The Eye of Istar Part 14

"But the Lalla shall never grace the harem of the cruel, brutal Khalifa.

I myself will save her."

"I cannot give her warning, for I dare not again approach her," I pointed out, with sorrow.

"Shall I go back and tell her, while thou remainest here until my return?" he suggested.

"No," I answered, on reflection. "Silence is best at present. For four months, at least, Kano is safe. If the Sultan is warned within that time, his enemies may be overthrown."

"The dastardly plot of the abuser of the salt, the vile offspring of Shimr, shall be thwarted," he cried, fiercely. "The heads of its originators shall rot upon the city gate, and none shall enter the presence of the Lalla, with whose beauty none can compare."

"Act not rashly," I said. "We know the secret of the conspirators, therefore we may be able to thwart them so neatly that they fall victims to their own plot. Let us act with care and discretion, that the Empire may be saved from falling into the hands of the wild-haired fanatics of Omdurman, who, although my comrades-in-arms, are not my tribesmen."

"Be it even as thou commandest," he answered. "My life is equally at thy service to secure the undoing of the traitor, as for the diligent search we are about to make for the Rock of the Great Sin," and the claw-like fingers of the dwarf slowly grasped his pipe-stem, as he smoked on thoughtfully.

In the deep silence of the desert, under the pale light of the moon, that rose from the direction of the city from which we were fleeing, I sat, plunged in reverie, wondering whether my search would prove successful. My head ached, my lips were parched, and I felt spent with long travel, therefore, scooping a hole in the sand, I threw myself down to s.n.a.t.c.h a few hours' repose, as we had decided to be moving again before sunrise.

Sleep must have come to my eyes quickly, for I was suddenly awakened by the dwarf shaking me, and saying in a low whisper, as he placed his quick ear to the sand,--

"Hearken! Canst thou not hear the thud of horses' hoofs? Thine absence hath been detected, and we are pursued!"

And, as I strained my ears, I could distinctly detect the regular, monotonous thud of a horse urged across the desert at terrific pace; and, as I knelt upon the sand, I grasped the rifle that I had found packed on the camel, and held it loaded in readiness--prepared to defend myself, an example which Tiamo immediately followed. In the desert no law is recognised but that of the strong arm and the keen blade.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

THE ALARM.

Rapidly the solitary horseman drew near, galloping as if for life.

Being alone, it seemed probable that he had been sent forward by our pursuers to endeavour to obtain traces of us, and as the fleet Arab steed approached, Tiamo, stretched upon the ground, took careful and deliberate aim, ready to fire as soon as he approached within range.

Our camels lazily raised their heads to survey the newcomer, stirred uneasily as if they had presage of danger, and as on the alert we awaited the approach of the mysterious rider, we discerned to our dismay that he wore a white burnouse.

"Behold!" whispered the dwarf, "it is one of our Zamfara, who always act as scouts! He must die if we intend to escape."

It seemed that he had not discovered us, but was on his way to the well to water his horse, therefore I answered,--

"Take not his life unless the circ.u.mstances demand extreme measures. At least let him approach and have speech with us ere thou firest."

"Conquest lieth with those who strike the first blow," he replied, a sinister grin upon his ugly visage as again he covered the approaching figure with his rifle and carefully took aim. At that moment, however, the galloping _ngirma_ emerged into the moonlight, revealing a strange awkwardness in its white-robed rider's manner that struck me as remarkable, and as it dashed forward and became more distinct, the truth flashed upon me.

"By my beard!" I cried aloud, knocking, with sudden impulse, the rifle from Tiamo's hand. "By my beard! It's a woman!"

The rifle exploded, but the bullet went wide. The rider, startled at the shot, and thinking she had been fired at, pulled her horse instantly upon its haunches, and sat peering in our direction, motionless, in fear.

"Advance, and fear not, O friend!" I shouted to her, rising to my feet, but my peaceful declarations had to be thrice repeated ere she summoned courage to move forward to us, the bridle trembling in her hands. On approaching, however, she slipped quickly from the saddle of the foam-flecked animal, and tearing her haick from her face, bounded over the sand towards us.

Her appearance struck us speechless with amazement.

The mysterious rider whom we had feared, and who had so very narrowly escaped death by our hand, was Ayesha, the dumb slave of Azala.

With one accord we both eagerly inquired the object of her wild ride in the lonely desert so far from Kano at that hour, but she merely shook her head indicative of her inability to reply, and pressed her brown hand to her side, being compelled to halt for a moment to recover breath. In the moonlight we could see the look of fear and excitement in her dark eyes, with their kohl-marked brows, but although she gesticulated wildly, we failed to catch her meaning.

"Her mouth refuseth to utter sound," observed the dwarf. "Yet she seemeth to have followed us with some important object. No halt hath she made since leaving Kano, judging by the dust about her and the spent condition of her horse, which, by the way, belongeth to the Aga of the Janissaries, and one of the fleetest that the Sultan possesseth."

He spoke rapidly in Arabic, and the slave, unacquainted with any but her native Hausa tongue, gazed in embarra.s.sment from Tiamo's face to mine.

"Cannot she write?" I asked.

"Alas! no," answered my hideous little companion. "So carefully hath she studied the Lalla that she antic.i.p.ated her wishes by the looks in her eyes."

While thus in conversation, wondering how we could obtain the truth from her, she rushed towards her horse, and seizing its bridle, brought it towards us. Then, with a smile of triumph upon her brown, wrinkled face, she inserted her thin hand beneath the leather of the saddle, and produced therefrom a letter folded small, and addressed in Arabic to myself.

The sprawly characters I recognised instantly as Azala's, and on tearing it open I found it bore the seal of her ancient signet-ring, shaped like an Egyptian scarab. Tiamo El-Sadic, antic.i.p.ating my requirements, quickly kindled a piece of paper, and by its uncertain light I was enabled to decipher the hasty message from the woman I loved, which read as follows:--

"_Fly instantly to the city of Sokoto, O Zafar, my Beloved_. _Thine enemies seek thy life, and are already in search of thee. Three hours after I had watched thy departure from my lattice my father came unto me, and although I denied thy visit in order to shield thee, it was apparent that thou hast been betrayed, for he is aware of thy return.

As thou hast truly said, he feareth thee because thou bearest the Mark of the Asps, for he compelled me to uncover the mark I bear, so that he might gaze upon it and compare it with thine. Before me upon the Koran he hath sworn that thou shalt die. Already two troops of one hundred hors.e.m.e.n each have left the Kofa-n-Kura and have scattered over the desert in search of thee_. _Fly! Halt not, for my sake, so that thou reachest the city of Sokoto ere news of the Sultan's wrath can be conveyed thither. When thou reachest the city, seek at once the dyer Mohammed el-Arewa, who liveth in the Gazubi quarter, and deliver unto him the message Ayesha beareth thee. He will conduct thee into the Mountains of Kambari, where thou canst escape the vigilance of spies and continue thy journey unmolested. Halt not, but speed on, for thine enemies are closely following thy camels tracks. My haste causeth my hand to tremble, but Ayesha hath confidence in overtaking thee. Fly, and may Allah favour thee, and protect thee with the invulnerable shield of his blessing. Peace_."

Looking into the face of the dark-eyed slave who had so devotedly served her mistress, and undertaken a journey that few women could have accomplished, I stretched forth my hand for the second letter, which she gave me. It bore Azala's seal, and was addressed to Mohammed el-Arewa.

"Lift, O master, from thy servant's heart, the anxiety oppressing it, by telling him what news the mute hath brought," Tiamo said.

"We must travel at once to Sokoto," I answered, briefly. "Let us replace the camels' packs, for sleep must not come again to our eyes ere we enter the city."

"Do our enemies pursue us?" he inquired, eagerly.

"Yes. To reach Sokoto, and gain the a.s.sistance of one Mohammed el-Arewa, is our only chance of escape."

"Let us set forth," he said promptly, walking towards where the camels were kneeling. Then turning, he added, "Hast thou forgotten thou still wearest the silk robe of a eunuch? a.s.suredly it will attract the eyes of all men. Remove it and attire thyself in these," and rummaging in one of the camels' packs, he produced the white haick and burnouse of an Arab, together with the rope of brown twisted camel's hair to wind around the head, so as to keep the haick in place.

While he loaded our camels I carried out his suggestion, quickly transforming myself from a eunuch of the Sultan of Sokoto to a plain wanderer of the desert. With Ayesha we could only converse by gesticulation, rendering her thanks for conveying the message unto us.

Having no writing materials, I cut from my camel's trappings a piece of soft goatskin, and with the point of a knife traced roughly in Arabic the words,--

"_Verily a plot is on foot to encompa.s.s the overthrow of thy dynasty.

Warn thy father, the Sultan, of the conspiracy between the Khalifa Abdullah and his Grand Eunuch Khaznch. This message Ayesha beareth from thy friend, Zafar_."

On giving it to the slave to convey to her mistress, she concealed it next her tattooed breast. From our little store we gave her some dates, and as she motioned her intention of remaining to rest, and returning to Kano at dawn, we tethered her horse for her. Then, mounting our camels, we gave her "peace," and rode out again upon the silent, boundless plain.

The moon no longer shed her light; an intense darkness had fallen--that darkness which is invariably precursory of the sandstorm. Without even a star by which to guide ourselves we trusted that by good fortune we were travelling in the right direction. The dwarf, who had once before been over the ground, was searching for a landmark, and, to our mutual satisfaction, half-an-hour after dawn he discovered it.

"Lo!" he cried excitedly, shouting back to me and pointing to where, far away on the grey, misty horizon, a large hill appeared. "We are not mistaken, for we have struck the caravan route. Yonder is the Rock of Mikia, and behind it, the village of Dsafe. Before noon we shall enter the valley through which windeth a river, and continuing along its bank, we shall be within the gate of Sokoto ere it closeth at sunset."

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

MOHAMMED EL-AREWA.

After halting to refresh ourselves, during which time I s.n.a.t.c.hed a few moments to perform my _sujdah_, we remounted, and through the whole day, regardless of the sun's fiery rays, which struck down upon us like tongues of fire, we pushed forward over a rough, stony wilderness, devoid of herbage or any living thing except the great, grey vultures circling above with ominous persistency.

Throughout the day, my ugly little negro companion continually fingered his strange amulets, uttering curious pagan incantations in his own tongue, while to myself I repeated the "Kul-ya-ayyuha 'l-Kafiruna," and the "Kul-Huw' Allah," more than once inclined to upbraid my friend as an infidel. But, on reflection, I saw that any words of reproach would pain him to no purpose, therefore I held my peace. His face, black as polished ebony, seemed to grow increasingly ugly as he became more wearied; when he smiled his mouth stretched from ear to ear, and the craning of his neck, as he swayed with the undulating motion of his camel, gave him a weird, grotesque appearance, even in the brilliant glare of noon. The beads, trinkets, pieces of lizard skin, and mysterious sc.r.a.ps of wood and stone strung around his neck, he constantly caressed, while twice he suddenly dismounted, and holding his hands aloft, frisked like an ape, yelling at the sun as if he had taken leave of his senses.