Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz
Category: Nonfiction
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prostrated himself with due humilitybefore Stas' short rifle, understanding that it was the best policy toconciliate so formidable a weapon. After this he announced that duringthe slumber of the "great master" and the "bibi" he, alternately withMea, would watch that the fire should not go out, and squatted near it,mumbling quietly something in the nature of a song, in which everylittle while was repeated the refrain, "Simba kufa, simba kufa," whichin the Kiswahili language means, "The lion is killed."
But the "great master" and the little "bibi" were not inclined tosleep. Nell, at Stas' urgent request, barely swallowed a few pieces ofguinea-fowl and a few grains of boiled durra. She said that she did notcare to eat or sleep but only to drink. A fear seized Stas that shemight be suffering from fever, but he soon became satisfied that herhands were cool and even too cold. He persuaded her to enter the tentwhere he prepared bedding for her, first searching carefully in thegrass for scorpions. He himself sat upon a stone with short rifle inhand to defend her from attacks by wild beasts, if the fire did notafford sufficient protection. He was beset by great fatigue andexhaustion. In his soul he repeated to himself, "I killed Gebhr andChamis; I killed the Bedouins; I killed the lion, and we are free." Butit was as if those words were whispered to him by some one else and asif he himself did not comprehend their full meaning. He had not afeeling that they were free, but that something awful at the same timehad happened which filled him with uneasiness and weighed upon hisbosom like a heavy stone. Finally his thoughts began to grow blunt. Fora long time he gazed at the big moths hovering above the flame and inthe end he nodded and dozed. Kali also dozed, but awoke every littlewhile and threw twigs into the fire.
The night became dark and, what is a rare occurrence under the tropics,very still. They could hear only the cracking of the burning thorns andthe hissing of flames which illumined the overhanging rocks forming asemi-circle. The moon did not shine into the depths of the ravine, butabove twinkled a swarm of unknown stars. The air became so cool thatStas shook off his drowsiness and began to worry whether the chillwould not incommode little Nell.
But he became reassured, when he recollected that he left her under thetent upon the plaid cloth, which Dinah took with her from Fayum. Italso occurred to him that riding continuously from the Nile upwards,though imperceptibly, they must have ridden, through so many days,quite high; therefore to a region which was not threatened with feveras are the low river banks. The penetrating night chill appeared toconfirm this supposition.
And this thought encouraged him. He went for a moment to Nell's tent tolisten whether she slept peacefully; after which he returned, satnearer the fire, and again began to doze and even fell into a soundslumber.
Suddenly he was awakened by the growling of Saba, who previously hadlain down to sleep close by his feet.
Kali awoke also and both began to look about uneasily at the mastiff,who, stretching out like a chord, pricked his ears, and with quiveringnostrils scented in the direction from which they had come, gazedfixedly at the same time into the darkness. The hair bristled on hisneck and back and his breasts heaved from air which during the growlinghe inhaled into his lungs.
The young slave flung dry twigs into the fire as speedily as possible.
"Master," he whispered. "Take the rifle! Take the rifle!"
Stas took the rifle and moved before the fire to see better in thedusky depth of the ravine. Saba's growls changed into barks. For a longtime nothing could be heard, after which, however, from the distancethere reached the ears of Kali and Stas a hollow, clattering sound asif some great animals were rushing in the direction of the fire. Thissound reverberated in the stillness with an echo against the stonywalls, and became louder and louder.
Stas realized that a dire danger was drawing near. But what could itbe? Buffaloes, perhaps? Perhaps a pair of rhinoceroses seeking anexit from the ravine? In such case if the report of the shot didnot scare them and turn them back, nothing could save the caravan,for those animals, not less ferocious and aggressive than rapaciousbeasts, do not fear fire and tread under foot everything in their way.
If, however, it should be a division of Smain's forces who, havingencountered the corpses in the ravine, are pursuing the murderers? Stasdid not know which would be better--a sudden death or new captivity? Inaddition it flitted through his mind that if Smain himself was in thedivision, he might spare them, but if he was not, then the dervisheswould at once kill them or, what is worse, torture them in a horriblemanner before their death. "Ah," he thought, "God grant that these areanimals, not men!"
In the meantime the clatter increased and changed into a thunder ofhoof-beats until finally there emerged out of the darkness glitteringeyes, dilated nostrils, and wind-tossed manes.
"Horses!" cried Kali.
In fact they were Gebhr's and Chamis' horses. They came running, drivenevidently by fright, but dashing into the circle of light and seeingtheir fettered companions, they reared on their hind legs; after which,snorting, they implanted their hoofs in the ground and remained for awhile motionless.
But Stas did not lower his rifle. He was certain that at any momentafter the horses a shaggy-haired lion or a flat-skulled panther wouldappear. But he waited in vain. The horses quieted slowly, and what wasmore, Saba after a certain time ceased to scent. Instead, he turnedabout a few times on the spot as dogs usually do, lay down, rolledhimself into a ball and closed his eyes. Apparently, if any rapaciousanimal had chased the horses, then, having smelt the smoke or seen thereflection of the fire on the rocks, it had retreated into the distance.
"Something must have frightened them badly," Stas said to Kali, "sincethey did not fear to rush by the body of the lion and the men'scorpses."
"Master," answered the boy, "Kali can guess what happened. Many, manyhyenas and jackals entered the ravine to get at the corpses. The horsesran before them, but the hyenas are not chasing them, for they areeating Gebhr and those others--"
"That may be, but do you now unsaddle the horses; remove the utensilsand bags and bring them here. Do not fear, for the rifle will protectyou."
"Kali does not fear," answered the boy.
And pushing aside the thorns close by the rocks, he slipped out of thezareba. In the meantime Nell came out of the tent.
Saba rose at once and, pressing his nose close to her, claimed hisusual caress. But she, extending at first her hand, withdrew it at onceas if with aversion.
"Stas, what has happened?" she asked.
"Nothing. Those two horses came running up. Did their hoof-beats awakenyou?"
"I was awake before then and even wanted to come out of the tent, but--"
"But what?"
"I thought that you might get angry."
"I? At you?"
And Nell raised her eyes and began to gaze at him with a peculiar lookwith which she had never eyed him before. Great astonishment stole overStas' face, for in her words and gaze he plainly read fear.
"She fears me," he thought.
And in the first moment he felt something like a gleam of satisfaction.He was flattered by the thought that, after what he had accomplished,even Nell regarded him not only as a man fully matured, but as aformidable warrior spreading alarm about. But this lasted only a shorttime, for misfortune had developed in him an observing mind and talent;he discerned, therefore, that in those uneasy eyes of the little girlcould be seen, besides fright, abhorrence, as it were, of what hadhappened, of the bloodshed and the horrors which she that day hadwitnessed. He recalled how, a few moments before, she withdrew herhand, not wishing to pat Saba, who had finished, by strangling, one ofthe Bedouins. Yes! Stas himself felt an incubus on his breast. It wasone thing to read in Port Said about American trappers, killing in thefar west red-skinned Indians by the dozens, and another to accomplishthat personally and see men, alive a short while before, struggling intheir death-throes, in a pool of blood. Yes, Nell's heart undoubtedlywas full of fear and at the same time aversion which would alwaysremain with her. "She will fear me," Stas thought, "and in the depthsof he
r heart, involuntarily, she will not cease holding it ill of me,and this will be my reward for all that I have done for her."
At this thought great bitterness swelled in his bosom, for it wasapparent to him that if it were not for Nell he would either have beenkilled or would have escaped. For her he suffered all that he hadendured; and those tortures and that hunger resulted only in this, thatshe now stood before him frightened, as if she was not the same littlesister, and lifted her eyes towards him not with former trustfulness,but with a strange fear. Stas suddenly felt very unhappy. For the firsttime in his life he understood what it was to be moved to tears. Inspite of his will tears flowed to his eyes and were it not for the factthat it did not under any circumstances become "a formidable warrior"to weep, he might