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In the Mahdi's Grasp, a fiction by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 21. For A Fresh Start |
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_ CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. FOR A FRESH START One evening after the young chief had lain watching the desert in vain he signed for the Sheikh to come to him, and in a stronger voice bade him fetch the leader of the men left on guard. The man came, and a conversation ensued, the result of which was that the Baggara went away to join his companions, with whom a long consultation was held, followed by certain unmistakable movements which brought the Sheikh to his friends. "They are going to march," he said. "Their tents are being struck, and everyone is preparing. I saw four men seeing to the water-skins; others are packing, and soon after midnight they will leave." "And what about the young chief? He is not fit to go, eh, doctor?" "Unless he is carried," was the reply. The Sheikh smiled. "They are preparing a camel for him so that he can share it with one of the wounded men--a litter such as they use for the women. They can almost lie, one on either side, Excellencies. I expect that they will say nothing, but that we shall wake in the morning and find that we are alone." The Sheikh had hardly spoken when the party saw the head of the Baggara guard approaching. As the man came within reach he signed to the Sheikh to join him, and his words were very few before he turned upon his heel and strode away. "What does this mean, Ibrahim?" said Frank. "Did he tell you that they are going?" "Our tents are to be struck, Excellency, and everything loaded upon our camels before daylight." "Ah!" said Frank eagerly; "to march to the south?" "Yes, Excellency. His orders from the chief were that if he did not return in the number of days now passed we were to be taken south." "Whereto?" "Omdurman, Excellency. He has been waiting for the young chiefs speaking to say that he was strong enough to go. The time was past the day before yesterday. The young man told him an hour ago that he could bear it now." "Then the suspense is over!" cried Frank eagerly. "Mind, Excellency!" said the Sheikh, laying his hand upon the young man's arm; "the young man is trying to look round this way. He must not see your lips moving, nor hear you speak." It was a slip on Frank's part, but the young chief did not seem to have noticed anything, and mentally resolving to be more careful the speaker drew back a little as if waiting for orders. "Yes," said the professor; "the suspense is over, and we are once more about to start. This time it will be direct to our goal." "But how is it the Baggara chief has not returned, Ibrahim?" said the doctor gravely. "Who can say, Excellency?" replied the old Sheikh, with a shrug of the shoulders. "He took his young men on what you English people call a raid--to kill and plunder, and perhaps, as his son did, he has met with a stronger force. Instead of sweeping away he has perhaps been with his people swept from the face of the earth. He may have been only driven aside from his path, but there must have been some serious encounter, or he would have returned, for he showed us that he loved his son." "Going?" said the professor, for the Sheikh drew back. "Yes, Excellency; I must see that our preparations are made. My young men must be ready. You will give orders for your baggage to be packed, and before the time for starting my people shall bring up the camels and load them. The tent can stand till an hour before the time, and you will all doubtless lie down and rest." "No," said the professor; "it would be driving things too close. Send your young men to strike the tent, and we will have everything ready for the camels. We should none of us sleep, and if we have any time to spare it will be pleasant enough to lie down on the sand. One minute: have you any idea which way we shall go?" "I do not quite know," said the old Arab. "I asked the men, but they shook their heads. It will not be by the regular caravan track." "How do you know that?" asked the doctor. "Because, Excellency, there is water nearly as good as this at the end of the day's journey." "Well? What of that?" "These men must know the tracks as well as I do, Excellencies--perhaps better. If they were going by the regular road they would know that we should reach the wells." "I see," said the professor, nodding his head; "and they are filling water-skins?" "Yes, Excellency, and I am told to do the same." "Then we are going to strike right out into the desert, of course." "Yes, Excellency, to take the shortest ways; and it looks like flight." That evening the Hakim visited his one patient, and found him making excellent progress; but the young chief made no attempt to communicate the change that was to take place, contenting himself with bowing his head slowly by way of thanks, and then closing his eyes and turning away his head. He made signs to Frank, though, soon after, to bring him water, and the latter noted at once that the young man's eyes looked pained and anxious, and that his brow was a good deal lined. And it was plain enough to read the meaning of the anxious glances northward which he kept on giving, as if hoping against hope that the delay was not serious. But there was not a sign upon the distant horizon, though the air was cool and clear, so that the sky-line where the sandy sea joined the air was perfectly distinct, till night closed in over a busy scene, for the men of both parties were working hard packing and preparing. The two rows of camels crouched munching away contentedly after being watered, and as their loads were finished each was placed near the camel which was to be its bearer, and glanced at by the animals as if they quite understood. This took the attention of Sam, who seized the instant when he was making the final arrangement with Frank over the Hakim's leather cases, once more carefully packed, to whisper a few remarks. "They seem rum things, don't they, sir? Just look at that one how he keeps turning and rolling his eyes at these two long portmanteaus! Don't you tell me that they don't understand, because I feel sure that they do. That big, strong fellow's saying as plainly as he can, 'For two pins I'd bolt off into the desert and strike against that load, only it would be no good; they'd fetch me back; and I don't like leaving my mates.'" "Well, there is a peculiarly intelligent look about the beast certainly, Sam," said Frank, smiling. "'Telligent, sir? I should think there is! Look how he keeps on licking his lips and leering at us now and then. Beautiful and patient, too. Why, he's quite smiling at us, and as soon as they begin to hang his load upon his beautiful humpy back he'll begin moaning and groaning and sighing as if there never was such an ill-used animal before. Oh, they're queer beasts, and no mistake. I'd like to drive that fellow; that's what I should like to do. He'd taste the whip more than once." "Why?" asked Frank, for Sam stopped short and looked at him as much as to say, "Ask me." "Because, as the people say, I've got my knife into him, and I want to pay him." "Well, go on," said Frank. "I am waiting to hear your reasons." "Because he's an ugly, supercilious, contemptuous, sneering, ill-behaved brute, sir. Last time I went near him he called me names--a dog of a white nigger, or something of that kind. I can't say exactly what." "Absurd!" "Oh, but he did, sir, in his language, which of course I could not understand; but he did something insulting which I could. For there was no doubt about that--he spat at me, sir--regularly spat at me, and then snarled as much as to say, 'Take that! You come within reach, and I'll bite you!'" "They're not pleasant creatures," said Frank quietly, glancing round. "No, sir, they're not, indeed; and that isn't the worst of it." "Then what is?" "Why, this, sir: instead of going comfortably to one's night's rest, I've got to mount one of the ugly, sneering brutes, and he'll play at see-saw with me and make me as miserable as he can, turning my poor back into a sort of hinge. Ugh! I haven't forgotten my last dose." "Don't talk to me any more," said Frank, in a low tone of voice; "here are some of the other men coming." "To take down the patients' tent, I suppose, sir." Frank made no reply, but Sam was right, for they quickly and quietly lowered and folded the young chiefs tent, leaving him only a rug to lie upon, after placing the tent ready to be fetched by one of their camels. Seeing this, Frank went to where the weak, helpless man lay exposed to the cool night air and turned one side of the rich rug gently over him, receiving for thanks a gentle tap or two upon the arm. "I was going across to do that, Frank," said the doctor, as the young man returned to his own party. "It is not good for him to be exposed like this, but these people are so accustomed to the desert life that they bear with impunity what would kill an ordinary Englishman." "How much longer have we to wait, Ibrahim?" asked the professor. "We shall begin loading in less than an hour, Excellency," replied the Sheikh, "so as to have plenty of time." "Is everything packed?" "Yes, Excellency." "Nothing forgotten?" "I have been over the baggage twice, Excellency, and nothing has been left; the camels are all in beautiful condition, and there is an ample supply of water, for I have had four extra skins filled. We may want it, for the journey to-morrow will be over the hot, fine sand. I daresay, though, we shall halt for a few hours in the middle of the day." Soon after there was the busy sound of loading going on, the soft silence of the night being broken by the querulous moaning and complaining of the camels as burden after burden was balanced across their backs, the uncanny noise sounding weird and strange, the weirdness applying, too, to the dimly seen, long-necked creatures, which rapidly grew into shapeless monsters writhing their long necks and snaky heads as seen in the darkness, till they looked like nothing so much as the strange fancies indistinctly seen in some feverish dream. So well had the preparations been made that an hour amply sufficed for the loading up, and at the end of that time the two troops of camels were standing, each with its own drivers, a short distance apart, and nothing remained but for those who rode to mount and the order to be given for the start. It was just then that a tall, dark object, the one for which the doctor had been anxiously looking, loomed up from the Baggara camp and stalked silently up to where the Baggara chiefs son lay waiting upon his rug. As it reached his side, attended by two men, the great camel was stopped, and its load was more plainly to be seen, shaping itself into a couple of rudely made, elongated panniers, out of one of which, while it was held, a man leapt lightly out, the other being occupied by one of the weakest of the wounded. The doctor and Frank then superintended the lifting in of the chiefs son, who bore the movement without a sigh, and the great camel, after the rug had been laid across like a form of housing, was led back to its fellows, some twenty yards away. Then from out of the darkness an order rang out, and the waiting camels were mounted, after which there was the snorting of horses, and half a dozen graceful creatures trotted by to take the lead as advance guard, the troop waiting till they were a little distance ahead. At last the shadowy looking line of camels, horses, and men were awaiting the order to start, for some reason unaccountably delayed, when suddenly the Sheikh laid his hand upon Frank's arm. "Hark!" he whispered excitedly. "Listen! Do you not hear?" Frank shook his head. "It is quite plain," continued the Sheikh. "Horses--the trampling of many men. Keep close together, Excellencies, while I warn my people." "Warn them of what?" said the doctor calmly. "Danger, Excellency. These may be friends coming, but it may mean an attack or the coming of strangers. If it is either of the latter I shall try to lead you all into safety. So at a word follow me at once straight away into the desert. We may be able to escape." The Sheikh's camel glided silently away into the darkness, and the party sat straining their sense of hearing to the utmost, making out plainly enough now the dull sound of trampling hoofs, the jingling of trappings, and every now and then an angry snort or squeal as some ill-tempered beast resented the too near approach of one of its own kind. Then all at once, as the sounds came nearer, there was heard plainly enough the muttering, whining cry of a camel, followed by more and more proofs then that the coming party was one of greater strength than it had seemed to be at first. Just then the Sheikh came back out of the darkness, to halt his camel close up by the professor's. "It is not English cavalry, Excellencies," he said, "but a native force. I think it must be the Baggara chief and his men returned." At that moment a peculiar cry rang out from a couple of hundred yards or so away--a weird, strange whoop that might have come from some night bird sweeping through the darkness overhead. But it was human, and answered directly by the Baggara train close at hand, and directly after there was a loud shout, and a crowd of horsemen galloped up out of the mysterious-looking gloom, to mingle with the party about to start on their desert ride. _ |
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