The Treasure of the Tigris Part 12

Otherwise, so far as he himself is concerned, he would not hesitate to have you put to death. Now, I myself make a living by safe-guarding travellers in the desert; moreover, it is my desire to visit Baghdad, where not only have I many friends, but also a brother who is a merchant in the bazaar. For the protection afforded by my hors.e.m.e.n I will charge but a small sum--only just sufficient for their maintenance. What say you?"

"What can we say," I replied, "except that to journey with you would be a great joy to us. But you told us a little while ago that you were shortly leaving Adiba on other business."

"True," said Haroun, smiling, "but when I spoke I was counting on being employed by yourselves. Shall we, then, fix a day for your departure?"

"That is hardly possible," said Edwards, "for I have undertaken to treat the sick child of our good host, as a return for his kindness to us, and it may be many days before he recovers; it may, indeed, be many weeks."

"And you would remain here for so long?" asked Haroun.

"If the Governor wishes," said Edwards.

"But he will not wish it," said Haroun; "for, before the child can be restored to health, Hayil will have ordered Majma to march against Adiba and destroy it, for harbouring foreigners. The fear of Hayil is great."

"Well," said I, "if you will give us a day or two to see how events turn out, we shall be able to decide as to the future."

"The future," said Haroun, with a sigh, "is known only to Allah. I shall, however, remain here, in Adiba, for a s.p.a.ce, in the hope of journeying with you to Baghdad. But I would warn you that there are some who, even now, are desirous of your speedy departure from the town."

The next few days were full of interest, as well as of a certain amount of excitement. Both Ali Khan and Haroun were keen sportsmen, and each morning we rode out with the former's hawks in search of gazelles, which gave us some glorious gallops. We had also a lion hunt--not in the programme, but forced upon us while hawking, and the memorable occasion gave us an insight into the characters of our two Arab friends, at whose dauntless courage Edwards and I were simply astounded. We were riding home after a successful morning, when we saw a shepherd running across the plain towards us and gesticulating wildly. He told us that a lion had for some time played havoc with his flocks, and that he had just marked him down into some thick bushes at a little distance. We all went off at once, and Ali Khan, stationing the matchlock-men who accompanied him round the beast's lair, ordered other men to throw stones into the bushes, with the intention of driving the lion out. To everyone's astonishment, this had the desired effect almost at once. There was a loud roar, and, without any further warning, out bounded the great brute, who knocked over one of the matchlock-men before a shot was fired. Edwards and I, sitting on our horses a little way off, instinctively pressed towards the lion, now standing defiantly over the fallen man; but, before we reached the spot, we saw both Haroun and Ali Khan simultaneously leap from their saddles and rush in. They were armed only with the daggers which they had drawn from their waists, yet they never hesitated until close up to the beast, when, to our surprise and no little amus.e.m.e.nt, they stopped and addressed it in the most flowing language.

"O lion," said the one, "do not waste thy strength on so feeble a man as that."

"O king," said the other, "thy victim is an unworthy meal for thy royal jaws. Try something of more n.o.ble blood."

Then with one accord they attacked their enemy in the most reckless manner with their knives, and several men with spears coming up, the lion was soon dispatched, when it was found that the matchlock-man had received only a few scratches, though suffering from a severe shock to his nerves. Many were the tales which we subsequently heard of the daring of our two friends on similar occasions, and no one could say which of them had slain single-handed the greater number of lions.

Such recreations as these, however, occupied only a fraction of our time, and the remainder was decidedly dull, or if not dull, then full of anxiety. Edwards soon discovered that his skill as a doctor was being put to the test, for the days pa.s.sed, and his patient seemed to make no headway.

"Do you suppose," I asked him at last, "that they have been giving him your medicine properly?"

"That is just what I have been wondering," he replied. "I do not believe that they have. But I cannot imagine how Ali Khan and his wife, who are both devoted to the child, would fail to do what I told them. However, I will make certain about it, by going straight to the Governor and asking him."

So Edwards went off, and, in the course of half an hour or so, returned, with a face almost livid with rage. He did not wait for me to ask him questions, but relieved his mind forthwith.

"Could you possibly conceive," he blurted out, "that the world could contain such a pack of bigoted idiots? The poor wretched little beggar is weaker than ever, and had not been given any of the things that I prescribed. I only discovered it by the merest accident. When I got to the room, I found one of the waiting-women watching over the sick child, and she told me that his mother, worn out with grief, had gone to her chamber to rest, while Ali Khan was busy administering justice in his hall. I seized the opportunity, and tackled the woman about the medicine. At first she pretended that she had never heard that I had supplied any medicine; but after I had rea.s.sured her by swearing that I would respect her confidences, and worked on her fears by telling her that if the boy died she would undoubtedly be held responsible for his death, and would probably frizzle in Gehennum, the old lady found her tongue. Bit by bit I dragged from her the whole miserable story. It seems that when my first draught was delivered at the sick-room, those abominable old native doctors were all there, and they harangued the Governor for his folly in consulting an infidel, about whom he knew nothing, and whose medicines might be, and probably were, poisons. High words followed, but in the end Ali Khan agreed that he would abide by the decision of the mulla, who was immediately sent for. Perhaps you have never seen a mulla playing the oracle. It is quite simple: he shuts his eyes, opens the Koran, plumps his finger on to a line, and then reads it out. Well, in this case, of course, the mulla said that the Koran decreed that my medicine would be most harmful to the child, and it was accordingly thrown away. The same thing has been happening every day since, and the only medicine given to the poor little chap has been some water swilled round a cup inside which the mulla has scribbled a text. Is it not positively sickening?"

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

"I have done it," he replied, with a chuckle. "I saw that it was neck or nothing, and fortunately I had taken some antipyrine with me. I made the woman fetch the cup with the text inside, and I told her that I was a bigger mulla than any mulla she had ever seen, and that I possessed the Evil Eye, which I would cast on her and her relations for ever and ever, if she disclosed a word of what I had said, or even mentioned that I had been there. She was what they call 'all of a tremble,' and I gave the child as strong a dose as I dared--antipyrine, Koran text, and all."

"Well done, old man," said I, slapping him on the back.

"It may be all right," said Edwards, "but it may not be. I am not very sanguine, for I am half afraid it was too late. However, we shall know to-night."

When we went down to the sick-room before going to bed that night, we found the Governor, his wife, and the Arab doctors in a state of ecstasy. The child was in what Edwards described as a "beautiful perspiration," and we were naturally overjoyed. Then the princ.i.p.al native doctor stepped forward and addressed Edwards.

"We have to confess to you," he said, "that none of your remedies have been applied to the patient, as the mulla, whom the Governor consulted, decided that they would be harmful to him. By the will of Allah, I and my learned brethren have been able to ease the child's sufferings."

I looked at my companion, whose face was ashy white, but who kept himself under perfect control. Addressing the Governor quietly, he told him that he thought it would be injurious to the health of his son if any further discussion took place in the sick-room, and he begged that he would permit us to adjourn to another apartment, as he wished to make a disclosure to him in the presence of the Arab physicians. The Governor agreed to the proposal, and, bidding the doctors and ourselves follow him, led the way to his private audience hall.

"What is it, my friend," he asked, "that you wish to say?"

"Great Lord of the Arabs and Protector of the Poor," said Edwards, standing forth boldly, "it is most unpleasant for me, who have received the greatest hospitality at your hands, to lay a complaint against the members of your household. But I would beg of you to bear in mind that I have only at heart the welfare of your sick child, and that anything I say is solely for his good. You yourself did me the honour to place confidence in me and seek my advice; yet, when I gave that advice, you pretended to be satisfied with it, but, unbeknown to me, you rejected it, because your mulla, who is in league with your court physicians, pretended that your sacred book forbade the application of my remedies."

I trembled at Edwards's temerity, and the Arabs looked at Ali Khan as if they expected him to rise in his wrath and destroy us both, but our host merely bowed his head and told Edwards to proceed, which he did with increased warmth.

"I am aware," he continued, "that I am not of your Faith, but I hold to as great a belief in the powers of Allah as do yourselves. I maintain, however, that although I am younger than the youngest of your physicians, I have had far greater experience in the treatment of diseases than he or any of his brethren. From the first I prescribed such medicines as I considered likely to benefit the patient. You yourself know that those medicines were thrown away. I knew it for certain some few hours ago, though I had suspected it earlier. I only discovered the truth on visiting the patient when he was alone this afternoon. Then I understood that he had never been given my medicines, and, in your absence, I took it upon myself to administer at once a strong dose, the result of which is now apparent."

"Sire," broke in the chief physician excitedly, "believe not a word that he says. He is seeking to misappropriate to himself the good that your own physicians have accomplished. What proof is there that the child had any of his medicines?"

"One person," said Edwards, "was present, and saw everything. It was the waiting-woman, Habisha, but I made her swear to reveal what she saw to no one."

The Arab doctors, evidently still believing that they had treated the child successfully, openly derided Edwards's a.s.sertion, and Ali Khan, wavering between loyalty to his own men and politeness to his guest, thought to settle the matter by interviewing the waiting-woman. Edwards at once realised the difficulty, for it was improbable that the woman, with the foreigner's Evil Eye in her mind, would disclose anything; so he volunteered to accompany the Governor, in order that the woman might be a.s.sured that she could now speak. The quarter of an hour that the two were absent was an uncomfortable one for me, left alone with the physicians; but, to my relief, they ignored my presence, and conversed amongst themselves.

The expression on Edwards's face, on his return, conveyed to me plainly that all had gone well; and a moment later Ali Khan told the Arabs that he had convinced himself that what his guest had said was true, that he had actually administered a dose to his son, but that fortunately it had been given in the cup which was inscribed with a text from the Koran.

Ali Khan now a.s.sumed a judicial air, as if p.r.o.nouncing judgment in his hall of justice, and he said that, after due consideration, he had come to the conclusion that, although the foreigner had acted wrongfully in secretly administering the medicine, nevertheless he had been requested to treat the child, and that having once given the child his medicines, it would be most dangerous to alter the course which had been commenced.

He therefore decreed that the foreigner should continue to treat his son, and that his own wise and worthy physicians should refrain from visiting the sick-room, until such time as he should invite them. I could see that the decision was a terrible and an unexpected blow to the Arab gentlemen, but they bowed politely to their master, asked permission to retire, and pompously sailed from the room.

No sooner were we alone than Ali Khan, throwing off all reserve, seized Edwards by the hand, thanked him fervently for what he had done, and apologised for his own weakness in allowing himself to be influenced by his doctors. Henceforward, he said, Edwards should have sole charge of the sick boy, and he begged him to forget the past and to do all that lay in his power to bring about his recovery. Edwards, of course, agreed to do his best, on the condition that he was not interfered with in any way, and he returned to his patient, with whom he now decided to spend the night.

The next week was a most anxious one. Edwards almost lived in the sick-room, being unwilling to risk the chance of some busybody undoing all his work. The child had ups and downs, but by the end of the week he was p.r.o.nounced to be out of danger, and after that he regained his strength so rapidly, that before many days Edwards was able to hand him over to his parents to be taken care of. Their grat.i.tude is indescribable; there was nothing that they would not have done for us.

Ali Khan offered us horses, permanent quarters in the palace, and many other things, all of which we politely declined, Edwards a.s.suring him that he had done nothing more than that which was due from a guest to his host.

All this while, we were surprised that the Arab doctors never put in an appearance, but we came to the conclusion that they were nettled by Edwards's success, and so kept out of the way. That they had lost their practice in the town soon became evident, as the gates of the palace were besieged each day by sick people, begging for the advice of the all-powerful foreign doctor. For some time Edwards did his best for them, but at last he grew weary of the increasing labours thus thrust upon him, and asked our host where his own physicians were. Ali Khan, with some hesitation, then confessed that they had left the town, and had gone off in high dudgeon, he knew not whither.

"But," he added, "while you are my doctor, I care not how long the others remain away."

That night, just as we were going to bed, we heard a knock at the door, and Haroun, who was still in Adiba, entered the room. We at once became aware, from the mysterious air that he a.s.sumed, that he was the bearer of news of no ordinary importance.

CHAPTER XIII.

WAR'S ALARM.

"What is the matter, Haroun?" I asked, "you seem perturbed."

"And small wonder," he replied. "The Governor's spies, whom he sent to discover the whereabouts of his physicians, have just returned, and have brought grave tidings. They tracked the men to Majma and then to Hayil, where they found that the ungrateful dogs had spread false reports about affairs at Adiba, denouncing the Governor as an infidel and a companion of infidels. The Amir, ever credulous, accepted their statements, and, moreover, gave all three of them appointments in his household. Majma was ordered to prepare for war against Adiba, and to a.s.semble all its fighting men, three days since, at a certain ford on the road to Hayil.

The spies remained in Hayil and watched the preparations, which the Amir declared were for the purpose of suppressing the tribes dwelling in the mountains to the south. But this they knew to be false, and they have ridden day and night in order to warn their chief of the coming storm."

"What will the Governor do?" I asked.

"He will fight his old enemy of Majma to the death," said Haroun. "On that point he is determined. Moreover, he has ever rebelled against the authority of the Amir, and he is prepared now to defy him."

"Surely," said Edwards, "that will be the height of folly, when an explanation would probably prevent bloodshed. We two Europeans are, doubtless, the cause of all the trouble. Let the Governor publicly expel us from the town, and secure its safety."

"That course," said Haroun, "he would never consent to take; but he has ordered me to inform you privately of the events that are likely to occur, and to request that you will save yourselves while there is yet time. He does not wish you to risk your lives by remaining here, and though he cannot spare my services at present, he will mount you on swift camels and give you a guide, who will conduct you to Baghdad, or at any rate as far as some place of safety in the neighbourhood of that city."