In the Mahdi's Grasp Part 56

It was the hideous rule of the Mahdi and the sword, for as Frank looked, one who seemed to be an officer, in flowing white garments, rode forward from the young man's left, and, checking his horse close by the kneeling line, shouted an order.

In an instant the swords of the men behind the prisoners gleamed in the afternoon sunshine, they drew back the white sleeves from their dark arms, and one by one, and in nearly every case at a single blow, following what seemed like a lightning flash, head after head dropped upon the sand, and the quivering bodies fell forward amidst the triumphant shouts of the crowds around.

As the last head fell, the last body lay giving out the remnants of its life, Frank drew a hoa.r.s.e breath of thankfulness and relief that all was over.

It was too soon, for his companion touched him again, to point to the right, where a fresh horror was about to begin, and after watching once more the riding forward of the officer, and hearing him shout his order, the young Englishman closed his eyes, with the sickening sensation coming back, as he asked himself whether it was not some frightful dream; and with this thought he opened his eyes again that he might be sure.

But it was too true, for there was another score of prisoners who were mercifully spared from death, but were to suffer the new Mahdi's judgment against them for revolt against the officers appointed by him to be his vice-gerents in the city while he was away.

The mercy meted out was that of the tiger, not of the man. For swords were busy, keen and trenchant blades hewing and hacking at the unfortunate wretches, till all was over, and those who might recover would pa.s.s to the end of their miserable days crippled and helpless, each with his right hand and left foot shorn from the limbs.

Frank sat there motionless, for the power of action was completely gone, and like one absolutely stunned and dead to mental and bodily feeling, he looked and looked till there arose a wild, wailing outburst which thrilled him to the core. It was as if the sound were two-edged, Frank feeling that it was not uttered by the prostrate, partially butchered prisoners, who lay as they had been thrown, giving forth no moan, not so much as watching, with agonised eyes, their life-blood trickling into the sand; the cry came from the trembling crowd of women and friends of the victims, who had been waiting till they might dare to run forward in a body to bear away husband or brother, and see if his life could be saved.

It was now that a spasm of energy and excitement shot through Frank, as he gazed for a few moments, and then thought of the Hakim and the need for his ministrations there.

He turned quickly to his companion, who seemed to be reading his thoughts, for he nodded, and together they touched the flanks of their horses and cantered and then galloped off the field of blood, eager to leave the quivering bodies and headless corpses far behind.

The young Emir was perfectly silent now, and Frank had ceased to suffer from the repugnance he felt, for he could only think of what he had seen, so that it seemed but a matter of minutes before they had reached the gateway of the Emir's palace, though a good half hour had pa.s.sed away.

A minute later he had given the young Emir a quick nod, leaped from his horse, thrown the rein to one of the guards who followed him in, and run to their quarters at the garden end, where the camels were browsing contentedly and their keepers looking on, when, finding the rooms empty, the young man looked out.

Frank felt that the Hakim must be with the Emir's friend, and hurrying through the pa.s.sages and intervening rooms, he found Morris with the professor, Sam, and the Sheikh near to an angareb, or bedstead, on to which the wounded man had been carefully lifted a few minutes before.

Better still for the young man's mission, the Emir himself was standing there as if he had been looking on, and he raised his head at the young Englishman's entrance and gave him a friendly smile.

It was very near. Frank almost betrayed himself by bursting out pa.s.sionately with his news; but he recalled his position just in time, signed to the Hakim for his tablets, and in a few brief words wrote of the mutilated prisoners, and urged that the Hakim should ask for leave to try and save the sufferers' lives.

Seeing that something terrible was wrong, Morris leaned over his young companion's shoulder and read off the words he hastily wrote upon the china tablets he carried in a folding book.

Then, nodding gravely, he glanced at the Emir, who was gazing at him intently, and told the Sheikh to ask for permission to attend the prisoners.

The Emir's countenance became very stern and hard as he listened to the Sheikh's interpretation, and then replied--

"Tell the great Hakim that his mission is to heal the sick and wounded, and that I know his heart and that of his young black slave are as tender and compa.s.sionate as those of the angels of light. But I cannot do this thing. These men rose against the great Mahdi as well as against me and my friend whom you have saved. News of the revolt was sent to Khartoum in the night; the Mahdi's chief officer rode over here this day and gave the orders himself that these prisoners should die.

He was there to order each punishment himself. The great Hakim asks me to let him save these men. If I send him there the Mahdi's officer will take back the news, and my head will fall. Does the great Hakim wish this, and can he give me back my life?"

The stern-looking chief smiled sadly as he spoke, and his eyes seemed to speak as the words were interpreted to the end.

"You hear, Ben Eddin?" said the Hakim gravely, and turning to the Emir he gravely bent his head in acceptance of his words, and the next minute those two had grasped hands.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.

A RIDE FOR LIFE.

"No, my lad," said the Hakim, as the position was discussed, for the twentieth time perhaps; "it is horrible, but we have the choice of being friends with these people or their foes. As friends they treat us admirably; as foes it means cruel slavery."

"And perhaps death," said the professor. "You must bear it, Frank, though I know it is hard."

"It is terrible," said Frank bitterly, "for I have hard work to conceal my dislike to this man."

"But it has brought about what we so earnestly prayed for," said the doctor. "You have won for yourself the permission to go almost wherever you wish."

"Yes," said Frank bitterly; "but I get no farther, and I am once more beginning to feel that we have come to the wrong place. We must go to Khartoum."

"Ibrahim has, I know, worked hard for us; but he gets no tidings," said the doctor.

"None," said the professor; "but still we must not give up hope. We shall have to pet.i.tion the Emir after all. How long will it be before your patient can be left, Robert, my son? Let's see, it is nearly a month since you performed the operation."

"Four weeks to-morrow," replied the doctor; "and he is rapidly getting strong."

"But does not seem very grateful."

"No," said the doctor, smiling. "He is ten times as civil to Frank here as he is to me."

"You ought to have tried Frank's black dye," said the professor, laughing.

"Well," said the doctor, quite seriously, "if I had known as much as I know now I certainly should have followed his example. You see, the best of us at home look down upon a black skin as being worn by a lower type of man."

"Yes," replied the professor, "while here a white skin is the mark of the beast. Fortunately, I am getting of a good, wholesome tan colour."

"You are as dark now as Ibrahim," said the doctor, looking at his companion searchingly.

"Am I? Well, I suppose I am. So much the better. I want to be as free to come and go as Frank here. I'd say that it is terribly weary work being kept in as I am if it were not that the poor Hakim here is ten times worse off."

"And bears it all without a murmur," said Frank, turning to his friend with a look full of the grat.i.tude he felt.

"I don't mind at all," said the doctor, smiling. "You two need not fidget about me. I pity you."

"Why so?" said Frank wonderingly.

"Because I am so busy with my profession that the time goes quickly, and I am always gaining fresh experience in surgery; while you two can do nothing but fret and think."

"Don't speak, Frank," whispered the professor warningly; "someone coming."

It was not the Emir or his son, nor anyone to summon the Hakim to his patient's side, but the Sheikh returning from one of his rambles about the place, and the professor turned to him eagerly, for the old man's face suggested that he had something to tell.

"News, Excellencies; it is the common report that the Egyptian army is coming up the river. I hear it on all sides."

Frank shrugged his shoulders and glanced at the professor, who spoke.

"We have heard that report so often," he said.

"Yes, Excellency, but there is a great deal of stir and preparation.

Two more Emirs have come into the city with their followers, and the people are in despair with the treatment they receive."

The Hakim looked at him inquiringly.