Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz
Category: Nonfiction
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whose hearts overflowed with joy. This was fortunatefor Stas, as otherwise they would have punished him for his insolentreply to the Mahdi. They were, however, so occupied with what they hadseen that they could not think of anything else.
"I felt sick," said Idris, "but the sight of the prophet healed me."
"He is like a palm in the desert, and like cool water on a scorchingday, and his words are like ripe dates," answered Gebhr.
"Nur el-Tadhil lied when he said that he would not permit us to beadmitted to his presence. He admitted us, blessed us, and orderedAbdullahi to lavish gifts upon us."
"Who will munificently enrich us, for the wish of the Mahdi is sacred."
"Bismillah! May it be as you say!" spoke out one of the Bedouins.
And Gebhr began to dream of whole herds of camels, horned cattle, andbags full of piastres.
From these dreams he was awakened by Idris who, pointing at Stascarrying the sleeping girl, asked:
"What shall we do with that hornet and that fly?"
"Ha! Smain ought to reward us for them, separately."
"Since the prophet says that he will not permit any negotiations withthe infidels, Smain will have no interest in them."
"In such case I regret that they did not get into the hands of thecaliph, who would have taught that whelp what it is to bark against thetruth and the elect of the Lord."
"The Mahdi is merciful," answered Idris.
After which he pondered for a while and said:
"Nevertheless, Smain having both in his hands will be certain thatneither the Turks nor the English people will kill his children andFatma."
"So he may reward us?"
"Yes. Let Abdullahi's post take them to Fashoda. A weight will fall offour heads, and when Smain returns here we will demand recompense fromhim."
"You say then that we will remain in Omdurman?"
"Allah! Have you not had enough in the journey from Fayum to Khartum?The time for rest has come."
The huts were now not far off. Stas, however, slackened his pace forhis strength began to wane. Nell, though light, seemed heavier andheavier. The Sudanese, who were anxious to go to sleep, shouted at himto hurry and afterwards drove him on, striking him on the head withtheir fists. Gebhr even pricked him painfully in the shoulder with aknife. The boy endured all this in silence, protecting above all hislittle sister, and not until one of the Bedouins shoved him so that healmost fell, did he say to them through his set teeth:
"We are to arrive at Fashoda alive."
And these words restrained the Arabs, for they feared to violate thecommands of the Mahdi. A yet more effective restraint, however, was thefact that Idris suddenly became so dizzy that he had to lean on Gebhr'sarm. After an interval the dizziness passed away, but the Sudanesebecame frightened and said:
"Allah! Something ails me. Has not some sickness taken hold of me?"
"You have seen the Mahdi, so you will not fall sick," answered Gebhr.
They finally reached the huts. Stas, hurrying with the remnants of hisstrength, delivered sleeping Nell to the hands of old Dinah, who,though unwell also, nevertheless made a comfortable bed for her littlelady. The Sudanese and the Bedouins, swallowing a few strips of rawmeat, flung themselves, like logs, on the saddle-cloth. Stas was notgiven anything to eat, but old Dinah shoved into his hand a fistful ofsoaked durra, a certain amount of which she had stolen from the camels.But he was not in the mood for eating or sleeping, for the load whichweighed on his shoulders was in truth too heavy. He felt that inrejecting the favor of the Mahdi, for which it was necessary to paywith denial of faith and soul, he had acted as he should have done; hefelt that his father would have been proud and happy at his conduct,but at the same time he thought that he had caused the destruction ofNell, his companion in misfortune, his little beloved sister, for whomhe would willingly have sacrificed his last drop of blood.
So when all had fallen asleep he burst into a flood of tears, and,lying on a piece of saddle-cloth, he wept long, like the child which,after all, he still was.
XIX
The visit to the Mahdi and the interview with him evidently did notheal Idris, as during the night he grew worse and in the morning becameunconscious. Chamis, Gebhr, and the two Bedouins were summoned to thecaliph who detained them some hours and praised their courage. But theyreturned in the worst humor and with rage in their souls for they hadexpected the Lord knows what rewards, and in the meantime Abdullahigave each one an Egyptian pound* [* About five dollars.--_Translator'snote_.] and a horse.
The Bedouins began a quarrel with Gebhr which almost resulted in afight; in the end they announced that they would ride together with thecamel-post to Fashoda to demand payment from Smain. They were joined byChamis who expected that the patronage of Smain would be morebeneficial to him than a sojourn in Omdurman.
For the children a week of hunger and misery began, for Gebhr did notthink of feeding them. Fortunately Stas had the two dollars with theeffigy of Maria Theresa, which he got from the Greek; so he went to thecity to buy dates and rice. The Sudanese did not oppose this trip asthey knew that he could not escape from Omdurman and that under nocircumstances would he desert the little "bint." This experience didnot pass without some adventures, however, for the sight of a boy inEuropean dress buying provisions at the market-place, again attracted acrowd of semi-savage dervishes, who received him with laughter andyells. Fortunately many knew that he had been at the Mahdi's theprevious day, and they restrained those who wanted to assault him. Onlychildren threw sand and stones at him, but he paid no attention to them.
At the market-place the prices were too high. Stas could not obtain anydates at all and a considerable part of the rice was taken away fromhim by Gebhr for "his sick brother." The boy resisted with all hisstrength, in consequence of which a scuffle and fight ensued, in whichthe really weaker one came out with numerous contusions and bruises. Inaddition the cruelty of Chamis became manifest. The latter evinced anattachment for Saba and fed him with raw meat; on the other hand, atthe distress of the children, whom he knew of old and who had alwaysbeen kind to him, he looked with the utmost indifference, and when Stasaddressed him with a request that he should at least give Nell a morselof food, he replied, laughing:
"Go and beg."
And it finally came to the pass that Stas during the following days,desiring to save Nell from death by starvation, begged. Nor was healways unsuccessful. At times some former soldier or officer of theEgyptian Khedive gave him a few piastres or a few dried figs, andpromised to aid him on the following day. Once he happened to meet amissionary and a sister of charity, who, hearing his story, bemoanedthe fate of both children, and though they themselves were wasted withhunger, shared with him everything which they had. They also promisedto visit them in the huts and did actually come the next day in thehope that they might succeed in taking the children with them until thetime of the departure of the post. But Gebhr with Chamis drove themaway with courbashes. On the following day Stas met them again andreceived from them a little measure of rice together with two quininepowders, which the missionary instructed him to save most carefully inthe expectation that in Fashoda fever inevitably awaited both.
"You will ride now," he said, "alongside of the dense floating massesin the White Nile or the so-called 'sudds'. The river, not being ableto flow freely across the barriers composed of vegetation and weedswhich the current of the water carries and deposits in the more shallowplaces, forms there extensive and infectious swamps, amid which thefever does not spare even the negroes. Beware particularly of sleepingon the bare ground without a fire."
"We already wish to die," answered Stas, almost with a moan.
At this the missionary raised his haggard face and for a while prayed;after which he made the sign of the cross over the boy and said:
"Trust in God. You did not deny Him; so His mercy and care will be overyou."
Stas tried not only to beg, but to work. A certain day, seeing a crowdof men laboring at the place of prayer, he joined
them, and began tocarry clay for the palisade with which the place was to be surrounded.They jeered at and jostled him, but at evening the old sheik, whosuperintended the work, gave him twelve dates. Stas was immenselyoverjoyed at this compensation, for dates with rice formed the onlywholesome nourishment for Nell and became more and more difficult toobtain in Omdurman.
So he brought them with pride to his little sister, to whom he gaveeverything which he could secure; he sustained himself for a weekalmost exclusively upon durra taken from the camels. Nell was greatlydelighted at the sight of her favorite fruit but wanted him to share itwith her. So, tiptoeing, she placed her hands on his shoulders, andturning up her head, began to gaze into his eyes and plead:
"Stas! Eat a half, eat--"
To this he replied:
"I have already eaten. I have eaten. I have