XLIV
Stephen rode back with his Arab companion, to the desert city whereNevill waited. He had gone to the Zaouia alone with the guide, becauseNevill had thought it well, in case of emergencies, that he should beable to say: "I have a friend in Oued Tolga who knows where I am, and isexpecting me." Now he was coming away, thwarted for the moment, but farfrom hopeless.
It is a four hours' ride among the dunes, between the Zaouia and thetown, for the sand is heavy and the distance is about seventeen miles.The red wine of sunset was drained from the cups of the sand-hollows,and the shadows were cool when Stephen saw the minaret of the townmosque and the crown of an old watch-tower, pointing up like a thumb andfinger of a buried hand. Soon after, he passed through the belt of blacktents which at all seasons encircles Oued Tolga as a girdle encirclesthe waist of an Ouled Nail, and so he rode into the strange city. Thehouses were crowded together, two with one wall between, like Siamesetwins, and they had the pale yellow-brown colour of honeycomb, in theevening light. The roughness of the old, old bricks, made of baked sand,gave an effect of many little cells; so that the honeycomb effect wasintensified; and the sand which flowed in small rippling waves round thecity, and through streets narrow and broad, was of the same honey-yellowas the houses, except that it glittered with gypsum under the kindlingstars. Among the bubbly domes, and low square towers, vague in thedimming light, bunches of palms in hidden gardens nodded over crumblingwalls, like dark plumes on the crowns of the dancing-women.
In the market-place was the little hotel, newly built; the only Frenchthing in Oued Tolga, except the military barracks, the Bureau Arabe, anda gurgling artesian well which a French officer had lately completed.But before Stephen could reach the market-place and the hotel, he had topass through the quarter of the dancing-girls.
It was a narrow street, which had low houses on either side, with abalcony for every mean window. Dark women leaned their elbows on thepalm-wood railings, and looked down, smoking cigarettes, and callingacross to each other. Other girls sat in lighted doorways below, eachwith a candle guttering on a steep step of her bare staircase; and inthe street walked silent men with black or brown faces, whose whiteburnouses flowed round their tall figures like blowing clouds. Amongthem were a few soldiers, whose uniforms glowed red in the twilight,like the cigarette ends pulsing between the painted lips of the OuledNails. All that quarter reeked with the sweet, wicked smell of the East;and in the Moorish cafe at the far end, the dancing-music had begun tothrob and whine, mingling cries of love and death, with the passion ofboth. But there was no dancing yet, for the audience was not largeenough. The brilliant spiders crouched in their webs, awaiting moreflies; for caravans were coming in across that desert sea which pouredits yellow billows into the narrow street; and in the market-place,camel-drivers only just arrived were cooking their suppers. They wouldall come a little later into this quarter to drink many cups of coffee,and to spend their money on the dancers.
As Stephen went by on horseback, the girls on the balconies and in thedoorways looked at him steadily without smiling, but their eyes sparkledunder their golden crowns, or scarlet headkerchiefs and glitteringveils. Behind him and his guide, followed a procession of boys and oldmen, with donkeys loaded with dead palm-branches from the neighbouringoasis, and the dry fronds made a loud swishing sound; but the dancerspaid no attention, and appeared to look through the old men and childrenas if they did not exist.
In the market-place were the tired camels, kneeling down, lookinggloomily at their masters busy cooking supper on the sand. Negro sellersof fruit and fly-embroidered lumps of meat, or brilliant-colouredpottery, and cheap, bright stuffs, were rolling up their wares for thenight, in red and purple rags or tattered matting. Beggars lingered,hoping for a stray dried date, or a coin before crawling off to secretdens; and two deformed dwarfs in enormous turbans and blue coats,claimed power as marabouts, chanting their own praises and the praisesof Allah, in high, cracked voices.
As Stephen rode to the hotel, and stopped in front of the arcade whichshaded the ground floor, Nevill and another man sprang up from chairspushed back against the white house-wall.
"By Jove, Legs, I'm glad to see you!" Nevill exclaimed, heartily, "Whatnews?"
"Nothing very great so far, I'm sorry to say. Much as we expected,"Stephen answered. And as he spoke, he glanced at the stranger, as ifsurprised that Nevill should speak out before him. The man wore thesmart uniform of the Chasseurs d'Afrique. He was quite young, not overthirty-four, and had a keen, brave face, as Stephen could see by thecrude light of a lamp that was fixed in the wall. But the large greyeyes, somewhat pale in contrast with deep sunburn, were the eyes of apoet rather than those of a born soldier.
"I must introduce you and Captain Sabine to each other," Nevill went on,in French, as Stephen got off his horse and it was led away by the Arab."He's staying at the hotel. He and I've been talking about the Zaouiaand--the marabout. The upshot of our conversation will astonish you. Ifeel sure, when you hear it, you will think we can talk freely about ourbusiness to Captain Sabine."
Stephen said something polite and vague. He was interested, of course,but would have preferred to tell his adventure to Nevill alone.
"Monsieur Caird and I made acquaintance, and have been chatting all theafternoon," volunteered Sabine. "To begin with, we find we have manyfriends in common, in Algiers. Also he knows relations of mine, who havespoken of me to him, so it is almost as if we had known each otherlonger. He tells me that you and he are searching for a young lady whohas disappeared. That you have followed here a man who must know whereshe is; that in the city, you lost track of the man but heard he hadgone on to the Zaouia; that this made you hope the young lady was therewith her sister, whose husband might perhaps have some position underthe marabout."
"I told him these things, because I thought, as Captain Sabine's beensinking an artesian well near the Zaouia, he might have seen Miss Ray,if she were there. No such luck. He hasn't seen her; however, he's givenme a piece of information which makes it just about as sure she _is_there, as if he had. You shall have it from him. But first let me askyou one question. Did you get any news of her?"
"No. I heard nothing."
"Does that mean you saw----"
"No. I'll tell you later. But anyhow, I went into the Zaouia, almostcertain she was there, and that she'd seen me coming. That was a goodstart, because of course I'd had very little to go on. There was only avague hope. I asked for the marabout, and they made me send avisiting-card--quaint in the desert. Then they kept me moving about awhile, and insisted on showing me the mosque. At last they took me to ahideous reception room, with a lot of good and vile things in it, mixedup together. The marabout came in, wearing the black mask we'd heardabout--a fellow with a splendid bearing, and fine eyes that looked at mevery hard over the mask. They were never off my face. We complimentedeach other in French. Then I said I was looking for a Miss Ray, anAmerican girl who had disappeared from Algiers, and had been traced tothe Zaouia, where I had reason to believe she was staying with arelative from her own country, a lady married to some member of hisstaff. I couldn't give him the best reason I had for being sure she_was_ there, as you'll see when I tell you what it was. But he saidgravely that no European lady was married to any one in the Zaouia; thatno American or any other foreign person, male or female, was there. Inthe guest-house were one or two Arab ladies, he admitted, who had cometo be cured of maladies by virtue of his power; but no one else. Hisdenial showed me that he was in the plot to hide Miss Ray. That was onething I wanted to know; so I saw that the best thing for her, would befor me to pretend to be satisfied. If it hadn't been for what happenedbefore I got to the Zaouia gates, I should almost have been taken in byhim, perhaps, he had such an air of noble, impeccable sincerity. Butjust as I dipped down into a kind of hollow, on the Zaouia side of theriver, something was thrown from somewhere. Unluckily I couldn't be surewhere. I'd been looking up at the roofs behind the walls, but I musthave had my eyes on the wrong one, if this thi
ng fell from a roof, as Ibelieve it did. It was a little bundle, done up in a handkerchief, and Isaw it only as it touched the ground, about a dozen yards in front. ThenI hurried on, you may be sure, hoping it was meant for me, to grab thething before any one else could appear and lay hands on it."
"Well?"
"Luckily I'd outridden the guide. I made him think afterward that I'djumped off my horse to pick up the whip, which I dropped for a blind, incase of spying eyes. Tied up in the silk handkerchief--an Arab-lookinghandkerchief--was a string of amber beads. Do you remember the beadsMiss Ray bought of Miss Soubise, and wore to your house?"
"I remember she had a handsome string of old prayer-beads."
"Is this the one?" Stephen took the handkerchief and its contents fromhis pocket, and Nevill examined the large, round lumps of gleamingamber, which were somewhat irregular in shape. Captain Sabine looked onwith interest.
"I can't be sure," Nevill said reluctantly.
"Well, I can," Stephen answered with confidence. "She showed it to me,in your garden. I remember a fly in the biggest bead, which was clear,with a brown spot, and a clouded bead on either side of it. I had thenecklace in my hand. Besides, even if I weren't as certain as I am, whowould throw a string of amber beads at my feet, if it weren't some onetrying to attract my attention, in the only way possible? It was as muchas to say, 'I know you've come looking for me. If you're told I'm nothere, it's false.' I was a good long way from the gates; but much nearerto a lot of white roofs grouped behind the high wall of the Zaouia, thanI would have been in riding on, closer to the gates. Unfortunately thereare high parapets to screen any one standing on the roofs. And anyhow,by the time the beads were thrown, I was too low down in the hollow tosee even a waved hand or handkerchief. Still, with that necklace in mypocket, I knew pretty well what I was about, in talking with themarabout."
"You thought you did," said Nevill. "But you'd have known a lot more ifonly you could have made Captain Sabine's acquaintance before youstarted."
Stephen looked questioningly at the Frenchman.
"Perhaps it would be better to speak in English," suggested Sabine. "Ihave not much, but I get on. And the kitchen windows are not far away.Our good landlord and his wife do not cook with their ears. I wastelling your friend that the marabout himself has a European wife--whois said to be a great beauty. These things get out. I have heard thatshe has red hair and skin as white as cream. That is also thedescription which Mr. Caird gave me of the young lady seeking a sister.It makes one put two and two together, does it not?"
"By Jove!" exclaimed Stephen. He and Nevill looked at each other, butNevill raised his eyebrows slightly. He had not thought it best, atpresent, to give the mystery of Cassim ben Halim, as he now decipheredit, into a French officer's keeping. It was a secret in which Francewould be deeply, perhaps inconveniently, interested. A little later, theinterference of the French might be welcome, but it would be just aswell not to bring it in prematurely, or separately from their ownpersonal interests. "I wish to heaven," Stephen went on, "I'd known thiswhen I was talking to the fellow! And yet--I'm not sure it would havemade much difference. We were deadly polite to each other, but I hintedin a veiled way that, if he were concealing any secret from me, theFrench authorities might have something to say to him. I was obsequiousabout the great power of Islam in general, and his in particular, but Isuggested that France was the upper dog just now. Maybe his guiltyconscience made him think I knew more than I did. I hope he expects tohave the whole power of France down on him, as well as the UnitedStates, which I waved over his head, Miss Ray being an American. Ofcourse I remembered your advice, Nevill, and was tactful--for her sake,for fear anything should be visited on her. I didn't say I thought hewas hiding her in the Zaouia. I put it as if I wanted his help infinding her. But naturally he expects me back again; and we must makeour plans to storm the fortress and reduce it to subjection. There isn'tan hour to waste, either, since this necklace, and Captain Sabine'sknowledge, have proved to us that she's there. Too bad we didn't know itearlier, as we might have done something decisive in the beginning. Butnow we do know, with Captain Sabine's good will and introduction we mayget the military element here to lend a hand in the negotiations. AEuropean girl can't be shut up with impunity, I should think, even inthis part of the world. And the marabout has every reason not to get inthe bad books of the French."
"He is in their very best books at present," said Sabine. "He isthought much of. The peace of the southern desert is largely in hishands. My country would not be easily persuaded to offend him. It mightbe said in his defence that he is not compelled to tell strangers if hehas a European wife, and her sister arrives to pay her a visit. Arabideas are peculiar; and we have to respect them."
"I think my friend and I must talk the whole matter over," said Stephen,"and then, perhaps, we can make up our minds to a plan of action wecouldn't have taken if it weren't for what you've told us--about themarabout and his European wife."
"I am glad if I have helped," Sabine answered. "And"--ratherwistfully--"I should like to help further."