Chapter 8. The Desert

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_ CHAPTER EIGHT. THE DESERT

"How are you getting on, Sam?" said Frank, after they had progressed about a mile, during which the outskirts of the city had given place to garden, cultivated field, trees dotted here and there, and then hedges which looked weird, ghastly, and strange in the moonlight, being composed of those fleshy, nightmare-looking plants of cactus growth, the prickly pears, with their horrible thorns, while more and more the way in front began to spread out wild, desolate and strange in the soft, misty, silvery grey of the moonlight, through which the long-legged animals stalked, casting weird shadows upon the soft, sandy road, and save for one thing the passing of the little train would have been in an oppressive silence, for the spongy feet of the birdlike animals rose and fell without a sound.

"How'm I getting on, sir?" was the reply. "Well, about as bad as a man can. Look at me, sir; there I am. That's my shadder. I don't know what our servants at home would say to see me going along over the sand this how. Look at my shadder, sir; looks like a monkey a-top of a long-legged shed."

"The shadows do look strange, Sam."

"Strange, sir? They _look_ horrid. Just like so many ghosts out for a holiday, and it's us. And look at what makes the shadders. They look creepy in the moonshine. Why, if we was out on a country road now in dear old England, and the police on duty saw us we should give 'em fits."

"Rather startling, certainly," said Frank. "It does look a weird procession."

"Seems a mad sort of a set out altogether, sir: three British gentlemen and a respectable servant going out for a ride in the night in a place like this a-top of these excruciating animals, along with so many silent blacks dressed in long white sheets. It all seems mad to me, sir, and as if we ought to be in bed. I fancy I am sometimes, and having uncomfortable dreams, like one does after cold boiled beef for supper, and keep expecting to wake up with a pain in the chest. But I don't, for there we are sneaking along in this silent way with our tall shadders seeming to watch us. Ugh! It's just as if we were going to do something wicked somewhere."

"It's all so strange, Sam," said Frank quietly. "You are not used to it."

"That's true enough, sir, and I don't feel as if I ever should be. Just look at this thing! It's like an insult to call it a saddle. Saddle! why it's more like--I don't know what; and I've been expecting to have an accident with this stick-up affair here in front. How do you get on with your legs, sir?"

"Pretty well," said Frank, smiling. "I've managed better during the past ten minutes."

"I wish you'd show me how you do it, sir, for I get on awfully, and I'm that sore that I'm beginning to shudder."

"It's a matter of use, Sam. Try and sit a little more upright, like this."

"Like that, sir?" said the man, excitedly. "No, thankye, sir. It's bad enough like this. I suppose I must grin and bear it. Here, I've tried straightforward striddling like one would on a donkey, but this beast don't seem to have no shape in him. Then I've tried like a lady, sitting left-handed with my legs, and then after I've got tired that way for a bit, and it don't work comfortable, I've tried right-handed with my legs. But it's no good. Bit ago I saw one of these niggers shut his legs up like a pocket foot-rule, and I says to myself, 'That's the way, then;' so I began to pull my legs up criss-cross like a Turk in a picture."

"Well, did that do?" said Frank, listening to the man, for the remarks kept away his own troubled thoughts.

"Nearly did for me, sir. I had to claw hold like a kitten to the top of a basket of clothes, or I should have been down in the sand, with this wicked-looking brute dancing a hornpipe in stilts all over me. Ugh, you beast! don't do that."

"What's the matter?" said Frank, as the man shuddered and exclaimed at the animal he rode.

"Oh, I do wish he wouldn't, sir. It's just as if he don't like me, and does it on purpose."

"Does what?"

"Turns his head and neck round to look at me, just like a big giant goose, and he opens and shuts his mouth, and leers and winks at me, sir. It gives me quite a turn. It's bad enough when he goes on steady, but when he does that I feel just as I did when we crossed the Channel, and as if I must go below. I say, sir, can a man be sea-sick with riding on a camel?"

"I don't know about sea-sick, Sam," said Frank, laughing outright, "but I really did feel very uncomfortable at first. The motion is so peculiar."

"Ain't it, sir?" cried Sam eagerly. "Beg your pardon sir, for saying it, but I am glad you felt it too. It upset me so that I got thinking I'd no business to have left my pantry, because I wasn't up to this sort of thing."

"Cheer up, and make the best of it," said Frank quietly. "You'll soon get accustomed to what is very new to us all."

"I will, sir. I'll try, but everything seems to be going against me. Ugh! Look at that now. Ugh! the smell of it!"

"Smell? Why, I only notice the professor's pipe."

"Yes, sir, that's it. It seems horrid now, and there he sits with that long, snaky pipe and his legs twisted in a knot, smoking away as comfortably as the old Guy Fox in the tablecloth that I shaved. He went to sleep and nodded, for I watched him, and he keeps on see-sawing and looking as if he'd tumble off; but he seems to be good friends with his camel, for it kept on balancing him and keeping him up. I wish I could go to sleep too."

"Well, try," said Frank.

"Try, sir? What, to wake up with a bump, and sit in the sand seeing this ridgment of legs and shadows going off in the distance? No, thank you, sir. They tell me there's lions and jackals and hyaenas out here. No, thankye, sir; I'm going to fight it out."

Just then the professor checked his camel and tried to bring it alongside of the pair behind, when a struggle ensued, the quaint-looking creature refusing to obey the rein or to alter its position in the train, whining, groaning, and appealing against force being used to place it where it made up its mind there must be danger.

"That's how those brutes that are carrying the luggage went on, sir," whispered Sam to Frank. "Groaning and moaning and making use of all sorts of bad language. One of 'em kep' it up just like a human being, and it was as if he was threatening to write to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for them to put a stop to our ill-using him and tying heavy things on his back and making creases with ropes on his front--I mean his underneath, sir."

Just then one of the Sheikh's followers, who had seen the trouble, came from where he was walking beside the baggage camels, and led the obstinate animal to where it was required to go, and it ceased its objections.

"Fine animals for displaying obstinacy, Frank," said the professor.

"Yes; they'd beat donkeys of the worst type."

"I daresay they would; but they have plenty of good qualities to make up for their bad ones. How do you like the riding?"

"I'll tell you when I've had some more experience. At present it would not be fair."

"Perhaps not," said the professor. "How do you get on, Sam?"

The butler groaned.

"Hullo! Is it as bad as that?"

"Worse, sir, ever so much. Couldn't I have a donkey, sir? I saw some fine ones in Cairo well up to my weight."

"I'm afraid not, Sam. But you'll soon get used to the animal you are riding."

"Never, sir, never," said Sam.

"Nonsense, man! Once you get used to the poor creatures you will think it delightful. I could go to sleep on mine, and trust it to keep ambling along."

"Do what, sir?"

"Ambling gently."

"Then yours is a different sort, sir, to mine. Ambling's going like a lady's mare does in the Park, isn't it?"

"Yes, Sam; that's quite correct, I believe."

"This one don't, sir, a bit. If you shut your eyes and hold tight, sir, you forget that he's an animal, but begin thinking he must be what he seems like to me--a sort of giant sea-goose with you on his back and him swimming in rough water and going up and down horrid."

"Oh, that's the peculiarity of the creature's pace. I'm used to it, and I find the elasticity most enjoyable."

"Elastic, sir? Yes, that's just it, sir; elastic. A bit back he was going on like an Indy-rubber ball; one o' that sort, sir, as is all wind and skin. Made me wish he was one, and that I'd got a pin in my hand."

"Oh, never mind, my lad," said the professor good-humouredly; "its rough work to learn riding a horse, but once you've mastered the task it's pleasant enough. What do you think of the desert, Frank?"

"Do you consider that we have reached the desert now?" was the reply, as Sam fell back a little, leaving them to converse.

"Oh, yes; we've left the cultivated ground behind, and right away south and west now, saving a _few_ oases, there's nothing but the sand covering all about here the ruins of ancient cities. I believe if we dug anywhere here we should find traces--buildings, temples, or tombs."

"Has there been cultivation, too, here?"

"No doubt. It only wants water, sandy as it is, for it to break out blushing with soft green."

"Where does the Nile lie from here?"

"Away to the left."

"Shall we see its waters when the morning comes?"

"No; we are going farther and farther away to a bit of an oasis where the Sheikh's people are gathered with their flocks. They find pasture there at this time of year, and a little employment with the travellers who come to Cairo. In the summer time, when the city is pretty well empty, they go right away to some high ground where it is rocky and fairly fertile. We shall reach the present camp before the sun gets hot in the morning."

"How is the doctor getting on?" asked Frank, after a pause.

"Pretty well. It makes him a little irritable, so I don't think I'd ask him. He is enjoying the night ride, though."

Sam sighed and said to himself--

"He says that because he wants to make the best of it, but I'm not going to believe my poor guv'nor's enjoying this. He's wishing himself back in Wimpole Street, I know."

"What's that?" said Frank suddenly.

"What? I see nothing."

"No, no. I mean that wild cry."

"Only a jackal. I daresay if you listen you will hear another answer it. Pleasant note, isn't it?"

"Horrible! It sounded like some poor creature in pain."

"Hungry, perhaps," said the professor coolly. "Fine, wild, weird prospect, this, eh?"

"It seems very dream-like and strange."

"Yes, it impressed me like that at first. After a while you begin to think of how delightful it is, and what a change from pacing over the burning sand in the daylight with the sun making the air quiver and glow like a furnace, and your mouth turn dry and lips crack with the parching you have to undergo."

"Shall we have to journey much by night?"

"Oh, yes; we shall do most of our marching then, but we need not trouble about that. Ibrahim will do what is best. I have had a long talk with him, and he proposes to go in a roundabout way for the enemy's camp."

"What! not go straight there?"

"No; it would mean suspicion. We must not go there unasked."

"Landon!" said Frank appealingly.

"It is quite right, and even if it takes time it will be the surest way. Ibrahim says that if the Hakim performs a few cures as we get nearer, the news thereof will reach the Khalifa's camp, where men die off in hundreds, and after a time he will be sure to send for us. Just think of the difference in our reception."

Frank nodded.

"In the one case we should be received with suspicion and most probably turned back, perhaps be made prisoners; while, if at the new Mahdi's wish we are sent for, we go there in triumph, and are respected and well treated by everyone."

"Yes, yes; but the time will be passing away so swiftly, and that poor fellow lying in agony and despair."

"Yes, but the more reason for being cautious. We must not build the castle of our hopes upon the sand, Frank. I know it seems very hard, and no doubt I sound cold-blooded for agreeing so readily to this Arab's proposals, but I speak from ten years' experience of the old fellow. He has thrown himself heart and soul into the adventure, and he is well worthy of our trust; so, even at the expense of going against your own wishes now and then, give way and follow out the old man's advice, even when he would be ready to give way to you."

"I'll do my best," said Frank; "but it seems to me that I have already bound _myself_ down to profound obedience in all things by undertaking to go as a slave."

"Well, yes, that does bind you, certainly," said the professor.

"But what about these men that the Sheikh is taking with us? They will be in the secret."

"Of course."

"Suppose they betray what I am."

"That would mean betraying their Sheikh. You need have no fear of that."

"Well, let's talk about something else. We are bound now for the Sheikh's encampment. What is going to be done first when we get there?"

"We put off Europe and put on Africa as far as is necessary."

"Hah!" said Frank, with a sigh.

"What does that mean, my lad?" said the professor sternly. "Are you beginning to repent?"

"Repent!" said Frank between his teeth. "What a question! I am longing to commence, for so far everything has been preparation."

"And a very brief preparation," said the professor, "if you come to think of how short a time it is since you dashed in upon us after dinner that evening with your news."

"Well, don't reproach me, Landon."

"Not I, my lad. I know what you must feel. All I want of you now is for you to play the stoic. Make up your mind that you have done your utmost to set the ball rolling; now let it roll, and only give it a touch when you are asked. Believe me that you will be doing your best then."

"I will try," said Frank firmly. "Only give me time. I am schooling myself as hardly as I can. It is a difficult part to play."

The professor reached out his hand and gripped his young companion's shoulder firmly, riding on for some minutes without relaxing his grasp, the touch conveying more in the way of sympathy than any words would have done, while the discomforts of the novel ride seemed to die away, and the soft dreaminess of the night grew soothing; the vast silvery grey expanse, melting away in its vastness, became lit-up with a faint halo of hope, and with his spirits rising, Frank seemed another man when the professor spoke again--

"Bob Morris will be feeling neglected."

"Go to him, then," said Frank quietly.

"No; you go first. But there's nothing like making a beginning at once."

"In what way?" asked Frank, for his companion paused.

"Begin treating him as what he is to be till our task is done--the learned Hakim; and begin to school yourself into acting as his slave."

"Now?"

"Why not? I spoke of him just now as Bob Morris. That's the last time till we are safely under the British flag again."

"Yes, you are right," said Frank, and urging on his camel the animal stepped out and passed of its own accord alongside that of the doctor, who uttered a sigh of relief as he saw who it was.

"That's better, Frank," he said. "I was beginning to feel a bit lonely, for this ride is not very cheerful, and the bringing of fresh muscles into play is producing aches and pains."

Frank raised his hands to his head, and bowed down.

"Humph!" ejaculated the doctor; "not such a very bad imitation of a salaam. What have you two been talking about?"

Frank raised his hand, and saw that his tall shadow was repeating the action, as he pointed straight ahead.

"About our journey's end, eh?" said the doctor. "That's right. I shall be glad to get there and lie down, if it is only upon the sand. How do you get on with your camel?"

Frank made a despairing gesture.

"Same here," said the doctor. "I wish we could have had some lessons first. But use is second nature, and I suppose this weary, aching sensation of being waved about in the air will soon pass off. But I say, Frank, my lad."

Frank turned to him.

"There, that will do for to-night," said the doctor pettishly. "I haven't cut your tongue out yet, so just talk like a Christian. This vast open place seems to sit upon my spirits, especially now that we're making this night journey instead of lying comfortably in our beds. Talk to me. You've done acting enough for the present."

"Very well," said Frank quietly; "but Landon thinks with me, that the sooner I begin to play my part the sooner I shall make myself perfect."

"Well, yes, of course," grunted the doctor; "but leave it till we put on our costumes. I say, I think this Sheikh is all right."

"Yes; I have perfect faith in him now."

"So have I. He's a fine old fellow; there is no doubt about that. But Frank, my lad, I don't think I could have kept this up much longer if you had gone on with that dumb-motion business. It only wanted that to give me the horrors, for this night ride seems to be about the most mysteriously weird business possible to conceive. Just look at the ghostly appearance of the camels and their leaders, the long, strongly marked shadows, and the mysterious light! I can't get away from the idea that it is all a dream."

"That is how it has been impressing us," replied Frank.

"And no wonder. Everything is terribly unreal, and between ourselves I am beginning to lose heart."

"You?" said Frank reproachfully. "You, the calm, grave surgeon, accustomed to terrible scenes, to awful emergencies where men's lives depend upon your coolness and that calm, firm manner in which you face all difficulties!"

"Yes, at home and in my proper place. But here I seem to be masquerading--playing, as it were."

"Playing!" said Frank reproachfully.

"Well, I hardly mean that, my dear boy," said the doctor softly; "but all this is so strange and--well, yes--risky."

"Yes, it is risky," said Frank sadly, "but--"

"Yes, I know," said the doctor, interrupting; "I do think of why we are doing it, and I can't help shrinking a bit and doubting my nerve to carry it all through. If I break down in any way I shall sacrifice the liberty if not the lives of you all. It is this that makes me feel doubts about my nerve."

"I have none whatever," said Frank quietly. "You know how often you have talked to me about the operations you have performed."

"Well, yes, I have talked to you a good deal both before and after some of them. Harry and I always opened out our hearts to one another, and when he went away he asked me to make you his substitute--to take his place with you."

"So like Hal," said Frank softly. "Well, and so you have."

"Have I, lad? Well, I have tried, and it has been very pleasant to have you come to me to chat over your experiences and successes and failures, and to tell you mine."

"You have made more of a man of me," said Frank softly; "often and often when I have felt that I was only an ignorant, blundering boy."

"I never saw much of the ignorance or blundering," said the doctor quietly. "You were always too enthusiastic over your studies for that."

"Never mind about my qualities," said Frank, with a little laugh; "it is like trying to put me off from talking about you. As I was going to say, don't you remember telling me that whenever you were going to perform an operation upon some poor suffering fellow-creature you always felt a strong sensation of shrinking and want of nerve?"

"Of course. I always do."

"And that you always prayed that your efforts might be rightly guided?"

"Yes," said the doctor, very softly and slowly.

"And that the next day when you went into the operating theatre and stood there with the patient before you, the students and surgeons with your assistants about you ready for the task, you always felt as calm and cool as possible, and that your nerves were like steel?"

"Yes! It is so."

"Then why should you feel doubt now? I have none."

The doctor was silent for a few minutes as they rode on through the mysterious-looking night, their shadows bowing and undulating on the sand.

"I suppose it is the same," he said at last, "with the soldiers going into some engagement. There is the feeling of nervousness which they suffer from till the stern work begins, and then--well, they act as brave men do act."

"Even if they are generals in the great fight with disease and death," said Frank gravely. "I wish I could feel as sure of our ultimate success as I do of your being perfectly calm and self-contained in all you do."

"I should be, my dear boy," said the doctor, "if I could only get rid of the feeling that I shall be an impostor."

Frank laughed pleasantly.

"That feeling troubling you again?" he said. "How absurd! Are you going to cheat the poor creatures you attend with sham medicines?"

"Am I going to do what?" said the doctor indignantly.

"And play tricks with the wounds they are suffering from?"

"My dear Frank!"

"And make believe to extract bullets and sew up wounds, or set broken bones?"

"My good lad, are you talking in your sleep? Did I ever do anything but my very best for the poor creatures to whom my poor skill was necessary--did I ever give less attention to the humblest patient than I do to the wealthiest or highest in position?"

"Never," said Frank warmly. "That big, generous disposition of yours would never have allowed it."

"Then why did you talk in so absurd a strain?" Frank laughed merrily, and for the time being he was the schoolboy again.

"Please, sir," he said mockingly, "it wasn't me. Answer me first," he cried. "Why do you talk about feeling like an impostor? Why," continued the young man warmly, "I feel as if through my plan I am going to heap blessings upon mine enemy's head. I am taking you through this country, amongst these cruelly savage people, to do nothing but good. Wherever you go your name will be blessed; they will think of the Great Hakim as long as they live."

"Look here, young man," said the doctor playfully, "I've made a mistake to-night. You began to play your part very nicely, and you were as quiet as a dumb waiter--that old black mahogany one in the dining-room at home. Then for company's sake I stopped you, and here is the consequence. You took advantage of the liberty given you, and at once developed into a base flatterer, putting your adulation into all the flowery language you could muster. Now, no more of it, if you please. There, to speak soberly and well: Frank, lad, I am not the great, learned Hakim of your young imagination, but the hard-working student who tries his best to acquire more and more knowledge of our fallen human nature so as to fight against death like an earnest man. I know something of my profession, and I work hard, and always shall, to know more, so as to apply my skill in the best way. Please God, I hope to do a great deal of good during this our journey, and I promise you that I will think only of this application of my knowledge. Yes, I feel now that I can go on and face all that I have to do, for I shall not be such a sorry impostor, after all."

"Isn't it my turn now for a chat?" said the professor. "You two seem to be having a most interesting discussion, and it's very dull back here. The Sheikh is fast asleep on his camel, and poor Sam has become speechless with misery, in spite of all I could say to him about mastering the art of camel-riding. He says he can't get over the feeling that he is at sea. How are you two getting on?"

"Better, I suppose," said the doctor, "for I have not thought so much of the motion lately. I suppose I'm getting used to it."

"And you, Frank?"

"I had forgotten it too till you spoke. But I am utterly tired out. How long will it be before we get to the tents?"

"Oh, hours yet," said the professor cheerfully.

"What!" cried the doctor and Frank in a breath.

"Not till well on in the morning," said the professor; and then, as his companions turned to gaze at one another in dismay, "but we're going to halt soon, to rest the camels and--ourselves." _

Read next: Chapter 9. The Hakim Begins

Read previous: Chapter 7. By Moonlight

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