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In the Mahdi's Grasp, a fiction by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 19. The Emir's Son |
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_ CHAPTER NINETEEN. THE EMIR'S SON It was a strange experience to sit outside the tent door that night, breathing the soft moist air which seemed so different from the dry, harsh, parching wind of the desert. There was the pleasant scent of growing plants, too, rising from wherever the overflow from the fountains permeated the sand, quite unseen in the broad sunshine, but showing its effect in a blush of green which gradually grew less and less, till at a few hundred yards from the rocks and pools it died right away and all was arid barrenness once more. Now and then a wailing howl came from a distance, to be answered here and there by the prowling animals which scented the food of the camp, and hung about waiting till the caravans had passed on to make a rush in safety for the scraps that were left, with the result that the neighbourhood of the pools and wells was found free from all refuse by the next comers. The Hakim's party was too weary with the nervous excitement and hard labour of the past day to talk much, finding it pleasanter to sit or recline and listen to the various sounds that reached their ears from the Baggara camp or far out in the desert, till after being absent for some little time the Sheikh came softly up to the tent and waited to be questioned. He did not have to wait long, for the professor attacked him at once. "Well, Ibrahim," he said, "what news?" "Little, Excellency. The Baggara have sentries out all round the camp." "And ours?" "Yes, Excellency; we are prisoners." "But in no danger?" "No, Excellency. It is peace between us and the fighting men. But if they are attacked in the night or just before daybreak we are in bad company, as you would say, and we shall perish with these tribesmen if they are beaten." "That sounds bad," said the professor. "But look here, who is likely to attack their camp?" "Who can say, Excellency? Like the people of old, their hand is against every man, and every man's hand is against them. They are wandering about harassing villages, plundering, and making slaves. Some of the village people may take heart and join together to slay them; or the Khedive's men may hear of their being in the neighbourhood, and come from boats upon the river. There may be soldiers of your own journeying south, who, hearing from spies that a party of the Khalifa's men have come so far north, would be sure to try and scatter them like the sand before the storm." "But, on the other hand," said the doctor quietly, "none of these things may happen, and we may sleep in peace and trust that all will be well." "Yes, Excellency; that is what we must do always." "Then let us sleep while we can," said the doctor. "I am very weary, and there is sure to be plenty more hard work to-morrow." The Hakim's words were taken as law, and as there were very few preparations to make, a short time only elapsed before all were sleeping soundly, it being deemed superfluous to attempt to watch, since they were utterly helpless in the enemy's hands. At such a time restless wakefulness might have been expected, but sleep came, deep and refreshing, out in the desert whenever they were in the neighbourhood of water. Frank lay thinking of the day's work with its risks and chances, and then of his brother far away to the south; but in about a quarter of an hour he was sleeping soundly as the rest, till hours had passed, when, as if conscious of something being near, he awoke suddenly, to find that all was dark and so still that, setting down his feelings to imagination, he sank back, with a sigh, and was dropping off to sleep again when from far away out in the desert there was the shrill neigh of a horse, and he started up again, to hear the challenge answered from where the Baggara horses and camels were picketed or lying about. This was startling, suggesting as it did the approach of other horsemen, who might be inimical and about to attack. On the other hand, though, he reasoned that a single horse might have broken away from where it was tethered. He recalled, too, what the Sheikh had said about sentries being scattered about so that no danger could approach without an alarm being given, and he was settling down once more when, plainly enough and increasing in loudness, there came through the darkness of the night the dull, rustling trampling of horses coming at a sharp canter over the sand. But for a minute or so there was no warning uttered--no cry of alarm. Then all at once there was a shout and a reply. Silence again, and Frank lay wondering whether this was a good or evil sign, since a sentry might have been cut down at once. Then voices were plainly heard as of people talking loudly, and it seemed to be impossible that this could mean danger. So he lay still, making out by degrees that a large body of horsemen had ridden up, and from the talking that went on there seemed to be no doubt that earlier in the night this party must have gone out upon a reconnaissance while the Sheikh's party slept, and that this was their return. Certainly there was no danger, for by degrees the various sounds died out, and all was still. Frank's eyes closed once more, and his next awakening was at broad day, to find that a fire was burning and that Sam and his help from the camel-drivers were busy preparing for the morning meal, while the Sheikh and his men were as busy seeing to the camels, after being in doubt as to whether they would be there. But there had been no interference with anything belonging to the Hakim's party, and the old man was evidently fairly contented in mind as he made his report about what he knew of the night's proceedings. His first and most important announcement was that the Baggara chiefs force had been nearly doubled during the night, it seeming probable that the water-holes had been made the place of meeting for a divided force. The question that troubled the party now was whether the newcomers would prove well disposed; but they were not long left in doubt, for quite early in the morning the Baggara chief made his appearance for his wound to be dressed, and smiled with satisfaction at the change in its state. "Tell the Hakim," he said, "that he is great, and that he can stay here to rest his camels till to-morrow, and then he shall come with us." This was as he was about to leave the Hakim's presence, with his injured arm resting comfortably in its sling, and he turned away at once. "_Nolens volens_, Frank," said the professor; "but so far nothing could be better for us. Look here, another present." For three men were approaching with a kid, dates, and bananas, and in addition one of them bore a handsome large rug, evidently intended for the Hakim's use. The men approached with the same deference that they had displayed on the previous day, and then departed; but before they were half over the space which divided the two camps, a party of five men were seen approaching, one of whom was mounted upon a cream-coloured horse, two others supporting him as he swayed to and fro, apparently quite unable to retain his seat. It was the _avant-garde_ of the patients the Hakim was to treat that day, and coming as it did on the Baggara chiefs announcement that they were to accompany him the next morning, quite settled what, for at all events the present, was to be their position in connection with the force. "You are to be surgeon in chief to the tribe, Robert," said the professor merrily, "so you had better make the best of it." The doctor did not pause to reply, but gravely prepared to receive the fresh patient, shaking his head solemnly at Frank the while. "It looks bad," he said. "The poor fellow seems to be beyond help." The Baggara appeared to be a finely built, manly young fellow as he was allowed to subside into his followers' arms, and then borne to where the Hakim waited. There they laid him upon a rug which Frank dragged ready for his reception, to leave their burden lying flat upon his back, while the bearers drew back, but the horse advanced, to lower its soft muzzle and sniff at its rider's face, before raising its head and uttering a shrill neigh. The four men stood looking at the Hakim, as much as to say, "He is dead, but you must bring him to life." The doctor's broad white brow was as a rule wonderfully free from lines, but as Frank glanced at him it was to see them gather now as straight and regular almost as if they had been ruled, from his eyebrows high up to where the hair had been shorn away. But no time was wasted, and no search was needed. The young chief--for such he seemed to be--had received a terrible thrust from a spear just below the collar-bone, and to all appearance he had bled to death. But as the doctor busily did what was necessary to the frightful wound, a slight quivering about the eyelids announced that life still lingered, and as the busy hands checked all further effusion and administered a restorative, the failing spirit's flight was for the time being stayed, though whether this would be permanent was more than the Hakim dared to say. "He must have been bleeding all the night," the doctor said, "and jolting about on a horse. The man's constitution is wonderful, or he would have died long before now." "Can you save him?" asked the professor. "I fear not, but I'll do all I can. Ask the men how this happened, Ibrahim." The information was soon obtained. "It was in a skirmish, Hakim, a day's journey from here. The men who joined us last night came in contact with a body of mounted men armed with spears, and from their description they seem to have been English troops. Many of the Baggara were killed, others wounded, and this man, their leader, was as you see. He will die, Excellency, will he not?" "It all depends on the way in which he is treated," replied the doctor. "He is in a dying state, but no dangerous part is touched. I may save his life." "It would be a miracle, Excellency," said the Sheikh slowly. "Look: there is a dark cloud coming over his face." "No," said the doctor gravely; "that is because the spirit in him is so low. He is falling into a sleep that is almost death, but he still lives. Tell these men that he is not to be moved, and that their chief must send a tent here to place over him. Let two of your men come now to spread a cloth above him to keep off the sun until the tent is set up." The message was given, and the men hurried away to rejoin their people, while in a very few minutes the Baggara chief and his companion appeared, walking hurriedly, and made their way to the side of the wounded man, to look at him anxiously and as if his condition was a great trouble to them, the elder going down on one knee to lay a hand upon the sufferer's brow. The next minute he was up again, and the two chiefs were chatting hurriedly together, before the elder turned to Ibrahim and spoke earnestly, his voice sounding hoarse and changed. "O Hakim," said the Sheikh, "he says that this is his son, whom he loves, and it will be like robbing him of his own life if the boy dies. He says that you must not let him sink. Sooner let all the wounded men who are coming to you die than this one. You must make him live, and all that the chief has is thine." "How can I make the man live?" said the Hakim sternly, and frowning at the chief as he spoke to the interpreter. "Has not all his life-blood been spilled upon the sand as they brought him here? Tell him at once that I am not a prophet, only a simple surgeon; that I have done all that is possible, and that the rest is with God." The Sheikh reverently translated the Hakim's words to the Baggara chief, and those who heard him fully expected to hear some angry outburst; but the chief bent humbly before the Hakim and touched his hand. In a short time, under the Baggara chief's supervision, a tent was set up over the wounded man, and by then two large groups of patients were waiting patiently for the Hakim's ministrations--those whom he had tended on the previous day, and about a dozen wounded men who had come in during the night. It was a new class of practice for the London practitioner, however familiar it might have been to the surgeon of a regiment on active service; but wounds are wounds, whether received in the everyday life of a mechanic who has injured himself with his tools or been crushed by machinery, or caused by shot, sword, and spear. So the Hakim toiled away hour after hour till his last patient had left the space in front of his tent and he had leisure to re-examine the chief's son, the father looking anxiously on in spite of an assumed sternness, and waiting till the keen-eyed surgeon rose from one knee. "Tell him," said the Hakim gravely, "that it will be days before the young chief can be moved." The words were interpreted, and the chief seemed to forget his own injury as he said in an angry tone that the little force must start at daybreak the next morning. "Then the young man will die," said the Hakim coldly. Ibrahim again interpreted, and the chief suggested that a camel litter should be prepared. But the Hakim shook his head. "Can't you give way?" said the professor softly. "A fairly easy couch could be made." "The man will certainly die if he is moved to-morrow," replied Morris sternly, "and if I lose a patient now a great deal of my prestige goes with him." "Yes, I know," said the professor; "but we are making an enemy instead of a friend; this man is not in the habit of having his will crossed." "We shall lose his friendship all the same," said the doctor, "if his son dies in my hands. I can save his life if he is left to me." "Dare you say that for certain?" The doctor was silent for a few minutes, during which he bent over his patient again, took his temperature, and examined the pupils of his eyes, and at last rose up and stepped from beneath the shade of the rough little tent. "Yes," he said; "I can say, I think for certain, that I will save his life if he is left to me." "What does the wise Hakim say?" asked the Baggara of Ibrahim; and the question was interpreted to the doctor. "Tell him, No! That his son must not stir if he is to live. If he is left for say a week all may be well." There was no outburst of anger upon the interpretation of these words, the Baggara hearing them to the end and then walking away, frowning and stern, without once looking back. About an hour later some half-dozen men came up leading a couple of camels laden with a larger tent and other gear. This was set up a short distance from the small one in which the young chief lay, and soon after it was done the chief rode up once more to see his son, looking anxious and careworn upon seeing the young man lying apparently unchanged. The Baggara went away without a word to the Hakim, but signed to the Sheikh to follow him. Meanwhile the rest of the sufferers came or were carried to take their turn before their surgeon, who was busy with his two aides, easing bandages, and where necessary redressing the wounds; while to the professor's surprise two of them, instead of being carried or supported away by their comrades were helped into the large tent. In all seven were placed there, and just as the long line of sufferers had been gone through, the Sheikh returned and said that the chief's orders were that the worst sufferers were to stay at the tent so as to be under the Hakim's eye. The doctor's was evidently to be no sinecure appointment, but he took it quite complacently, giving a few orders for the comfort of his staying patients, and without further incident the night fell, when a small hand-lamp was placed in the little tent, and the doctor announced that he was going to watch beside the young chief for the night. Accordingly a rug was placed for him, as well as such requisites as might be needed for his patient, and saying good-night, and refusing all offers to share his vigil, the doctor glanced inside the larger tent to see that all was going on right there, and then stood in the open for a few minutes to breathe the cool night air and listen to the low murmur going on in the camp, before entering the smaller tent and starting slightly. "You here, Frank?" he said quickly. "Yes, I am going to share your watch." "There is no need, my dear boy," said the doctor warmly. "Go and get a good night's rest. You must be tired." "I have not done half the work you have," was the reply, and after a little further argument the doctor gave way, and the watch was commenced, first one and then the other taking the lamp to bend over the insensible man, and make sure that he was breathing still. It was about an hour after midnight that Frank's turn had come, and as he had done some three times before, he took the lamp from where it stood, shaded from the sufferer's eyes, and went behind him, to kneel down and watch for the feeble pulsation, breathing deeply himself with satisfaction as he found that the respiration still went on, when as he rose, lamp in hand he nearly let it fall on finding himself face to face with a tall figure in white robes, who looked at him sternly, took the lamp from his hand, and bent over in turn. Frank neither spoke nor moved, but drew back a little, watching the face of the Baggara chief as the light struck full upon the swarthy, aquiline features for a few minutes, before the visitor rose and handed back the lamp, gazing full in the young man's eyes. Then, thrusting his hand into his waist scarf, he freed the sheath of a handsome dagger from the folds, and without a word handed it to Frank, motioning him to place it in his own belt, after which he went silently out of the tent, vanishing like a shadow. Frank stood motionless for a few minutes before setting down the lamp, and he was about to return to his place when the doctor's voice said softly-- "Well, Frank, how is he?" "Just the same," replied Frank. "You heard the chief come in, of course?" "The Baggara? No; surely he has not been again?" "Yes; looked at his son, and went away a few minutes ago. Were you asleep?" "No, I think not--I am sure not," said the doctor. "I turned my face away from the light when I lay down; but I heard you rise, and saw the movement of the lamp over the tent side when you took it up, and again when you set it down. Well, I am not sorry that he has been. It shows that even such a savage chief as this--one who lives by rapine and violence--has his natural feelings hidden somewhere in his heart." The pair were silent for some little time, and then the doctor rose to look at his patient in turn. "These are the anxious hours, Frank," he said, "before daylight comes. Much depends on our getting well through the next two. If the poor fellow is alive at sunrise I shall feel quite satisfied that he will recover; but if he does it will be by a very narrow way." The pair sat then and listened and watched, with the patient still breathing slowly and softly, seeming very calm at last when the first faint dawn appeared; and soon after the doorway was shaded by the Sheikh. "How is he, Excellencies?" he said in a whisper. "He will live, Ibrahim," replied the doctor. "Come and watch now while we go to my tent and snatch a few hours' rest." "I have some coffee ready for you, Excellency," whispered the old man. "You will take that first?" "Yes, it will be very welcome," said the doctor. "I suppose you heard them go?" said the Sheikh, as they stepped out into the soft grey light. "Go? Heard whom go?" said Frank quickly. "The Baggara," replied the Sheikh. "About two hours ago." "No!" said the doctor. "Not a sound." "They have all gone, Excellency, excepting the wounded in the next tent and twelve mounted men who are stationed round to act, I suppose, as a guard." "But they will come back?" "I cannot say, Excellency," replied the old man; "I only know that they have gone." "'And fold their tents like the Arabs,'" said Frank softly to himself, "'and as silently steal away.'" _ |
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