THE DESERT
Far down in the Desert of Sahara is the little oasis of El Merb. It isso small that our crude atlases miss it. It has but one well, and thefertile land is not more than forty rods in diameter. It has a mosque,a bazaar, a slave-market, and a cafe. It is called by the traders ofBiskra "The Key of the Desert." It is called by the Mohammedan priestsof Biskra "The Treasury of the Desert." It is called by the Frenchcommandant at Biskra "A place to be watched." The only communicationbetween El Merb and Biskra is by camels, and Abdullah was once thechief caravan-master.
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Abdullah, having felt the humps of his camels, turned to his driver.
"We start to-morrow, Ali," he said; "the beasts are fit."
Ali bowed and showed his white teeth.
"To-morrow," continued Abdullah, "since it is Friday; and immediatelyafter the middle prayer. I hear in the bazaar that the well at Okba ischoked. Can we make forty-two miles in one day, so as to cut Okba out?"
"We can," said Ali, "during the first three days, when the beasts donot drink; after that--no."
"Good," said Abdullah; "I will make a route."
Some one plucked at his sleeve and he turned.
"Sir," said a man with a white beard and eager eyes, "I learn that youstart for Biskra to-morrow."
"If Allah wills," said Abdullah.
"In crossing the desert," said the old man, "I am told there are manydangers."
"Friend," said Abdullah, "in sitting at home there are many dangers."
"True," said the old man; and, after an interval, he added, "I think Imay trust you."
Abdullah shrugged his shoulders and rolled a cigarette.
"Would it please you," said the old man, "to take a passenger forBiskra?"
"At a price," replied Abdullah, striking a match.
"What is the price?" asked the old man.
"Do you pay in dates, hides, ivory, or gold-dust?"
"In dust," replied the old man.
Abdullah threw away his cigarette. "I will carry you to Biskra," saidhe, "for eight ounces, and will furnish you with dates. If you desireother food, you must provide it. You shall have water, if I do."
"It is not for myself that I seek passage," said the old man, "but formy daughter."
"In that event," said Abdullah, "the price will be nine ounces. Womencast responsibility upon me."
"And her maid-servant?" asked the old man.
"Eight ounces," replied Abdullah.
"It is all I have," said the old man, "but I will give it."
"If you have no more," said Abdullah, "Allah forbid that I should stripyou. I will carry the two for sixteen ounces."
"Allah will make it up to you," said the old man. "If you will deign toaccompany me to the bazaar, I will pay you immediately."
They went to the arcades about the square and entered the shop ofHassan, the money-changer.
The old man pulled at his girdle and produced, after many contortions,a purse of gazelle skin.
"Friend Hassan," he said, "I wish to pay to this, my son, sixteenounces. Kindly weigh them for me."
Hassan produced his scales. They consisted of two metal disks,suspended by silk threads from the ends of a fern stem. He balancedthis stem upon the edge of a knife, fixed above his table. In one ofthe pans he placed a weight, stamped with Arabic characters. The panfell to the table. Hassan produced a horn spoon, which he blew upon andthen carefully wiped with the hem of his burnoose. He handed the spoonto the old man, who felt of the bowl.
"It is dry," he said; "nothing will stick to it."
Hassan plunged the spoon into the bag and brought it out, filled withgold-dust, which he poured into the empty pan. The scales rose, fell,trembled, and then settled even.
"I nearly always can judge an ounce," said Hassan; "a grain is anothermatter."
He weighed out sixteen ounces. The last ounce he left in the pan. Thenhe turned and, with a sweep of his arm, caught a fly from off the wall.He handled it with the greatest care until he held it in the tips ofhis fingers; then he put it into his mouth and closed his lips. In amoment he took it out. The fly was moist and dejected. He placed itupon the gold-dust in the pan. The fly began to beat its wings and workits legs. In a moment its color changed from blue-black to yellow. Itwas coated with gold-dust. Hassan lifted it with a pair of tweezers,and popped it into an inlaid box.
"My commission," he said. "Good-by. Allah be with you."
The old man tied up his bag, which seemed to be as heavy as ever.
"I thought," said Abdullah, glancing at the purse, "that seventeenounces was all you had."
"What remains," said the old man, and there was a twinkle in his eye,"belongs to Allah's poor, of whom I am one."
"I regret," said Abdullah, with some heat, "that I did not treble myusual price. I merely doubled it for you."
The old man's face clouded, but only for an instant.
"My son," he said, "I am glad that I have intrusted my daughter to you.You will bring her to Biskra in safety. At what hour do you start?"
"Immediately after the noon prayer," answered Abdullah, "and I wait forno one."
"Good," said the old man, "we shall be there; _slama_."
"_Slama_," said Abdullah, and they parted.
Abdullah went back to his camels. He found Ali asleep between the blackracer and the dun leader. He kicked him gently, as though he were adog, and Ali sat up smiling and pleased to be kicked, when he saw hismaster.
"We take two women with us," said Abdullah.
"Allah help us," said Ali.
"He has already," said Abdullah; "I have sixteen ounces in my girdle."
"It seems, then," said Ali, grinning, "that not only Allah has helpedyou, but you have helped yourself."
"Peace," said Abdullah, "you know nothing of commerce."
"I know, however," said Ali, "that the Englishwoman whom we carried twoyears ago, and who made us stop two days at the wells of Okba, becauseher dog was ailing, gave me a bad piece of silver that I could notspend in Biskra. 'T was she of the prominent teeth and the big feet. Iused to see her feet when she mounted her camel, and I used to see herteeth when I saw nothing else."
"Peace," said Abdullah. "Allah who made us made also the English."
"Perhaps," said Ali, "but one cannot help wondering why He did it."
"If we carry these two women," said Abdullah, "we must leave the cargoof two beasts behind. Leave four bales of hides; I took themconditioned upon no better freight offering; and put the women on thetwo lame camels. In this way we profit most, since we sacrifice leastmerchandise. The porters will be here at sunrise to help you load. Seethat they are careful. You remember what happened last time, when ourcargoes kept shifting. All seems well to-night, except you have loadedthat red camel yonder too high on the right side. How can a camel restif, when he kneels, his load does not touch the ground? He must supportthe weight himself."
"I intended to alter that in the morning," said Ali.
"The morning may never dawn," said Abdullah, "and meanwhile you rob thebeast of one night's rest. Attend to it at once. The speed of a caravanis the speed of its slowest camel."
"Who should know that better than I?" exclaimed Ali. "Have I notcrossed the desert nine times with you? Oh, master, bear with me, I amgrowing old."
"What is your age?" asked Abdullah.
"One-and-thirty," replied Ali.
"My friend," said Abdullah, "you are good for another voyage; and knowthis, when you fail me, I quit the desert, and turn householder, with awife or two, and children, if Allah wills it. I myself amsix-and-twenty. I have earned a rest. _Slama_." And he turned on hisheel to go, but he turned again.
"Ali," he said, "who lives in the first house beyond the mosque, on theleft--the house with the green lattices?"
"I do not know, my master," replied Ali, "but I shall tell you in themorning."
"Good," said Abdullah; "and there is a damsel who sits behind thelattice, and always wea
rs a flower in her hair, a red flower, a flowerlike this," and he put his hand into the folds of his burnoose andbrought out a faded, crumpled, red oleander. "Who is she?"
"Tomorrow," said Ali.
"Good," said Abdullah, and he went away.
"_Slama_" said Ali, and then he added, to himself, "There goes amasterful man, and a just one, but love has caught him."
And he hurriedly eased the red camel of her load.
The Turquoise Cup, and, the Desert Page 8