Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz
Category: Nonfiction
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barkingloud enough to awaken the dead."
Then her indignation was directed against Saba.
"Nasty Saba! nasty! For this when he comes running up to me I won'tspeak a word to him and will tell him that he is horrid."
At this Stas, though he was not in a laughing mood, laughed and asked:
"How will you be able not to say a word to him and at the same timetell him he is horrid?"
Nell's eyebrows rose and her countenance reflected embarrassment, afterwhich she said:
"He will know that from my looks."
"Perhaps. But he is not to blame, for he could not know what washappening. Remember also that afterwards he came to our rescue."
This recollection placated Nell's anger a little. She did not, however,want to grant pardon to the culprit at once.
"That is very well," she said, "but a real gentleman ought not to barkon greeting."
Stas burst out laughing again.
"Neither does a real gentleman bark on leave-taking unless he is a dog,and Saba is one."
But after a while sorrow dimmed the boy's eyes; he sighed once, thenagain; after which he rose from the stone on which they sat and said:
"The worst is that I could not free you."
And Nell raised herself on her little toes and threw her arms aroundhis neck. She wanted to cheer him; she wanted, with her little noseclose to his face, to whisper her gratitude, but, as she could not findappropriate words, she only squeezed his neck yet more tightly andkissed his ear. In the meantime Saba, always late--not so much becausehe was unable to keep pace with the camels, but because he hunted forjackals on the way, or drove away vultures perched on the crests ofrocks with his barking--came rushing up, making his customary noise.The children at the sight of him forgot about everything, andnotwithstanding their hard situation began their usual caresses andplay until they were interrupted by the Arabs. Chamis gave the dog foodand water, after which all mounted the camels and started with thegreatest speed southward.
XII
It was their longest journey, for they rode with small interruption foreighteen hours. Only real saddle-camels, having a good supply of waterin their stomachs, could endure such a drive. Idris did not spare them,for he really feared the pursuit. He understood that it must havestarted long ago, and he assumed that both engineers would be at itshead and would not lose any time. Danger threatened from the directionof the river, for it was certain that immediately after the abductiontelegraphic orders were despatched to all settlements on the banksdirecting the sheiks to start expeditions into the interior of thedesert on both sides of the Nile, and to detain all parties ridingsouthward. Chamis assured the others that the Government and engineersmust have offered a large reward for their capture and that inconsequence of this the desert was undoubtedly swarming with searchingparties. The only course to pursue would be to turn as far as possibleto the west; but on the west lay the great oasis of Kharga, to whichdespatches also could reach, and besides, if they rode too far westthey would lack water after a few days, and death from thirst wouldawait them.
And the question of food became a vital one. The Bedouins in the courseof the two weeks preceding the abduction of the children had placed inhiding-places, supplies of durra, biscuits, and dates, but only for adistance of four days' journey from Medinet. Idris, with fear, thoughtthat when provisions should be lacking it would be imperativelynecessary to send men to purchase supplies at the villages on the riverbanks, and then these men, in view of the aroused vigilance and rewardoffered for the capture of the fugitives, might easily fall into thehands of the local sheiks,--and betray the whole caravan. The situationwas indeed difficult, almost desperate, and Idris each day perceivedmore plainly upon what an insane undertaking he had ventured.
"If we could only pass Assuan! If we could only pass Assuan!" he saidto himself with alarm and despair in his soul. He did not indeedbelieve Chamis who claimed that the Mahdi's warriors had alreadyreached Assuan, as Stas denied this.
Idris long since perceived that the white "uled" knew more than all ofthem. But he supposed that beyond the first cataract, where the peoplewere wilder and less susceptible to the influences of Englishmen andthe Egyptian Government, he would find more adherents of the prophet,who in a case of emergency would give them succor, and would furnishfood and camels. But it was, as the Bedouins reckoned, about five days'journey to Assuan over a road which became more and more desolate, andevery stop visibly diminished their supplies for man and beast.
Fortunately they could urge the camels and drive with the greatestspeed, for the heat did not exhaust their strength. During daytime, atthe noon hour, the sun, indeed, scorched strongly but the air wascontinually invigorating and the nights so cool that Stas, with theconsent of Idris, changed his seat to Nell's camel, desiring to watchover her and protect her from catching cold.
But his fears were vain, as Dinah, whose eyes, or rather, eye, improvedconsiderably, watched with great solicitude over her little lady. Theboy was even surprised that the little one's health thus far did notsuffer any impairment and that she bore the journey, witheverdecreasing stops, as well as himself. Grief, fear, and the tearswhich she shed from longing for her papa evidently did not harm hermuch. Perhaps her slightly emaciated and bright little countenance wastanned by the wind, but in the later days of the journey she felt farless fatigued than at the beginning. It is true that Idris gave her theeasiest carrying camel and had made an excellent saddle so that shecould sleep in it lying down; nevertheless the desert air, which shebreathed day and night, mainly gave her strength to endure thehardships and irregular hours.
Stas not only watched over her but intentionally surrounded her with aworship which, notwithstanding his immense attachment to his littlesister, he did not at all feel for her. He observed, however, that thisaffected the Arabs and that they involuntarily were fortified in theconviction that they were bearing something of unheard-of value, someexceptionally important female captive, with whom it was necessary toact with the greatest possible care. Idris had been accustomed to thiswhile at Medinet; so now all treated her well. They did not spare waterand dates for her. The cruel Gebhr would not now have dared to raisehis hand against her. Perhaps the extraordinarily fine stature of thelittle girl contributed to this, and also that there was in hersomething of the nature of a flower and of a bird, and this charm eventhe savage and undeveloped souls of the Arabs could not resist. Oftenalso, when at a resting place she stood by the fire fed by the roses ofJericho or thorns, rosy from the flame and silvery in the moonlight,the Sudanese as well as the Bedouins could not tear their eyes fromher, smacking their lips from admiration, according to their habit, andmurmuring:
"Allah! Mashallah! Bismillah!"
The second day at noon after that long rest, Stas and Nell who rodethis time on the same camel, had a moment of joyful emotion.Immediately after sunrise a light and transparent mist rose over thedesert, but it soon fell. Afterwards when the sun ascended higher, theheat became greater than during the previous days. At moments when thecamels halted there could not be felt the slightest breeze, so that theair as well as the sands seemed to slumber in the warmth, in the light,and in the stillness. The caravan had just ridden upon a greatmonotonous level ground, unbroken by khors, when suddenly a wonderfulspectacle presented itself to the eyes of the children. Groups ofslender palms and pepper trees, plantations of mandarins, white houses,a small mosque with projecting minaret, and, lower, walls surroundinggardens, all these appeared with such distinctness and at distance soclose that one might assume that after the lapse of half an hour thecaravan would be amid the trees of the oasis.
"What is this?" exclaimed Stas. "Nell, Nell! Look!"
Nell rose, and for a time was silent with astonishment, but after awhile began to cry with joy:
"Medinet! to papa! to papa!"
And Stas turned pale from emotion.
"Truly--Perhaps that is Kharga--But no! That is Medinet perhaps--Irecognize the minaret and even see the windmills above the wells--"
In fact, in the distance the highly elevated American windmillsresembling great white stars, actually glistened. On the verdantbackground of the trees they could be seen so perfectly that Stas' keensight could distinguish the borders of the vanes painted red.
"That is Medinet!--"
Stas knew from books and narratives that there were on the desertphantasms known as "fata morgana" and that sometimes travelers happento see oases, cities, tufts of trees and lakes, which are nothing morethan an illusion, a play of light, and a reflection of real distantobjects. But this time the phenomenon was so distinct, so well-nighpalpable that he could not doubt that he saw the real Medinet. Therewas the turret upon the Mudir's house, there the circular balcony nearthe summit of the minaret from which the muezzin called to prayers,there that familiar group of trees, and particularly those windmills.No,--that must