Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz
Category: Nonfiction
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was a hurricane and we arekidnapped, and this is a cave in which we sought shelter from the rain."
And he began to gaze around. At first he observed with astonishmentthat the rain had passed away and that it was not at all dark in thecave, as it was illuminated by the moon which was about to set. In itspale beams could be seen the whole interior of that wide but shallowniche. Stas saw distinctly the Arabs lying beside each other, and underthe other wall of the cave the white dress of Nell who was sleepingclose to Dinah.
And again great tenderness possessed his heart.
"Sleep, Nell--sleep," he said to himself; "but I do not sleep, and mustsave her."
After this, glancing at the Arabs, he added in his soul:
"Ah! I do want to have all these rogues--"
Suddenly he trembled.
His gaze fell upon the leather case containing the short riflepresented to him as a Christmas gift, and the cartridge boxes lyingbetween him and Chamis, so near that it would suffice for him tostretch out his hand.
And his heart began to beat like a hammer. If he could secure the rifleand boxes he would certainly be the master of the situation. It wouldbe enough in that case to slip noiselessly out of the niche, hide aboutfifty paces away, among the rocks, and from there watch the exit of theSudanese and Bedouins. He thought that if they awakened and observedhis absence they would rush out of the cave together but at that timehe could with two bullets shoot down the first two and, before theothers could reach him, the rifle could be reloaded. Chamis wouldremain but he could take care of him.
Here he pictured to himself four corpses lying in a pool of blood, andfright and horror seized his breast. To kill four men! Indeed they wereknaves, but even so it was a horrifying affair. He recollected that atone time he saw a laborer--a fellah--killed by the crank of a steamdredge, and what a horrible impression his mortal remains, quivering ina red puddle, made upon him! He shuddered at the recollection. And nowfour would be necessary! four! The sin and the horror! No, no, he wasincapable of that.
He began to struggle with his thoughts. For himself, he would not dothat--No! But Nell was concerned; her protection, her salvation, andher life were involved, for she could not endure all this, andcertainly would die either on the road or among the wild and brutalizedhordes of dervishes. What meant the blood of such wretches beside thelife of Nell, and could any one in such a situation hesitate?
"For Nell! For Nell!"
But suddenly a thought flew like a whirlwind through Stas' mind andcaused the hair to rise on his head. What would happen if any one ofthe outlaws placed a knife at Nell's breast, and announced that hewould murder her if he--Stas--did not surrender and return the rifle tothem.
"Then," answered the boy to himself, "I should surrender at once."
And with a realization of his helplessness he again flung himselfimpotently upon the saddle-cloth.
The moon now peered obliquely through the opening of the cave and itbecame less dark. The Arabs snored continually. Some time passed and anew idea began to dawn in Stas' head.
If, slipping out with the weapon and hiding among the rocks, he shouldkill not the men but shoot the camels? It would be too bad and a sadending for the innocent animals;--that is true, but what was to bedone? Why, people kill animals not only to save life but for broth androast meat. Now it was a certainty that if he succeeded in killingfour, and better still five camels, further travel would be impossible.No one in the caravan would dare to go to the villages near the banksto purchase new camels. And in such a case Stas, in the name of hisfather, would promise the men immunity from punishment and even apecuniary reward and--nothing else would remain to do but to return.
Yes, but if they should not give him time to make such a promise andshould kill him in the first transports of rage?
They must give him time and hear him for he would hold the rifle in hishand; he would be able to hold them at bay until he stated everything.When he had done, they would understand that their only salvation wouldbe to surrender. Then he would be in command of the caravan and lead itdirectly to Bahr Yusuf and the Nile. To be sure, at present they arequite a distance from it, perhaps one or two days' journey, as theArabs through caution had turned considerably into the interior of thedesert. But that did not matter; there would remain, of course, a fewcamels and on one of them Nell would ride.
Stas began to gaze attentively at the Arabs. They slept soundly, aspeople exceedingly tired do, but as the night was waning, they mightsoon awaken. It was necessary to act at once. The taking of thecartridge boxes did not present any difficulties as they lay close by.A more difficult matter was to get the rifle, which Chamis had placedat his further side. Stas hoped that he would succeed in purloining it,but he decided to draw it out of the case and put the stock and thebarrels together when he should be about fifty paces from the cave, ashe feared that the clank of the iron against iron would wake thesleepers.
The moment arrived. The boy bent like an arch over Chamis and, seizingthe case by the handle, began to transfer it to his side. His heart andpulse beat heavily, his eyes grew dim, his breathing became rapid, buthe shut his teeth and tried to control his emotions. Nevertheless whenthe straps of the case creaked lightly, drops of cold perspirationstood on his forehead. That second seemed to him an age. But Chamis didnot even stir. The case described an arch over him and rested silentlybeside the box with cartridges.
Stas breathed freely. One-half of the work was done. Now it wasnecessary to slip out of the cave noiselessly and run about fiftypaces; afterwards to hide in a fissure, open the case, put the rifletogether, load it, and fill his pockets with cartridges. The caravanthen would be actually at his mercy.
Stas' black silhouette was outlined on the brighter background of thecave's entrance. A second more and he would be on the outside, andwould hide in the rocky fissure. And then, even though one of theoutlaws should wake, before he realized what had happened and before hearoused the others it would be too late. The boy, from fear of knockingdown some stone, of which a large number lay at the threshold of theniche, shoved out one foot and began to seek firm ground with his step.
And already his head leaned out of the opening and he was about to slipout wholly when suddenly something happened which turned the blood inhis veins to ice.
Amid the profound stillness pealed like a thunderbolt the joyous barkof Saba; it filled the whole ravine and awoke the echoes reposing init. The Arabs as one man were startled from their sleep, and the firstobject which struck their eyes was the sight of Stas with the case inone hand and the cartridge box in the other.
Ah, Saba! what have you done?
X
With cries of horror, all in a moment rushed at Stas; in the twinklingof an eye they wrested the rifle and cartridges from him and threw himon the ground, tied his hands and feet, striking and kicking him allthe time, until finally Idris, from fear of the boy's life, drove themoff. Afterwards they began to converse in disjointed words, as peopledo over whom had impended a terrible danger and whom only an accidenthad saved.
"That is Satan incarnate," exclaimed Idris, with face pallid withfright and emotion.
"He would have shot us like wild geese for food," added Gebhr.
"Ah, if it was not for that dog."
"God sent him."
"And you wanted to kill him?" said Chamis.
"From this time no one shall touch him."
"He shall always have bones and water."
"Allah! Allah!" repeated Idris, not being able to compose himself."Death was upon us. Ugh!"
And they began to stare at Stas lying there, with hatred but with acertain wonder that one small boy might have been the cause of theircalamity and destruction.
"By the prophet!" spoke out one of the Bedouins, "it is necessary toprevent this son of Iblis from twisting our necks. We are taking aviper to the Mahdi. What do you intend to do with him?"
"We must cut off his right hand!" exclaimed Gebhr.
The Bedouins did not answer, but Idris would not consent
to thisproposition. It occurred to him that if the pursuers should capturethem, a more terrible punishment would be meted to them for themutilation of the boy. Finally, who could guarantee that Stas would notdie after such an operation? In such a case for the exchange of Fatmaand her children only Nell would remain. So when Gebhr pulled out hisknife with the intention of executing his threat, Idris seized him bythe wrist and held it.
"No!" he said. "It would be a disgrace for five of the Mahdi's warriorsto fear one Christian whelp so much as to cut off his fist; we willbind him for the night, and for that which he wanted to do, he shallreceive ten lashes of the courbash."
Gebhr was ready to execute the sentence at once but Idris again pushedhim away and ordered the flogging to be done by one of the Bedouins, towhom he whispered not to hit very hard. As Chamis, perhaps out ofregard for his former service with the engineers or perhaps from someother