gebhr, and the Bedouins.
“These people, O Abdullah, you must reward in my name, for they have completed a long and dangerous journey in order to serve God and myself.”
Then he nodded as a sign that the audience was at an end, and in like manner he ordered the Greek to leave him. When the latter reached the place of prayer, which was now dark, he took hold of Stasch by the arm and vented his rage and despair by shaking him.
“Cursed one! You have endangered the life of this innocent child,” he said, pointing to Nell. “You have ruined yourself and perhaps Nell, too.”
“I could not act otherwise,” answered Stasch.
“You could not! Remember that you are about to take a second journey, which will be a hundred times worse than the first. It means death— Do you understand? In Fashoda the fever will be the end of you in a week’s time. The Mahdi knows why he is sending you to Smain.”
“We might also have died had we remained in Omdurman.”
“That is not so! If you had lived in the Mahdi’s house, in prosperity and in comfort, you would not have died. And he was prepared to take you under his wing. I know that he intended to do so. But you have shown how ungrateful you are to me for having interested myself in you! Now you can do what you please! In a week Abdullah will send the camel-post to Fashoda, and during this week you can do what you please! You will never see me again.”
With these words he went away, but soon returned. He was talkative, as all Greeks are, and felt the necessity of giving vent to his opinions. He was thoroughly angry, and wanted to fire his rage at Stasch’s head. He was not cruel, nor had he a bad heart, but he wanted the boy to realize the terrible responsibility he had incurred by not profiting by his warning and advice.
“Who would have prevented you from being a Christian at heart?” he said. “Do you think I am not a Christian? But I am no fool. You have preferred to make a display of false courage. Up to this time I have been able to be of great service to the white prisoners, but henceforth I can not do anything for them, because the Mahdi is angry with me, too. They all will perish! And your little companion in suffering will surely die! You have killed her! In Fashoda even grown people succumb like flies to the fever, and how can such a child escape? When you are forced to walk alongside of the horses and camels, she will die the very first day. And you will be to blame for it. You ought to be happy now, you Christian!——”
He walked away, and they turned off from the place of prayer and went through narrow, dark lanes toward the tents. They walked a long time, for the town was very large. Nell, who was greatly overcome by fatigue, hunger, fear, and the terrible sensations she had experienced all day, stopped to rest; but Idris and Gebhr pushed her ahead faster. After a while, however, her feet absolutely refused to move a step farther. Then Stasch, without thinking much about it, picked her up in his arms and carried her. On the way he wanted to speak to her, wanted to justify himself by telling her that he could not have acted otherwise than he had, but his mind was a blank and he could only repeat over and over again: “Nell! Nell! Nell!” and pressed her to him, unable to say another word. After they had gone a short distance Nell was so tired that she fell asleep in his arms, and so he walked silently through the quiet of the sleepy little streets, that were disturbed only by the conversation of Idris and Gebhr.
Their hearts were happy, which was lucky for Stasch, for otherwise they might have wanted to punish him again for having answered the Mahdi so rudely. But they were so absorbed with what had happened to them that they were quite unable to think of anything else.
“I felt ill,” said Idris, “but the sight of the prophet made me well again.”
“He is like a palm in the desert and cold water on a warm day, and his words are like ripe dates,” answered Gebhr.
“Nur-el-Tadhil lied when he told us that the Mahdi would not admit us to his presence. He did admit us, and he blessed us, and told Abdullah to reward us.”
“He will certainly reward us well, for the will of the Mahdi is sacred.”
“Bismillah! May it be as you say,” said one of the Bedouins.
And Gebhr began to dream of innumerable camels, horned cattle, horses, and sacks filled with piasters. Idris awakened him from his dreams by pointing to Stasch, who was carrying the sleeping Nell, and asked:
“And what are we to do with that wasp and this fly?”
“Ha! Smain must give us an extra reward for them.”
“I am sorry they did not fall into the hands of the Calif, who would have taught this young dog what it means to bark at the truth and the chosen one of God.”
“The Mahdi is merciful,” answered Idris, and then after a while he continued:
“Still, it is certain that if Smain has them both in his hands, neither the Turks nor the English will kill his children and Fatima.”
“Then perhaps he will reward us?”
“Yes. So Abdullah’s post is to take them to Fashoda, and a heavy load will be off our shoulders. And when Smain returns here we will demand a reward from him.”
“So you think we should remain in Omdurman?”
“Allah! Have you not had enough traveling in that journey from Fayoum to Khartum? It is quite time to take a rest!”
The tents were now close by, but Stasch walked more slowly, for his strength was becoming exhausted. Even though Nell was light, he felt her weight more and more. The Sudanese, who were impatient to lie down and sleep, shouted at him to hurry up, and at last they pushed him along by striking him on the head with their fists.
The boy bore everything in silence, his one thought being always to protect his little sister, and it was only when one of the Bedouins gave him a blow that nearly knocked him down that he said through his clenched teeth:
“We shall reach Fashoda alive!”
This kept the Arabs from doing further violence, for they were afraid to disobey the commands of the prophet. But they were even more affected by the fact that Idris was suddenly seized with such a severe attack of dizziness that he had to lean on Gebhr’s arm, and although the pain ceased after a while, the Sudanese became alarmed and said:
“Allah! Something must be the matter with me! Have I been seized with some illness?”
“You have seen the Mahdi, and therefore you will not be ill,” answered Gebhr.
They finally reached the barracks, and summoning all his strength, Stasch put the sleeping Nell in the care of old Dinah, who, though indisposed herself, nevertheless prepared a very comfortable resting-place for her little lady. After the Sudanese and the Bedouins had swallowed a piece of raw meat, they threw themselves down as heavy as logs on the cloth rugs. Stasch was given nothing to eat, but Dinah pushed a handful of soaked maize toward him, a small quantity of which she had stolen from the camels. But he was neither sleepy nor hungry.
The burden that rested on his shoulders was really more than heavy. He felt that he had done right, and even if he forfeited the good will of the Mahdi, which one could purchase by denying one’s faith, he knew his father would be very proud of his decision, and that it would make him very happy, but at the same time he thought that he had endangered the life of Nell, his companion in misfortune and his beloved sister, for whom he would willingly have given the last drop of his blood.
And so when every one was asleep he sobbed as if his heart would break, and lay on the piece of cloth rug weeping for a long time like a child, which, after all, he still was.
The visit to the Mahdi and his talk with him had evidently not brought health to Idris, for during that very night he fell seriously ill, and in the morning became unconscious. Chamis, Gebhr, and the Bedouins were sent for to appear before the calif, who detained them several hours and praised them for their courage. But they returned in a very bad temper and were exceedingly angry, for they had expected heaven knows what kind of reward, and now Abdullah had awarded them only an Egyptian pound[13]and a horse. The Bedouins began to quarrel with Gebhr, and they nearly came to blows, but finally decided that they would ride along to Fashoda with the camel-post, so as to demand payment from Smain. Chamis, in the hope that Smain’s protection would be more advantageous to him than staying in Omdurman, accompanied them.
And then there began a week of hunger and privation for the children, for Gebhr never even thought of supplying them with food. Happily Stasch still had two Maria Theresa thalers,[14]that he had received from the Greek, and so he went to the town to buy dates and rice. The Sudanese had nothing to say against this, for they knew that he could not escape from Omdurman, and that he would on no account leave the little “Biut.” But the walk was not without incident, for the sight of the boy in European clothing buying provisions in the market-place attracted a crowd of half-savage Dervishes, who greeted him with laughter and howls. Luckily many of them had seen him the day before when he was with the Mahdi, and so they restrained the others, who wanted to attack him. The children, however, threw stones and sand at him, but he paid no attention to them.
Prices in the market were exceedingly high, so he could not get dates, and Gebhr took most of the rice away to give to his sick brother. The boy resisted this with all his strength, which resulted in a scuffle, from which naturally the weaker one emerged bumped and bruised. Chamis’ cruelty now first became evident. He only showed an attachment to Saba, and fed him with raw meat, but he viewed with the greatest indifference the needs of the children, whom he had known for some time, and who had always been kind to him; and when Stasch turned to him, begging him to give Nell something to eat, he answered laughingly:
“Go and beg.”
Finally things came to such a pass the next day that Stasch really had to beg to save Nell from suffering from hunger. His efforts were not altogether futile. Many times a former soldier, an officer of the Khedive of Egypt, gave him a few piasters or a handful of dried figs, and told him he would help him the following day. Once he met a missionary and a Sister of Charity, who wept on hearing the tale of the children’s fate, and although they themselves were exhausted from hunger, they shared what they had with him. They also promised to visit them in the barracks, and the following day actually came, in the hope that they might succeed in being permitted to take the children along with them until the departure of the post. But Gebhr and Chamis drove them away with scourges.
On the following day Stasch met them again, and they gave him a little rice and two small quinine powders, of which the missionary told him to be especially careful, in case they should get the fever in Fashoda.
“You are now going,” he said, “to ride along the banks of the White Nile, which has overflowed, or straight through the so-called Suddis. As the river can not flow freely on account of the obstacles in its path, the plants and leaves which the current carries along pile up in the shallow places, where they form large, infectious puddles. There the fever does not spare even the negroes. Take special care not to sleep on the bare ground at night without a fire.”
“Would we had died!” Stasch answered, half sighing.
Now the missionary, raising his wan face toward heaven, prayed a while, and making the sign of the cross on the boy, said:
“Put your faith in God! You have not denied Him, and His mercy and protection will be over you.”
Stasch not only attempted to beg, but also tried to get work. One day when he saw crowds working in the place of prayer, he went over to them and began to carry clay to the wall which was being built around the place. It is true that he was laughed at and pushed about, but in the evening the old sheik, the overseer, gave him twelve dates. Stasch was very much pleased with this reward, for after rice dates were the only food that was good for Nell, and it was becoming more and more difficult to find them in Omdurman.
So he proudly presented the dozen dates to his little sister, to whom he brought everything he could find. During the last few days he had lived mostly on maize that he had stolen from the camels. Nell was delighted when she saw her favorite fruit, but she wanted Stasch to share them with her. Standing on tip-toe, she put her arms around his neck, and raising her little head, looked in his eyes and begged:
“Stasch! Eat half of them! Eat them!”
But he answered:
“I have already eaten. I have already eaten. Oh, I have had a great plenty!”
He smiled, but soon after bit his lips to prevent bursting into tears, for he was really all but starved. He resolved to go out the next day in search of work. But things happened that changed his plans. Early in the morning a messenger came by order of Abdullah to announce that the camel-post would depart for Fashoda during the night, and he brought an order from the calif stating that Idris, Gebhr, Chamis, and the two Bedouins should have themselves and the children in readiness for the journey. This order astonished and annoyed Gebhr, and he declared that he would not ride because his brother was ill, and there was no one to take care of him, and that even if he were well they had decided to remain in Omdurman.
But the messenger answered:
“The Mahdi never changes his mind, and Abdullah, his calif and my master, never changes his orders. A slave can take care of your brother, but you will ride with the others to Fashoda.”
“Then I will go to the calif and tell him that I will not ride.”
“Only those gain admittance to the calif whom he wishes to see, and if you try to force your way in without permission you will be led out to the gallows.”
“Allah Akbar! Then tell me plainly that I am a slave.”
“Be quiet and obey orders!” answered the messenger.
The Sudanese had seen the gallows in Omdurman almost broken down from the weight of those hanged on them, and that after the cruel Abdullah had pronounced sentence new bodies were strung up daily, so he was afraid. What the messenger had told him about the Mahdi never changing his mind and Abdullah never changing his orders was confirmed by all the Dervishes. Therefore there was no way of escape, and they would have to ride.
“I shall never see Idris again,” thought Gebhr. In his tiger-like heart there was still a feeling of affection for his elder brother, and the thought of leaving him behind ill filled him with despair. It was in vain that Chamis and the Bedouins explained to him that perhaps they would be better off in Fashoda than in Omdurman, and that Smain would probably not give them any larger reward than the calif had done. But nothing they could say was able to dispel Gebhr’s sadness or appease his anger, which of course he vented chiefly on Stasch.
For the boy this was a day of real martyrdom. He was not allowed to go to the market-place, and so he could neither earn nor beg anything, and he was made to work like a slave at the baggage, which was being made ready for the journey, and this was all the more difficult because he was very weak from hunger and fatigue. He was just about ready to die on the way, either from Gebhr’s scourge or from exhaustion.
Fortunately, toward evening the Greek appeared. As we have already said, he had a good heart, and notwithstanding all that had taken place, he came to see the children, to take leave of them, and to give them the most necessary things for the journey. He brought them several little quinine powders and some glass beads and provisions. On hearing that Idris was ill, he turned towards Gebhr, Chamis, and the Bedouins and said:
“I have come by order of the Mahdi.”
When they bowed low on hearing these words, he continued:
“You are to supply the children with food on the way and are to treat them well. They are to tell Smain how you have treated them, and Smain will report it to the prophet. If there be any complaint about you, the following post will bring you your death warrant.”
A second bow was the only answer to these words, whereupon Gebhr and Chamis made faces like dogs that are being muzzled.
The Greek told them to go away; then he added in English as he turned toward the children:
“I invented all this, for the Mahdi gave no further orders concerning you. But as he said that you were to ride to Fashoda, you must naturally reach there alive. Besides, I calculate that none of these people will see the Mahdi or the calif before they start on this journey.”
Then he turned to Stasch and continued:
“Boy, I had a grudge against you, and I still have it. Do you know that you nearly caused my ruin? The Mahdi was angry with me, and to appease him I had to give up a considerable part of my fortune to Abdullah, and I am not quite sure yet whether I am safe for only a while or for always. At any rate, hereafter I shall not be able to assist the prisoners as I have done. But I am sorry for you, and especially for this girl here. I have a daughter about her age, whom I love more than my own life. All that I have done I did on her account. Christ will bear me witness to that. She still wears a silver cross under her dress, next her heart. Her name is the same as yours, my little one. If it were not for her I should prefer to die rather than to live in this hell.”
He was overcome by emotion, and remained silent for a while, then he passed his hand over his forehead and began to talk of something else.
“The Mahdi is sending you to Fashoda, secretly hoping that you will die there. This is his means of taking revenge on you—especially on account of your resistance, boy, which wounded him deeply—without endangering his name, ‘the merciful one.’ He is always like that. But who can tell which will die first! Abdullah suggested the idea of ordering these dogs, who carried you off, to ride along with you. He rewarded them very meagerly, and is afraid this may become known. Besides, he and the prophet do not want these people to spread the news that there are still soldiers, cannon, money, and the English in Egypt. But it will be a hard journey and a long one. You will pass through a desolate and unhealthy land, and these powders will protect you.”
“Sir, tell Gebhr once more not to dare let Nell starve nor to beat her,” begged Stasch.
“Fear nothing. I have spoken about you to the old sheik who drives the post. He is an old acquaintance of mine, and I have given him a watch, and this insured his protection for you.”
With these words he prepared to leave them. Taking Nell in his arms, he pressed her to his heart and whispered:
“God bless you, my child!”
Meanwhile the sun had gone down and it was starlight. Through the darkness could be heard the neighing of the horses and the panting of the heavily laden camels.
[13]
About four dollars and seventy-five cents.
[14]
About two dollars.
The old sheik, Hatim, faithfully kept the promise he had made to the Greek, and carefully protected the children. The road to the upper White Nile was a difficult one. They rode through Getena, El-Dueim, and Kawa; then they passed Abba, a wooded island in the Nile, on which, before the Mahdi’s war, a Dervish had lived in a hollow tree the life of a hermit. The caravan had to go around wide tracts of land covered with papyrus and swamps called “Suddis,” from which the wind blew a stench caused by rotted and decaying leaves that had accumulated around obstructions in the river. The English engineers had once removed these obstructions, and at one time steamers could go from Khartum to Fashoda, and even farther up.[15]But now the river was clogged up again, and as it could not flow freely, it overflowed both banks. The districts on the right and left banks were covered with a high jungle, from the midst of which heaps of ant-hills and isolated giant trees towered. In some places the woods extended to the stream. In dry places grew large groves of acacias.
During the first few weeks they still passed Arab settlements and small towns, consisting of houses with peculiar, ball-shaped roofs of straw, but on the other side of Abba, behind the settlement Gos-Abu-Guma, when they came to the land of the blacks, they found it quite deserted, for the Dervishes had carried off nearly all the natives and sold them in the slave-markets of Khartum, Omdurman, and other places. Those who escaped capture by hiding in the thickets and in the woods died of hunger and smallpox, which was unusually prevalent along the White and Blue Nile. The Dervishes themselves said that “entire nations” had died of it. Places that were formerly sorghum and banana plantations were now covered with jungle. Only wild animals multiplied, because there was no one to hunt them. Sometimes about sunset the children saw in the distance herds of elephants, that looked like moving rocks, slowly walking to their watering-place. As soon as Hatim, who was formerly an ivory-trader, caught sight of them he smacked his lips, sighed, and said confidentially to Stasch:
“Maschallah! How valuable they are! But they are not worth while hunting now, for the Mahdi has forbidden the Egyptian merchants to come to Khartum; so there is no one except the emirs to buy elephant tusks.”
Besides seeing elephants, they also came across giraffes, which ran off, treading heavily and swaying their long necks, as though they were lame. Behind Gos-Abu-Guma buffaloes and herds of antelope appeared more frequently. When the caravan was short of meat the men hunted them, but nearly always without success, for these animals are too watchful and fleet to be outwitted or cornered.
Usually the food was meted out somewhat sparingly, for in consequence of the land having been depopulated, one could not buy millet, bananas or fish, which the negroes of the Schilluk and the Dinka tribes used to sell to caravans in exchange for glass beads and copper wire.
Hatim saw that the children did not starve, though he kept Gebhr on short rations, and once, when they had halted for the night and were taking the saddles off the camels, Gebhr struck Stasch, and Hatim ordered him to be laid on the ground, and gave him thirty blows with a bamboo rod on the sole of each foot. For two days the cruel Sudanese could only walk on his toes, and he revenged himself on a young slave named Kali who had been given him.
At first Stasch felt almost glad that they had left the infected Omdurman and that he was now passing through countries which he had always longed to see. His strong constitution had, up to this time, withstood the fatigue of the journey quite well, and having plenty to eat, he regained his lost energy. On the march, and also during the halts for rest, he would again whisper to his little sister that it was possible to escape by way of the White Nile, and that he had by no means given up this idea. But he was worried about her health. Three weeks had now passed since they had left Omdurman. Nell had not been stricken with the fever as yet, but her face had become thin, and instead of getting tanned it had become more and more transparent, and her little hands had a waxen look. Stasch and Dinah, with the assistance of Hatim, saw that she was well cared for and that she had every comfort, but she missed the health-giving desert air. The damp, hot climate, together with the fatigue of the journey, sapped still more the strength of the delicate child.
When they reached Gos-Abu-Guma Stasch began giving her half a small quinine powder daily, and he was greatly troubled when he thought that he had not enough of this medicine to last very long and that he would not be able to get any more. But there was no help for it, because it was most necessary to take precautions against the fever. At times he would have yielded to fear and despair had it not been for the hope that Smain, if he wanted to exchange them for his own children, would have to find a more healthy place than Fashoda for them to live in.
But misfortune seemed to follow its victims continually. The day before they arrived in Fashoda, Dinah, who felt weak when they were in Omdurman, suddenly fainted and fell off the camel while opening Nell’s traveling bag, which they had brought with them from Fayoum. It was only with the greatest difficulty that Chamis and Stasch resuscitated her. But she did not regain consciousness until toward evening, and then only long enough to bid a tearful good-by to her beloved little lady and die. Gebhr wanted very much to cut the ears off the remains, so that he could show them to Smain as a proof that she had died on the way. That was what was done to slaves who died on a journey. But at the request of Stasch and Nell, Hatim did not allow this, and she was buried with honor, and stones and thorns were piled on her grave to protect it from hyenas. The children now felt even more lonely, for in losing her they had lost the only soul who stood near to them and who was devoted to them. To Nell especially it was a cruel blow, and during the night and the following day Stasch tried in vain to comfort her.
The sixth week of the journey had begun. On the following day, toward noon, the caravan reached Fashoda, but found it in ruins. The Mahdists bivouacked in the open air or in huts which had been hastily built of grass and branches. The settlement had been completely destroyed by fire three days before. Nothing remained but the smoke-blackened walls of the round clay huts and a wooden shed at the water’s edge, which during the time of the Egyptian rule had been used as a storehouse for ivory, and in which at the present time lived the leader of the Dervishes, the emir, Seki Tamala. He was a man who was respected by the Mahdists, a secret enemy of Calif Abdullah, but, on the other hand, a personal friend of Hatim. The emir was most hospitable to the old sheik and the children, but at the very beginning he told them an unwelcome piece of news.
Smain was no longer in Fashoda. Two days before he had started on an expedition after slaves in the district lying southeast of the Nile, and no one knew when he would return, for the next settlement had been deserted, so that it was necessary to seek merchandise in human beings at a great distance. It is true that not very far from Fashoda lies Abyssinia, with which country the Dervishes were at war. But Smain, who had only three hundred men, did not dare cross the borders, which were strictly guarded by the warlike inhabitants of the land and by the soldiers of King John.
Under these circumstances Seki Tamala and Hatim had to decide what was to be done with the children. The consultation was carried on chiefly during supper, to which the emir had also invited Stasch and Nell.
“I,” said he to Hatim, “with all my men must soon undertake a long expedition to the south, against Emin Pasha, who is in Lado, where he has steamers and soldiers. Hatim, you brought me the order to go. You must return to Omdurman, and then not a human being will be left in Fashoda. There are no comfortable houses here and nothing to eat, and besides, it is a very unhealthy place. I know that white people do not take smallpox, but the fever would kill these children in a month’s time.”
“I received orders to bring them to Fashoda,” answered Hatim, “and I have brought them here, and I do not really need to trouble myself further about them. But my friend, the Greek Kaliopuli, commended them to me, and for that reason I should not like them to die.”
“But that is what will certainly happen!”
“Then what is to be done?”
“Instead of leaving them behind in Fashoda, where there is not a human being, send them to Smain with the people who brought them to Omdurman. Smain has gone off toward the mountains, to a dry and high district, where the fever is not so fatal as here by the river.”
“But how will they find Smain?”
“By following the track of the fires. He will set fire to the jungle, in the first place, so as to drive the game into the ravines, where it can be easily hunted down, and secondly, to frighten away the heathen from the thickets, where they have fled from their pursuers——and so it will not be difficult to find Smain.”
“But will they be able to overtake him?”
“He will sometimes remain a whole week in a place, as he has to smoke meat. But even if he should go on after two or three days, they will certainly overtake him.”
“But why should they run after him? He will return to Fashoda.”
“No; if he should be successful in his hunt for slaves he will take them to the towns to the market——”
“Then what is to be done?”
“Remember that when we two leave Fashoda, if the children remain here they will either succumb to the fever or starve to death.”
“By the prophet, that is true!”
So there was nothing else to do but send the children on a new expedition. Hatim, who had proved himself a good man, was especially worried, fearing that Gebhr—whose cruelty he had discovered during the journey—would wreak his vengeance on them. But the terrible Seki Tamala, of whom even his own soldiers stood in dread, ordered the Sudanese to come before him, and told him that he must deliver the children alive and well to Smain, and treat them well, for if he did not he would be hanged. Besides that, the good Hatim begged the emir to give little Nell a slave to wait on her and to nurse her during the journey and in Smain’s camp. Nell was greatly pleased with this gift, especially when she found that the slave was a young girl of the Dinka tribe, with pleasant features and a sweet expression.
Stasch knew that to remain in Fashoda meant death, so he did not beg Hatim not to send them on another journey—their third. Besides, in the depths of his soul he thought that when riding toward the southeast they would have to approach the borders of Abyssinia, and might be able to escape. Moreover, he cherished the hope that on those dry heights Nell might escape the fever. For all these reasons he gladly and enthusiastically began making preparations for the journey.
Gebhr, Chamis and the two Bedouins also had nothing to say against the expedition, for they, too, reckoned that at Smain’s side they might be able to capture larger numbers of slaves and that they could then sell them to advantage at the markets. They knew that slave-traders sometimes attain great wealth; at any rate, they preferred to ride instead of remaining where they were under Hatim’s and Seki Tamala’s strict rule.
But the preparations for departure took considerable time, especially because the children had to rest. Camels could not be used for this journey, and so the Arabs and also Stasch and Nell were to ride on horses, while Kali, Gebhr’s slave, and Nell’s servant, who was called “Mea,” at Stasch’s suggestion were to go on foot. Hatim also supplied a donkey, which carried a tent intended for the girl, and also enough provisions to last the children three days. Seki Tamala could give them no more. A kind of ladies’ saddle was constructed for Nell out of palm and bamboo mats.
The children spent three days in Fashoda recovering from their journey, but the numerous swarms of gnats by the river made a further stay impossible. During the day there were a great many large blue flies, which, although they did not bite, were very troublesome because they got into one’s ears, eyes, and mouth. Stasch had once heard in Port Said that gnats and flies spread fever and the germs of an eye disease, so at last he besought Seki Tamala to let them start as soon as possible, especially as the spring rainy season was about to begin.
[15]
After the collapse of the kingdom of the Dervishes communication was again resumed.
“Stasch, why do we always ride without finding Smain?”
“I don’t know. Most likely he is traveling rapidly so as to lose no time in reaching the districts where he can capture the most slaves. Would you be glad if we could really join his division?”
The girl nodded her little blonde head as a sign that she was most willing.
“Why would you like it?” asked Stasch, surprised.
“Because in the presence of Smain perhaps Gebhr would not dare beat this poor Kali so terribly.”
“Probably Smain is no better. None of them has any mercy for their slaves.”
“Yes, you are right.”
And tears flowed down her wan cheeks. This was the ninth day of the journey. Gebhr, who was now the leader of the caravan, at first found a few traces of Smain’s march. Stretches of burned jungle and places where he had camped, crunched bones, and various discarded material marked his route.
Five days later they came to a wide steppe, where the wind had carried the fire in every direction. The traces were indistinct and confusing, for Smain had apparently divided his company into several small groups in order to facilitate cornering the game and obtaining provisions. Gebhr did not know which direction to take, and it often seemed as if the caravan had traveled around in a circle, returning to the same place from which it started. Then they came upon woods, and after having traveled through them, they entered a rocky country, where the ground was covered with flat slabs or small level stones, that for some distance were strewn so thickly that they reminded the children of the roads in town. The vegetation was scanty. Only here and there, in the clefts of the rocks, grew euphorbias, mimosas, and rarer and slimmer pale green trees, which Kali, in the Ki-swahili language, called “m’ti.” The horses were fed with the leaves of these trees. In this land there were very few small rivers and streams, but fortunately it rained now and then, and there was sufficient water in the cavities and clefts of the rocks.
Smain’s party had frightened off the game, and the caravan would have died of hunger had it not been for a number of Pentaren birds that flew into the air every second from between the horses’ feet. Toward evening the trees were so full of them that one had only to shoot in their direction to bring some of them down, and they served for food. Besides, they were not shy, for they let people approach them, and were so clumsy and heavy in preparing for flight that Saba, who generally ran in advance of the caravan, caught and killed some of them nearly every day. Chamis killed a number of these birds with his old flintlock musket that he had stolen from one of the Dervishes under Hatim, on the road from Omdurman to Fashoda. But he only had enough shot for twenty cartridges, and he felt very much worried when he thought of what would happen when they were used up. Notwithstanding the game had been frightened away, they occasionally saw herds of gazels, a beautiful species of antelope which is found all over central Africa. These animals, however, could only be shot, and the men did not know how to use Stasch’s gun, and Gebhr would not give it to him.
But the Sudanese also began to be worried about the length of time they were on the way. Sometimes he even thought of returning to Fashoda, for if they were to miss Smain they might get lost in the wilderness and not only suffer from hunger, but be in danger of attack by wild animals and still wilder negroes, who vowed vengeance on account of having been hunted for slaves. But as he did not know that Seki Tamala had undertaken an expedition against Emin Pasha, because he had not been present when the conversation on that subject had taken place, he was alarmed at the thought of appearing before the powerful emir, who had ordered him to bring the children to Smain, and who had given him a letter to take to him, threatening that if he did not execute his orders faithfully he would be hanged. All this combined to fill his heart with bitterness and rage. Though he did not dare to vent his disappointments on Stasch and Nell, poor Kali’s back was daily covered with blood from being beaten with the scourge. The slave always approached his cruel master in fear and trembling. But in vain did he clasp him by the feet and kiss his hands, and fall on his face before him. Neither humility nor groans softened the stony heart; for on the slightest pretext, and sometimes without any provocation at all, the scourge tore the flesh of the unhappy boy. During the night his feet were chained to a piece of wood with two holes in it, so that he could not run away. During the daytime he walked alongside of Gebhr’s horse, attached to it by a rope, which greatly amused Chamis. Nell shed tears for poor Kali. Stasch revolted in his heart, and often valiantly championed Kali, but when he noticed that this annoyed Gebhr still more he simply clenched his teeth and was silent.
Kali perceived that they both sympathized with him, and he began to grow very fond of them.
For two days they had ridden through a rocky ravine enclosed by high, steep rocks. From the stones which had collected in the wildest confusion it could plainly be seen that the ravine was filled with water during the rainy season, but now the ground was quite dry. On both sides, up against the cliffs, grew a little grass, a great many thorns, and here and there even a few trees. Gebhr had ridden into this stony gorge because it continually went up hill and he thought it would lead to some height from which, by day, it would be easier to see the smoke and by night the flames of Smain’s camp-fire. In some places the ravine became so narrow that only two horses could walk abreast, while in others it expanded into small circular valleys enclosed on all sides by high stone walls, on which sat large apes, that played with one another, and on seeing the caravan barked and showed their teeth.
It was five o’clock in the afternoon. The sun was already low in the west. Gebhr had begun to think of their night quarters. He was hoping to reach a small valley, in which he could erect a zareba—to surround the caravan and the horses with a hedge of prickly mimosas and acacias, to protect them from being attacked by wild beasts. Saba ran in advance, barking at the monkeys, which, on seeing him, moved about restlessly, and he disappeared time and again in the windings of the ravine, his loud barks being repeated by the echoes.
Suddenly Saba became silent. Soon after he came up at a gallop, the hair on his back bristling, his tail down, and ran up to the horses. The Bedouins and Gebhr knew at once that something must have frightened him, but after they had looked around questioningly they continued on their way to investigate the reason. But when they had passed a small bend they reined in their horses, and for a moment remained as if rooted to the spot at the sight that presented itself before them.
On a large rock in the middle of the ravine, which was fairly broad at this place, lay a lion. They could not have been more than a hundred feet from him. As soon as the powerful animal saw the riders and horses he rose on his hind legs and stared at them with gleaming eyes. The rays of the setting sun shone on his enormous head and shaggy breast, and in this red light he resembled one of those sphinxes that ornament the entrances to the ancient Egyptian temples.
The frightened horses began to rear, turn around, and prance backward. The astonished and terrified riders did not know what to do, and frightened and perplexed, cried out as with one voice: “Allah! Bismillah! Allah Akbar!”
The desert king, motionless as bronze, surveyed them from head to foot.
Gebhr and Chamis had heard from merchants who had brought ivory and rubber from Sudan to Egypt that lions sometimes obstruct the route, and that the only thing for a caravan to do is to make a detour around the beast. But now they were in a place from which there was no means of exit but to turn back and run away, and then it was almost certain that the terrible beast would follow them.
Once more the feverish question was asked:
“What is to be done?”
“Allah! Perhaps he will back out!”
“He will not move out of the way.”
There was a dead silence. Not a sound could be heard except the snorting of the horses and the rapid breathing of the party.
“Loose Kali from the rope,” suddenly said Chamis to Gebhr, “and we will escape on the horses; then the lion will catch him first, and he will be the only one slain.”
“Yes, yes, do so!” replied the Bedouins.
But Gebhr thought Kali would immediately climb up the side of the cliff, while the lion would make a bee-line for the horses. With this in his mind another idea, still more terrible, flashed upon him. He would kill the slave and throw him behind him—then if the beast were to follow them he would see the bloody body lying on the ground and stop to devour it.
So he drew Kali by the rope nearer to his saddle, and had already raised his knife—when Stasch caught hold of him by his wide sleeve:
“Villain, what are you doing?”
Gebhr tried to tear himself loose, and if the boy had caught hold of the arm itself he would have been shaken off at once, but as he had hold of the sleeve, it was not so easy, and while Gebhr tried to tear himself loose he gesticulated and cried in a voice thick with rage:
“Dog, if that one is not sufficient, I will stab you, too. Allah! I will stab you, stab you!”
Stasch became white as a ghost. Like a flash of lightning he thought that if the lion should follow the horses he might in the pursuit overlook Kali’s body, and in that case Gebhr would certainly stab them all, one after the other.
Pulling Gebhr’s sleeve with increased energy, Stasch screamed out:
“Give me the rifle and I will kill the lion!”
The Bedouins were speechless from surprise at these words, but Chamis, who in Port Said had seen how well Stasch could shoot, immediately cried out:
“Give him the gun! He will kill the lion!”
Gebhr also recalled the shooting at Karoon Lake, and in face of their terrible danger he at once ceased to make further resistance, and hastily handed the gun to the boy, while Chamis hurriedly opened the cartridge case, from which Stasch took out a handful.
The boy jumped off his horse, shoved the cartridges into the barrel of the gun, and advanced. While taking his first steps forward he felt stunned, and pictured himself and Nell with their throats cut from ear to ear by Gebhr’s knife. But soon the imminent and terrible danger they were in made him oblivious to everything else. A lion was before him! When he first caught sight of the beast everything became black before his eyes. His cheeks and nose felt icy cold, his legs grew heavy as lead, and his breath threatened to give out. In short, he was frightened! In Port Said he always preferred to read something else rather than stories of lion hunts, but it is one thing to look at pictures in a book and another thing to stand face to face with a monster such as now looked at him in surprise while drawing up its broad, shield-like forehead.
The Arabs were breathless, for never in their lives had they seen anything like this. On one side a small boy, who, in contrast to the high rock, looked still smaller, and on the other a powerful beast, shining like gold in the rays of the sun, magnificent, threatening, really a “Lord with a large head,” as the Sudanese call him.
Stasch’s iron will quickly controlled his trembling limbs, and he advanced still further. It seemed to him as if his heart were in his throat, until he put up the gun to take aim. Now was the time to have one’s wits about one! Should he go still nearer or fire from where he stood? Where should he aim? The shorter the distance the surer the shot! So he went still nearer, he advanced forty steps— Still too far off!—thirty!—twenty! The wind now brought to him the strong scent of the wild animal——
The boy stopped.
“A ball between the eyes, or I am lost!” thought he. “In the name of the Father and of the Son——”
The lion got up, stretched himself, and lowered his head. His mouth began to open and his eyes to narrow. Who was this tiny being that dared come so near? Ready to spring, he crouched on his hind legs, his paws slightly twitching——
At this instant Stasch sighted the gun straight at the middle of the animal’s forehead—and pulled the trigger. The shot resounded. The lion reared—rose to his full height—fell over on his back with his four paws in the air, and in his death agony rolled off the rock, plunging down to the bottom of the ravine.
For a few minutes Stasch still kept him within range of the gun, but when he saw that the twitching had ceased, and that the yellow body lay there motionless and stiff, he opened the gun and put in another cartridge.
The walls of the cliffs still rang out with loud echoes. Gebhr, Chamis, and the Bedouins could not at first realize what had happened, for it had rained during the previous night, and on account of the humidity in the air the smoke hid everything in the narrow ravine. But when it disappeared they shouted for joy and tried to rush up to the boy, but their efforts were in vain, for no power on earth could force the horses to take even one step forward.
Stasch turned, took in the four Arabs at a glance, and fixed his eyes on Gebhr.
“Enough!” he said, clenching his teeth together. “The measure is more than full. You shall murder neither Nell nor any one else.”
And suddenly he felt his cheeks and nose again grow cold, but this was a different kind of cold—not caused by fright, but by a terrible, fixed resolve, that suddenly hardened his heart like steel.
“Yes, it must be!” he said to himself. “They are all villains, hangmen, murderers—and Nell is in their hands!”
“You shall not kill her!” he repeated.
He approached them—and drew back a pace—then suddenly raised the gun to his shoulder.
Two shots, following in quick succession, echoed through the ravine! Gebhr fell to the ground like a bag of sand. Chamis leaned forward in his saddle and struck the horse’s neck with his bloody forehead.
The two Bedouins screamed with fright, and springing from their horses, rushed at Stasch. The bend in the ravine was directly behind them, and had they fled there, as Stasch ardently hoped, they would have been able to escape death. But blinded by fear and rage, they thought to reach the boy and stab him before he had time to reload. Fools! They had scarcely gone a few steps when the trigger clicked again. The ravine rang with the echoes of the shots and both men fell face downward to the ground, wriggling like fish out of water.
One of them was shot in the throat and not very dangerously wounded; he rose again and supported himself on his hands, but at the same moment Saba buried his teeth in his neck.
Dead silence ensued.
This was interrupted by groans from Kali, who on his knees with outstretched hands screamed in disjointed Ki-swahili sentences:
“Bwana Kubwa![16]Kill the lion! Kill the bad people! But do not kill Kali!”
Stasch did not listen to his cries. For a while he stood there as in a daze. Then he saw Nell’s pale little face and her frightened, wide-open, wondering eyes. Springing toward her, he cried:
“Don’t be afraid, Nell! We are free, Nell!”
True, they were free, but free in the midst of a wild, uninhabited solitude, lost in the heart of the black country.
[16]
Great Man.
Through the Desert