Chapter 8
The Fight in the Desert
As the three squatted upon the roof above the quarters of theOuled-Nails they heard the angry cursing of the Arabs in the roombeneath. Abdul translated from time to time to Tarzan.
"They are berating those in the street below now," said Abdul, "forpermitting us to escape so easily. Those in the street say that we didnot come that way--that we are still within the building, and thatthose above, being too cowardly to attack us, are attempting to deceivethem into believing that we have escaped. In a moment they will havefighting of their own to attend to if they continue their brawling."
Presently those in the building gave up the search, and returned to thecafe. A few remained in the street below, smoking and talking.
Tarzan spoke to the girl, thanking her for the sacrifice she had madefor him, a total stranger.
"I liked you," she said simply. "You were unlike the others who cometo the cafe. You did not speak coarsely to me--the manner in which yougave me money was not an insult."
"What shall you do after tonight?" he asked. "You cannot return to thecafe. Can you even remain with safety in Sidi Aissa?"
"Tomorrow it will be forgotten," she replied. "But I should be glad ifit might be that I need never return to this or another cafe. I havenot remained because I wished to; I have been a prisoner."
"A prisoner!" ejaculated Tarzan incredulously.
"A slave would be the better word," she answered. "I was stolen in thenight from my father's DOUAR by a band of marauders. They brought mehere and sold me to the Arab who keeps this cafe. It has been nearlytwo years now since I saw the last of mine own people. They are veryfar to the south. They never come to Sidi Aissa."
"You would like to return to your people?" asked Tarzan. "Then I shallpromise to see you safely so far as Bou Saada at least. There we candoubtless arrange with the commandant to send you the rest of the way."
"Oh, m'sieur," she cried, "how can I ever repay you! You cannot reallymean that you will do so much for a poor Ouled-Nail. But my father canreward you, and he will, for is he not a great sheik? He is Kadour benSaden."
"Kadour ben Saden!" ejaculated Tarzan. "Why, Kadour ben Saden is inSidi Aissa this very night. He dined with me but a few hours since."
"My father in Sidi Aissa?" cried the amazed girl. "Allah be praisedthen, for I am indeed saved."
"Hssh!" cautioned Abdul. "Listen."
From below came the sound of voices, quite distinguishable upon thestill night air. Tarzan could not understand the words, but Abdul andthe girl translated.
"They have gone now," said the latter. "It is you they want, m'sieur.One of them said that the stranger who had offered money for yourslaying lay in the house of Akmed din Soulef with a broken wrist, butthat he had offered a still greater reward if some would lay in waitfor you upon the road to Bou Saada and kill you."
"It is he who followed m'sieur about the market today," exclaimedAbdul. "I saw him again within the cafe--him and another; and the twowent out into the inner court after talking with this girl here. Itwas they who attacked and fired upon us, as we came out of the cafe.Why do they wish to kill you, m'sieur?"
"I do not know," replied Tarzan, and then, after a pause: "Unless--"But he did not finish, for the thought that had come to his mind, whileit seemed the only reasonable solution of the mystery, appeared at thesame time quite improbable. Presently the men in the street went away.The courtyard and the cafe were deserted. Cautiously Tarzan loweredhimself to the sill of the girl's window. The room was empty. Hereturned to the roof and let Abdul down, then he lowered the girl tothe arms of the waiting Arab.
From the window Abdul dropped the short distance to the street below,while Tarzan took the girl in his arms and leaped down as he had doneon so many other occasions in his own forest with a burden in his arms.A little cry of alarm was startled from the girl's lips, but Tarzanlanded in the street with but an imperceptible jar, and lowered her insafety to her feet.
She clung to him for a moment.
"How strong m'sieur is, and how active," she cried. "EL ADREA, theblack lion, himself is not more so."
"I should like to meet this EL ADREA of yours," he said. "I have heardmuch about him."
"And you come to the DOUAR of my father you shall see him," said thegirl. "He lives in a spur of the mountains north of us, and comes downfrom his lair at night to rob my father's DOUAR. With a single blow ofhis mighty paw he crushes the skull of a bull, and woe betide thebelated wayfarer who meets EL ADREA abroad at night."
Without further mishap they reached the hotel. The sleepy landlordobjected strenuously to instituting a search for Kadour ben Saden untilthe following morning, but a piece of gold put a different aspect onthe matter, so that a few moments later a servant had started to makethe rounds of the lesser native hostelries where it might be expectedthat a desert sheik would find congenial associations. Tarzan had feltit necessary to find the girl's father that night, for fear he mightstart on his homeward journey too early in the morning to beintercepted.
They had waited perhaps half an hour when the messenger returned withKadour ben Saden. The old sheik entered the room with a questioningexpression upon his proud face.
"Monsieur has done me the honor to--" he commenced, and then his eyesfell upon the girl. With outstretched arms he crossed the room to meether. "My daughter!" he cried. "Allah is merciful!" and tears dimmedthe martial eyes of the old warrior.
When the story of her abduction and her final rescue had been told toKadour ben Saden he extended his hand to Tarzan.
"All that is Kadour ben Saden's is thine, my friend, even to his life,"he said very simply, but Tarzan knew that those were no idle words.
It was decided that although three of them would have to ride afterpractically no sleep, it would be best to make an early start in themorning, and attempt to ride all the way to Bou Saada in one day. Itwould have been comparatively easy for the men, but for the girl it wassure to be a fatiguing journey.
She, however, was the most anxious to undertake it, for it seemed toher that she could not quickly enough reach the family and friends fromwhom she had been separated for two years.
It seemed to Tarzan that he had not closed his eyes before he wasawakened, and in another hour the party was on its way south toward BouSaada. For a few miles the road was good, and they made rapidprogress, but suddenly it became only a waste of sand, into which thehorses sank fetlock deep at nearly every step. In addition to Tarzan,Abdul, the sheik, and his daughter were four of the wild plainsmen ofthe sheik's tribe who had accompanied him upon the trip to Sidi Aissa.Thus, seven guns strong, they entertained little fear of attack by day,and if all went well they should reach Bou Saada before nightfall.
A brisk wind enveloped them in the blowing sand of the desert, untilTarzan's lips were parched and cracked. What little he could see ofthe surrounding country was far from alluring--a vast expanse of roughcountry, rolling in little, barren hillocks, and tufted here and therewith clumps of dreary shrub. Far to the south rose the dim lines ofthe Saharan Atlas range. How different, thought Tarzan, from thegorgeous Africa of his boyhood!
Abdul, always on the alert, looked backward quite as often as he didahead. At the top of each hillock that they mounted he would draw inhis horse and, turning, scan the country to the rear with utmost care.At last his scrutiny was rewarded.
"Look!" he cried. "There are six horsemen behind us."
"Your friends of last evening, no doubt, monsieur," remarked Kadour benSaden dryly to Tarzan.
"No doubt," replied the ape-man. "I am sorry that my society shouldendanger the safety of your journey. At the next village I shallremain and question these gentlemen, while you ride on. There is nonecessity for my being at Bou Saada tonight, and less still why youshould not ride in peace."
"If you stop we shall stop," said Kadour ben Saden. "Until you aresafe with your friends, or the enemy has left your trail, we shallremain
with you. There is nothing more to say."
Tarzan nodded his head. He was a man of few words, and possibly it wasfor this reason as much as any that Kadour ben Saden had taken to him,for if there be one thing that an Arab despises it is a talkative man.
All the balance of the day Abdul caught glimpses of the horsemen intheir rear. They remained always at about the same distance. Duringthe occasional halts for rest, and at the longer halt at noon, theyapproached no closer.
"They are waiting for darkness," said Kadour ben Saden.
And darkness came before they reached Bou Saada. The last glimpse thatAbdul had of the grim, white-robed figures that trailed them, justbefore dusk made it impossible to distinguish them, had made itapparent that they were rapidly closing up the distance that intervenedbetween them and their intended quarry. He whispered this fact toTarzan, for he did not wish to alarm the girl. The ape-man drew backbeside him.
"You will ride ahead with the others, Abdul," said Tarzan. "This is myquarrel. I shall wait at the next convenient spot, and interview thesefellows."
"Then Abdul shall wait at thy side," replied the young Arab, nor wouldany threats or commands move him from his decision.
"Very well, then," replied Tarzan. "Here is as good a place as wecould wish. Here are rocks at the top of this hillock. We shallremain hidden here and give an account of ourselves to these gentlemenwhen they appear."
They drew in their horses and dismounted. The others riding ahead werealready out of sight in the darkness. Beyond them shone the lights ofBou Saada. Tarzan removed his rifle from its boot and loosened hisrevolver in its holster. He ordered Abdul to withdraw behind the rockswith the horses, so that they should be shielded from the enemies'bullets should they fire. The young Arab pretended to do as he wasbid, but when he had fastened the two animals securely to a low shrubhe crept back to lie on his belly a few paces behind Tarzan.
The ape-man stood erect in the middle of the road, waiting. Nor did hehave long to wait. The sound of galloping horses came suddenly out ofthe darkness below him, and a moment later he discerned the movingblotches of lighter color against the solid background of the night.
"Halt," he cried, "or we fire!"
The white figures came to a sudden stop, and for a moment there wassilence. Then came the sound of a whispered council, and like ghoststhe phantom riders dispersed in all directions. Again the desert laystill about him, yet it was an ominous stillness that foreboded evil.
Abdul raised himself to one knee. Tarzan cocked his jungle-trainedears, and presently there came to him the sound of horses walkingquietly through the sand to the east of him, to the west, to the north,and to the south. They had been surrounded. Then a shot came from thedirection in which he was looking, a bullet whirred through the airabove his head, and he fired at the flash of the enemy's gun.
Instantly the soundless waste was torn with the quick staccato of gunsupon every hand. Abdul and Tarzan fired only at the flashes--theycould not yet see their foemen. Presently it became evident that theattackers were circling their position, drawing closer and closer in asthey began to realize the paltry numbers of the party which opposedthem.
But one came too close, for Tarzan was accustomed to using his eyes inthe darkness of the jungle night, than which there is no more utterdarkness this side the grave, and with a cry of pain a saddle wasemptied.
"The odds are evening, Abdul," said Tarzan, with a low laugh.
But they were still far too one-sided, and when the five remaininghorsemen whirled at a signal and charged full upon them it looked as ifthere would be a sudden ending of the battle. Both Tarzan and Abdulsprang to the shelter of the rocks, that they might keep the enemy infront of them. There was a mad clatter of galloping hoofs, a volley ofshots from both sides, and the Arabs withdrew to repeat the maneuver;but there were now only four against the two.
For a few moments there came no sound from out of the surroundingblackness. Tarzan could not tell whether the Arabs, satisfied withtheir losses, had given up the fight, or were waiting farther along theroad to waylay them as they proceeded on toward Bou Saada. But he wasnot left long in doubt, for now all from one direction came the soundof a new charge. But scarcely had the first gun spoken ere a dozenshots rang out behind the Arabs. There came the wild shouts of a newparty to the controversy, and the pounding of the feet of many horsesfrom down the road to Bou Saada.
The Arabs did not wait to learn the identity of the oncomers. With aparting volley as they dashed by the position which Tarzan and Abdulwere holding, they plunged off along the road toward Sidi Aissa. Amoment later Kadour ben Saden and his men dashed up.
The old sheik was much relieved to find that neither Tarzan nor Abdulhad received a scratch. Not even had their horses been wounded. Theysought out the two men who had fallen before Tarzan's shots, and,finding that both were dead, left them where they lay.
"Why did you not tell me that you contemplated ambushing thosefellows?" asked the sheik in a hurt tone. "We might have had them allif the seven of us had stopped to meet them."
"Then it would have been useless to stop at all," replied Tarzan, "forhad we simply ridden on toward Bou Saada they would have been upon uspresently, and all could have been engaged. It was to prevent thetransfer of my own quarrel to another's shoulders that Abdul and Istopped off to question them. Then there is your daughter--I could notbe the cause of exposing her needlessly to the marksmanship of six men."
Kadour ben Saden shrugged his shoulders. He did not relish having beencheated out of a fight.
The little battle so close to Bou Saada had drawn out a company ofsoldiers. Tarzan and his party met them just outside the town. Theofficer in charge halted them to learn the significance of the shots.
"A handful of marauders," replied Kadour ben Saden. "They attacked twoof our number who had dropped behind, but when we returned to them thefellows soon dispersed. They left two dead. None of my party wasinjured."
This seemed to satisfy the officer, and after taking the names of theparty he marched his men on toward the scene of the skirmish to bringback the dead men for purposes of identification, if possible.
Two days later, Kadour ben Saden, with his daughter and followers, rodesouth through the pass below Bou Saada, bound for their home in the farwilderness. The sheik had urged Tarzan to accompany him, and the girlhad added her entreaties to those of her father; but, though he couldnot explain it to them, Tarzan's duties loomed particularly large afterthe happenings of the past few days, so that he could not think ofleaving his post for an instant. But he promised to come later if itlay within his power to do so, and they had to content themselves withthat assurance.
During these two days Tarzan had spent practically all his time withKadour ben Saden and his daughter. He was keenly interested in thisrace of stern and dignified warriors, and embraced the opportunitywhich their friendship offered to learn what he could of their livesand customs. He even commenced to acquire the rudiments of theirlanguage under the pleasant tutorage of the brown-eyed girl. It waswith real regret that he saw them depart, and he sat his horse at theopening to the pass, as far as which he had accompanied them, gazingafter the little party as long as he could catch a glimpse of them.
Here were people after his own heart! Their wild, rough lives, filledwith danger and hardship, appealed to this half-savage man as nothinghad appealed to him in the midst of the effeminate civilization of thegreat cities he had visited. Here was a life that excelled even thatof the jungle, for here he might have the society of men--real men whomhe could honor and respect, and yet be near to the wild nature that heloved. In his head revolved an idea that when he had completed hismission he would resign and return to live for the remainder of hislife with the tribe of Kadour ben Saden.
Then he turned his horse's head and rode slowly back to Bou Saada.
The front of the Hotel du Petit Sahara, where Tarzan stopped in BouSaada, is taken up with the bar, two dining-rooms, and th
e kitchens.Both of the dining-rooms open directly off the bar, and one of them isreserved for the use of the officers of the garrison. As you stand inthe barroom you may look into either of the dining-rooms if you wish.
It was to the bar that Tarzan repaired after speeding Kadour ben Sadenand his party on their way. It was yet early in the morning, forKadour ben Saden had elected to ride far that day, so that it happenedthat when Tarzan returned there were guests still at breakfast.
As his casual glance wandered into the officers' dining-room, Tarzansaw something which brought a look of interest to his eyes. LieutenantGernois was sitting there, and as Tarzan looked a white-robed Arabapproached and, bending, whispered a few words into the lieutenant'sear. Then he passed on out of the building through another door.
In itself the thing was nothing, but as the man had stooped to speak tothe officer, Tarzan had caught sight of something which the accidentalparting of the man's burnoose had revealed--he carried his left arm ina sling.