Chapter Fifty One.
The Sheik’s Plan of Revenge.
The second sand-pit was dug a short distance from the first; and when it had been sunk to the depth of about four and a half feet, Golah commanded the blacks to leave off their labour, one of them being sent back to the line to be seated along with his fellow slaves.
By this time the tents had been struck, the camels loaded, and all but Golah and Fatima appeared willing and anxious to depart from the spot. These were not; for their business at that camping-place had not yet been completed.
When the two guards had again resumed their former stations in front of the line, as before with their muskets at full cock, Golah advanced towards the woman, who, disengaging herself from her children, stood up at his approach.
Then succeeded a moment of intense interest.
Was he going to kill her?
If so, in what manner?
All looked on with painful anticipation of some dire event.
It soon transpired. The woman was seized by Golah himself, dragged towards the pits that had been dug, and thrust into one of them. The slave who wielded the spade was then commanded to fill up the excavation around her.
Terence was the first to speak.
“God help her!” he exclaimed; “the monster is going to bury her alive! Can’t we save her?”
“We are not men, if we do not try!” exclaimed Harry, as he suddenly sprang to his feet.
His example was immediately followed by his white companions.
The two muskets were instantly directed towards them; but at a shout from Golah their muzzles were as quickly dropped.
The sheik’s son then, at his father’s command, ran to the pit to secure the woman; while Golah himself rushed forward to meet the helpless men who were advancing towards him.
In an instant the four were thrown prostrate to the earth.
With their hands tied, the powerful sheik upset them as easily as though they had been bags of sand.
Raising Harry by the hair of his head with one hand, and Terence with the other, he dragged them back to their places in the line where they had been already seated.
Sailor Bill saved himself from like treatment, by rolling over and over until he had regained his former place. Colin was allowed to lie on the ground, where the sheik had knocked him over.
Golah now returned to the pit where the woman stood half buried.
She made no resistance, she uttered no complaint, but seemed calmly to resign herself to a fate that could not be averted. Golah apparently did not intend to behold her die; for, when the earth was filled in around her body, her head still remained above ground. She was to be starved to death! As the sheik was turning away to attend to other matters, the woman spoke. Her words were few, and produced no effect upon him. They did, however, upon the Krooman, whose eyes were seen to fill with tears that rapidly chased each other down his mahogany-coloured cheeks.
Colin, who seemed to notice everything except the fate threatening himself, observed the Krooman’s excitement, and inquired its cause.
“She asked him to be kind to her little boy,” said the man, in a voice trembling with emotion.
Are tears unmanly?—No.
The shining drops that rolled from that man’s eyes, and sparkled adown his dusky cheeks, on hearing the unfortunate woman’s prayer for her children, proved that he was not a brute, but a man—a man with a soul that millions might envy.
After leaving the place where the woman was buried, Golah walked up to Colin, and, dragging him to his feet, led him away to the other pit.
His intentions were now evident to all. The two individuals who had aroused his anger and jealousy were to be left near each other, buried alive, to perish in this fearful fashion.
“Colin! Colin! what can we do to save you?” exclaimed Harry, in a tone expressing despair and anguish.
“Nothing,” answered Colin; “don’t attempt it, or you will only bring trouble on yourselves. Leave me to my fate.”
At this moment the speaker was thrown into the pit, and held in an upright attitude by Golah, while the black slave proceeded to fill in the earth around him.
Following the philosophical example set by the woman, Colin made no useless resistance; and was soon submerged under the sand piled up to his shoulders. His companions sat gazing with speechless horror, all suffering the combined anguish of shame, regret and despair.
The sheik was now ready to depart; and ordered the slave who had been assisting him in his diabolical work to mount the camel formerly ridden by the woman who was thus entombed. The black obeyed, pleased to think that his late task was to be so agreeably rewarded; but a sudden change came over his features when Golah and Fatima passed up the three children and placed them under his care.
Golah had but one more act to perform before leaving the spot. It was an act worthy of himself, although suggested by Fatima.
After filling a bowl about half full of water, he placed it midway between Colin and the woman, but so distant from each that neither could possibly reach it!
This satanic idea was executed with the design of tantalising the sufferers in their dying hours, with the sight of that element the want of which would soon cause them the most acute anguish. By the side of the bowl he also placed a handful of figs.
“There,” he tauntingly exclaimed; “I leave you two together, and with more food and drink than you will ever consume. Am I not kind? What more can you ask? Bismillah! God is great, and Mahomet is his Prophet; and I am Golah, the kind, the just!”
Saying this he gave orders to resume the march.
“Don’t move!” exclaimed Terence; “we will give him some trouble yet.”
“Of course we’ll not go and leave Colin there,” said Harry. “The sheik is too avaricious to kill all his slaves. Don’t move a step, Bill, and we may have Colly liberated yet.”
“I shall do as you say, av coorse,” said Bill; “But I expect we shall ’ave to go. Golah has got a way of making a man travel, whether he be willing or not.”
All started forward from the place but the three white slaves and the two whom Golah intended to remain.
“Cheer up, lad,” said Bill to Colin; “we’ll never go and leave you there.”
“Go on! go on!” exclaimed Colin. “You can do me no good, and will only injure yourselves.”
Golah had mounted his camel and ridden forward, leaving to his two guards the task of driving on the slaves; and, as if apprehensive of trouble from them, he had directed Terence, Harry, Bill, and the Krooman, to be brought on with their hands tied behind them.
The three refused to move; and when all efforts to get them on had been tried in vain, the guards made a loud appeal to their sheik.
Golah came riding back in a great rage.
Dismounting from his camel he drew the ramrod from his musket; then rushing up to Terence, who was the nearest to him, administered to him a shower of blows that changed the colour of his shirt from an untidy white to the darker hue of blood.
The two guards, following the example of their lord and master, commenced beating Harry and Bill, who, unable to make any resistance had to endure the torture in silence.
“Go on, my friends!” exclaimed Colin; “for God’s sake, go and leave me! You cannot do anything to avert my fate!”
Colin’s entreaties as well as the torture from the blows they received, were alike without effect. His shipmates could not bring themselves to desert their old comrade, and leave him to the terrible death that threatened him.
Rushing up to Bill and Harry, Golah caught hold of each, and hurled them to the ground by the side of Terence. Keeping all three together, he now ordered a camel to be led up; and the order was instantly obeyed by one of the guards. The halter was then taken from the head of the animal.
“We ’ave got to go now,” said Bill. “He’s going to try the same dodge as beat me the other day. I shall save him the trouble.”
Bill tried to rise but was prevented. He had refused to walk when earnestly urged to do so; and now, when he was willing to go on, he had to wait the pleasure of his owner as to the manner in which his journey should be continued.
While Golah was fastening the rope to Harry’s hands, the sharp shrill voice of Fatima called his attention to some of the people who had gone on before.
The two women, who led the camels loaded with articles taken from the wreck, had advanced about three hundred yards from the place; and were now, along with the black slaves, surrounded by a party of men mounted on maherries and horses.
Chapter Fifty Two.
Captured again.
Golah’s fear of the Arabs met by the well had not been without a cause. His forced night march, to avoid meeting them again, had not secured the object for which it had been made.
Approaching from the direction of the rising sun, the Arabs had not been discovered in the distance; and Golah, occupied in overcoming the obstinate resistance of the white slaves, had allowed them to come quite near before they had been observed by him.
Leaving his captives, the sheik seized his musket, and followed by his son and brother-in-law rushed forward to protect his wives and property.
He was too late. Before he could reach them they were in the possession of others; and as he drew near the spot where they had been captured he saw a dozen muskets presented towards himself, and heard some one loudly commanding him in the name of the Prophet to approach in peace.
Golah had the discretion to yield to a destiny that could not be averted—the misfortune of being made a prisoner and plundered at the same time.
Calmly saying, “It is the will of God,” he sat down, and invited his captors to a conference on the terms of capitulation.
As soon as the caravan had fallen into the possession of the robbers, the Krooman’s hands were unbound by his companion, and he hastened to the relief of the white slaves.
“Golah no our massa now,” said he, while untying Harry’s wrists, “our massa is Arab dat take us norf. We get free. Dat why dis Arab no buy us—he know us he hab for nothing.”
The cords were quickly untied, and the attention of the others was now turned to disinterring Colin and the woman from their living graves.
To do this, Harry wanted to use the water-bowl the sheik had left for the purpose of tantalising his victims with the sight of its contents.
“Here, drink this water,” said he, holding the vessel to Colin’s lips. “I want to make use of the dish.”
“No, no; dig me out without that,” answered Colin. “Leave the water as it is; I have a particular use for it when I get free. I wish the old sheik to see me drink it.”
Bill, Harry, and the Krooman set to work, and Colin and the woman were soon uncovered and dragged out. Terence was then awakened to consciousness by a few drops of the water poured over his face.
Owing to the cramped position in which he had been placed and so long held, Colin was for a few minutes unable to walk. They waited, to give him time to recover the use of his limbs. The slave who had the care of the woman’s children was now seen coming back with them, and the woman ran to meet him.
The delight of the wretched mother at again embracing her offspring was so great that the gentle-souled Krooman was once more affected to tears.
In the conference with the Arab robbers, Golah was unable to obtain the terms he fancied a sheik should be entitled to.
They offered him two camels, and the choice of one wife out of the three, on condition he should go back to his own country and return to the desert no more.
These terms Golah indignantly refused, and declared that he would rather die in defence of his rights.
Golah was a pure negro, and one of a class of traders much disliked by the Arabs. He was a lawless intruder on their grounds, a trespasser upon their especial domain—the Great Desert. He had just acquired a large amount of wealth in goods and slaves that had been cast on their coast, and these they were determined he should not carry back with him to his own country.
Though he was as much a robber as themselves they had no sympathy with him, and would not be satisfied with merely a share of his plunder. They professed to understand all his doings in the past, and accused him of not being a fair trader.
They told him that he never came upon the desert with merchandise to exchange, but only with camels, to be driven away laden with property, justly belonging to them, the real owners of the land.
They denied his being a true believer in the Prophet, and concluded their talk by declaring that he should be thankful for the liberal terms they had offered him.
Golah’s opposition to their proposal became so demonstrative that the Arabs were obliged to disarm and bind him, though this was not accomplished without a fierce struggle in which several of his adversaries were overthrown.
A blow on the head with a stock of a musket at length reduced him to subjection, after which his hands were fast tied behind his back.
During the struggle, Golah’s son was prevented from interfering in behalf of his father by the black slaves who had been so long the victims of his cruel care; while the brother-in-law, as well as Fatima and the third wife, remained passive spectators of the scene.
On Golah being secured, the white slaves with Old Bill at their head came up and voluntarily surrendered themselves to their new masters.
Colin had in his hands the bowl of water, and the dried figs that had been placed beside it. Advancing towards Golah he held the figs up before his eyes, and then, with a nod and an expression that seemed to say, “Thank you for this,” he raised the bowl to his lips with the intention of drinking.
The expression upon the sheik’s features became satanic, but suddenly changed into a glance of pleasure as one of the Arabs snatched the vessel out of Colin’s hands and instantly drank off its contents.
Colin received the lesson meekly, and said not a word.
The Arabs speedily commenced making arrangements for leaving the place. The first move was to establish a communication between Golah and the saddle of one of his camels.
This was accomplished by using a rope as a medium; and the black giant was compelled to walk after the animal with his hands tied behind him, in the same fashion as he had lately set for Sailor Bill.
His wives and slaves seemed to comprehend the change in their fortunes; and readily adapted their conduct to the circumstances.
The greatest transformation of all was observable in the behaviour of the favourite Fatima.
Since his capture, she had kept altogether aloof from her late lord, and showed not the slightest sympathy for his misfortunes.
By her actions she seemed to say, “The mighty Golah has fallen, and is no longer worthy of my distinguished regard.”
Very different was the behaviour of the woman, whom the cruel sheik would have left to die a lingering death. Her husband’s misfortune seemed to awaken within her a love for the father of her children; and her features, as she gazed upon the captive, who, although defeated, was unsubdued in spirit, wore a mingled expression of pity and grief.
Hungry, thirsty, weary, and bleeding, enslaved on the Great Desert, still uncertain of what was to be their fate, and doubtful of surviving much longer the hardships they might be forced to endure, our adventurers were far from being happy; but, with all their misery, they felt joyful when comparing their present prospects with those before them but an hour ago.
With the exception of Golah, the Arabs had no trouble with their captives. The white and black slaves knew they were travelling towards the well; and the prospect of again having plenty of water was sufficient inducement to make them put forth all their strength in following the camels.
Early in the evening a short halt was made; when each of the company was served with about half a pint of water from the skins. The Arabs, expecting to reach the well soon after, could afford to be thus liberal; but the favour so granted, though thankfully received by the slaves, was scornfully refused by their late master, the giant-bodied and strong-minded Golah.
To accept of food and drink from his enemies, in his present humiliating position, bound and dragged along like a slave, was a degradation to which he scorned to submit.
On Golah contemptuously refusing the proffered cup of water, the Arab who offered it simply ejaculated, “Thank God!” and then drank it himself.
The well was reached about an hour after midnight; and, after quenching their thirst, the slaves were allowed to go to rest and sleep, a privilege they stood sorely in need of, having been over thirty hours afoot, upon their cheerless and arduous journey.
Chapter Fifty Three.
An unfaithful Wife.
On waking up the next morning, our adventurers were gratified with a bit of intelligence communicated by the Krooman: that they were to have a day of rest. A camel was also to be killed for food.
The Arabs were going to divide amongst themselves the slaves taken from Golah; and the opportunity was not to be lost of recruiting their strength for a long journey.
As Sailor Bill reflected upon their sufferings since leaving that same place two days before, he expressed regret that they had not been captured before leaving the well, and thus spared the horrors they had endured.
Stimulated by the remembrance of so much suffering needlessly incurred, he asked the Krooman to explain the conduct of their new masters.
The Krooman’s first attempt at satisfying his curiosity was to state that the Arabs had acted after a manner peculiar to themselves, in other words, that it was “a way they had.”
The old sailor was not satisfied with this answer; and pressed for a further explanation.
He was then told that the robbers on the desert were always in danger of meeting several caravans at a watering-place; and that any act of violence committed there would bring upon the perpetrators everlasting disgrace, as well as the enmity of all desert travellers. The Krooman explained himself by saying, that should a caravan of a hundred men arrive at the well, they would not now interfere in behalf of Golah, but would only recognise him as a slave. On the contrary, had they found him engaged in actual strife with the robbers, they would have assisted him.
This was satisfactory to all but Bill. Even Colin, who had been buried alive, and Terence, who had been so unmercifully beaten, were pleased at their change of masters on any terms; but the old sailor, sailor-like, would not have been himself without some cause of complaint.
Before their newly acquired wealth could be divided, the Arabs had to come to some resolution as to the disposal of the black sheik; who still remained so unmanageable that he had to be kept bound, with a guard placed over him.
The Arabs could not agree amongst themselves as to what should be done with him. Some of them urged that, despite the colour of his skin, he might be a true believer in the Prophet; and that, notwithstanding his manner of trading and acquiring wealth, a system nearly as dishonest as their own, he was entitled to his liberty, with a certain portion of his property.
Others claimed that they had a perfect right to add him and his large family to the number of their slaves.
He was not an Arab, but an Ethiopian, like most of his following; and, as a slave, would bring a high price in any of the markets where men were bought and sold.
Those who argued thus were in the minority; and Golah was at length offered his wives and their children, with a couple of camels and his scimitar.
This offer the black sheik indignantly refused, much to the astonishment of those who had been so eloquent in his behalf.
His decision produced another debate; in which the opinions of several of his captors underwent such a change, that it was finally determined to consider him as one of the slaves.
Every article that had been obtained from the wreck was now exposed to view, and a fixed price set upon it.
The slaves were carefully examined and valued, as well as the camels, muskets, and everything that had belonged to Golah or his dependants.
When these preliminary arrangements had been completed, the Arabs proceeded to an equitable partition of of the property.
This proved a very difficult matter to manage, and occupied their time for the rest of the day. Three or four would covet the same article; and long and noisy discussions would take place before the dispute could be settled to their mutual satisfaction.
The Krooman, who understood the desert language, was attentive to all that transpired; and, from time to time, informed the white slaves of what was being done.
At an early period in the discussions, he discovered that each of the four was to fall to different masters.
“You and me,” said he to Harry, “we no got two massas, only one.”
His words were soon after proved to be true. They were carried apart from each other, evidently with the design of being appropriated by different owners, and the fear that they might also be separated again came over them.
When the slaves, camels, tents, and articles that had been gathered from the wreck were distributed amongst the eleven Arabs, each one took the charge of his own; but there still remained Golah, his wives and their children, to be disposed of.
No one seemed desirous of becoming the owner of the black sheik and his wives. Even those who had said that he would make a valuable slave, appeared unwilling to take him, although induced to do so by the taunts of their companions.
The fact was, that they were afraid of him. He would be too difficult to manage; and none of them wished to be the master of one who obstinately refused both food and drink, and who so defiantly invoked upon the heads of his captors the curse of Mahomet, and swore by the beard of the Prophet that the moment his hands were free, he would kill the man who should dare to own or claim him as a slave.
Golah, with all his faults, was neither cunning nor deceitful; and, having a spirit too great to affect submission, he did not intend to yield.
He was arrogant, cruel, avaricious and vindictive; but the wrongs he did were always accomplished in a plain open-handed way, and never by stratagem or treachery.
By accepting the terms the Arabs had offered him, his strength, courage, and unconquerable will might afterwards have enabled him to obtain revenge upon his captors, and regain a portion of his property; but it was not in his nature to sham submission, even for the sake of gaining a future advantage.
As not one of the Arabs was willing to accept of him at the value at which he had been appraised, or to allow another to have him for less, it was finally decided that he should be retained as the common property of all, until he could be sold to some other tribe, when a distribution might be made of the proceeds of the sale. His wives and children were to be disposed of in like manner.
This arrangement was satisfactory to all but Golah himself, who expressed himself greatly displeased with it. Nevertheless, he seemed a little disposed to yield to circumstances; for, soon after the decision of his captors was made known to him, he called to Fatima, and commanded her to bring him a bowl of water.
The favourite refused, under the plea that she had been forbidden to give him anything.
This was true; for, as he had declined to accept of anything at the hands of those claiming to be his masters, they had determined to starve him into submission.
Fatima’s refusal to obey him caused Golah his greatest chagrin. Ever accustomed to prompt and slavish obedience from others, the idea of his own wife, his favourite too, denying his modest request, almost drove him frantic.
“I am your husband,” he cried, “and whom should you obey but me? Fatima! I commanded you to bring me some water!”
“And I command you not to do it,” said the Arab sheik, who, standing near by, had heard the order.
Fatima was an artful, selfish woman, who had gained some influence over her husband by flattering his vanity, and professing a love she had never felt.
She had acted with slavish obedience to him when he was all-powerful; but now that he was himself a slave, her submission had been transferred with perfect facility to the chief of the band who had captured him.
It was now that Golah began to realise the fact that he was a conquered man.
His heart was nearly bursting with rage, shame, and disappointment; for nothing could so plainly awaken him to the comprehension of his real position as the fact that Fatima, his favourite, she who had ever professed for him so much love and obedience, now refused to attend to his simplest request.
After making one more violent and ineffectual effort at breaking his bonds, he sank down upon the earth and remained silent, bitterly contemplating the degraded condition into which he had fallen.
The Krooman, who was a very sharp observer of passing events, and had an extensive knowledge of peculiar specimens of human nature, closely watched the behaviour of the black sheik.
“He no like us,” he remarked to the whites. “He nebba be slave. Bom-bye you see him go dead.”
Chapter Fifty Four.
Two faithful Wives.
While Golah’s mind appeared to be stunned almost to unconsciousness by the refusal of Fatima to obey his orders, his other two wives were moving about, as if engaged in some domestic duty.
Presently the woman he had buried in the sand was seen going towards him with a calabash of water, followed by the other, who carried a dish of sangleh.
One of the Arabs, perceiving their intention, ran up, and, in an angry tone, commanded them to retire to their tents. The two women persisted in their design; and in order to prevent them, without using violence, the Arab offered to serve the food and drink himself.
This they permitted him to do; but when the water was offered to Golah it was again refused.
The black sheik would not receive either food or drink from the hand of a master.
The sangleh was then consumed by the Arab with a real or sham profession of gratitude; the water was poured into a bucket, and given to one of the camels; and the two calabashes were returned to the women.
Neither a keen longing for food, nor a burning thirst for water, could divert Golah’s thoughts from the contemplation of something that was causing his soul extreme anguish.
His physical torture seemed, for the time, extinguished by some deep mental agony.
Again the wives, the unloved ones, advanced towards him, bearing water and food; and again the Arab stepped forward to intercept them. The two women persisted in their design, and, while opposing the efforts of the Arab to turn them back, they called on the two youths, the relatives of the black sheik, as also on Fatima, to assist them.
Of the three persons thus appealed to, only Golah’s son obeyed their summons; but his attempt to aid the women was immediately frustrated by the Arab, who claimed him as a slave, and who now commanded him to stand aside. His command having no effect, the Arab proceeded to use force. At the risk of his life the youth resisted. He dared to use violence against a master, a crime that on the desert demands the punishment of death.
Aroused from his painful reverie by the commotion going on around him, Golah, seeing the folly of the act, shouted to his son to be calm, and yield obedience; but the youth, not heeding the command of his father, continued his resistance. He was just on the point of being cut down, when the Krooman ran forward, and pronouncing in Arabic two words signifying “father and son”, saved the youth’s life. The Arab robber had sufficient respect for the relationship to stay his hand from committing murder; but to prevent any further trouble with the young fellow, he was seized by several others, fast bound, and flung to the ground by the side of his father.
The two women, still persisting in their design to relieve the wants of their unfortunate husband, were then knocked down, kicked, beaten, and finally dragged inside the tents.
This scene was witnessed by Fatima; who, instead of showing sympathy, appeared highly amused by it, so much so as even to give way to laughter. Her unnatural behaviour once more roused the indignation of her husband.
The wrong of being robbed, the humiliation of being bound, the knowledge that he himself, along with his children, would be sold into slavery, the torture of hunger and thirst, were sources of misery no longer heeded by him; all were forgotten in the contemplation of a far greater anguish.
Fatima, the favourite, the woman to whom his word should have been law, the woman who had always pretended to think him something more than mortal, now not only shunning but despising him in the midst of his misfortunes.
This knowledge did more towards subduing the giant than all his other sufferings combined.
“Old Golah looks very down in the mouth,” remarked Terence to his companions. “If it was not for the beating he gave me yesterday, I could almost pity him. I made an oath, at the time he was thwacking me with the ramrod, that if my hands were ever again at liberty, I’d see if it was possible to kill him; but now that they are free, and his are bound, I’ve not the heart to touch him, bad as he is.”
“That is right, Terry,” said Bill; “it’s only wimin an’ bits o’ boys as throws wather on a drowned rat, not as I mane to say the owld rascal is past mischief yet. I believe he’ll do some more afore the divil takes ’im intirely; but I mane that Him as sits up aloft is able to do His own work without your helping Him.”
“You speak truth, Bill,” said Harry; “I don’t think there is any necessity for seeking revenge of Golah for his cruel treatment of us; he is now as ill off as the rest of us.”
“What is that you say?” inquired Colin. “Golah like one of us? Nothing of the kind. He has more pluck, endurance, obstinacy, and true manly spirit about him than there is in the four of us combined!”
“Was his attempt to starve you dictated by a manly spirit?” asked Harry.
“Perhaps not; but it was the fault of the circumstances under which he has been educated. I don’t think of that now; my admiration of the man is too strong. Look at his refusing that drink of water when it had been several times offered him!”
“There is something wonderful about him certainly,” assented Harry; “but I don’t see anything in him to admire.”
“No more do I,” said Bill. “He might be as comfortable now as we are; and I say a man’s a fool as won’t be ’appy when he can.”
“What you call his folly,” rejoined Colin, “is but a noble pride that makes him superior to any of us. He has a spirit that will not submit to slavery, and we have not.”
“That be truth,” remarked the Krooman; “Golah nebbar be slave.”
Colin was right. By accepting food and drink from his captors, the black sheik might have satisfied the demands of mere animal nature, but only at the sacrifice of all that was noble in his nature. His self-respect, along with the proud unyielding spirit by which everything good and great is accomplished, would have been gone from him for ever.
Sailor Bill and his companions, the boy slaves, had been taught from childhood to yield to circumstances, and still retain some moral feeling; but Golah had not.
The only thing he could yield to adverse fate was his life. At this moment the Krooman, by a gesture, called their attention towards the captive sheik, at the same time giving utterance to a sharp ejaculation.
“Look,” exclaimed he, “Golah no stay longer on de Saara. You him see soon die now, look at him!”
At the same instant Golah had risen to his feet, inviting his Arab master to a conference.
“There is but one God,” said he; “Mahomet is his prophet, and I am his servant. I will never be a slave. Give me one wife, a camel, and my scimitar, and I will go. I have been robbed; but God is great, and it is His will, and my destiny.”
Golah had at length yielded, though not because that he suffered for food and water, not that he feared slavery or death, not that his proud spirit had become weak or given way; but rather that it had grown stronger under the prompting of revenge.
The Arab sheik conferred with his followers; and there arose a brief controversy among them.
The trouble they had with their gigantic captive, the difficulty they anticipated in disposing of him, and their belief that he was a good Mussulman, were arguments in favour of granting his request, and setting him at liberty.
It was therefore decided to let him go, on the conditions of his taking his departure at once.
Golah consented; and they proceeded to untie his hands. While this was being done, the Krooman ran up to Colin’s master, and cautioned him to protect his slave until the sheik had departed.
This warning was unnecessary, for Golah had other and more serious thoughts to engage his mind than that of any animosity he might once have felt against the young Scotchman.
“I am free,” said Golah, when his hands were untied. “We are equals, and Mussulmans. I claim your hospitality. Give me some food and drink.”
He then stepped forward to the well, and quenched his thirst, after which some boiled camel meat was placed before him.
While he was appeasing an appetite that had been two days in gaining strength, Fatima, who had observed a strange expression in his eyes, appeared to be in great consternation. She had believed him doomed to a life of slavery, if not to death; and this belief had influenced her in her late actions.
Gliding up to the Arab sheik, she entreated to be separated from her husband; but the only answer she received was, that Golah should have either of the three wives he chose to take, that he (the sheik) and his companions were men of honour, who would not break the promise they had given.
A goat’s-skin of water, some barley meal, for making sangleh, and a few other necessary articles, were placed on a camel, which was delivered over to Golah.
The black sheik then addressed a few words in some African language to his son; and, calling Fatima to follow him, he started off across the desert.
Chapter Fifty Five.
Fatima’s Fate.
A complete change had come over the fortunes of Fatima. Vain, cruel, and tyrannical but the moment before, she was now humbled to the dust of the desert. In place of commanding her fellow wives, she now approached them with entreaties, begging them to take charge of her child, which she seemed determined to leave behind her. Both willingly assented to her wishes.
Our adventurers were puzzled by this circumstance; for there appeared to be no reason that Fatima should leave her offspring behind her. Even the Krooman could not explain it; and as the shades of night descended over the desert, the mother separated from her child, perhaps never more to embrace it in this world of wickedness and woe.
About two hours before daybreak, on the morning after the departure of Golah, there was an alarm in the douar, which created amongst the Arabs a wonderful excitement.
The man who had been keeping guard over the camp was not to be seen; and one of the fleetest camels, as well as a swift desert horse, was also gone.
The slaves were instantly mustered, when it was found that one of them was likewise missing. It was Golah’s son.
His absence accounted for the loss of the camel, and perhaps the horse, but what had become of the Arab guard?
He certainly would not have absconded with the slave, for he had left valuable property behind him.
There was no time for exchanging surmises over this mystery. Pursuit must be instantly made for the recovery of slave, camel, and horse.
The Arab sheik detailed four of his followers to this duty, and they hasted to make ready for their departure. They would start as soon as the light of day should enable them to see the course the missing animals had taken.
All believed that the fugitives would have to be sought for in a southerly direction; and therefore the caravan would have to be further delayed in its journey.
While making preparations for the pursuit, another unpleasant discovery was made. Two ship’s muskets, that had been taken from Golah’s party, were also missing.
They had been extracted from a tent in which two of the Arabs had slept, two of the four who were now preparing to search for the missing property.
The sheik became alarmed. The camp seemed full of traitors; and yet, as the guns were the private property of the two men who slept in the tent, they could not, for losing them, reasonably be accused of anything more than stupidity.
Contrary to the anticipations of all, the tracks of the lost animals were found to lead off in a north-westerly direction; and at about two hundred yards from the camp a dark object was seen lying upon the ground. On examination it proved to be the Arab who had been appointed night guard over the douar.
He was stone dead; and by his side lay one of the missing muskets, with the stock broken and covered with his own brains.
The tragedy was not difficult to be explained. The man had seen one or two of the hobbled animals straying from the camp. Not thinking that they were being led gently away, he had, without giving any alarm, gone out to bring them back. Golah’s son, who was leading them off, by keeping concealed behind one of the animals, had found an opportunity of giving the guard his death-blow without any noise to disturb the slumbering denizens of the douar.
No doubt he had gone to rejoin his father, and the adroit manner in which he had made his departure, taking with him a musket, a camel, and a horse, not only excited the wonder, but the admiration of those from whom he had stolen them.
In the division of the slaves young Harry Blount and the Krooman had become the property of the Arab sheik. The Krooman having some knowledge of the Arabic language, soon established himself in the good opinion of his new master. While the Arabs were discussing the most available mode to obtain revenge for the murder of their companion, as well as to regain possession of the property they had lost, the Krooman, skilled in Golah’s character, volunteered to assist them by a little advice.
Pointing to the south, he suggested to them that, by going in that direction, they would certainly see or hear something of Golah and his son.
The sheik could the more readily believe this, since the country of the black chief lay to the southward, and Golah, on leaving the douar, had gone in that direction.
“But why did his dog of a son not go south?” inquired the Arabs, pointing to the tracks of the stolen horse, which still appeared to lead towards the north-west.
“If you go north,” replied the Krooman, “you will be sure to see Golah; or if you stay here you will learn something of him.”
“What! will he be in both directions at the same time, and here likewise?”
“No, not that; but he will follow you.”
The Arabs were willing to believe that there was a chance of recovering their property on the road they had been intending to follow, especially as the stolen horse and camel had been taken in that direction.
They determined, therefore, to continue their journey.
Too late they perceived their folly in treating Golah as they had done. He was now beyond their reach, and, in all likelihood, had been rejoined by his son. He was an enemy against whom they would have to keep a constant watch; and the thought of this caused the old Arab sheik to swear by the Prophet’s beard that he would never again show mercy to a man whom he had plundered.
For about an hour after resuming their march, the footprints of the camel could be traced in the direction they wished to go; but gradually they became less perceptible, until at length they were lost altogether. A smart breeze had been blowing, which had filled the tracks with sand, which was light and easily disturbed.
Trusting to chance, and still with some hope of recovering the stolen property, they continued on in the same direction, and, not long after losing the tracks, they found some fresh evidence that they were going the right way.
The old sheik, who was riding in advance of the others, on looking to the right, perceived an object on the sand that demanded a closer inspection. He turned and rode towards it, closely followed by the people of his party.
On drawing near to the object it proved to be the body of a human being, lying back upwards, and yet with the face turned full towards the heavens. The features were at once recognised as those of Fatima, the favourite!
The head of the unfortunate woman had been severed from her body, and then placed contiguous to it, with the face in an inverted position.
The ghastly spectacle was instructive. It proved that Golah, although going off southward, must have turned back again, and was now not far off, hovering about the track he believed his enemies would be likely to take. His son, moreover, was in all likelihood along with him.
When departing along with her husband, Fatima had probably anticipated the terrible fate that awaited her; and, for that reason, had left her child in the care of the other wives.
Neither of these seemed in the least surprised on discovering the body. Both had surmised that such would be Fatima’s fate; and it was for that reason they had so willingly taken charge of her child.
The caravan made a short halt, which was taken advantage of by the two women to cover the body with sand.
The journey was then resumed.
Chapter Fifty Six.
Further Defection.
Notwithstanding that Golah’s brother-in-law, who had formerly been a freeman, was now a slave, he seemed well satisfied with the change in his circumstances.
He made himself very useful to his new masters in looking after the camel, and doing all the other necessary work, which his knowledge of Saaran life enabled him effectually to execute.
When the Arab caravan came to a halt on the evening of his first day’s journey along with it, he assisted in unloading the camels, putting the hobbles on them, pitching the tents, and doing anything else which was required to be done.
While the other slaves were eating the small portion of food allowed them, one of the camels formerly belonging to Golah, a young and fleet maherry that had been ridden by Fatima, strayed a short distance from the douar. Seeing it, the black sheik’s brother-in-law, who had been making himself so useful, ran after the animal as if to fetch it back. He was seen passing beyond the camel, as though he intended turning it towards the camp; but in another instant it was discovered that he had no such design. The youth was seen to spring up to the back of the maherry, lay hold of its hump, and ride rapidly away. Accustomed to hearing the sound of his voice, the faithful and intelligent animal obeyed his words of command. Its neck was suddenly craned out towards the north; and its feet were flung forward in long strides that bore its rider rapidly away from the rest. The incident caused a tremendous commotion in the caravan. It was so wholly unexpected that none of the Arabs were prepared to intercept the fugitive. The guard for the night had not been appointed. They were all seated on the ground, engaged in devouring their evening repast, and before a musket could be discharged at the runaway, he had got so far into the glimmering twilight that the only effect of two or three shots fired after him was to quicken the pace of the maherry on which he was fleeing.
Two fleet horses were instantly saddled and mounted; one by the owner of the camel that had been stolen, and the other by the owner of the slave who had stolen it.
Each, arming himself with musket and scimitar, felt sure of recapturing the runaway. Their only doubt arose from the knowledge of the swiftness of the maherry, and that its rider was favoured by the approaching darkness.
The whole encampment was by this time under arms; and after the departure of the pursuers, the sheik gathered all the slaves together, and swore by the beard of the Prophet that they should all be killed, and that he would set the example by killing the two belonging to himself, which were Harry Blount and the Krooman. Several of his followers proceeded to relieve their excitement by each beating the slave or slaves that were his own property, and amongst these irate slave-owners was the master of Sailor Bill. The old man-o’-war’s-man was cudgelled till his objections to involuntary servitude were loudly expressed, and in the strongest terms that English, Scotch, and Irish could furnish for the purpose.
When the rage of the old sheik had to some extent subsided, he procured a leathern thong, and declared that his two slaves should be fast bound, and never released as long as they remained in his possession.
“Talk to him,” exclaimed Harry to the Krooman: “tell him, in his own language, that God is great, and that he is a fool! We don’t wish to escape—certainly not at present.”
Thus counselled, the Krooman explained to the sheik that the white slaves, as well as himself, who had sailed in English ships, had no intention of running away, but wished to be taken north, where they might be ransomed; and that they were not such fools as to part from him in a place where they would certainly starve. The Krooman also informed the sheik that they were all very glad at being taken out of the hands of Golah, who would have carried them to Timbuctoo, whence they never could have returned, but must have ended their days in slavery.
While the Krooman was talking to the sheik several of the others came up and listened. The black further informed them that the white slaves had friends living in Agadeer and Swearah (Santa Cruz and Mogador)—friends who would pay a large price to ransom them. Why, then, should they try to escape while journeying towards the place where those friends were living?
The Krooman went on to say that the young man who had just made off was Golah’s brother-in-law; that, unlike themselves, in going north he would not be seeking freedom but perpetual slavery, and for that reason he had gone to rejoin Golah and his son.
This explanation seemed so reasonable to the Arabs that their fears for the safety of their slaves soon subsided, and the latter were permitted to repose in peace.
As a precautionary measure, however, two men were kept moving in a circle around the douar throughout the whole of the night; but no disturbance arose, and morning returned without bringing back the two men who had gone in pursuit of the cunning runaway.
The distance to the next watering-place was too great to admit of any delay being made; and the journey was resumed, in the hope that the two missing men would be met on the way.
This hope was realised.
All along the route, the old sheik, who rode in advance, kept scanning the horizon, not only ahead, but to the right and left of their course. About ten miles from their night’s halting-place he was seen to swerve suddenly from his course, and advance towards something that had attracted his attention. His followers hastened after him—all except the two women and their children, who lingered a long way behind.
Lying on the ground, their bodies contiguous to each other, were the two Arabs who had gone in pursuit of the runaway.
They were both dead.
One of them had been shot with a musket-ball that had penetrated his skull, entering directly between his temples. The other had been cut down with a scimitar, his body being almost severed in twain.
The youth who had fled the night before, had evidently come up with Golah and his son; and the two men who had pursued him and lost their lives, their animals, muskets, and scimitars.
Golah now had two accomplices, and the three were well mounted and well-armed.
The anger of the Arabs was frightful to behold. They turned towards the two women whom they knew to be Golah’s wives. The latter had thrown themselves on their knees, and were screaming and supplicating for mercy.
Some of the Arabs would have killed them on the instant; but were prevented by the old sheik, who, although himself wild with rage, had still sufficient reason left to tell him that the unfortunate women were not answerable for the acts of their husband. Our adventurers found reason to regret the misfortune that had befallen their new masters; for they could not but regard with alarm the returning power of Golah.
“We shall fall into his hands again,” exclaimed Terence. “He will kill all these Arabs, one after another, and obtain all he has lost, ourselves included. We shall yet be driven to Timbuctoo.”
“Then we should deserve it,” cried Harry, “for it will partly be our own fault if ever we fall into Golah’s power again.”
“I don’t think so,” said Bill; “Golah is a wondersome man, and ’as got somethin’ more nor human natur’ to ’elp ’im. I think as ’ow if we should see ’im ’alf a mile off signalisin’ for us to follow ’im, we should ’ave to go. I’ve tried my hand at disobeyin’ his orders, and don’t do it again, not if I knows it.”
The expressions of anger hitherto portrayed on the countenances of the Arabs had given place to those of anxiety. They knew that an enemy was hovering around them, an enemy whom they had wronged, whose power they had undervalued, and whom they had foolishly restored to liberty.
The bodies of their companions were hastily interred in the sand, and their journey northward was once more resumed.