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The Treasure of the Tigris: A Tale of Mesopotamia

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Title: The Treasure of the Tigris: A Tale of Mesopotamia

Author: A. F. Mockler-Ferryman


        
Release date: March 20, 2011 [eBook #35615]

Language: English

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                      THE TREASURE OF THE TIGRIS

                        A TALE OF MESOPOTAMIA

               BY LIEUT.-COLONEL A. F. MOCKLER-FERRYMAN


    AUTHOR OF "LIFE STORY OF A TIGER"
    "HEMMED IN" ETC.

    WITH EIGHT FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
    IN COLOUR BY ALLAN STEWART

    A. & C. BLACK LTD.
    4, 5 & 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.1

    PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

    _First published in 1908_




[Illustration: "I BALANCED IT EXACTLY, AND SLOWLY AND STEADILY DREW IT
UP"]




CONTENTS


I. INSTRUCTIONS

II. ACROSS MESOPOTAMIA

III. INTO THE DESERT

IV. GUESTS OF THE AENIZA

V. RAIDERS

VI. THE SHEIK'S STORY

VII. THE FIRE OF THE GODS

VIII. RASPUL, THE SEER

IX. IN THE TEMPLE OF SOPHANA

X. A DASH FOR FREEDOM

XI. ONLY HALF A CAPTURE

XII. RIVAL DOCTORS

XIII. WAR'S ALARM

XIV. THE BURST OF THE STORM

XV. FATE

XVI. RESCUE

XVII. THE TRAIL OF THE SERPENT

XVIII. TRUE FRIENDSHIP

XIX. IN CLOVER

XX. RE-UNION

XXI. A DESPERATE PLUNGE

XXII. BROTHERS AND CONSPIRATORS

XXIII. DAUD'S ADVENTURES

XXIV. THE DEVIL'S WELL

XXV. FOR DEAR LIFE

XXVI. A HAVEN OF REST

XXVII. VISITORS

XXVIII. MYSTERIES, SOLVED AND UNSOLVED

XXIX. A PROPHECY FULFILLED




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

BY ALLAN STEWART


"I BALANCED IT EXACTLY, AND SLOWLY AND STEADILY DREW IT UP!"

"THAT THIS WAS THE SHEIK HIMSELF WE INSTANTLY REALISED"

"HE PROSTRATED HIMSELF BEFORE THE GODDESS, AND BESOUGHT HER TO GIVE HEAT
TO THE FIRE"

"'BY THE WILL OF ALLAH,' HE SAID, 'THE CHILD IS SICK'"

"WHEN NEXT I AWOKE, EDWARDS WAS SITTING BY MY SIDE"

"DAYLIGHT SHOWED US, IN THE FAR DISTANCE, THE MOUND OF THE BIRS NIMROUD"

"WE COULD SEE BELOW US ... THE FIGURE OF A MAN LYING ACROSS THE GUNWALE"

"THE TWO OF THEM AS PROUD AS PEACOCKS"




THE TREASURE OF THE TIGRIS




CHAPTER I.

INSTRUCTIONS.


First of all, I must explain how it happened that I, Walter Henderson,
whom, I have every reason to believe, my masters regarded as a very
ordinary kind of boy, should have blossomed within a couple of years of
leaving school into a person of some importance. I say this with all
modesty, though my enemies will doubtless cast it in my teeth that no
modest man would write a book about himself.

On events which prevented my getting a commission in the Army, after
nearly having completed my course at Sandhurst, I do not propose to
dwell. At the time I considered the whole affair to be an error of
judgment, though my father ascribed it to lack of brains and too much
cricket. Be all that as it may, the fact remains that before I was
twenty, all my military ambition had been nipped in the bud, and I was
incarcerated in the back premises of that imposing but dreary-looking
old building, the British Museum. My uncle, Professor Ambrose Wentworth,
had taken compassion on me, and had appointed me his private secretary,
at a nominal salary. It was not at all the sort of life that I had
mapped out for myself, as I had fully made up my mind to be a soldier,
as most of my ancestors had been; and, as a matter of fact, had it not
been for my mother's entreaties, I should have enlisted directly I left
Sandhurst.

My uncle's particular line was Babylonian history, and probably no
living man knew more about history tablets, cylinder seals, and such
like things, than did he. As was, perhaps, only natural in a man whose
whole existence was wrapped up in deciphering cuneiform inscriptions and
hieroglyphics, he wrote an almost illegible hand, and it was my duty to
make fair copies of all his letters and documents--a task which I found
not only most uncongenial but also decidedly difficult. However, I did
my best, and my uncle was always kind and considerate; but I could see
that he was disappointed that he had been unable, at the end of a year,
to make me enthusiastic in the matter of his hobby. At last came the day
when I really thought that I could stand the life no longer. It was
towards the end of November; we had had a fortnight of dreary fogs and
drizzling rain, during which time I had worked by artificial light
continuously, and as I took my seat at my desk I made up my mind that
this day should be my last at the British Museum. Whether my uncle
observed my dejection, or whether his archaeological researches had
produced in him the faculty of seeing through a brick wall, I cannot
say, but when he entered the room in which I was at work, he came up to
me and laid his hand gently on my shoulder.

"Walter, my boy," he said, "you don't like this sedentary life, I can
see."

"It is the weather, uncle," said I. "I think it has got on my nerves."

"Well," said my uncle, "I have been meaning to speak to you for some
time. You have stuck to your uninteresting work for months without a
murmur, and you have proved to me that you have plenty of grit. I can
now offer you a change. Mr Jenkins and I have been talking matters
over, and we want someone to go to Babylon for us. We have come to the
end of our arm-chair researches, and we can do nothing more without a
man on the spot. If you like to undertake to study hard for six months,
we will send you out on a voyage of discovery for us. You will have to
make up your mind to real hard work, but I promise you that you will
have a thoroughly interesting trip, and will see a good deal of the
world. I will tell you plainly what you will have to do. In the first
place, you must be able to read cuneiform inscriptions and translate
them readily; secondly, you will have to learn a certain amount of
Arabic, so as to be able to converse with the natives; and lastly, you
will be required to go on an expedition to Babylon by yourself, and
follow up the work that Layard and others commenced. You can think it
over for twenty-four hours, and let me know whether you will undertake
it, or whether we shall have to look out for someone else."

I need, perhaps, hardly say that, as I was only too keen to travel, I
accepted the offer, and I began my six months' course of instruction
forthwith. It was hard work, as my uncle had foretold, and nearly nine
months passed before I was considered fit to start on my voyage of
discovery. But, at the end of that time, my study had resulted in making
quite an enthusiast of me, and I was most eager to get away to the land
which had already given to the world so many historical treasures.

Then arrived the eventful evening when I was to receive my final
instructions, and I was closeted with my uncle and Mr Jenkins for
several hours, listening to the great scheme that I was intended to
attempt to carry through. Up till then I had had no inkling that my trip
was to be anything more than an ordinary digging undertaking, in the
hope of finding something new; but when I entered my uncle's sanctum, I
soon saw that he and his assistant had something important to discuss
with me.

"Well, Walter," my uncle began, "the time has come at last; you are off
to-morrow, and now we are going to tell you the great secret that is
known only to Mr Jenkins and myself. If either of us were young enough
to undertake the work, you may be sure that we should not have let you
do it. But it wants a young and an energetic man to carry it through,
and that is why we have gone to the trouble of training you. What we are
going to disclose to you is absolutely in confidence; you must reveal it
to no one; for, as you will see, on the keeping of the secret depends
the whole success of your expedition."

My uncle now unlocked a safe, from which he took a tin despatch-box.
Then, unfastening a bundle of papers, he began:--

"THE GIRDLE OF SOPHANA, THE GREAT QUEEN. That is what we want you to
find. It exists, or it did a few years ago, beyond a doubt. If you can
discover it and bring it to England, you will be a made man. If you
fail, we shall not blame you. But I will tell you what we know about it.
Mr Jenkins and I have devoted years to the matter, and, from what we
have been able to gather from scraps of information, collected from
history tablets and other sources, we know that Queen Sophana was
possessed of a girdle of solid gold. Exactly what it was like we do not
know, though several life-like snakes are said to have been embossed
upon it, and it was supposed to have been possessed of certain magic
properties. We have not much to go upon, but we will not keep anything
from you, and you shall hear how we have put two and two together. In
the first place, the ancient representations, on cylinder seals and such
like things, of the queen, always show the girdle or belt round her
waist; secondly, the old writers, in describing the queen, frequently
refer to the magic belt; thirdly, on a fragment of a history tablet we
have found clear evidence that, on the death of the queen, her favourite
handmaiden dressed her mistress in pure white clothes and carefully
fastened on the girdle before the corpse was laid in the coffin of baked
clay.

"Then there are several other tablets on which mention is made of the
girdle; and we have copies of all these things ready for you to take
with you. But we should never have thought of trying to unearth this
treasure, had it not been for information of a much more recent date
that has come to us. Barely sixty years ago, some members of an Arab
tribe ransacking the ruins of Babylon, found, bricked up in a solid wall
many feet underground, a substantial tomb; inside the tomb were several
coffins, and within one of these, encircling a shrivelled corpse, lay a
belt of golden snakes--massive and of great weight. Now comes the
difficulty; for, according to the story which the Arabs relate, the
finders of the treasure, from the moment that they took possession of
it, suffered every species of calamity. But of all this you must read in
the manuscripts which we are handing over to you; it is too long a story
to go into now, and I need only tell you the end. The golden girdle was
eventually buried in the place where it had been found, by the sole
survivor of a family of the Shammar tribe, in whose possession it had
been for some years; and, in order that no one should notice that the
ground had recently been turned over, the man obliterated all trace of
his work by setting fire to the scrub jungle far and wide. Lastly, we
have the climax; the Arab committed suicide on the bank of the
Euphrates, by falling on the point of his broken spear.

"What you have to do is to endeavour to find out the spot where the man
buried the girdle; dig it up, and bring it home. Mr Jenkins and I have
written down our views as to how we think this can best be done; but you
must consider what we have written as mere suggestions, and you must be
guided by circumstances. We do not pretend to be anything more than
students and theorists; and, unhappily, such men as Layard and
Rawlinson, who could have helped us, have long since passed away. In
reading through your papers, you will, of course, come across a deal of
Eastern superstition; but I think that you are matter-of-fact enough to
pay no attention to the supposed magical properties of the girdle, or
any nonsense of that kind."

The remainder of the conversation it is unnecessary to give. I received
lengthy instructions as to the voyage, as to secrecy, and as to more
commonplace matters of business--how I was to draw money for my
expenses, and so forth. No detail had been forgotten by my uncle and his
assistant, who, I discovered, were staking their reputations on the
success of my quest.

I was handed a despatch-box containing, as I was told, all papers
bearing on the object of my journey; and then, like many another, I,
Walter Henderson, buoyed up with hope and puffed up with pride, left the
Museum under the impression that I was fairly on the road to fame.




CHAPTER II.

ACROSS MESOPOTAMIA.


About my voyage out I shall say little--for it was much like any
ordinary voyage to the East--and of the passengers one only need be
mentioned. That one joined the steamer at Marseilles, and became my
cabin companion. He was a German, named Kellner, an amusing and pleasant
individual, who talked English perfectly, and who, in spite of the fact
that he seldom lined up for his morning bath, was tolerably clean. For
some considerable time I could not make out what his business was, but
at last I discovered that he was a "traveller in glass and china," and
was going to Karachi. He interested me a good deal, as he appeared to be
thoroughly well educated, and able to discuss almost any topic.

At Karachi I had to remain two days, waiting for the Persian Gulf
steamer, and when I embarked again I found, to my astonishment and no
little joy, that the only other passenger on board was my friend
Kellner. He explained his unexpected reappearance by saying that he had
had a telegram from his firm, telling him to go on up the Gulf, as there
was a good opening for trade at Bushire and Baghdad. I was delighted at
having his companionship, and during the next week our friendship
increased considerably, so much so, that when we put in at Bushire, I
persuaded him to come on with me to Baghdad, and first do his business
there, taking Bushire on his way back. As was only natural, I had
talked over my plans with him freely, though I had never divulged the
secret of the Girdle, merely telling him that I was going to excavate at
Babylon for the British Museum. He was politely interested in all I had
to say, but he was not enthusiastic, giving it as his opinion that it
would be much more practical to induce the people to take to European
goods and forget all about their past history.

At last we got up to Bussorah, went on board the river steamer, and
after four or five days on the Tigris, came alongside the wharf at
Baghdad. I was duly accredited to the British consul-general, and was
met by a kawas, who removed me, bag and baggage, to the Residency at
once. Kellner went off with an Armenian gentleman, who, he told me, was
agent for the firm for which he was travelling, and we parted with many
expressions of regret that our long voyage was at an end.

The Consul-General had, I found, received a despatch from the Foreign
Office about me, instructing him to assist me in every possible way, and
he was kindness itself. I soon decided that there could be no possible
harm in my telling him the object of my journey; in fact, I came to the
conclusion that it was absolutely necessary. He said that I would have a
most exciting hunt, and that he himself would have liked to have
accompanied me, but unfortunately he could not leave Baghdad for some
time. The Residency surgeon, who had only been in the country about
eighteen months, wanted to visit Babylon, and it was soon settled that
he should go with me--an arrangement that pleased me immensely, as
George Edwards was a man of the world, with a delightful personality. It
took a few days to get things in order: the _firman_ from the Turkish
Government examined and signed by the governor; servants and horses
engaged, and an escort of mounted zaptiehs provided.

At length everything was ready, and, the evening before our departure,
I overhauled all the papers in my despatch-box, in order to refresh my
memory. I had studied them thoroughly on the voyage out, and knew their
contents almost by heart. I had even gone to the length of making a
_precis_ of everything in a note-book. I thought it advisable, however,
to have a final look through the papers, as I did not wish to encumber
myself with the heavy despatch-box, which I had arranged to leave with
the Consul-General. On opening the box I found, to my surprise, all the
papers in a state of confusion--confusion which could not have arisen
from the box having been turned upside down, because I always kept the
papers, which were docketed and tied up in order, in their proper
places, by filling up the box with two thick books. The books I now
found nearly at the bottom of the box, and the bundles of papers were
all untied and thoroughly mixed up. Someone had tampered with the box;
there was not a doubt of it. I hastily checked off the papers with the
inventory in my note-book, and, to my dismay, discovered that one was
missing. I went over everything again--the missing document contained a
carefully-drawn plan of the ruins of Babylon, with instructions as to
the best method of attempting to locate the burial-place of the Girdle.
It was, to my mind, the most important paper in the box; but its loss
was not irreparable, as I had fortunately made copious notes from it,
and possessed a duplicate plan. Nevertheless, it was most annoying to
find that someone had been turning over my papers, and I mentioned the
matter to my host at dinner that night.

"What sort of lock have you got on the box?" he asked.

"A Brahma," I replied, "and the key is on my watch-chain."

"Have you ever left your watch lying about?"

"Never; I have always been most particular about it."

Then I remembered that the day I went on shore at Muskat, I had left my
watch in my cabin. I remembered the fact, because when I visited Jelali
Fort, the governor showed me his watch, and I put my hand in my pocket
to take out mine, wishing to explain the advantages of a repeater, but
discovered that I had left it behind.

"Haven't you opened the box since then?" inquired the Consul-General.

"No, I don't think I have looked at it since I left Karachi."

"Well, probably the inquisitive steward went through your belongings
while you were on shore at Muskat, in hopes of finding a stray
bank-note, and I expect in his hurry he omitted to put all the papers
back."

So we forgot all about the incident, and the following morning Edwards
and I, with our cavalcade of pack-horses, and our soldierly-looking
escort, left the Residency, and riding down the dirty, narrow lane to
the bazaar, crossed the quaint old bridge of boats and got away into the
desert beyond. As we looked back we saw the Consul-General in a _kufa_
in mid-stream waving a last farewell to us, and then we put our little
Arab horses into a canter, and soon settled down for the ride to the
khan (or caravanserai) of Mahmoudieh. It was late when we reached the
solid gate of the khan, and it was closed for the night, but we managed
to find accommodation in the little coffee shanty just outside.

A couple of Bedouin chiefs were in possession of the only room, so the
verandah was handed over to us, and, the night being warm, it was far
pleasanter than being inside, though the corporal of our escort did not
at all like the arrangement, and tried to persuade us that it was most
unsafe to sleep as it were in the open, in a country which was known to
be swarming with robbers and cutthroats. Being Englishmen, we laughed at
the corporal's fears, and after supper and a smoke we turned in on the
frail wicker-work, crate-like beds that had been provided for us, taking
the precaution, however, to have our revolvers handy, and to put
everything of value either under the beds or under our bodies. How long
we had slept I cannot say; I had been dreaming hard, and I had dreamt
that I had found the Golden Girdle--I held it in my hand and gazed at it
in wonder--I found the clasp--with great difficulty I unfastened it--I
put it round my waist--I felt for the clasp to fasten it--nothing would
induce it to close. I pulled with all my might--the Girdle was too small
for my waist. I seized both ends in my hands, held my breath, and pulled
again. My waist was growing smaller and smaller--my body seemed to be
breaking in half. I gave a wild yell, and the clasp snapped with a
report like that of a pistol shot. And it was indeed a pistol shot.

As I awoke with a start, I found that the whole place was in a wild
state of commotion; the zaptiehs were all around us with lanterns, and
Edwards was standing by the side of his bed, with revolver in hand.

"What on earth is the matter?" I asked.

"Had a shot at a blackguard trying to loot our kit, but failed to score,
I am afraid," was the reply.

Then Edwards told us all about it; how he had been aroused by my
restlessness, how he saw, in the moonlight, two men kneeling close to my
bed, and how he quietly took his revolver from under his pillow, and
sprang up, only, however, in time to get a flying shot at the men as
they made off. Their horses were just outside the verandah, and the
thieves were on them and away before he could get another shot in. Our
troopers wanted to go in pursuit, but it would have been perfectly
useless their going out into the desert, as they had not the remotest
idea which road to follow; so we contented ourselves with the
examination of our belongings, to see what we had lost. My heart
absolutely stopped beating when I discovered that my money-belt had gone
from my waist. It was a chamois-leather belt that I had had specially
made in England, with neat little pockets all round it, in which I
carried the whole of my money--about L50 in sovereigns, and a certain
number of silver kerans and rupees.

We were not long in finding out who the thieves were, as the owner of
the house came running out to tell us that the two Bedouin chiefs had
disappeared without paying for their supper or lodgings. Then I
remembered that one of them had passed through the verandah to the inner
room while I was fastening the belt over my sleeping-suit, and he must
have noticed what I was doing, and guessed that the belt was worth
having. My dream all came back to me, and of course my long struggle
with the Golden Girdle was probably caused by the Bedouins taking off my
belt; but I cannot imagine how they got it off without awakening me. It
was gone; there was no doubt about that; and, turning to the
coffee-house man, I demanded what he knew of his two runaway guests.

"Lord!" he replied, "I never set eyes on them before this night. They
arrived after the gates of the khan were shut, and, saying that they had
ridden from the Euphrates, they begged a night's lodging before going on
to Baghdad. What manner of men they were I knew not. I swear it."

I believed him, for he was a Jew, and therefore not likely to give board
and lodging to two strangers unless he thought that they were
respectable and likely to pay their bill. Still, I was not quite certain
that the old gentleman was not a confederate of the Bedouins, so I
called the corporal and told him that I thought he had better take the
owner of the place into Baghdad as a prisoner, and report what had
happened. The consternation of the Jew when he heard the order is
indescribable. He grovelled on the ground at my feet; flung the dust
over his head, and swore to me that he was innocent of participating in
any plot. To be sent in to the Turkish governor of Baghdad would mean
his ruin. He would not be heard. He was a Jew, and there was no justice
for Jews. He begged and implored me to have mercy and to believe his
word. As a matter of fact, I had not the slightest intention of losing
the services of our escort by sending them back to Baghdad, and I was
quite confident that the Jew knew nothing of the robbery. The loss of
the money, however, was rather a serious thing, though, fortunately,
Edwards was carrying enough to supply our probable wants for some time;
and before making a start I sent a letter to the Consul-General, telling
him what had occurred, and asking him to send me some more money to
Babylon. As can be imagined, we were not too well pleased with the
result of our first night in Mesopotamia, and for the next night or two
we took the precaution to keep a sentry on duty while we slept.

Getting away as early as possible in the morning, we rode hard all day,
and, after passing Khan Haswa and Khan Mahawill, at sunset we crossed
the remains of the ancient Parthian earthworks, and entered the ruins of
the Great City, taking up our quarters at dusk on a roof-top of the
little modern village of Babil, lying close by the Euphrates. Every
house in the village was built of bricks dug out of the ruins of famous
Babylon; on every brick was the superscription of Nebuchadnezzar; and it
was with almost sacrilegious feelings that we lay down to rest among
such romantic and old-world surroundings.




CHAPTER III.

INTO THE DESERT.


Riding over the ruins on the following day, I realised for the first
time the immense task that I had undertaken. In all directions there
stretched miles and miles of barren land, with here and there low
mounds, ditches, and heaps of rubbish, overgrown with scrub and coarse
grass. Actual ruins, such as walls and the remains of buildings above
ground, there were none, though an occasional long deep trench, dug by
modern excavators, disclosed the presence of a wall at a considerable
depth below the surface. For centuries the place had been ransacked for
bricks to build the towns and villages in the neighbourhood, and even
now I found natives with donkeys loading up the panniers with masses of
broken brickwork.

With the scanty information that I possessed, to attempt to commence
digging for the Golden Girdle was, of course, hopeless--far more
hopeless than looking for a needle in fifty bundles of hay. I, however,
made a thorough exploration of the ruins, and corrected and added to my
maps, deciding that the next step to be taken was to get away among the
Bedouin tribes, and to try to discover some sort of clue as to the
burial-place of the Girdle. Why I thought of the Bedouins as likely to
be of assistance was this; I had among my papers a full-sized drawing of
an Arab horse-shoe, and my uncle had shown me the actual shoe, the
peculiar shape of which at the time interested me a good deal, though I
now found that similar ones were worn by all the Arab horses. It was a
thin disc of metal with a hole in the centre, but it differed from most
shoes in that it had eight nail-holes instead of the usual six. With the
drawing was the translation of a document, and a note to the effect that
the horse-shoe and its description were obtained from the Munshi Abdul
Aziz of Kerbela, and brought to England in 1899 by a certain Captain
Johnson, who was subsequently killed in South Africa. The document
itself ran as follows:-

     "_In the name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate, and, Said
     Mohammed, Agent of the High God, and of the Companions of Mohammed.
     Praised be the Lord, the Omnipotent Creator._

     "This is the Na'l Talisman of the Muntafik, which at one time
     adorned the hoof of the beautiful mare Shahzadi, by a Kuhailan
     Haifi sire, out of the dam Labadah. The famous mare, known to all
     the tribes, was captured by Feyzul, sheik of the Jelas Aeniza, from
     the Sheik Jedaan-ibn-Mirshid, who was killed in battle, when a
     portion of the Salama tribe of the Shammar was utterly defeated on
     the 17th of the month Saphar, A.H. 1281. Of the ill-omened Salama
     there escaped but one man, who was riding a brown horse, with four
     white feet and a white mark on the forehead, said by some to have
     been of the true breed of Saklawi, by others of Ubaiyan. The man
     bore away the serpent belt of pure gold, coveted by the desert
     tribes."

On the back of the original paper was scribbled in pencil:-

     "The shoe and its history were given to me by my old friend, Munshi
     Abdul Aziz, on his deathbed, in return for some slight services
     which I had rendered him in connection with the annual payment of
     pilgrim money. He told me that it had been carried, for many years,
     as a talisman, on the neck of the mare ridden by a former sheik of
     the Muntafik. How it came into his possession he preferred not to
     disclose; but he said that it was well known that the mare Shahzadi
     was shod on the off hind foot with an eight nailed shoe (the near
     hind, of course, having no shoe). H. J., 8.4.98."

I had already regarded this document as of very great importance, and I
now decided that my first object should be to discover Feyzul, and learn
what he had to say about the golden belt. It was true that Feyzul might
not be alive, and his tribe, in its turn, might have been wiped off the
face of the earth; but still it was the only clue, and it seemed to me
to be worth while following up. So we left Babil and went off to the
town of Hillah, where we imagined we might be able to get the desired
information from the Turkish police officer, whose duty it was to keep
an eye on the Bedouin tribes of the neighbourhood. The officer was most
polite, and, after inspecting my passport and _firman_, sent for his
sergeant, and asked him what was the latest information that he had of
the Jelas sheik.

The sergeant, with much pomp and ceremony, produced a note-book from his
pocket, and rapidly turning over the leaves, at length came to the page
he wanted, when he read out deliberately and in a low voice:--

"Faris-ibn-Feyzul, tribe of Jelas, otherwise Ruwalla, of the Aeniza; 742
men; 428 women; many children; valuable mares and stallions; also camels
and sheep. Blood feud with the Salama of the Shammar; constantly
fighting. The tribe was driven from the Ndjef marshes by the Turkish
troops two months ago, and was reported to have moved about four days
south."

"Is that all?"

"It is all that I know, captain, for, as you are aware, I have been out
in the northern district for the past month."

"What age do you suppose this Faris to be?" I asked.

"Oh, anything over fifty-five, might be seventy, but rides and fights
like a man of thirty."

Then the officer suddenly appeared to become inquisitive, and asked me
why I was so anxious to find this particular Arab chief, who had not the
best of reputations. For the moment I was rather nonplussed, but I
satisfied him by saying that I had been told that he and his tribe knew
the ruins of Babylon better than most people, and that they would be
sure to know what parts had been explored by previous excavators. In the
end the sergeant was told to try and find out where the chief had his
headquarters, and during the next few days I and my party were
entertained by the police officer, who showed us all the sights of the
neighborhood--including the so-called Tower of Babel, or Birs Nimroud.

Before the end of the week Faris-ibn-Feyzul had been discovered, and the
sergeant proudly related how one of his men had seen him in the bazaar
at Kerbela, and had tracked him for three days and nights out into the
desert, and had found his tribe encamped barely two days' ride from
Hillah.

So far so good. I knew that the Jelas tribe still existed, and though
Sheik Feyzul was dead, his son Faris reigned in his stead. The next
point was how to open up communications with him.

"It would be perfectly useless my sending for him," said the Turkish
officer, "for he would not come. They are most independent devils, all
these Bedouins, and you cannot even bribe them. You might send a dozen
messages to this Faris, and tell him that you would pay him a thousand
kerans a day for his services, but that would not be an inducement to
him. He would imagine that we had designs on him."

"I must get hold of him somehow," I said; "what do you think I had
better do?"

"There is only one way that I can see," was the reply. "Leave your
zaptiehs here, and ride off with your friend to Faris's camp without an
escort. I will give you a guide to show you the way, but he must leave
you as soon as you are within sight of the camp. It will be somewhat
risky, as, of course, the Jelas people may take you for Turks and make
short work of you, but if you pretend to be simple English travellers
having lost the way, I daresay it will be all right. I shall, however,
have to get you to give me a paper saying that you left Hillah against
my wish, in case you come to grief, as otherwise I might get into
trouble."

Edwards and I agreed that we had better make the plunge into the desert,
and leaving our belongings in charge of the zaptiehs, with strict
injunction that if nothing was heard of us within a week, they were to
follow us up, we gave the Turk his clearance certificate, and rode off
with our guide at daybreak next morning.

After a somewhat uninteresting ride of a long day, with always in front
of us a mirage rising out of the sandy desert, and enticing us to put
spurs to our horses and gallop to the shade of the palm-groves, which
appeared to grow on the edge of a lake surrounding a great city and its
thousand minarets; after halting for the night in a real date garden, we
arrived late in the afternoon of the second day on a low ridge from
which the country around was visible for many miles. Here the guide
stopped, telling us that we would now have to proceed alone. He then
pointed out the line which we were to take--roughly south-west--showing
us, in the far distance, a tiny speck, which he pronounced to be the
encampment of the Jelas sheik. Looking through our field-glasses, we
could just discern the resemblance to an encampment, but the prospect of
reaching it before dark seemed small. The guide, however, assured us
that it was not as far off as we imagined; the country was deceptive;
and we should probably reach our destination before sundown. With hearts
none too light, we parted from the guide, and started in a bee-line for
our goal.

Before going any great distance, we got hung up by a morass, which had
to be circumvented; then the horses showed signs of being fatigued, and
we were obliged to get off and lead them.

"A jolly wild goose chase this seems to be," said Edwards, somewhat
sulkily.

"Not very cheerful, is it?" I replied.

Neither of us spoke again for about half an hour. The sun was gradually
nearing the horizon. It would be pitch dark in less than an hour.
Edwards stopped.

"What are we going to do?" he asked. "We can't possibly reach the
beastly place before dark, and we are not likely to find it when we
can't see where we are going. I vote we chuck it, have some food, and
bivouac here till the morning."

"Don't you believe it," said I, "what sort of a person do you take me
for? Do you suppose I have been looking at this compass of mine ever
since we left the guide simply to amuse myself? I have got the bearing
of old Faris's centre wigwam to a nicety. The compass is a luminous one.
Look at it. Do you see the luminous paint? Well, as soon as it gets
properly dark and the stars are nice and bright, I'll take you along
quite gaily."

Edwards was interested. He had never seen a luminous compass before, and
confessed that he had no idea that anyone could wander about in a desert
at night and discover where he was going. Now, as a matter of fact, I
was not at all confident of my ability to use a compass at night; for,
since leaving Sandhurst, I had never troubled about these matters.
Still, I could see that my companion did not much like the look of the
situation, so I thought it best to reassure him.

The compass worked far better than I expected--indeed so accurately as
to almost result in our coming to an untimely end. The darkness that had
settled in very shortly after sunset was of the blackest, the stars
standing out with remarkable brilliancy. Whether it was that my nerves
were strained to the utmost, or that it was the first night that I had
spent in the absolute solitude of the vast desert, I cannot say, but I
can never remember in all my subsequent travels any night that
approached this one for inky blackness. On we trudged over the hard,
baked sand, still warm to the feet, and making the air warm as high as
one's chest; above that, a cool invigorating breeze blew about our
heads. Under other circumstances, we should have delighted in the night
march; as it was, we were both too jumpy to appreciate it.

Suddenly, at a little distance to our right, a dog barked, and almost
instantaneously half a dozen shots were fired. Fortunately, they were
evidently fired haphazard, for none of them came in our direction, but
our reception was far too warm to be pleasant, so I shouted in the best
Arabic that I could command:--

"Salaam Aleikum! We are two English travellers who have lost our way. We
seek hospitality for the night, and to be put on our road in the
morning."

There was no reply, though we could hear voices quite close, and could
now distinguish the form of the tents of the encampment. My compass had
landed us within a hundred yards of the right spot, but I had no thought
for the moment of congratulating myself on its accuracy, or on my skill
in handling it. It was a question whether we should have a volley fired
into us, or whether our account of ourselves would be accepted. All
doubt, however, was soon swept away, when a stentorian voice came out of
the darkness:--

"If you are, as you say, Ingleezee who have lost your way, let one man
advance and the other remain a while behind."

I immediately advanced, while Edwards stood his ground. At the doorway
of a large tent I was received by a handsome young Arab, around whom
clustered a number of wild-looking men and women. Oil wick lamps were
raised to my face, and after a few searching questions, the men
appeared to be satisfied, and told me that my companion could come in.
As soon as Edwards appeared, the young Arab, who was evidently the chief
of the party, looked intently into his face, then, flinging himself on
the ground at his feet, became almost convulsed with emotion.

"It is the great _Hakim_ (doctor)," he exclaimed, "_Alhamdu
l'Illah_--Praise be to Allah--I have met him again. The blessed Hakim
who saved my life when I was left for dead by the accursed Shammar. Oh,
God is great to let me see him again, and befriend him in the desert."

We were soon surrounded by as many of the tribe as were able to crowd
into the tent, and the doorway was blocked with the remainder. Edwards
was the centre of attraction, and his Arab friend regaled his
fellow-tribesmen with countless personal experiences of the Hakim's
skill. But, in the excitement, our wants were not forgotten; our horses
were taken away and cared for; women brought in vessels of sour _leben_,
and dishes of meat and unleavened bread, of which we ate with an
appetite whetted by a hard day's march and by the keen, crisp air of the
desert night. Neither was this all, for the floor of the tent was
rapidly piled up with carpets and rugs, conveyed by numerous eager
hands, and after taking the most affectionate farewell for the night,
Sedjur, our host prepared to leave us to ourselves.

"But, Sedjur," said Edwards, holding the young chief's hand, "you have
not told me why you are here, six days' journey to the west of Baghdad;
when in the hospital, you always said you came from the north, from near
Mosul."

"True, O Hakim," was the reply, "but we of the desert have no fixed
home. We wander hither and thither. Yet I confess that I lied to you
when I said that I came from the north. To have disclosed my identity
would have imperilled the safety of my tribe for the son of Faris would
have been a rare prize for the Turki Spahis (a curse on them!), and they
would have tortured me until they had discovered the movements of my
father and his people."

"Are you, then, Faris's son?" inquired Edwards.

"Even so."

"Where then is the sheik, your father?"

"He left, two days since, with ten picked men, to effect the capture of
the horses of some Shammar robbers who were reported to be at Babil. He
will return before sundown to-morrow, and he will then offer you the
full hospitality of the tribe."

"Well, peace be with you, Sedjur, at any rate for this night, and plenty
of hard fighting before long. That is the greatest joy I can wish you, I
know."

Sedjur's face brightened, and his keen eyes glistened as he turned and
left us. When we were alone, I asked my companion to explain how, in the
middle of the night and in the middle of the desert, he had suddenly
found fame. It was not a long story, because George Edwards was the sort
of person who made a story about himself as short as possible. The
Consul-General, it appeared, was riding out, with a small escort, near
Zobeide's Tomb, one evening about a year before, and came across a man
lying in an exhausted condition under a bush. The man was unable to give
an account of himself, but he was evidently in desperate straits, with
several sword cuts on his body and one or two ugly spear gashes. The
Englishman made his escort carry the wretched Arab into Baghdad and hand
him over to the Residency surgeon, and, as Edwards concluded, "I looked
after him, tinkered up his wounds, and was just going to discharge him
from hospital, when he discharged himself--made a bolt of it one fine
night."

"Edwards," I said, when he had finished, "you are a marvel. There never
was such a stroke of luck. If all accounts of these people be true, you
have secured the everlasting friendship of Faris and all his tribe. We
are made men--that is to say if Faris really knows anything of the
Golden Girdle."

Edwards's reply was a long, loud snore, and it was not many minutes
before I myself sank into that blissful state of oblivion which is
begotten of sheer exhaustion.




CHAPTER IV.

GUESTS OF THE AENIZA.


How long we should have slept if left undisturbed I cannot imagine. The
sun must have been up an hour or more before we were suddenly awakened
by shouting in the camp almost amounting to an uproar. On jumping up and
looking out, we found that the small black tents were being hastily
struck, and the whole place was in confusion. We saw, at a little
distance, Sedjur talking excitedly to a couple of dozen horsemen armed
to the teeth. Presently he moved towards our tent, the mounted men
following him. As they drew near we stepped outside to receive them, and
were greeted by a shout from Sedjur, who was walking by the side of the
horse ridden by a great gaunt Arab. That this was the sheik himself we
instantly realised--so much alike were father and son--and any doubt
that we had was soon dispelled by the introduction that followed.

[Illustration: "THAT THIS WAS THE SHEIK HIMSELF WE INSTANTLY REALISED"]

The sheik welcomed us cordially, and thanked Edwards for all the
kindness that he had shown to his son in Baghdad. Unfortunately, he
said, he could not now ask us to partake of his hospitality, as it was
absolutely necessary that he and his people should get away at once, to
avoid capture at the hands of the Turkish authorities. Sedjur then
related to us what had occurred. His father had, the night before, had a
brush with a strong party of Shammar, some of whom had been left either
dead or wounded on the field, and the fight only ended when it did
because of the sudden appearance of a Turkish patrol.

"We must get away immediately," concluded Sedjur, "but my father and I
hope that some day, when things are quieter, we shall be able to show
you and your friend true desert hospitality. You will easily find your
way back to Hillah, and so to Baghdad, by keeping straight for the high
mound yonder, from which you will see the river and the roof-tops of
Hillah at no great distance."

"But," replied I, not at all wishing to lose Faris just as we had found
him, "my friend the Hakim does not desire to return until he has seen
more of the desert. Besides, we might ourselves be captured by the
Turkish soldiers, and be forced to betray your whereabouts."

"That would be difficult," laughed Sedjur, "for, look, our women and
children are already out of sight, and safe; and, ere the sun has crept
up another spear-head in the heavens, our horses will have carried us
out of harm's way."

I looked round. The camp had vanished, the tent in which we had slept
included. Our horses, with their saddles on, stood hobbled close by. The
sheik, standing by his horse, was shading his eyes with one hand, and
scanning the horizon.

Suddenly there arose a cry of "Tourki," and with one accord the sheik
and his men swung into the saddle, and commenced to move off. Sedjur
quickly mounted his mare, and calling to us that he regretted having to
leave us thus discourteously, soon caught up the rest of the party, now
settling down to a fast canter.

"Well," exclaimed Edwards, turning to me, "they are in a desperate hurry
to clear out. I cannot even see the soldiers, can you?"

I looked for some time, and at last, when my eyes had become accustomed
to the glare, I thought I could detect some small black objects, like
flies, in the far, far distance.

"I think I have spotted them," I answered. "There, miles away to the
north-east. Look along my finger."

"Oh, I see them," said Edwards.

"Well," said I, "I suppose we had better wait here till they come up,
tell them that it is useless for them to try and catch the wily Arabs,
and ride back with them to Hillah, or wherever they come from."

"Not a bit of it," said Edwards excitedly. "We must not meet them. I
know the gentlemen; and if they find us here and their quarry gone, they
are quite capable of shooting us off-hand as conspirators, and quietly
putting us into a hole in the sand. Come on; there's plenty of time."

"Where to?" I asked, as we ran to our horses and mounted.

"After our Arab friends," was the reply. "They are not going any pace as
yet."

So we dug our spurs into the flanks of our little beasts, and made them
gallop over the baked desert. But gallop as we would, we did not appear
to be gaining on our friends, and it seemed to us, on glancing back,
that the Turkish troopers were overhauling us. Then, as we looked ahead,
we saw the Arab horsemen suddenly disappear.

"Where on earth have they gone?" asked Edwards, turning to me.

"Heaven only knows," I replied, "unless they have got into a
watercourse. We shall probably see them come out again in a minute."

We kept our eyes fixed ahead of us as we rode on, but no sign did we see
of the reappearance of the party, and before long we discovered the
cause. The track brought us to a deep dry watercourse, running almost at
right angles to the route that we were following, and there, in the
loose sand which formed the bed, we could see the footprints of the
horses. We drew rein, and looked at each other, for the horsemen seemed
to have gone both ways--up the watercourse and down it.

"Which way?" I asked Edwards.

"Haven't a ghost of an idea," said he.

"Well, it cannot matter very much," said I; "whichever way we go, we
shall find some of them. We must trust to luck to take our Turkish
pursuers the other way."

So we rode westward in the trough of the nullah, which in places was
sunk almost twenty feet below the surrounding country, and which turned
and twisted at every fifty yards. For half an hour or more we pressed
on, ever looking behind, to see if we were being pursued, until at last
we reached a point where a smaller nullah joined the main one, and here
again the horsemen had divided, as many going one way as the other.

"This is worse than a paper-chase," said Edwards, drily. "Suppose we
give it up, wait for the Turks, and hail them as our friends and
deliverers."

As we stood at the junction of the watercourses, debating which one to
follow, we suddenly became aware of the presence of a horseman, standing
motionless at the bend of the smaller nullah. He beckoned to us, and, on
riding up, we found, to our joy, that it was Sedjur himself.

"You were fortunate, Hakim," said he smiling, "in taking the right way.
We could not wait for you, for fear of the Turkis. We are all safe
enough now, for they never follow the windings of the watercourse,
knowing that at any turn they might be ambuscaded. Come along to our
tents, and we will make you truly welcome."

The mention of tents was a great relief to both of us, for I at any rate
had had visions of travelling day and night for ever so long, and
enduring endless privations. Still, the encampment was not as near as I
at first imagined, for, although Sedjur described it, with a wave of his
hand, as "yonder," it proved to be distant several hours' ride. For a
mile or more we followed the bed of the nullah, until it grew too narrow
to ride in, when our guide suddenly turned his horse's head up the steep
bank. Thence we crossed a wide strip of desolate desert leading
gradually up to a sandy ridge, from the summit of which Sedjur pointed
out, several miles away, a green patch of vegetation, around which
there appeared to be a goodly collection of tents.

"What are all these tents?" I inquired of Sedjur, as we drew near the
encampment.

"This is our large camp," he replied, "with all our people and flocks.
Where you spent last night was only a _ghazu_ camp, from which my father
was making a foray."

We were duly impressed by what we saw before us, and we began to
understand that the sheik was a man of some importance. A considerable
number of horses, camels, and sheep were grazing on the outskirts of the
encampment, and quite two hundred tents lay scattered among the tamarisk
and other bushes. On the extreme flank was pitched the somewhat
imposing-looking tent of the sheik--large enough, as we afterwards
found, to accommodate not only himself and his family, but also two of
his mares. In front of the tent, fixed upright in the ground, was his
long, gleaming spear, adorned with tufts of black ostrich plumes. As we
approached, men came to take our horses, and we were ushered into the
audience-room of Faris's tent, where we were received with much
ceremony, being reintroduced by Sedjur, as if the sheik had never met us
before. This procedure puzzled me at first, but later on I discovered
that it was a matter of Bedouin etiquette, as at our previous meeting
the sheik had had nothing to offer us. Now we were made welcome to all
he possessed, and a special tent was handed over to us.

The conversation was most formal; spiced coffee was handed round, and
long pipes were brought in. Then, after a short while, Sedjur relieved
our minds by suggesting that we might like to go to our tent and rest,
after our long ride. We jumped at the idea, and being warned that we
were expected to have supper with the sheik a little before sundown, we
sought the seclusion of the goat's-hair dwelling that had been reserved
for us.

"Thank goodness," said Edwards, sitting on his saddle-bags, which had
been brought into the tent, "that they have given us a place to
ourselves. Now let us hold a mass meeting of two, and discuss the whole
situation."

"What situation?" I asked.

"Why, yours and mine," said he.

"Right you are," said I. "So far I think we have done pretty well. We
have discovered old Faris, and have become his honoured guests. We have
only got to persuade him to tell us about the Golden Girdle, and then we
shall be as right as rain."

"All very nice," said Edwards. "But suppose it does not come off, what
is going to happen? We are miles and miles from anywhere."

"Oh, we will get along. Don't you fret," I replied. "Besides, we are
seeing desert life, living with real Bedouins, and all that sort of
thing. Do be a bit romantic. But, to be serious, I will take on our host
to-night, if we can make him at all communicative; and if we fail to get
anything out of him, we will take an affectionate farewell in the
morning, and ride back to Hillah. I daresay we are not more than fifty
miles away."

"How shall you start the subject?" asked my companion.

"That is the difficulty," said I. "I expect the best way will be to
mention Shahzadi and her shoe, and see how the old man takes it."

So we continued to talk and puff at our pipes, until at last Sedjur came
and told us that supper was ready. We found that one or two of the
headmen of the tribe had been invited to meet us, and after going
through the usual ceremonial introductions, we settled down to our meal,
Edwards being placed on the right hand of the sheik, I on the left, and
Sedjur on the other side of Edwards. It was our first Bedouin feast, and
the novelty of everything interested us considerably. A huge copper
bowl was brought in and placed in front of us, its steaming contents
consisting of a kind of porridge in which lumps of meat and vegetables,
some hard-boiled eggs, and dates were concealed. Into this each member
of the party plunged his hand, and after the manner of dipping in a
bran-pie, brought out a prize in the shape of something to eat. Hunger
and the desire to appear _au fait_ in the customs of the desert enabled
Edwards and myself to do fair justice to the meal, even without spoons,
knives, or forks. Little conversation was indulged in while the eating
was in progress, but at length the dish, replenished again and again,
had satisfied everyone, and at a signal from Faris we rose, washed our
hands, and went and sat outside, to smoke our pipes and chat in the cool
evening air.

While at supper I had made a study of our host, and although apparently
a reserved and silent man, his quiet dignity and courteous manner made a
great impression on me. In appearance he was tall--far above the average
Arab height, spare in form, but with broad, square shoulders, which made
his flowing robes hang loosely from his body. He was a fair man, and his
brown beard as yet showed few white hairs, though his handsome face was
weather-beaten, and bore more than one tell-tale scar. His eyes were
remarkable, and their actual colour impossible to describe; at times
they were the eyes of an eagle--almost golden red, wide open and
piercing; then, while he was speaking, they would suddenly change to the
soft liquid eyes of a deer, full of tenderness and compassion. As I
learned later, the sheik's whole character was discoverable from a study
of his eyes.

Puffing at my pipe, I began to think that the time had come when I ought
to give our host some idea of our future movements, for I knew that he
himself would consider that he would be outraging all the laws of
hospitality if he even displayed any curiosity as to our wanderings in
the desert. How I was to turn the conversation round to the Golden
Girdle I could not see, but I made a beginning by discussing the day's
ride, and the relative merits of our horses and the sheik's horses,
their paces and staying powers. To my delight I found that the great man
gradually unbent, and in a few minutes became voluble. Thinking that I
was deeply interested in the subject, he insisted on taking me into his
tent to see his two favourite mares, one of whom he fondled, and
addressed in the most loving terms.

"She is your favourite, sheik," I said.

"Yes," he replied, "even so. She has carried me in many a bloody fight
with the accursed Shammar, and has borne many good colts. Moreover, her
grand-dam was my father's much-prized mare, a true Kuhailan, so he
always affirmed. He captured her from the Shammar--a fact which I cast
in their teeth when I prevail over them by reason of the handiness and
swiftness of the mare. She is indeed a bird without wings."

I now had my opening, for of course I remembered what was written in the
document wherein mention had been made of the Golden Girdle.

"I have heard of the Kuhailan mare," I remarked quietly.

"Of what mare?" inquired Faris, looking at me intently.

"Shahzadi," I replied, "the daughter of a Kuhailan Haifi, out of the dam
Labadah. Was it not so?"

"That indeed was what my father always told me, and the Shammar
themselves told him how the mare was bred. How do you, an Ingleezee,
know of such matters as these? It may be that you have learned them from
the Shammar."

"Not so, Sheik of Sheiks," I replied. "What I know of the mare I have
read in my own country."

"Wonder of wonders!" exclaimed Faris. "They speak truly when they say
that you Englishmen know everything. Tell me more of what you know."

"I will tell you _all_ I know," I said, "and if you will allow me to go
to my tent, I will fetch you a translation of what I believe to be a
true document relating to the famous mare, which your father captured
from the Shammar."

"You astonish me beyond measure," said the sheik; "be pleased to go and
bring the paper."

At that moment the thud of horses' hoofs broke the stillness of the
night air, and, thinking that it meant a night attack, I turned to the
sheik, who stepped out in front of his tent, and shouted a few words in
a deep voice. An answer came back out of the darkness, and then Faris
explained to me that the horsemen were those of his party whose duty it
had been to lay a false scent for the Turkish police to follow, and who
had ridden into camp by a circuitous route.

"For years," said he, "we have done the same thing. On reaching the
nullah, some of us go one way and some another. The Turkis fear to
follow either party, knowing that if once they enter the nullah, they
are liable not only to be ambuscaded by one party but to be taken in
rear by the other party. But they are simple folk these town-bred
Turkis, and in driving us as far as the nullah, they consider that they
have done their duty. So they return to their coffee-houses to drink
their coffee and tell their companions how they encountered the
Bedouins, and defeated them. Yet, to-morrow, if we wished, we could ride
in and pillage half the villages on the outskirts of Hillah. However,
the ways of these Turki dogs are of no interest to either you or me, for
I know, from my many friends in Baghdad, what you Englishmen think of
them. Let us talk again of our horses, and let me hear what you know of
Kushki's ancestors."

I went off to my tent, and returned with my note-book, when the sheik
took me into his private apartment, and motioned me to a seat on a pile
of soft cushions. I showed him the sketch of Shahzadi's shoe, and he at
once commented on the eight nail holes. Then I turned to my copy of the
document, which, re-translating into Arabic, I read out to my host. He
was deeply moved, and drank in every word that I uttered, nodding his
head as I concluded each sentence, and vouchsafing that what I said was
true. When I came to the last line I hesitated for a second--from
excitement, I suppose--but, recovering, I translated leisurely, "The man
bore away the serpent belt of pure gold coveted by the desert tribes."

"Quite true," said the sheik. "Everything that you have read is true.
But now tell me, was it indeed an accident that brought you and your
friend the Hakim to our tents?"

The question came so suddenly, that I confess it quite staggered me. But
I felt that the man with whom I was dealing was upright and honest, and
I decided that I would meet him on his own ground, and risk the
consequences. I stood up and met his gaze.

"Faris-ibn-Feyzul, Sheik of the Jelas Aeniza," I said, "I am an
Englishman, and, I trust, a man of honour. Believe me, that in accepting
your hospitality, I had no intention of deceiving you. I waited only for
an opportunity to speak to you, and that opportunity has now come. It
was no accident that brought us to your tents."

I then explained fully the nature of my mission, and how I hoped to be
able to obtain from him some information about the Golden Girdle. He
listened attentively, and without showing any sign of displeasure. At
last he took my hand in his, and spoke solemnly and quietly.

"Friend and honoured guest," he said, "you have spoken to me
straightforwardly, and straightforwardly shall I always deal with you.
Stay with us as long as you will, and you shall be welcome, but take my
advice, and abandon all idea of possessing that accursed belt of gold.
Did you but know the havoc that it wrought among the tribes ere it
disappeared, you would let it lie for ever in its resting-place. If you
would hear more of it, then to-morrow will I tell you what I know, and
willingly. To-night we have already talked late."

       *       *       *       *       *

"What a time you have been," grunted Edwards, as I entered the tent
after saying good-night to the sheik. "You have lost all your beauty
sleep. I have been in bed for hours."

"Business, my boy," I replied. "I have been having a most interesting
talk with Faris."

Edwards sat up wide awake, while I related, as shortly as possible, what
our host had told me.

"Do you think I did right," I asked, when I had finished, "in making a
clean breast of everything?"

"You could not well have done anything else," he replied. "Both the
father and the son are thorough gentlemen. Besides, one cannot humbug
these Bedouins; they would see through you at once. I wonder if they
really know where your golden treasure is buried. I did not say a word
about it to Sedjur, as I was afraid of making a mess of things. By the
way, he and his father are going off in the morning to an oasis
somewhere or other miles away in the desert, where they have got some
brood mares and camels, and he thought we might like the ride with them.
So I accepted for both of us. Are you on for it?"

"Of course I am," said I. "I don't let old Faris out of my sight until I
have heard what he has to tell about that blessed belt."




CHAPTER V.

RAIDERS.


Barely a streak of dawn had shown itself in the eastern sky, when Sedjur
clamoured at our tent door, shouting to us that it was time that we were
up and in the saddle. Silence reigned in the encampment, as we stepped
out into the grey morning, to find the sheik and his son already
mounted, and awaiting us. An Arab stood close at hand holding the two
horses which we were to ride, and the sheik, giving us a friendly
greeting, told me that the beasts which he had selected for us were both
sons of his favourite Kushki, the fleetest that he possessed, and far
better than our own. He and Sedjur we noticed were armed with spear and
sword, and before starting they made certain that we carried our
revolvers.

"One can never tell," said Sedjur, "what the day may bring forth, and to
go unarmed in the desert is to court death."

So, with the cold invigorating air almost cutting our faces, we set out
on our ride into the unknown, at first picking our way slowly among the
low bushes, then, on reaching the great sandy wastes, quickening our
pace to a gentle canter. How our companions knew the way puzzled us
considerably, for no landmark could we distinguish in any direction.
Everywhere was sand--hard, red, baked sand; a veritable ocean of sand,
and, like the ocean, wind-swept into mighty billows. The sun gradually
rose, and we soon discovered that no landmark was necessary, as our
route evidently lay due west, and the sun at our backs gave us our
course.

For several hours the ride was monotonous in the extreme, then, at about
noon, the sandy plains began to show signs of a change of country.
Stones cropped up here and there, and in the far distance we could
distinguish the filmy outlines of hills and mountains. The hills
gradually drew nearer, and in a short time we found ourselves in a new
land. Below us was a hollow filled with verdure, date trees, acacias,
tamarisks, and luxuriant grassland, through which flowed trickling
streams. This was the principal grazing ground of Faris's camels and
mares, which we saw scattered in all directions, their herdsmen--all
armed with spears and matchlocks--keeping a good look-out on the
surrounding high ground.

"Hide yourselves behind the rocks," said the sheik, quietly, "and we
will soon see if the men are on the alert."

Then stepping forward himself on to the sky-line, he stood quite
motionless, while we peered from behind our shelters into the valley
below. Far down in a date grove we heard the neigh of a horse, followed
by the barking of a dog; then, as we looked, we could see each sentry
turn instinctively towards the figure of the sheik. They had discovered
the cause of the alarm, and Faris, satisfied, shouted a watchword which
was evidently understood. The chief of the herdsmen rode up to greet us,
and we descended with him to the shady spot where his tent was pitched,
and where he soon regaled us with coffee and dates.

"Well, Hussein, what is the news?" asked the sheik.

"Nothing of great consequence, Lord Protector," answered the herdsmen,
"but I am glad you have come. For three days now single Shammar horsemen
have been observing us from different points, and we fear that they
intend a raid on the beasts so soon as the moon gives sufficient light.
We fully expected it last night, but no one came."

"Ah, Hussein," said the sheik, "it is the old story which you always
have to tell. Rest assured that no Shammar dares to touch the property
of Faris-ibn-Feyzul. Bring some more coffee, and then we will smoke our
pipes until it is time for us to start again for our tents."

The sheik was in the best of spirits, and even talkative. Sedjur and he
were evidently devoted to each other, and we could see that the father
was as proud of his son as was the son of his father. They had ridden
side by side in many a fight, though even now Sedjur was but
twenty-four; and each had many tales to tell of the prowess of the
other.

"How many of the accursed robbers did you say you encountered at Babil
the day before yesterday, father?" asked Sedjur.

"Ten of the Shammar," was the reply, "and one other, of what tribe or
nationality I know not. He was not of the desert, though wearing the
dress. Perchance he came from Bokhara, or Yarkhand, or, God knows, from
India. But whatever land gave him birth must be glad to be rid of him,
for he showed not the courage of an Arab townsman. When we bore down on
the band he incontinently rode off, and did not rein up and turn to see
what was going on until at a safe distance. The dog valued his skin
greatly."

"And you put them all to flight?"

"Surely did we," answered the sheik, vehemently, "and sent that black
villain, Abbas, to Gehennum."

"What, Abbas-ibn-Rashid?"

"Even so, he who nearly killed you outside Baghdad, when our good
friend, the Hakim, here, saved your life. It was an old score, my lad,
and I wiped it out, praise be to Allah! We would have sent some more of
his followers after the scoundrel, had not the soldiers come down on
us, and I doubt not but that Abbas himself had previously warned them to
be prepared."

"I am almost sorry, father, that you slew Abbas," said Sedjur, softly.

"Why?" asked the sheik, frowning at his son. "Have you turned woman? Do
you wish to show mercy to your bitterest foe?"

"Nay, father, but I had lived for the day when I should meet the man
face to face, sword to sword, and spear-point to spear-point. I grieved
that you had robbed me of my chance of revenge."

"Well, well, Sedjur," laughed the sheik, "save his ghost, the desert
will hear no more of Abbas."

"You secured no booty, then?" inquired Sedjur.

"His mare galloped off when her master fell," replied Faris, "and I
brought away only his broken spear, and this."

The sheik raised his cloak, and revealed to our astonished eyes _my
chamois-leather money belt_. Edwards and I instantly recognised it, and
involuntary uttered an exclamation of surprise, when Faris, not
understanding the reason for our excitement, but thinking that we were
admiring his prize, took it off and handed it to us to examine.

"It is filled with money," said he, "and of much value. How Abbas gained
possession of it I neither know nor care. It became the prize of war,
and is now mine."

"Sheik of Sheiks," I exclaimed, holding the belt in my hand, and looking
into his flashing eyes, "I can tell you what money that belt contained a
little while since; for it was stolen from my waist as I slept outside
the khan at Mahmoudieh not half a moon ago."

"Wonder of wonders!" ejaculated Faris and Sedjur simultaneously, the
former appearing to be somewhat sceptical, though fearing to show any
distrust of his guests.

"Let us examine the pockets one by one," I said, wishing to prove my
_bona fides_. "In each of the five small pockets on either side of the
buckle there should be five English gold pieces, and in the larger
pocket at the back some odd kerans and rupees. Come, let us count them
out."

I turned out the pockets one by one, and emptied their contents on to
the sleeve of Sedjur's cloak. The thief had had no opportunity for
spending the money, which was found to be exactly as I had stated.
Faris's face wore an expression of utter bewilderment.

"We knew," said he at last to Sedjur, "what manner of man was our guest
the Hakim, but we knew not that his friend was a magician, who, when he
lost his property, could recover it at his pleasure. Yet now that I
bring it to mind, he did but last night read to me the true description
of Shahzadi, the grand-dam of my beloved Kushki, and, moreover, he
showed me, on a paper, the impression of her eight-nailed shoe, the old
Talisman of the Muntafik of which we have heard. All this is magic."

I felt that I had suddenly acquired a reputation by no means desirable,
and I hastened to reassure my host, who, having replaced the money in
the belt handed it to me, saying that, now that he knew that it was
stolen property, he wished to restore it to its rightful owner.

"Nay, nay, sheik," said I, "you obtained it in a fair fight. I lost it
through my own carelessness, and I can no longer claim it by right. I
never thought to see it again."

"Then," answered Faris, "I see but one way out of the difficulty. If you
refuse to take back your own, I offer the belt and all it contains to
your friend the Hakim, as a present, in return for all the kindness
which he showed to my son Sedjur. We of the desert have an unwritten
law, by which no guest of the Aeniza can decline to accept a present
from a sheik. Were this not so, then would I straightway ride to the
Euphrates, and hurl the thing into its depths; for, knowing what I know,
I can never now lay finger on it again. Come, Hakim, my honoured guest,
buckle on the belt, and end the trouble; otherwise, who knows? it may
prove to me as evil a possession as did that golden curse to many a
Bedouin in the days gone by."

So Edwards, at my suggestion, took the belt and fastened it round his
waist, offering profuse thanks to his host, who was apparently greatly
relieved.

"Tell us, sheik," I said, seeing that he had recovered his equanimity,
"something of the golden curse to which you alluded just now, and about
which I spoke to you last night. We are all friends here; Sedjur has
doubtless heard it all before, and the Hakim and I are one."

Faris looked stealthily round, to make sure that there were no
eaves-droppers, and then suddenly turning his eyes on me exclaimed:--

"Think no more of it; forget it; for it will bring you nothing but ruin.
I called you 'magician.' Whether I did so rightly or wrongly I cannot
say, but this I do know, that your magic, be it ever so strong, can
avail nothing against that circlet of gold. As you are aware, it
disappeared long years back--even before dear Kushki saw the light of
day. No man could ever say what became of it, though there be
necromancers (not reckoned by us as men) who have the reputation of
knowing all things, and who have been heard to affirm that they could,
were they so minded, unearth that hidden curse. Yet even they fear to be
so rash. As soon would they let loose in the world Shaitan and all the
Jins. Do you suppose your Western magic to be more powerful than that of
the East? Do you imagine that you are capable of combating all the evil
that fell on every man who ever touched the dreaded thing? No, I cannot
believe that you have such conceit."

"I am no magician, sheik," I said, interrupting him, "and I make no
pretence to any power not possessed by yourself or any other man. We
Englishmen consider all those who practise magic to be impostors. In all
honesty, I told you last night that I had come to the desert in search
of the Golden Girdle of the Great Queen; and I told you how my
acquaintance with the story of the Muntafik talisman had led me to seek
information from you."

"I know," said Faris, sorrowfully, "I remember all you said, and if I
ever doubted you, the doubt has left me. I believe all that you told me.
I swear it. Gladly would I help you to carry out the task imposed upon
you; yet, I, Faris-ibn-Feyzul, Sheik of the Jelas Aeniza, who have faced
death on countless occasions, and who would face it again at a moment's
notice, out of pure love of fighting, I confess to you that I fear to
have a hand in resuscitating the golden circlet. Mere death I count as
nothing. All must die--whether it be sooner or whether it be later; and
so long as I die, as every true Bedouin should, fighting the foes of his
forefathers, I care nothing for myself. But how should I feel if, when
dying, I knew that I had been instrumental in reviving, and in leaving
behind me as a legacy to posterity, a curse on the inhabitants of the
world?"

I began to think that the Golden Girdle had a most fearsome reputation,
but I remembered that my uncle had specially warned me not to be
influenced by the superstitious dread of the natives. I had always
laughed at superstition, and though I had sufficient good sense not to
laugh at the sheik, I inwardly considered his fears as ridiculous and
childish.

"So be it, sheik," I said. "Far be it from me to attempt to influence
you to do anything against the guidance of your conscience. Let us
forget that we ever spoke of the Golden Girdle. Let us forget that it
ever existed. There are troubles enough in the world without adding to
them. We will converse on other matters."

"What thought you of the horse you have been riding?" inquired Faris
proudly.

"Perfection," I replied. "Never have I sat on the back of his equal."

"I thought so," said Faris, beaming with delight "He is indeed a worthy
son of my Kushki."

"And to think that we foreigners," said I, "possess her grand-dam's
shoe!"

I had hardly finished speaking, when the sheik sprang to his feet,
seized sword and spear, and rushed to his horse, shouting as he did so
that the Shammar were upon us. Sedjur was in the saddle almost as soon
as his father; and Edwards and I, not fully realising what was going on,
followed suit in all haste. Then we saw what our host's keen eyes had
seen a couple of seconds earlier. Over the ridge above us a long line of
horsemen were sweeping down into the valley; the watchmen posted among
the rocks fired their matchlocks as a signal of alarm, and ran for their
horses, which were mostly tethered close to the spot where he had been
resting. There was little time to think, but it was easy to understand
the enemy's intentions. The mares and camels were all grazing down the
valley, a quarter of a mile or so below us, while the herdsmen, in order
that they might be able to obtain a wide view of the surrounding
country, had been stationed on the higher ground above us and to our
right and left. The raiders, evidently well aware of this somewhat
faulty arrangement, had somehow crept up unnoticed to the vicinity of
the ridge, and had then galloped in between the herdsmen and the herd,
the foremost horsemen descending swiftly into the valley and rapidly
working round and overlapping the grazing animals. This was an almost
instantaneous evolution; in fact, when Faris first gave the alarm, the
line had already shaped into a crescent, and before we had mounted, it
had become a semicircle, separating the mares from the camels, and
driving the former before it and away from us. The camels, being too
refractory and slow to carry off, were left behind.

"Quick, Sedjur lad," shouted the sheik without any sign of excitement,
"rally the herdsmen, and get ready for pursuit, while I watch the
direction they take."

Then the lad, as his father called him, opened his lungs and sent up a
war-howl, which rang through the whole valley, and came echoing back
from every rock and every hollow. If it did not strike terror into the
hearts of the raiders, at any rate it had a most inspiriting effect on
the wretched herdsman, who showed the greatest keenness to get to their
horses and form up for pursuit. How long it was before all the men had
come in I do not remember; it could not have been many minutes, though
it seemed like an hour. At last all were ready, and away we went at a
hand-gallop, up the stony side of the valley, to the spot where the
sheik awaited us. Sedjur--no longer the calm, imperturbable youth, but a
fierce warrior, with long, gleaming spear raised aloft--led the party,
Edwards and I abreast of him, on either side.

"This is no work for you," said Sedjur, addressing me as we rode along.
"You and the Hakim had best drop behind and await our return."

"Have you such a poor opinion of us town-dwellers, then?" I replied. "We
are your guests, and it is our duty to assist you. Besides, we want to
see the fun."

"Bravely said," exclaimed the sheik, who had overheard my reply as we
approached him. "Come on and help us to deal death to the Shammar
thieves. They have crossed the plain, and are away on the other side of
the ridge yonder."

How our little well-bred horses flew over that sandy strip! Their hoofs
seemed barely to touch the ground. In front galloped the sheik; close
behind him, we three; then the Bedouin herdsmen, some twenty in number,
like a troop of cavalry in single rank.

We topped the ridge, and without drawing rein drank in the scene before
us. There lay another stretch of rolling desert, which in the far
distance appeared to slope gradually up to a network of bold hills.
Midway between us and the hills, we could see clearly enough the mares
being driven off, and raising a vast moving column of dust, resembling a
sand-storm. That our enemies were expert cattle-lifters was evident,
for they kept the beasts all going at a swinging trot, in one compact
body.

Faris raised a wild shout as his quarry came in view, and pressed
forward into the plain.

"Take half to the left, Sedjur; quick lad, and work round, so as to head
them off from the hills. I will take the rest to the right. If the
devils reach the hills, we shall not recover a single mare."

A strong breeze was blowing from one side, and carried the dust raised
by the fugitives well away to leeward, enabling us to see and almost
count the number of men with whom we would have to reckon. That they
out-numbered our party was certain; though, as far as we could judge,
not by very many. For the moment, however, actual numbers were of small
account; speed was the sole thought; for the necessity of cutting in
between the enemy and the hills was now very apparent. Though they were
almost a mile away from us, and had little more than another mile to
traverse before reaching the shelter of the hills, we certainly had the
great advantage of being unhampered by loose beasts; while our opponents
had to keep the mares together, so as to prevent them from breaking
away. As our party divided, Edwards and I happened to be rather more to
the left than to the right, so we naturally drifted off with Sedjur,
who, waving his spear above his head, led his handful of men away to the
flank. Rapidly we gained on the bulky column of dust; we were soon
abreast of it, and it blew across our path and enveloped us, so that we
were almost choked. As we emerged from the dense cloud, we saw that the
sheik's party had out-distanced us by a little, and had already reached
a point between the enemy and the hills, so Sedjur wheeled half right,
and went straight for the stolen mares; while his father, observing the
movement, instantly swung round and brought his men down pell-mell on
the foremost of the enemy. Panic seized the raiders, and before we could
reach them, they abandoned their booty, and fled in a disorganised mass
away to the flank farthest from us. The mares were saved, though there
was still the risk of their terror causing them to scatter over the
desert. Sedjur and his party, however, understood their business, and
rounding them up, soon pacified them. Meanwhile, the sheik had seen his
opportunity, and at the very moment that the enemy took flight, he
suddenly changed his direction, and went off in hot pursuit of the
fugitives.

"Come on, Henderson," said Edwards, "let's be in at the death."

"Right you are," I shouted. And away we went. It was a stern chase and a
long one; but when we had almost caught up our friends, we found that
they had overhauled the tailmost of the band, and that a brisk fight was
imminent. Then Edwards, who was a little ahead of me, suddenly reined up
his horse, so that it nearly fell over backwards, and I instinctively
did the same.

"What is the matter?" I asked.

"This is not _our_ game," replied Edwards, somewhat sternly. "The poor
devils could not stand our revolvers. It would be sheer butchery to use
them. _I_ don't want to shoot any of them, and I am sure _you_ don't.
Besides, look, the sheik is drawing off his men, and I expect he
considers that honour is satisfied."

At first I felt that I had been rebuked; for, on joining in the pursuit,
I certainly had had every intention of using my revolver freely. But I
soon saw that my companion's argument was perfectly sound, and I was
glad that the combat had suddenly come to a close without our being
called upon to take part in it. The sheik and his party presently
returned, the enemy having disappeared into the hills, and we now
learned the reason of the rapid withdrawal.

"They were leading us into an ambuscade," said Faris, as he rejoined us.
"If it had not been for you, I, in my excitement, should have gone on,
and doubtless we should all have been killed. I saw you pull up, and I
instantly understood that you realised the stratagem I thank you both
for giving me the signal."

Now, although I believe that Edwards and I were as honest as most men,
we did not think it at all necessary to enlighten the sheik as to our
real motive in suddenly coming to a halt. As a matter of fact, we were
so astonished at what he said that we did not reply, thus leaving him
with a high opinion of our astuteness, which, as we never undeceived
him, he probably retained to the end of his days. There was, however,
little time to think about what had occurred, for the main object now
was to return to the mares, and conduct them back to a place of
security. Naturally, everyone was very jubilant at having recovered the
stolen beasts, and Sedjur and his party had already set them in motion
towards home. Then the great cloud of dust once again rose upwards,
almost obscuring the fast sinking sun, and darkness had set in before
the mares were once again at the grazing ground from which they had been
carried off.




CHAPTER VI.

THE SHEIK'S STORY.


That night we stayed at the grazing-ground, half expecting another
attack, the sheik thinking it by no means unlikely that there was a
large number of the Shammar tribe on the hills. But nothing occurred to
disturb our rest, though we took it in turns to watch all night, Edwards
keeping Sedjur company, whilst I sat with Faris. For half an hour or so
after we came on duty the sheik remained silent, then he began to speak
in a low tone.

"Magician," he said.

"Do not call me by that name," I said laughing. "I am nothing of the
kind."

"Well," he replied, "if the name does not please you, I will not call
you by it. Still, the man who can tell one all about the breed of a mare
directly he sees her, who can recover his own stolen property whensoever
he chooses, and who has just now returned to me all my stolen mares--a
man who can do such things, I say, must possess powers of no ordinary
kind. Such a man we desert folk call by the name magician."

"So be it, sheik," said I, not caring to argue further about the matter,
"call me what you will. But what was it you were going to say when I
interrupted you."

"It was a small thing," said he. "I had been thinking of Shahzadi's
shoe, the Muntafik talisman. Where did you say it was kept?"

"In the biggest building in the biggest town in all England," I replied.

"Why should your people wish to keep in such a place so unimportant a
thing as the shoe of one of our mares? I cannot understand you
Europeans. Men come and pay much money for bricks and pieces of stone
picked out of the ground at Babil, and carry them away on the backs of
asses. The Bedouins laugh at them. Do these also go to the big house
where the horse-shoe is?"

"Yes, the house is full of such things, and were it possible to obtain
the Golden Belt of the Great Queen, that likewise would be placed
there."

"Better not," said Faris, "for the big house would totter and fall, and
the whole town would be destroyed. Such things have happened in years
gone by in this land--and, they say, because of that accursed belt. I do
not know if what they say is true, but you have yourself seen what is
left of such a great town as Babil, and I know of many another which has
been levelled, and swallowed up by the sand. I say again, forget that
belt of gold. Tell those who live in the big house that it is lost for
ever. But Shahzadi's shoe is a different thing. Tell me, do the people
who live in the big house keep all they possess for ever?"

"You want to know," I said, "whether you could possibly obtain the
horse-shoe. I will copy the drawing, and write out for you, in Arabic, a
copy of the document which I read to you."

"It would be of small value," said the sheik, with a sigh; "but, oh, if
I could obtain the real shoe of the great Shahzadi, then would I be for
ever happy."

"Sheik," I replied, "it can never be--at least it would be very
difficult. Perhaps if I were to find the Golden Girdle, and were able to
lay it before the keepers of the big house, perhaps, I say, they might
regard me with favour and ask what I would in return. If at that moment
I could reply, 'One, Faris-ibn-Feyzul, a great Sheik of the Aeniza, and
my devoted friend, even he whose assistance enabled me to be successful
in my quest of the Golden Girdle, is the owner of the mare Kushki, whose
grand-dam was the famous Shahzadi. He desires above all things to
possess the shoe of his noble Kushki's grand-dam, and this shoe is in
your keeping.' Then, perhaps, the great men would consult together, and
might say to me, 'You have done well in recovering the Great Queen's
belt, and Faris ibn-Feyzul must be a truly worthy man; it is well that
he should receive a fitting reward for his valuable services; therefore
we ordain that the shoe of the mare Shahzadi shall be handed to you for
conveyance to the sheik.'"

"That would indeed be a day of days for me, and for all the Aeniza,"
said the sheik. "But, alas, it can never be more than a dream. For, if I
understand you rightly, the price of the shoe is that belt of gold."

"Yes," I answered, "that is what I meant."

"You cannot forget the wretched thing," said he, almost angrily. "Let
the world go on its way. Do not seek to destroy all that is good in it.
There are things which Allah has decreed shall be left alone; and if its
history has been handed down to us truly, this golden circlet is one of
them."

"Sheik," I said, "you are a great man, and chief of an important branch
of a great tribe. Your men regard you with reverence and respect, and
your position has doubtless given you a vast knowledge of men and of the
affairs of the world. Yet you believe in superhuman and supernatural
occurrences; or you think that you believe in them. You think that I am
a magician, because I have been connected with certain events which had
results different from what you expected. You believe in the mysterious
powers of this Golden Girdle, because you have always heard wild stories
about it."

As I concluded, I was astounded at my audacity in thus rating a Bedouin
sheik in his own country, but my object was to draw him out, and to
induce him to divulge what he knew of the Golden Girdle. I was aware
that I could not persuade him that I was not a magician, and I now began
to hope that he was superstitious enough to think that I could see
through him and everything else. I firmly believe that he had the idea
that there was something mysterious about me; otherwise I cannot account
for the fact that this man, the terror of all the neighbouring tribes,
should now, and on many other occasions, have allowed me to speak to
him, and even dictate to him in a manner such as I often did.

Faris remained silent for a long while. I was afraid that I had insulted
him. I did not dare to break the silence, and in the black hours before
dawn this silence became oppressive. At last I summoned up courage, and
put the question--

"I trust, sheik," I said, "that I did not offend you by my open speech."

"No, my son," he replied. And I knew that by thus addressing me, he bore
me no malice.

"You townsmen," he went on, "and especially you Europeans, do not
understand the minds of the dwellers in the desert. Sedjur, after his
return from the Hakim's house in Baghdad, told me many things about you
and your curious ways. In the towns you may not have strange things
influencing your destinies, as we in the desert have always with us.
Perchance, you are protected from them by the soldiers and the watchmen.
In this manner your eyes are blinded, and you do not see such things as
we see."

"Perhaps you are right, sheik," I replied, wishing to appease him. "But
tell me some of the strange things that this golden belt has done?"

"Of myself," he replied, "I know nothing about it. All that I know and
believe was told to me by my father, who saw and was an actor in many of
the events. Other tales, as numerous almost as the stars in the
heavens, I have heard from time to time. Some of them may be true;
others are undoubtedly false. Of the long, long ago, when the belt was
worn by the living queen, I am ignorant. My knowledge is only of modern
times, when my father was a young man. Before I had arrived at years of
discretion the belt had been laid to rest again. I can just recollect my
father's return to camp with his prize of war, the beautiful young mare
Shahzadi, to whose daughter in later years was born my mare Kushki--and
she was born full twenty summers ago."

"You never saw the belt, then," I asked.

"Never," said the sheik, "but my father and other men with whom I was
acquainted had often handled it, and they were fond of describing its
magnificent workmanship--so much so that I have often thought that I
must have seen it myself."

"What was it like?" I inquired, curious to know if his description would
agree with that furnished to me by my papers.

"It was of pure gold," said Faris enthusiastically, "and wonderfully
fashioned. It represented on the outer side, as seen on the waist of
anyone wearing it, twelve life-like serpents intertwined in various
contortions. The flat head of each serpent was thick-set with rare gems,
and the body of each beast was composed of a thousand or more small
links, so that the belt was as flexible as a piece of cord. It was solid
and of great weight, and the fastening consisted of the heads of four of
the serpents, two on either side, with wide-opened jaws whose fangs
interlocked. Thus much I remember of what was told to me; and I remember
also that my father affirmed that no man fastened the belt round his
body with impunity. So great was the power contained in it, that the
wearer appeared instantly to become demented, to rave, and foam at the
mouth, and in some instances even to die before the belt could be
removed from his body. A party of the Khazail who first dug up the
thing suffered considerably in this respect, and perhaps it was
fortunate for them that when attacking a caravan of Persian pilgrims
returning from Mecca they were worsted, and in the fight lost their
treasured circlet. The Persians, shortly afterwards, perished to a man,
when the winds of the desert swept up, and buried them and their camels
in the hot sand. The belt was lost for a while, and forgotten. Then came
the day when some merchants of Hayil, on a journey to Baghdad, chanced
to come across the remains of the Persian caravan, and found the belt
lying half buried in the sand. The finder's claim to its possession was
disputed by his fellows, and in the altercation that followed, he, as
well as three friends who espoused his cause, were killed. The others,
deciding to sell the belt in Baghdad and divide the proceeds, went on
their way. They travelled by night, hoping thus to avoid the bands of
robbers by whom the road was infested, and they lost the direction, so
that they found themselves at length far to the south of Baghdad near to
the river Tigris. One night they slept in the great ruined hall of the
Kosroes at Ctesiphon, and while they slept a vast portion of the walls
gave way and fell, crushing all that remained of the party save two men
who fled in terror, but not before they had secured the golden belt.
They were almost immediately overtaken by robbers, who stripped them of
their clothes, took all their possessions, and decamped with everything,
including that girdle. All those things occurred when my father was
quite a young man, and when my father's father was sheik. I have said
enough to show you that there was a curse on the belt, and that all who
touched it paid the penalty--usually a severe one."

"But, sheik," I said, "tell me more of these weird tales, which interest
me greatly. Had you been a servant of the great Harun-al-Rashid you
could not have learned to tell stories better. Come, the Shammar have
no intention of annoying us, so relate all that you know of the
mysterious workings of the belt until it disappeared for ever. What
became of the robbers who left the two merchants naked in the desert,
and what became of the merchants?"

"Well, story-telling passes the dark hours pleasantly, and though I
would prefer to hear from you the doings of your own people in your
native land, I am your host and therefore your servant, who needs must
obey his master. What became of the merchants I cannot say, for no man
ever knew. Perhaps they perished from exposure to the scorching sun;
perhaps they died of hunger and thirst; or perhaps they fell an easy
prey to the wild beasts. But in what manner they met their death Allah
alone knows. Of the robbers I can tell you what was told to me. They
were Khazail, and strange as it may appear, there were among them some
men who had been of the party that dug up the belt and afterwards lost
it to the Persians. Now these men had been witnesses of the evil that
befell those of their tribesmen who had worn the belt--how some had
died, and some had for a time become mad--and they cautioned their
companions against having anything to do with it. After a long
discussion, they decided that they would bury it on the bank of the
river, send the chief of the party to Baghdad to interview a Jew dealer,
and endeavour to sell it. The Jew eventually returned with the chief,
examined the belt, and bought it for a thousand kerans, after which he
rolled it up carefully in his cloak and conveyed it home. Next day, he
repaired to the palace of the Governor-General and offered the belt for
sale for five thousand kerans; but the Governor-General refused to buy
it for so great a sum. That night the Jew's house was consumed by fire,
the Jew himself being burned to death, and nothing remained of the
contents of the house.

"That the golden belt did not perish in the flames is certain, since it
appeared again after some little time; and many years afterwards a
slave-attendant of the palace harem stated that she had seen a
mysterious snake-girdle hanging therein. It may be that its presence
there accounted for the fact, which was well known at the time, that a
grievous sickness attacked the ladies of the harem and their children.
Many died, for there was nothing that would cure them. But of that
little ever came to light.

"In the course of time the Governor-General, returning to Turkey, took
the road to Damascus, accompanied by a large following and a strong
escort. The news that so large a party was leaving Baghdad to cross the
desert soon got noised abroad among the tribes, but none were found
daring enough to risk an attack on it. A band of Shammar, however,
followed on the heels of the great caravan at a safe distance for some
days, watching their opportunity to waylay stragglers, and eventually
came up with two camels which had broken down and were being urged on by
a few men. The Shammar made short work of the men, and looted the
packages carried by the camels. They contained much valuable property,
and sewn up carefully in several silk _kaffiyas_ was found the Golden
Belt. Fearing to be followed, the robbers made off with their booty as
rapidly as possible, and did not stop until they had put many miles
between them and the caravan. Now it would seem, from what has been
related, that the silk covering which enclosed the belt deprived it of
its power of causing harm; for, it is on record that so long as it was
wrapped up, no man suffered any evil effects from touching it, and it
remained in the possession of the Shammar for some years. Those Khazail
who had first dug it up, and later on sold it to the Jew in Baghdad,
came to see it in the Shammar tents, and identified it as the same belt.
They warned the Shammar of its hidden power, but were derided. Other
tribes, hearing of the Shammar treasure, for which even a Baghdad Jew
had paid a thousand kerans, made friends with its owners, so that they
might inspect it. In this manner this offshoot of the Shammar made
alliances with many tribes who had hitherto been hostile to them, and
the Aeniza--too proud to approach their ancient enemies--were forsaken
by many of their old friends.

"About this time my father's father died, and my father became Sheik of
the Jelas. When he addressed his people, he told them that their
hereditary foes, the Shammar, had grown strong because of their
ownership of the serpents of gold, and he urged upon them the necessity
of breaking the power of the Shammar, by attacking the small Salama
tribe who held the belt, and seizing their treasure. It was my father
himself who told me of this, so I know it to be true. He picked thirty
of his best fighting men, rode all night, and attacked the Salama's camp
at dawn. They resisted bravely, and a fierce fight ensued, but so sudden
had been the onslaught, that the victory was easy. In those days, the
Jelas neither gave nor expected quarter, and though they lost several
men, they utterly destroyed the whole family of the Shammar Salama
occupying these tents, with the exception of the sheik,
Jedaan-ibn-Mirshid, and his spear-bearer, who, leaping to their horses,
fled away. The pursuit was immediately taken up. Jedaan's mare cast a
shoe, which caused her to stumble and fall, and my father, riding up,
slew his enemy with his own hand--capturing the priceless Shahzadi, who,
as you know, was none other than the grand-dam of dear Kushki."

"But how," I asked, "did Shahzadi's shoe become the talisman of the
Muntafik?"

"Ah, that," said the sheik, "is a story for another time."

"And so," I said, "your people secured the Golden Girdle."

"No," replied Faris. "Do you not remember what was written in the paper
which you read to me? Jedaan's spear-bearer escaped in the confusion
attending the combat between my father and the Salama sheik; and, as was
discovered later on, he carried the belt with him. What happened to him
and the belt was only learned many years afterwards. He fled for refuge
to the abode of a seer with whom many of the Bedouin tribes were on
friendly terms, and whom they were in the habit of consulting. This seer
dwelt alone in an underground chamber amongst the ruins of a town named
Katib, at no great distance from Meshed Ali, and he received the refugee
kindly, hiding him in his chamber for several days. When he heard the
tale that he had to tell, and saw that he had with him the Golden Belt,
he was much troubled; for he was convinced that, since the Shammar had
worn the belt round his waist, he would either die before long or become
mad. The seer determined to do what he could to save his guest, and
after going through various ceremonies, which we people do not
understand, he affirmed that he had held converse with the spirit of the
dead Queen, who had told him that if the man proceeded to the ruins of
Babil and buried the belt in the spot from which it had been dug up, so
that no man should ever be able to find it again, and if he afterwards
went and bathed in the Euphrates river, then no further harm should come
to him. The Shammar, now beginning to feel ill, said that he was willing
to obey any command that the seer should give him, but that it was
impossible for him to discover the spot where he should bury the belt.
This his friend assured him would be simple, since the spirit of the
Great Queen could be procured to lend assistance. The Shammar late that
night was given a potent draught; and the seer, after lengthy
incantations, declared that the spirit had entered into him, and that he
could conduct his guest to the very spot. So the two, taking the belt,
proceeded to the ruins of Babil, and there buried the thing. Then the
seer said that the spirit of the Queen required that a great fire
should be lighted over the burial-place, as a signal to the gods that
the Golden Belt was once again at rest. The bushes grew dense all
around; to fire them was a simple matter; and the wind blew the flames
till the fire spread far and wide. This done, the seer commanded the
Shammar to ride with all speed to the river, and there bathe. The
serpents, however, had already eaten into the flesh of the man, and he
was no longer sane. He reached the river bank at dawn, and there, after
a few hours, his body was found impaled on his own spear. Such was the
end of the Golden Belt, and of the last man who wore it. That it
happened as I have told you I am certain, as I had it from the very lips
of that self-same seer."

"Then you knew him yourself," I exclaimed, in astonishment.

"Certainly," replied the sheik.

"How long ago did he die?" I asked.

"He still lives," said the sheik. "He is an old man, but many believe
that he will never die."

The day was already dawning as Faris concluded his strange story, and
the mares were being collected together to continue the journey to the
sheik's headquarters, as it was not considered safe to leave them at
this outlying grazing ground. I thanked my host for having taken the
trouble to talk at such length for my entertainment, but he impressed on
me that his main object had been to show me how useless it was for me to
think of endeavouring to find the Golden Girdle. As a matter of fact,
the end of his story had quite the opposite effect; for the knowledge
that the seer was still in the land of the living gave me a ray of
hope.




CHAPTER VII.

THE FIRE OF THE GODS.


"Well," said Edwards, after I had given him the sheik's account of the
mysterious girdle, "what is your programme now? We cannot with any
respectability go on sponging off Faris much longer. Besides, I am not a
free man like yourself; I only obtained a month's leave, and three weeks
of it have already gone. In fact, I am beginning to be nervous about the
prospects of my being able to reach Baghdad before my leave is up."

"Never mind about your leave," I replied. "Forget the wretched fact that
you are tied down to time. Think of the honour and the glory of running
the Golden Girdle to earth. We are on the scent, man. It is breast high.
With any luck, we shall kill in the open. So take a bit more leave, and
risk it."

Edwards laughed.

"All right," he said, at last, "I suppose I cannot help myself. But I
was beginning to have visions of being able to slip off with this money
belt of yours, which I think is more likely to be useful than the other
golden one that you are worrying about."

He took off the belt and threw it across the tent to me; as I caught it,
some money dropped out of the pockets; and in picking up the gold coins,
I noticed that two of them were not English sovereigns, but 10-mark
pieces.

"That is curious," I remarked; "I wonder where these came from. I am
perfectly certain my gold was all English. I suppose the thief had found
a German wandering about the desert at some time or other."

I then examined all the pockets carefully, and found all my own money
where it had always been; but there were two pockets at the back which I
had not used, and in these I discovered, to my astonishment, eight more
10-mark pieces, and a sheet of paper on which something was written in
German.

"Can you read German?" I asked.

"Yes, a bit," said Edwards.

"Then come along," said I, "and let us see what it is all about."

Edwards took the scrap of paper, looked at it for a second, then gasped.

"You have been properly done. Listen to this:"

     "To the merchant of Baghdad who shall be nameless. This to acquaint
     you of my success. The bearer will hand you the Serpent Belt of the
     Great Queen. On receipt of it, examine it thoroughly, and having
     assured yourself that it is genuine, pay the Arab 5000 kerans. Pack
     the belt carefully in a box of dates, and proceed with it
     immediately on the steamer to Bussorah. I send the Serpents to you,
     so that the sheik may be paid his money, and because I fear that I
     may be robbed of it if I keep the belt on my person. Your own
     reward as agreed upon you can deduct from my account. A thousand
     thanks for your assistance, from your devoted friend whose name you
     know."

"Is that all?" I asked.

"Every word," replied Edwards. "Isn't it enough?"

"I should have liked a date," said I.

"There isn't one," said Edwards; "but it has not been written long. You
can see that by the pencil writing."

I looked at the paper again. There was no doubt that someone else had
found my treasure, and had thus anticipated me. Then it suddenly
occurred to me that the man who was carrying this note had been killed;
that the note had never been delivered, and that consequently the Golden
Girdle had never been handed over to the nameless Baghdad merchant.
Still, the fact remained that, to all appearances, the girdle had been
dug up by a European--German, Swiss, Austrian, or some other--and was
undoubtedly above ground. I had lost it, that was certain; for, if
another European had become possessed of it, he had just as much right
to it as I should have had if I had been fortunate enough to find it. I
was bitterly disappointed; and Edwards, who hitherto had rather scoffed
at my enthusiasm, was even more angry at the turn of events than I was.
We held a long consultation as to what we should do, and we came to the
conclusion that we were powerless to do anything. It was evident from
the note that my rival knew the value of his find as well as I did,
otherwise he would not be paying away large sums of money for it.
Therefore it would be useless to try and find him and offer to buy it. I
decided to take Sheik Faris into my confidence and ask his advice; so I
went off to his tent, and told him about the note. At first he laughed
at the whole thing, saying that it was absurd to believe that anyone had
been able to find the girdle.

"When I slew Abbas-ibn-Rashid the other day," he said calmly, "I took
care to search his body carefully. He certainly was not in possession of
the Golden Belt of Serpents, or it would now be with me."

"Perhaps," I suggested, "some other member of the party had it, and rode
away with it."

"I cannot believe," said the sheik, "that anyone has found it. Still,
now that I reflect, there was that stranger--Indian, Syrian, or
whatsoever he was--who, as I told you, fled in such haste from the
field. Can it be possible that he was escaping with the serpent belt?
Can he be the writer of that note?"

I saw it all. Undoubtedly the foreigner, aided by this party of
Shammar, had succeeded in finding the girdle, and the dead man had been
entrusted with it to convey to the Baghdad merchant. When Faris and his
men appeared on the scene, the foreigner probably took the girdle and
rode off out of harm's way. This seemed to me a very obvious solution of
the problem, but when I put it before Faris, he shook his head.

"If," he said, after a pause, "I could believe that that was really so,
I would gather every Jelas horseman, and I would hunt down that Shammar
family until I found the stranger and the girdle. I would destroy the
whole gang, and would lay the girdle at your feet."

"And thereby become entitled," I replied, with a laugh, "to the shoe
once worn by the renowned Shahzadi."

The sheik smiled and rubbed his hands together with delight.

"No, sheik," said I, "I would never accept the girdle obtained in such a
manner. If another man has found it, and has lawfully become its owner,
I should honour him in that he had succeeded where I had failed. To take
from him what was his own by right would be theft."

At this my host was somewhat abashed, though he explained that in the
desert might was right, and that what a man could not keep he must lose.

"But," said he, "my curiosity is now as great as your own, and I will
satisfy it. There is one who can tell me truly if the Great Queen's
Girdle has returned to curse the world."

"Who is he?" I asked excitedly.

"That same seer," said the sheik, "who was the last to see the serpent
belt. If anyone has disturbed its resting-place, the seer, by
communicating with the spirit of the Queen, will be able to discover all
that has occurred. You smile! You would mock at my belief in the powers
of the seer! Such incredulity we desert folk ascribe to town-bred
ignorance. We are aware that you of the towns--and especially you
Ingleezee--know many things of which we have never so much as heard;
yet, I tell you, there are things in the desert which no townsman can
fathom. You are a strong man, and courageous, as I have seen with my own
eyes. Therefore, I make this proposal to you; that you shall leave the
Hakim here with Sedjur, and shall come with me to the abode of the seer,
to hear from his lips if aught hath disturbed that accursed girdle. I
warn you that the journey will be no easy one; two days and two nights
in the saddle, carrying our own food and water; always liable to be
attacked by roving Shammar, Muntafik, and Khazail; and only our two
selves to resist attack, or to trust to the speed of our horses."

"Enough, sheik," I replied, "I will accompany you whenever you are ready
to make the journey."

"It is well," said Faris. "I did not misjudge my man. We will have
supper, and start with the moon an hour later. But you cannot go in
those clothes of yours; the seer would be afraid of you. You shall wear
garments which Sedjur and I will lend you."

Poor Edwards! I can see his face now. How he argued with me about my
madness in thinking of such a crack-brained expedition! But he argued in
vain, and when he saw that I was too obstinate to listen to him, he
changed his tone and did all he could to help me prepare for my ride,
dressing me up in my borrowed clothes, packing my light saddle-bags, and
insisting on stuffing my pockets with enough revolver ammunition to wipe
out half the Bedouins of the desert. I handed him over my money belt,
for safe keeping; gave him instructions about returning to Baghdad if I
failed to put in an appearance within a certain time; then, after
grasping his hand, I mounted my little horse, and rode off by the side
of the sheik.

We followed no visible track, but my companion never hesitated.
Occasionally he looked up at the stars, but otherwise he sat motionless
in the saddle, forging ahead at a fair pace hour after hour. I kept
close on his heels, with my eyes intent on the blade of his spear, which
was visible high above his head. I did not dare to break the silence, as
I had been warned that at any moment we might run across Bedouins who
would probably prove enemies. Throughout that whole night, I may say, I
rode with my heart in my mouth, and with my hand on my revolver. When
the moon had sunk, the darkness was intense, and Faris slackened his
speed, and more than once dismounted, to place his ear to the ground and
listen. At dawn we halted on a rise, from which we could see the whole
country for many miles around, when the sheik told me to get an hour's
sleep while he watched; and I required no second bidding. On being
awakened, I found my companion preparing to continue the journey; and
after eating some dried dates and small cakes, we set out again, just as
the sun commenced to rise over the boundless plain. No incident occurred
to break the weariness of that day's ride; no human being, no beast, no
bird was visible at any time; but before us always lay the mirage of
distant water and the reflections of many buildings. Sometimes we halted
to rest the horses and to snatch a meal or a nap; but such halts were of
short duration, as the sheik insisted on pushing with all haste through
what he now explained was a waterless region. We had almost expended on
our horses and ourselves the water that we carried in our water-skins,
and it was, therefore, a relief, at sundown, to see before us a far
extending lake and marsh, which my friend assured me was no deceitful
mirage. Tired as I was, I fully appreciated the delightful change of
scene, as we rode through the scrub and green grass bordering the swamp,
flushing snipe and waterfowl at almost every step.

"Are you sorry that you came?" asked the sheik, as we watered our
gallant little beasts.

"No," I replied, "this alone is well worth it all. But, tell me, how far
have we yet to go? I confess to you that I feel that I am in very truth
a townsman, and not made of the same stuff as your horses and
yourselves."

Faris smiled, and it was a pleasure to see his face relax, for
throughout our ride he had worn a hard set expression, with eyes ever
keen and restless. I knew, from the change, that he was no longer
anxious, and he apologised profusely for having taxed my powers of
endurance so highly.

"The worst is over," he said. "Because of the water, it was advisable to
hurry. By midnight we shall have accomplished our journey."

It wanted yet an hour of midnight when, having ridden for some miles
beyond the marsh, the moon showed us that we were entering extensive
ruins. After picking our way through the debris of stone and brickwork
for a considerable distance, the sheik stopped, and taking out some
cords, thrust his spear into the ground and fastened our horses to it.

"Now listen," said he. "Twice will I call the owl, and once the jackal.
If the cry of the hyaena comes back in reply all is well, and we can
proceed."

Then, raising both hands to his mouth, he imitated both shriek-owl and
jackal, the weird cries echoing again and again through the ruins. We
listened intently, but there was no reply. Again the owl and the jackal
called; and yet a third time. Then, after a short pause, there arose,
within a few yards of us, the unmistakable cry of the hyaena.

"Good," said the sheik, "he has heard. Do you remain here, while I go
and interview him. It would not be wise to take you with me, for I must
first warn the old man to expect a stranger."

So Faris disappeared into the darkness, and I sat on a heap of brickwork
anxiously awaiting his return. He may not have been absent long, though
it seemed that he was away for hours. I was dead tired, and more than
once I found myself dropping off to sleep, waking up suddenly each time
with a start. Then I began to think that I saw beasts crawling about
among the ruins; I slipped off my seat, and crouched as low as I was
able, with my finger on the trigger of my revolver, which I had drawn
ready for an emergency. Lions, I knew, were not uncommon in these parts,
and each moment I expected to be set upon by some hungry beast.
Gradually I worked myself up to the highest pitch of nervous excitement,
prepared to empty my revolver into the first moving object that became
visible. As I looked, I saw something crawling towards me; there was no
doubt about it. I raised my revolver, fingering the trigger, and nerving
myself for the shot, but the object had dropped behind a rock before I
could fire. A moment later, I heard the sheik's voice calling to me in
an almost inaudible whisper, and fearing that he would discover the
state of nervousness at which I had arrived, I hastily put away my
revolver, and answered him.

"Quietly," he said, on creeping up to my side, "do not make a noise.
There is trouble, and other people are about. The seer is expecting
visitors, some of the ruffianly Shammar, of whom he is in great fear. It
is within an hour of the appointed time, and I have promised to watch,
and help him should he call on me to do so. Keep quiet now, and listen
with both ears."

Faris lay flat on the ground with his ear close to it, whilst I sat
listening intently. The minutes passed, and no sound disturbed the
deathly silence. Suddenly, the sheik whispered to me that he could hear
their horses galloping towards us. Save the beating of my own heart, I
could hear nothing.

"They have left their horses," said the sheik, "and are walking up to
the seer's abode. We will give them time to enter, and then we will
follow."

In a few minutes Faris arose, and, bidding me keep close behind him, led
the way up a slight incline, and then down into what appeared to be a
deep hollow. In the feeble light I could just distinguish some roughly
cut steps, which with difficulty we descended. At the bottom, the sheik
took me by the wrist and guided me rapidly along a paved path ending in
a narrow gateway. Through this we passed, and entered a courtyard, at
the far side of which we could see a light streaming through the wide
cracks of a massive wooden door. On reaching the door, my companion
gripped my arm, and motioned me to halt. Through the cracks we could see
clearly all that went on in the chamber within. Several oil lamps burned
in little niches in the walls, which were white-washed and bare; from
the centre of the domed ceiling hung an iron lamp, containing half a
dozen lighted wicks; and another lamp hung over a doorway leading to an
inner chamber. Seated on a low couch against one of the walls was a tall
thin old man, clothed in a camel's-hair cloak, the hood of which
concealed the upper part of his face. Opposite to him sat three
stern-faced Bedouins, each with a spear in his hand and daggers
protruding from his waistband. High words were already in progress.

"You agreed, Gat-tooth," said one of the Bedouins, "to sell it to us for
2000 kerans; my friends here are witnesses."

"Yes," said another, "and you agreed to meet us at the grove outside
Babil, four days since, and deliver it to us."

"I was ill," said the old man, "and unable to do so."

"Know you," said the first Arab, "that your illness cost us the life of
our sheik, Abbas-ibn-Rashid, who was ever your friend?"

"I know that he was killed," was the reply, "but he died as he would
have wished, and you must all die at one time or another."

"That is indeed true both for you and for us," said the first speaker,
"but I would have you know that I am now sheik in my uncle's place, and
I have neither his generosity nor his kindness. I have sworn to avenge
his death, not only by slaying his murderer, Faris of the Jelas curs,
but also by demanding that you shall render up forthwith that for which
you would have received 2000 kerans had you kept to your agreement."

"Fine words, Ahmed," replied the seer, quite unperturbed. "Yet pause
before you act foolishly. You and your men have come here with naked
spear points, which in itself is an insult to the goddess whom I serve.
You come to this sacred spot prepared for robbery of the basest
kind--robbery from an old man, unable to defend himself with weapons
made by human hands. Now, look you, I take these eight beads from my
rosary, and I shall let them fall one by one to the floor; when the
fourth bead drops you will know that my appeal has reached the gods whom
I serve; ere the sixth strikes the ground you must have gone out from
this chamber; for, the seventh is the bead of ruin and destruction, and
the eighth brings the avenging fire."

What was about to happen I could not conjecture; the old seer, now
standing, broke the string of his rosary, and slowly counted out eight
beads. I held my breath as I watched him, and wondered if I were
dreaming. Faris laid his hand on my arm and held it as in a vice. Then
the seer, muttering a few words, stretched out his hand with a bead
between the finger and thumb. It dropped to the ground and, rebounding
from the bricks, rolled away. The three Bedouins looked at one another
and smiled; and Ahmed, rising, addressed the seer.

"Let fall your beads," said he, "and invoke your gods to the utmost. We
know them not, and we curse them as vile impostors."

The seer did not vouchsafe a reply, but holding out his hand, let fall a
second bead. A slight pause ensued, then the third bead dropped. It
seemed to me that the Bedouins now showed some signs of wavering; they
no longer smiled; and they shifted in their seats uneasily. The fourth
bead was already between finger and thumb, and, like the others, it fell
to the ground. Then the Bedouins rose, and I momentarily expected to
see them hurl themselves on the strange figure confronting them. But the
fifth bead had dropped before they moved, and as it struck the brick
floor, it broke in pieces, and, as I thought, gave out some sparks.
Whatever occurred was better seen by the Bedouins than by myself, and I
noticed that all three of them recoiled. As the sixth bead was raised by
the seer, I thought that I saw Ahmed clutch at his spear, but he and his
companions now seemed unable to move. The sparks this time were
unmistakable; and their effect on the Bedouins was to cause them to step
hurriedly back, as if in flight. It was, however, too late, for the
seventh bead left the seer's fingers immediately after the sixth; and
the eighth followed the seventh as rapidly. In place of dropping this
last one like the others, he hurled it with all his force at the very
feet of the Arabs. It struck the ground with a report like that of a
bomb, and instantly that portion of the floor seemed to open, and give
forth great tongues of flame, which leaped up to the roof, and filled
the whole chamber. It was a dreadful sight, and I could not restrain
myself from shrieking aloud at the horror of it all.

"Fly," shouted Faris, clutching convulsively at my arm, "fly, before we
also perish."

Great flames licked up the door in front of us, sweeping it away, then,
bursting into the air, shot up, and cast a lurid glare over the ruins.
By the light thus given, we were able to dash up the steps and through
the piles of broken masonry, out of the hollow, with all speed. At last,
when at a safe distance, we stopped, and turned to look back. The flames
still poured forth, but now spasmodically, and the smoke grew thicker
and blacker. Neither of us spoke, and from what I could see of his face,
my companion was as much puzzled at what had occurred as was I. Dawn was
approaching, and, as if afraid of the daylight, the flames died down,
though the black smoke continued to belch forth through the doorway.

"Sheik," I said in a low voice, hardly daring to break the silence,
"what was it?"

"As I have told you many times," he replied, "things happen in the
desert which no man can account for. Can you, with all your knowledge of
magic, say why fire suddenly issued from the ground and destroyed the
inmates of that chamber?"

"I have no knowledge of magic," I said, "and the shock occasioned by
what I saw has left me without power to think of a reason for it."

"Then I will tell you," said Faris, impressively. "The seer called on
his gods to bring fire and burn up his enemies, yet he as well as they
must have perished in the flames; for no man could have remained alive
in that chamber."

I knew the uselessness of attempting to argue; neither at that moment
was I at all sure that the sheik's solution was not the correct one. So
I held my tongue, and sat and watched the smoke hurtling into the air,
until, before long, my eyes grew heavy, my head dropped forward, and I
sank into a deep sleep.




CHAPTER VIII.

RASPUL, THE SEER.


I slept for hours, and should have continued to do so for many hours
longer, had not the sheik roused me.

"It is past mid-day," said he, "and we must be thinking of doing
something. You have slept soundly, and should be refreshed. See, the
fire is almost out."

Then the horrors of the past night came back to me; it had been no dream
after all. I looked towards the doorway in the hollow, and now only a
thin wreath of smoke was issuing from it.

"Shall we ride back to camp?" I asked.

"Not yet," replied Faris. "I must go down to the chamber and look. Will
you also come?"

I hated the idea, but I felt that it would be cowardly to let the sheik
go alone; so we walked down together, and finding that the smoke had now
ceased, we peered through the doorway into the blackened chamber. A
thick grimy soot caked the walls and the stone ceiling, and the air was
laden with a foul smell, not unlike that of the boiling asphalt being
prepared for a London street. Hesitating to enter, we stood on the
threshold, not knowing that the flames might not burst out afresh; and
the remembrance of those long tongues of fire curling through the
doorway was sufficient to make us cautious. After a little, Faris took a
step forward, and shading his eyes with his hand, looked into the gloom
of the interior. I followed, but not without some misgivings. I looked
first at the spot where the seer had been standing when I saw the last
bead leave his hand. The couch from which he had risen had disappeared;
nothing remained but a handful of ashes on the floor. I gazed across at
the other side of the chamber, and when my eyes had become accustomed to
the dim light, I was able to see a large hole in the floor exactly where
I recollected to have seen the couch on which the three Bedouins had
been seated. Faris saw it at the same instant, and uttered an
exclamation of surprise.

"Let us go carefully, and look at it," he said.

We reached the edge, and found a great pit, how deep we were unable to
see. Pungent fumes still issued from it, and we were forced to draw
back. I turned to my companion for an explanation, and he dragged me out
of the chamber, the atmosphere of which was oppressive.

"It was a bitumen well," said he, "and the seer purposely set it on fire
through the agency of his gods. I am as much astonished as yourself;
for, I have sat on that couch scores of times, never thinking that such
a thing was beneath me. Perhaps it was not always there. Perhaps it was
brought by the gods only when the seer invoked their aid. But little did
he think that in thus destroying his enemies, he would also bring his
own death."

The sheik had hardly finished speaking before we heard a low wailing
chant coming from beyond the fatal chamber. Spellbound, we stood and
listened. Now the sound grew louder; now died away. Again it came clear
and strong. It was a strange unearthly crooning; and, had I been alone,
I should have fled from it. That I trembled I have no doubt, and Faris
saw my fear.

"Courage, lad," he said, taking me by the arm. "It is someone in the
temple beyond. Come, let us go and see. Death only comes once, and our
fate has already been arranged for us. If we are to die to-day, then we
shall die. We cannot alter our fate."

I made no reply, but nerving myself with a great effort, walked with him
through the chamber to the inner doorway. There was no door--whether it
had been destroyed by the fire, or whether there never had been one, I
cannot say. Beyond the doorway was a narrow bricked passage, with here
and there long slanting slits admitting the daylight. A steep flight of
steps led us to another stone doorway, on the lintel of which were
carved queer figures of beasts. Here we stood and listened. The chanting
still continued; and we moved on for a short distance along the
tunnel-like passage. Presently we found ourselves in a circular vaulted
room, with bare walls rising to a height of some fifteen feet before the
dome of the roof began. In the centre of the dome was a hole, a foot or
so in diameter, through which the sky was visible. Eight passages,
similar to that by which we had entered, radiated from the chamber, so
that its walls appeared like solid pillars supporting the roof. We
listened again, but no sound could we now hear.

"Sheik," I whispered, fearing to speak aloud, "do you know which way to
take?"

"No," he replied, "I know not this place. I have never before penetrated
it."

"Then let us return by the way we came," I urged.

"Courage, lad," said the sheik; "we will go on."

The rebuke, uttered a second time, stung me, although I knew that it was
meant kindly. I had always thought that I possessed an ordinary amount
of courage, but it seemed now to have deserted me.

"Well, which way shall we go?" I asked in desperation.

"We will try this one," said Faris, moving to the nearest entrance on
his right.

I followed him closely along the new passage, just able to see the way
by the glimmer of daylight falling through the occasional narrow
loopholes, which slanted upwards towards the heavens. That the walls
were thick and solid we could see from the depth of the loopholes--four
feet they must have been, at the least. For some thirty yards or so the
tunnel was straight; then it took a sudden turn to the left; then, after
a few yards, a sudden turn to the right; again to the left, and twice
more in succession to the left; after which we turned at right angles to
the right, and going for a short distance, found ourselves in another
circular chamber, alike in all respects to the first one. There was
again the hole in the vaulted roof, and there were the nine passages
leading out of it.

I sighed audibly, and the sheik looked at me and laughed.

"You are a magician," he said, "come, try your magic. Divine for us which
path we had better take."

"I know no magic that could avail us in this accursed spot," I replied.
"Let us take the way that we came, and retrace our steps out of these
underground dungeons; or shall we cast lots as to the road we shall
follow?"

"We will do that," said Faris.

I took nine revolver cartridges out of my pouch, and, shaking them in my
hands, said that I would throw them on the floor; then we would enter
that passage whose entrance lay nearest to a cartridge. The sheik seemed
much impressed by this, imagining, no doubt, that I was working magic.
So, hurling the cartridges into the middle of the chamber, I watched
them roll away. One of them stopped quite close to an entrance, and the
sheik forthwith led the way into the tunnel. Our wanderings were much
the same as before, and had the same result, in that, after several
turns and twists, we arrived at another circular chamber, from which
nine passages radiated.

The sheik was now beginning to lose his temper, and he cursed the man
who had designed the building that was causing us all this trouble. Then
he suddenly stepped forward, and stooping down, picked up something,
which he handed to me. That something was one of my own revolver
cartridges!

"Do you understand?" asked the sheik.

"I must have just dropped it," I replied.

"No," said he, "it is one of those that you threw on the ground. We have
returned to the chamber from which we set out. These tunnels have made
fools of us. Shall we leave them, and abandon our search?"

"Yes," I said eagerly, "it is the best thing we can do, for I see that
you are right; we certainly have come back twice to the same place."

But now arose a difficulty; there was no difference in appearance
between the entrance to one tunnel and that to another. Nine of them
confronted us. We knew which one we had just issued from, but we knew
nothing else. We walked round the chamber and examined each passage, but
found no clue. My heart sank, for I observed that the scanty light which
came into the dungeon was rapidly growing less, and that the day, in the
outside world, was evidently fast drawing to a close. Faris, though
annoyed at being outwitted, was still cheerful--and his cheerfulness
irritated me.

"Come, magician, cast lots again," said he. "Maybe this time they will
avail us better. The nearest cartridge to the tunnel which shall bring
us freedom. Throw the nine."

Again I threw the cartridges, and, as before, we wandered through a
passage, now almost dark, expecting each moment to reach the flight of
steps by which we had descended some hours before. We were, however,
doomed to disappointment. The passage turned and twisted, and eventually
brought us back to the prison chamber, with its high walls and its domed
roof.

It was now so dark that we could barely see the entrances to the various
passages; there seemed to be nothing for it but to spend the night where
we were and again attack the tunnels in the daylight. I, myself, was
dejected, dead tired, hungry, and thirsty; perhaps, I thought, we should
never get out of the place, but wander about until we died of hunger and
thirst. Faris, however, was quite hopeful.

"We will sleep here in comfort," he said, "like true townsmen, with a
roof over our heads. There is no water, certainly, but I have some dried
dates in my pocket, and they will sustain us. When daylight returns, we
will try each passage in turn, until we find that one which leads to the
steps."

"Could not we break through the wall," I asked, "and so escape?"

"The walls are thick and firmly cemented, as you must have noticed," he
replied. "Save my knife, we have no instruments with which to pick out
the bricks. Still, if, when the light comes, we fail to find the passage
that we want, then will we attack the walls. Come, here are some dates,
eat and be joyful; after which we will sleep and have pleasant dreams.
Then to-morrow we will gallop our little horses across the desert. Poor
beasts, they must be tired of waiting for us."

All light soon left the chamber, and through the opening in the roof we
could see the stars mocking at us. From each of the nine tunnels the
chill air appeared to pour in upon us, so that, for warmth, we sat close
together, with our backs against the portion of wall which separated one
passage from the next. In this position, in absolute darkness, we ate
our hard, dried dates, and tried to sleep. Whether or not the sheik and
I actually slept I am not certain. I think that I, at any rate, must
have done so, because I have no recollection of hearing or seeing
anything until I felt the sheik's great horny hand gripping my thigh,
and I became aware that something was happening. A light was streaming
into the chamber, and, as I looked, I saw the wall between two tunnels
exactly opposite to us gradually opening like a hinged door. The portion
of wall was, in fact, an actual door, and when it had opened wide, I
could see behind it a narrow passage, lighted with small lamps. In the
doorway there stood what appeared to me to be an immensely tall naked
figure, and so thin that it might have been the representation of a
living skeleton. The head and face were streaked with paint, so that
they resembled a fleshless skull, and the ribs and other bones of the
body were also painted to look like the outline of a skeleton. For a
second it hesitated on the threshold, with one arm stretched out towards
us; then slowly stepping into the chamber, it closed the door, and thus
left us again in darkness.

Neither of us spoke. I, personally, imagined that what I had seen was
merely in a dream; but I was wide awake, and could clearly hear my
companion breathing. The spectre, or whatever it was, was shuffling
about in front of us, and I expected each moment to feel the touch of
ghostly hands. Then in a deep sepulchral voice came the words:--

"Strangers are here within the sacred precincts. Let them account for
themselves, ere the fire comes to destroy them."

"We are not willingly here," answered the sheik, fearlessly. "We are
lost, and if you will guide us to the outside world, we will gladly
follow."

"Who are ye who speak thus lightly?" inquired the spectre.

"Faris-ibn-Feyzul," replied the sheik, "and a friend."

Then we heard a click, and the wall-door opened, showing the strange
figure standing in the entrance to the lighted passage. The outstretched
arm pointed down the passage, and presently the figure turned and
motioned to us to follow.

"Come," whispered Faris to me, "we will see what it means, even though
it be Death that is enticing us on."

So we started on our new and fearful journey, being led, as it seemed to
me, to execution. The passage was not of great length, and it ended
suddenly in a blank wall. There was again a clicking sound, and a
portion of the wall swung back to allow us to pass through, and what a
sight met our gaze!

We entered an octagonal-shaped temple, evidently of a most ancient date,
with walls of glazed bricks of various colours and arranged in strange
patterns. All around was a species of colonnade, supported by carved
pillars, standing on the heads of winged bulls, and in the alcoves of
the colonnade were long stone benches. Numerous small lamps illuminated
the interior, and in the centre was a black wooden altar, with,
immediately above it, an opening in the roof. Even at such a moment as
this I could not help thinking what my uncle would give to see this
magnificent specimen of a Babylonian temple; and I wondered how it had
happened that all the scientific excavators had failed to discover these
extraordinary and interesting remains. Such thoughts as these, however,
did not occupy my mind for long, for the stern reality of the present
soon drove away all musings on the past.

As soon as the door had shut to with the uncanny click, the sound of
which was beginning to be familiar, the ghost-man turned and faced us.
My hand involuntarily moved towards my revolver; for I had made up my
mind that, whatever line the sheik might take, I would defend myself in
the event of attack. The figure saw my intention.

"Fear not," said he, in a soft voice, "you are my guests here, in the
Temple, and are under the protection of the gods. Faris, it is I, Raspul
the Seer, who welcome you. When I heard you in the outer chamber, I was
offering a sacrifice to the gods who have recently befriended me. It is
a great occasion, and before attending to your wants, I must finish the
ceremony required of me."

The sheik's face was a study of utter bewilderment. He looked at our
strange host, but said nothing. Neither had he time to do so; for the
seer abruptly left us, and began his devotions, while we sank on to a
bench in the nearest alcove. The air of the temple and its surroundings
was heavy with intoxicating perfumes, which appeared to mount to one's
brain; and I noticed that Faris more than once put his hand to his
forehead, as if feeling their effects. As to myself, I found it
difficult to realise that I was not dreaming. But that things happened
as I am about to relate I firmly believe; for I afterwards
cross-questioned Faris carefully, and what he described that he saw
agreed exactly with what I am convinced that I saw, and he could have
had no object in deceiving me. Yet, I have often thought that both of us
must have been under some extraordinary influence, which, for the time
being, at any rate, warped our intellects, and caused us to see, or to
imagine that we saw, things which in more sober moments we should have
ridiculed.




CHAPTER IX.

IN THE TEMPLE OF SOPHANA.


One by one the lamps that flickered in the temple were extinguished by
the seer, who left burning only those two which hung on either side of
the altar. Then Raspul stood before the altar, with arms upraised, and
head thrown back so as to look through the roof-hole, apparently wrapped
in meditation. His lips moved rapidly, and at times his whole body
became convulsed. Finally, he bowed before the altar, and threw dust on
his head.

As we watched, we saw the weird figure rise up and walk slowly across
the pavement to a small door, through which it passed, and disappeared
for a while. When the seer entered the temple again, he was a changed
man. He was no longer disguised in paint, but was clothed in a long
yellow silken robe. I now for the first time saw his face clearly. It
was thin and wan, with a parchment-like skin almost of the same colour
as his robe, and clean shaven--as was also the whole of his head. Such a
face I had never seen before, and I gazed on it in wonder.

"Is this really the seer of whom you told me," I whispered to Faris,
"and the same that we thought had perished in the fire?"

"Yes," he replied, "but do not speak, for fear of breaking the spell
which is upon him."

So I remained silent, and watched intently the movements of the seer,
who was now busying himself around the massive wooden altar. From the
doorway he brought faggots, and piling them up, poured oil over them;
then he took a lighted wick from the hanging lamp, and set fire to the
pile on all sides. The burning sticks crackled, and the flames shot up
towards the hole in the roof, and we could see that the altar itself was
ablaze. Why should the man--or priest, as he evidently was--destroy his
own altar, I wondered. Could it be that the seer had become mad? Yet he
appeared to be perfectly calm, as, standing back from the heat of the
fire, he gazed on his handiwork.

He was now praying earnestly, and at times stretched out his hands
towards the altar in supplication. At first only his lips moved, and no
sound came from them; but, presently, in his fervour, he began to speak
aloud, and then slowly but clearly came the words.

"O Queen! Great Goddess-Queen! Think not that Raspul, thy slave, thy
worshipper, hath done aught to merit thy displeasure. Never had he any
intention of betraying his trust, and had not the fire come to help him,
he would have willingly died in the defence of the secret. He lied to
the tribesmen who sought the treasure, and he made false promises. For
such things, I, Raspul, humble myself before my Queen and the gods, and
seek their pardon. Manifest thyself, Immortal Sophana, and thus let thy
slave know that his deeds have not been misunderstood."

As he spoke, the seer continuously flung handfuls of incense on to the
fire, and the flames streaked upwards in varied colours, while the
temple was filled with penetrating odours. The glare, the heat, and the
heavily-perfumed air made my head throb until I thought it would burst,
and the sheik, I noticed, was equally overcome. The altar was rapidly
being consumed; the flames had died down; curls of smoke ascended; while
the massive timbers, glowing red, began to crumble away and fall to the
ground. Then, suddenly the whole structure tottered and fell with a
crash, an immense volume of smoke leaping towards the roof-hole, and
filling every corner of the temple. Nearly blinded and half-suffocated,
I began to fear that the seer was attempting to destroy us in the same
way that we had seen him destroy his three Bedouin foes.

"Let us escape," I said to Faris, as I jumped to my feet; "quick, before
we are smothered."

"Lie down flat on the floor," he replied, "and keep quiet. The smoke
will, in the course of time, all pass through the hole."

"Look!" he said presently, touching me on the arm.

I raised myself from the floor, and turned my eyes towards the spot
where the altar had been. The smoke was clearing off; and, as it
cleared, I saw, by the dim light of the single lamp, two figures among
the pieces of charred wood. One was kneeling, and I recognised in it the
form of the seer. The other was standing, and it was the figure of a
woman.

"O Goddess-Queen!" muttered the seer in a low tone, "I thank thee for
once again coming to me in my old age. It shall be as thou commandest.
It were better to destroy it for ever, than to permit it to be the cause
of further bloodshed. Maybe, its spirit shall be wafted to the palace
wherein thou now dwellest; and, Great Goddess, if it be thy pleasure,
permit the spirit of Raspul, thy slave, to pass, at the same time, into
thy service in the other world."

The smoke had by this time completely cleared away, and the sheik and I,
eager to see the better, quietly rose from the ground, and stood behind
one of the pillars. I was now able to see the figure of the goddess
distinctly. I looked intently, and it seemed to me that what I saw was a
corpse, tightly swathed in grave-clothes. It stood motionless, and as
the face was turned away from us, we were unable to distinguish its
features. Once or twice I thought that I detected a slight quiver in the
body; but I was in a state of intense nervous excitement, and was
capable of imagining almost anything. Thus, behind the shelter of the
pillar, we stood looking at the strange pair, and anxiously awaiting
developments. There was now no sound; Raspul still knelt before the
goddess, who neither spoke nor moved; and the moments that passed seemed
to us to be endless. At length, the seer rose slowly from his knees, and
stood erect, his head bent forward, and his arms hanging by his side.
Then, turning in our direction, as if suddenly remembering our presence,
he spoke in a solemn, impressive voice which resounded through the whole
temple.

"Faris-ibn-Feyzul and that other man," he said, "listen to the command
of the Great Goddess Sophana. When you leave this her temple, if you
ever leave it alive, you must banish from your minds aught that you have
witnessed herein. You will not move from the spot whereon you are now
standing until the goddess grants you permission to do so. Should you
disobey, then will the curse of the gods be upon you, and by their fires
shall you perish. These are the words of the Beloved of the Gods, that
Immortal Sophana, who during her sojourn in this world was Queen of the
Assyrians. I, Raspul, her slave, have said it."

Having delivered himself of this warning, to which neither of us
replied, the seer turned again towards the goddess, and raising his robe
took from his waist a roll of silk. Sweeping clean a small space on the
floor, he laid the roll upon it, and then began to unwind fold after
fold of silk wrappings, and it was soon apparent that a belt was hidden
within. Have I lived another life, in another world? I kept saying to
myself, as I watched what was taking place. I had, perhaps, dreamed of
it; but certainly I had somewhere before seen it all clearly enough. I
knew exactly what was going to happen, and that which I expected did
actually happen. The last fold of silk was unwound, and there lay in
Raspul's hands the GOLDEN GIRDLE. I was not astonished, but the sight
of it made me shiver with excitement, until my teeth chattered, and so
close was I standing to the sheik that I could feel that he was in much
the same state as myself. Even he, the immovable Bedouin, was showing
emotion.

"The Serpent Belt," he gasped out in an undertone.

"Yes," I whispered in reply, "it is good to have lived even to have seen
it. But what will he do with it?"

"Hush," said the sheik, "let us wait and see."

We were not left long in suspense as to forthcoming events, for no
sooner did the seer expose the belt to view than, kissing it reverently,
he clasped it round the waist of his goddess. Then, kneeling once more
before her, he prayed aloud.

"To the Immortal Goddess," he said, "I, her servant, return that which
in her worldly existence ever bore her to victory, and which, when she
was taken to rule over the gods, remained behind to become the curse of
the covetous inhabitants of the world. It was at thy command, Great
Goddess-Queen, that I caused the last man who ever saw it to re-inter it
in its abiding-place. It was at thy command that death afterwards came
to him. It was at thy command that I, Raspul the seer, recovered it, and
by none other than thyself, Sophana Great Goddess-Queen, was I appointed
its guardian. The time has now, doubtless, come when it is meet that I
should quit this world and pass into the service of the gods. For that
reason I willingly obey the behest of my mistress, who ordereth that,
through fire, the spirit of the Sacred Belt shall soar into the realms
of the Great Unknown."

Much more he said, but he spoke in an undertone and we could only catch
a word here and there. I now feared the worst. He was evidently going to
destroy the Golden Girdle; and the thought that all my hopes of
obtaining it were about to be dashed to the ground made me forget
fatigue, hardship, fear, and everything else. I quietly drew my
revolver, hardly knowing what I intended to do, but Faris saw the
movement, and seized my wrist.

"Fool," said he, "would you murder a priest in the presence of his
goddess, in her own temple? Tush! it were madness."

I knew that it would be so; yet, was I to stand by and see the whole
object of my journey, the one thing that I imagined that I lived for,
destroyed before my very eyes? There was the Golden Girdle almost within
my grasp--barely twenty paces from me. I could see each serpent that
composed it clearly outlined on the white figure of the goddess. One
shot from my revolver would secure the treasure. But the sheik's grip
brought me to my senses and saved me from being a murderer.

"Speak to him, then," I said, in a state of agitation. "Offer him a
price for the Serpent Belt."

"It would be useless," answered Faris. "He is possessed, and cannot
control his actions. See, he is preparing the fire which is to consume
it."

The seer had already brought cakes of bitumen and charcoal, and had
kindled a small but hot fire. With difficulty he placed a heavy iron
vessel over it, and then, blowing on it through a hollow bamboo, watched
the fuel ignite and grow red. Every now and then, he prostrated himself
before the goddess, and besought her to give heat to the fire, which, it
seemed to me, she must have done; for, before long the iron vessel began
to glow, and was soon red hot. That the end was near I realised; and as
Raspul, after examining the vessel carefully, moved towards the goddess,
my hand again sought my revolver--but only again to be arrested by my
companion.

[Illustration: "HE PROSTRATED HIMSELF BEFORE THE GODDESS, AND BESOUGHT
HER TO GIVE HEAT TO THE FIRE"]

Then Raspul knelt, and began to unclasp the belt, while I held my
breath. It was undone. The seer took it in his hands, turned it over,
and fondled it. Great beads of perspiration stood out on my forehead as
I saw the glitter of the golden serpents, which seemed to writhe and
twist about as if alive. Faris grew impatient and, to my horror, stamped
his foot on the ground.

Whether Raspul and his goddess heard that stamp no man can say; but, as
if in response to it, there occurred the most fearful noise that has
ever fallen on my ears. With a terrific crash, huge portions of the roof
surrounding the hole rained down on the head of the unfortunate seer,
who must have been instantly killed. Enormous masses of masonry hurtled
on to the goddess, who, however, stood unmoved. At first, I imagined
that the wrath of the gods had overtaken Faris and myself for my
companion's thoughtless stamp, but why the faithful Raspul should have
suffered I could not understand. All this, and many other thoughts,
passed through my mind in the space of a second; for, no sooner did we
see the seer stricken down than we forgot all dread of the consequences
and rushed to his assistance. Yet, barely had we advanced a couple of
steps into the actual temple, before another portion of the roof fell,
and with it the lamp which provided the only light. Suddenly we heard a
chorus of voices above us; and, looking up at the great gap in the roof,
we could see that day was just dawning, and that a number of men were
peering down into the temple.

"Stand quiet," said the sheik, softly. "Get your revolver ready, and we
will fall on them when they enter. By their speech I take them for some
of the twice-accursed Shammar."

Then, by the scanty light coming through the hole, we saw a rope lowered
from above, and immediately a man descended to the ground. In another
second he gave a shout, and before we realised what was taking place, he
was swiftly hauled up again through the gaping roof. We waited for
others to descend, but no others came. Presently, we heard a wild shout
of exultation, and the sounds of many feet hurrying over the roof. Then
all was quiet.

"What is it that has happened?" I asked the sheik, when I could find my
tongue.

"Allah alone knows," said he. "It may be that the Shammar came to avenge
their three friends whom the seer caused to perish by fire. They are
satisfied, and have gone. But, come, there is light enough now, let us
see if the unfortunate man is truly dead."

Over the pile of fallen masonry, in the fast growing light, we clambered
to the spot where Raspul lay. There we found his body, with the life
crushed out of it by great heaps of stone and brickwork. Close by stood
the goddess, beautifully sculptured in white stone, but broken and
chipped by the avalanche that had recently descended on it. Faris looked
at the figure with a certain amount of reverence, then sat on some
stones in silence--a silence which I, for my part, felt no inclination
to break. I had passed through enough in the last few hours to desire
nothing but quiet, so, sinking on to the ground, I endeavoured to
collect my thoughts.

After a while, the sheik suddenly turned to me, and looked steadily into
my face.

"You are a great magician," he said, "to have caused all this to happen.
I told you once that your magic could not prevail against that of
Raspul. I spoke foolishly, for he lies dead before you."

"Sheik," I replied, vehemently, "I have denied to you that I am a
magician. I swear it before my God, before Allah, and before the gods of
the heathen. I have had no hand in these terrible events. I possess no
power to work good or ill; and I beseech you to believe my words."

"Then I will believe you," he replied, holding out his hand and grasping
mine; "for, under such circumstances as these, I doubt if any living man
would dare to speak otherwise than truly. But what is done is done, and
we cannot alter it. It was Raspul's fate to die thus, and from what we
heard him say, he knew that he was to die soon. His spirit has doubtless
gone whither he wished it to go, but he cannot have taken the Golden
Serpents with him. That will be your reward for all that you have passed
through."

It seemed to me that there would be something of sacrilege in taking the
belt from the hands of the dead seer, lying at the feet of the image of
his goddess. I did not like the idea of it--in fact my heart failed me.
I argued with myself on the folly of neglecting the opportunity now that
it had come; but the longer I reflected the less inclined did I feel to
have anything to do with the mysterious girdle. I brought to mind all
that the sheik had told me of its strange history, and I remembered that
so long as it remained wound round with silk it was harmless. Here with
my own eyes I had seen a dire calamity follow the unwinding of the silk
wrappings, and the exposure of the shining metal. Superstition had
seized hold of me, and I dreaded to touch the thing. I confessed my
misgivings to Faris, and I saw him smile.

"You are a Christian," he said, "yet you fear the wrath of the gods of
the heathen! I myself will take the serpent belt, and if evil befalls me
then I shall count it my fate. I do not want the belt, nor the money
that it is worth, but if I can but obtain the shoe of Shahzadi, as a
reward for sending it to the big house of which you spoke, then shall I
go down to my grave in happiness."

He stepped across to the pile of rubbish under which Raspul was almost
buried, and I felt impelled to follow. We looked on the ground among the
debris, but could not see the object of our search. Removing the stones
and bricks from the body of the seer, we placed it gently on a bench in
one of the alcoves. The belt was not in his hand, as we imagined that it
would have been; neither could we discover it anywhere near the spot
where he had fallen. I became as excited as did the sheik, and together
we removed the stones, and hunted everywhere for the lost treasure. At
last we desisted, and looked at one another in bewilderment.

The Golden Girdle had disappeared.




CHAPTER X.

A DASH FOR FREEDOM.


"Possibly," I suggested, "the unfortunate seer flung the belt into the
cauldron as he fell, and it was melted."

"No," said the sheik, "that he did not do. I saw the serpents glittering
in his hand when he was on the ground. Besides, look, there is no melted
gold in the cauldron."

That was certainly true; for, though the great iron vessel had been
overturned, there was no sign of gold upon it, or anywhere on the ground
about it.

Suddenly leaping to his feet, Faris swore a fearful oath.

"Fools that we have been!" he almost shrieked in his rage. "Fools, ten
thousand times fools! That Shammar devil with the rope came to steal it,
and he carried it off. I see it all now; and we let him escape! To think
that I, Faris-ibn-Feyzul, should have been outwitted thus by my enemies!
I swear by yonder corpse," he continued, solemnly extending his hands,
"that I will avenge the death of Raspul; that, so long as my life
continues, I will war against the Shammar scoundrels who have done this
thing. I will pursue them to the uttermost ends of the earth, though it
may cost me my own life, and though it may cost my tribe the lives of
all the fighting men. I have sworn it, and may the curse of the Golden
Serpents, which is the curse of Sophana, the Great Queen, again harry
the Shammar, as it did of yore."

The man's wrath was terrible to witness. I did my best to calm him; for,
in reality, the disappearance of the girdle was rather a relief to me
than otherwise; and, after a while, he became more reasonable, and
suggested that I must be hungry. Under the circumstances it was a
somewhat prosaic suggestion; but it was certainly a fortunate one, in
that it recalled both of us to our senses. More dried dates furnished us
with a meal; and, to our joy, we found, standing in a corner of the
temple, some pots of water, of which we drank greedily. To sleep, or
even rest, was out of the question, for neither of us wished to remain
longer than necessary on the spot. How to get out of it was our next
thought, and we simultaneously decided that our only possible way of
escape would be by the hole in the roof. The idea of again attempting to
enter the maze of tunnelled passages we never for a moment entertained;
and we at once set about to discover a means by which we might reach the
opening above us. The height of the centre of the dome was at least
fifteen feet from the ground. We searched for a ladder, but could find
none; we sought in vain for wood and cords out of which we might
improvise one; and after each fruitless search I became more and more
dejected. Things had been bad enough before; but now I saw before me a
lengthy incarceration in this temple prison, if not even death by
starvation. Yet, the sheik's courage never left him. He was impatient,
certainly, at not being able to pursue his enemies forthwith; but he did
not appear to think for a moment that there was any great difficulty in
our way to freedom.

"Well," I asked at last, "what do you propose that we shall do?"

"Build a tower," replied Faris, laughing, "like that of the Birs
Nimroud, until we reach the outer world. Then for our poor little
horses; a long gallop home to our tents; and, before many days, with
spear and sword against the Shammar."

I caught the sheik's enthusiasm when I realised that his plan was
feasible; and we both set to work with a will to collect and arrange
carefully the blocks of stone and brickwork that lay scattered about.
The goddess, we found, was firmly fixed in the ground, so around the
figure we formed the foundation of our tower, and before long we had
built up to the level of her head and had completely concealed her. Each
of us in turn, like children, climbed to the top of the loose pile to
see how high we were from the ground, and then continued to add stone
after stone to the fast-growing heap. Occasionally we were delayed by a
sudden collapse at the bottom; but we built up again rapidly, and at
length came the time when, standing upright, I was able to place my
fingers on the edge of the broken roof. It was a glorious moment, and I
could almost sniff the desert air outside. The thought of being once
more free sent a thrill through me, and I remembered a certain gymnastic
feat at which I had excelled when at school. It occurred to me that I
was confronted with the identical thing, the only difference being that
in place of having to pull myself up over the edge of, and on to, a
smooth wooden platform, I now had before me a rough, jagged edge of
brickwork. It was worth the attempt, and I tried it.

Firmly, with both hands, I gripped the edge, and slowly I let my weight
hang on my hands, when, horror of horrors, an immense portion of roof
broke off, and fell with a crash to the ground. At the same moment I
lost my balance, and though, fortunately, I kept my feet, my descent was
so unpremeditated that I brought down half our loosely-built structure
on my heels. Faris, standing at a little distance, could not make up his
mind whether to laugh or be angry. Of one thing, however, both of us now
became aware: it was improbable that the roof of the dome would support
our weight, so loosened had the materials composing it become by the
rough treatment it had received at the hands of the Shammar. Still,
there remained the fact that we had heard people walking about on it
with impunity, and this gave us hope; moreover, I had brought down such
a huge sheet of the roof, that it was now broken away in one part almost
to the wall that supported it. We soon made up our minds, therefore,
that our tower would have to be built over again, and closer in to the
side wall, so that, by breaking down another piece of the dome, we
should be able to climb out over the actual top of the wall. How we
laboured at the new tower! Hours passed before it had attained the
required height; but, at last we were able to again reach the edge of
the roof, when, with the greatest care, we pulled down the foot or two
that remained between it and the wall top. Then we added to the height
of our pile, until the happy moment came when the sheik, climbing slowly
upwards, was able to rest his elbows on the wall, and haul himself up. I
quickly followed; and there we two lay panting, and looking down with
joyous eyes on the surrounding ruins and the boundless desert in the
distance.

If I had had my way, I should have remained there for hours, and rested;
but Faris was on his feet in a few minutes, and urged me to hurry after
him, so that we might get to our horses, and start on our journey. When
I come to think of it now, after a lapse of many months, I am astonished
at the absurd confidence that we had, that we should find our horses
where we had left them. I myself never gave the matter a thought; and if
the sheik had any misgivings, he did not disclose them. As can be
imagined, therefore, when we reached the spot where the hobbled horses
had been left, and found that they had disappeared, our hearts sank. The
sheik examined the ground in all directions, and soon broke it to me
that the Shammar had carried off our horses; he was able to trace their
footprints among those of the Shammar horses; and they had added insult
to injury by breaking his spear in pieces and taking away the blade.

"I ought to have known that it would have been so," he said, almost in
despair. "The Shammar dogs have again made fools of us."

"Never mind," I said, trying to treat the matter lightly; "we must
walk."

"Walk!" he replied, derisively. "How think you we shall walk through
that waterless waste, when even to ride through it is courting death?"

"Perhaps," I suggested, "Sedjur, finding us gone so long, will come to
meet us."

"He may do so," said the sheik hopefully "In any case, we may as well
die in the desert, as among these infernal ruins. So, come, let us
walk."

I never in my life felt less inclined to start on a long tramp; and the
knowledge that we had no water and nothing to carry it in, and no better
food than a few dried dates, did not add to my spirits. However, I
pulled myself together, and stepped out behind Faris, whose swinging
pace was terrific. Towards sundown we approached the marsh through which
we had ridden two days before, and to our astonishment saw, on the far
side, a thin curl of smoke rising upwards.

"Sedjur to the rescue," I said.

The sheik smiled, and bade me remain where I was, while he went to
reconnoitre. On looking carefully, we could see that there were tents,
camels, horses, and a goodly number of men, and the spot which they had
selected for their encampment was close to the edge of the lake, a mile
or so from us. To approach them was easy, as the rushes of the marsh
grew almost up to the encampment. Divesting himself of his clothes, and
cutting some of the rushes, Faris quickly knotted them together in large
bunches, and tied them in wisps round his head and the upper part of his
body. Then he waded into deep water towards the edge of the rushes, and
concealing himself carefully, gradually worked his way round towards
the tents. As he said, there was little chance of our being noticed, as
no Bedouins would think of looking out for anyone on foot in such a
desolate and remote part of the desert.

I sat on a tuft of rush grass, and watched the waterfowl taking their
evening flight, hopeful that relief was not far off, and expecting each
moment to hear a wild shout of welcome from across the water. I thought
of the delight of finding George Edwards, Sedjur, and others, waiting to
receive us, with fresh horses, good food, and a comfortable tent in
which to sleep in peace for hours. So I dreamed on, and nearly fell off
to sleep, but no shout came. Then, in an hour or so, the sheik returned,
and shattered all my hopes. He had crept up close to the tents, and had
discovered that the party evidently consisted of some important
personages, probably proceeding, from some interior town, on a
pilgrimage to Meshed Ali, or returning home, with a strong escort of a
tribe, the men of which he was unable to identify.

"Suppose," I said, "we go boldly up to the encampment, tell the
strangers that we have lost our horses, and seek their hospitality. They
cannot refuse to befriend us."

"It would be worse than folly," said the sheik. "For all I know, they
may be my bitterest foes. Besides, they would never be taken in by your
disguise, and would suspect us at once."

"But," I argued, "I could tell them from the first that I was an
English traveller."

"No," said the sheik, "it would not do. The risk would be too great I
have a better plan. I observed how their horses were fastened to
pickets; and where their water-skins lay ready filled. When it is dark,
and they have gone to rest, we will take two of the horses and some
water-skins, and proceed on our journey."

I did not like his plan, and I told him so.

"If we are caught," I said, "they will give us what we deserve as
horse-thieves."

"Inshallah!" he replied; "what matter? As good a death as starvation,
and, at any rate, a quicker one. But, if you will follow my
instructions, we shall not be caught."

"All right," I unwillingly acquiesced, "I will do whatever you wish."

We waited for a couple of hours, and then moved through the rushes in
the direction of the encampment. The moon was in the first quarter, and
gave us a little light, thus enabling us, when we approached the tents,
to see how things were situated. The sheik pointed out to me the
position of the water-skins, and two outlying horses which he had
decided that we should seize. We were now in the lake itself, standing
almost up to our necks in water, and not more than ten yards from the
bank. About a hundred yards to our right front were the tents; between
us and them, lying on the edge of the lake, were the filled water-skins;
while fifty yards or so to our left front stood the two horses. Faris
now gave me my orders. I was to wade straight to the water-skins, secure
two of them, and make my way as stealthily as possible to the horses;
while he himself cut them loose, and waited for me.

I at once started to carry out my instructions; reached the water-skins,
but was appalled by their weight. I was afraid to stand up and carry
them in the ordinary way; to crawl on the ground with a bulky skin in
each hand was out of the question. Fortunately, however, I had always
possessed a certain amount of ready resource, and I quickly took out my
knife, ripped my saturated cloak into strips, with which I secured a
skin loosely to either side of my waist. Then I began to crawl towards
the horses, and a toilsome operation it was; but it was successfully
accomplished, and in far less time than I had expected. Faris, too, had
played his part, and not only had he freed the horses, but he had
managed, moreover, to find saddles for them.

"Quick," he said, seizing the two water-skins and flinging them across
his saddle, "mount and away."

I required no second bidding, and I followed my fellow-robber, as he
forged ahead into the sandy desert skirting the lake. Hour after hour,
through the night did we keep going, and when, soon after dawn, the
sheik pulled up among some low sand-hills, and dismounted, we had put
many miles between ourselves and the former owners of our horses. Faris
was in better spirits than I had ever known him to be; he appeared to
have forgotten all our strange adventures, and to be living only in the
present--a free man in a free land; but even he, inured to endless
hardships, I soon discovered, was suffering from exhaustion. I inwardly
rejoiced when I observed it, for I myself was completely done up. All
our garments were wet through, and most of them in a filthy condition of
slimy mud; so we agreed unanimously that it would be quite safe to rest
for a time; and, taking off our clothes, we spread them out in the sun
to dry.

We hobbled the horses, partook of a few hard dates and a mouthful of
water, and, stark naked, lay down on the slope of a hummocky sand-billow
to rest our wearied limbs. How delightful was the warmth of the sun to
my damp body! But how miserably tired and sleepy I felt!

"A little sleep, sheik," I said, "would be a good thing."

He made no reply, and looking at him, I found that he had forestalled my
suggestion, and was already breathing heavily. I roused myself to a
sense of duty; both of us must not sleep at the same time; I would watch
while he slept; and then my turn would come. I began to wonder how long
it would be before he woke up. I wondered why people wanted to sleep,
and I remember that I found it most difficult to find a solution for the
problem--so many things kept crowding into the argument. I was annoyed
with myself for not being able to work it out successfully; and then,
somehow or another, all my good intentions must have faded away, and
unwittingly I must have dropped off to sleep.




CHAPTER XI.

ONLY HALF A CAPTURE.


I awoke suddenly with a start. People were talking. I rubbed my eyes and
looked. Was I dreaming, I wondered; for, within a couple of yards of me,
I saw Sedjur and George Edwards in Arab dress, sitting on their horses
and talking to the sheik. I jumped up to greet them, but I grew dizzy
and sank back again. Edwards dismounted and ran across to me.

"What is the matter, old man?" he asked, taking my hand.

"I am a bit done," I replied.

"You are in for a bout of fever," he said, "and no wonder, from what I
have just heard from the sheik. But we will soon put you to rights. You
have been lying out in the sun here for some time, I expect, judging by
the blisters on your body. You had better get into your clothes again,
and have another snooze."

I struggled into my dirty garments as best I could, and wished that I
had something cleaner to put on, but I had hardly finished dressing
before Faris and Sedjur rushed up to us in a state of excitement,
telling us that they could see a party of horsemen galloping towards us
from the direction of the lake.

"They have followed our tracks," said the sheik to me, "and hope to
recover their horses. We must get away at once."

I looked over the sand-hill nearest to me and could just make out a
small black mass some miles away. I got up and moved towards my horse,
but I was too feeble to mount.

"I cannot manage it, George," I said, "I shall stop here, wait till they
arrive, and give myself up. You clear off with the others--I shall be
all right."

"Likely!" replied Edwards, indignantly.

Faris, seeing that something serious was the matter, came back to us,
and asked why we were not hurrying.

"We are not coming," said Edwards; "he is too ill. You and Sedjur escape
while you have time."

"No," replied the sheik, "we will stand here and fight."

But Edwards and I besought him to go, and at last he consented.

"We should have no chance against them," he said; "they are ten to one.
But Sedjur shall take their horse, and leave you his, when they will
find that you two have your own horses, and are not the thieves that
they are after."

A hasty word of parting, and our two Bedouin friends were in the saddle
and away. For some reason, they did not take the direct route by which
Faris and I had ridden a few days before, and which Edwards and Sedjur
had followed, but struck off, half right, towards a low ridge. The
country was undulating, and, to our relief, in a few seconds we saw them
disappear from view. Then Edwards looked over our sand-hill, and told me
to prepare myself, as the band of horsemen were approaching; and in
another minute we were surrounded by some forty wild-looking Arabs,
armed with matchlocks and spears. I fully imagined that they would
finish us off, without inquiry; but the chief of the party motioned to
his men to stand back, and advanced towards us. Edwards stood up, and
greeted him.

"Where are our horses?" demanded the chief.

"Horses," said Edwards, "you appear to have many."

"I speak," said the Bedouin, frowning, "of the two that you stole from
us in the night."

"I have stolen no horses at any time from any man," replied Edwards,
with considerable force. "I and my friend here, who is sick with fever,
are Englishmen, travelling in the desert. We have only our own horses,
as you can see."

The chief and his followers looked perplexed, and not a little surprised
at the sight of two foreigners. A long consultation then took place,
after which the chief, regarding us with evident suspicion, addressed us
again.

"See, now, Ingleezee," he said, "last night two horses were stolen from
our camp. We have followed their footprints up to this point; and here
we find you, but with two other horses. We do not believe that even you
are able to change a horse's skin and shape. Tell me, from which
direction did you ride hither?"

Edwards pointed out the direction.

"I believe it," said the Arab, "for the hoof marks which brought us here
are certainly not those of your horses. Answer me yet again, did you
meet any Bedouins as you rode hither?"

"Not a soul," replied Edwards, equivocating perhaps, but nevertheless
speaking the truth.

While this cross-examination was going on, some of the party were
casting round and looking at the horses' footprints on the ground. I
soon saw that they were on the right scent, and one of them shouted to
the chief that he had found the marks of their two stolen horses. This
caused tremendous excitement, and a dozen horsemen were sent off in
pursuit, while the chief and the remainder looked after us. Then came
another surprise, when someone discovered that, besides the hoof marks
of our own two horses, there were also the marks of two other horses,
though apparently two or three days older, but all coming from the same
direction.

"What abominably cunning brutes they are," I said to Edwards.

"Yes," said he, "they will worm it all out of us before they have done.
But they will have their work cut out if they mean to overtake the
sheik and Sedjur, with the good half-hour's start that they had."

We could see that this new discovery had upset their calculations
considerably, and presently the chief informed us that, though he did
not now suspect us of being implicated in the theft of the horses, we
must accompany him to the camp, in order that we should be properly
examined by his lord and master, the Governor of Adiba. Ill as I was, I
was compelled to mount my horse and ride with the party. As we started,
we found that two or three men had taken up the tracks left by the
horses which Faris and I had ridden on our journey to the seer. They had
not come across them on their way from the camp, as they lay a
considerable distance to one side, since Faris had taken a straight line
to the margin of the swamp, and the spot from which we had stolen the
horses was a mile or more to the east of it.

We appeared to have hoodwinked the party most successfully, and the
chief discussed the situation with us quite affably. His views were
fairly reasonable, and he was convinced that he had fathomed the mystery
up to a certain point. He imagined that, two or three days before, two
horsemen had passed through the gap in the sand-hills, and had proceeded
to a point at the southern end of the lake. The footprints, he affirmed,
were not those of our horses, and our horses had evidently never gone
beyond the gap; neither had the other horses ever returned from the lake
to the gap. The men who had stolen the horses might have been those
whose horses' tracks were now being followed towards the lake; but what
he could not understand was why they should have discarded their own
horses and stolen the others.

"Of course," he said, "there may be no connection whatever between the
two horsemen and the thieves, and that matter is of no real consequence.
We know where the scoundrels have gone, and our men will doubtless
catch them. Who they are is immaterial--so long as they suffer the
penalty of their crime."

The only point of doubt seemed to be whether we were or were not in
league with the robbers, and that, the Arab said, was for his master,
the Governor, to decide. He himself felt certain of our innocence, and
thought it probable that the thieves had passed through the gap and
disappeared before we had reached it from the opposite direction.

Eventually we came within sight of the encampment, and, from the
excitement that prevailed, it was apparently thought that the thieves
had been caught. Bitter was the disappointment when it was learned that
the stolen horses had not been recovered; and the Governor, who stood
waiting for us outside his large tent, vented his wrath on his
unfortunate captain before the latter could offer an explanation. When,
however, he had heard what the chief of the escort had to relate, the
great man changed his tone and ordered us to be taken away to a tent and
looked after, until such time as the two absent parties should return
and give an account of themselves. As it proved, the ride had not done
me much harm; I was wretchedly weak, but the fever had passed off, and I
was able to eat heartily of the supper which our friend the chief
provided for us. After my diet of dried dates, the steaming dish placed
before us was a positive feast, and neither before nor since have I ever
partaken of a meal with greater relish.

How Edwards and I talked that night! I had to tell him all my
adventures, and answer a thousand questions; but, all through, I had the
feeling that he thought I was romancing, and he politely but firmly
refused to believe that I had really seen the Golden Girdle.

"I am afraid, my dear boy," he said, "that was hallucination, produced
by your old friend's intoxicating perfumes."

"All right," I replied, almost angrily, "you need not believe it unless
you like; but if we ever meet old Faris again, we will get him to give
his version."

"I wonder," said Edwards, changing the conversation, "how we shall get
out of this hole. It seems to me that ever since we left Baghdad, we
have been in a perpetual state of jumping out of the frying-pan into the
fire. However," he concluded philosophically, "they say that everything
has an end, and I trust that our end may be peace."

At an early hour next morning, the captain of the escort paid us a
visit, and brought us food. We discovered that he considered himself our
host, and he chatted with us in a most friendly way. He told us that
both parties of horsemen had returned; that those who had tracked the
two horses to the lake had come in early in the night, with the
information that the horses had passed through the swamp and had gone
straight on, so they had given up the search as not likely to lead to
any result. The other party, he said, after a fruitless pursuit of the
missing horses, had just come back. They stated that they had seen the
two thieves riding in the far distance, but all hope of overtaking them
had gone, and, their horses being exhausted, they had been forced to
abandon the chase. The Governor was very angry, because the stolen
horses were his own property, and what attitude he would adopt towards
ourselves was extremely doubtful. But this before long we would discover
for ourselves, as he had given orders that we should be brought before
him in an hour's time.

"For my own part," added our friend, "I think he will order you to
proceed with him to Adiba. If you cannot satisfy him as to your
innocence, he will probably take your horses from you. But he will be
afraid to keep you at Adiba for any length of time; doubtless he will
give you asses and tell you to depart to Baghdad."

Our interview passed off much more satisfactorily than we had
anticipated. Ali Khan, the governor, asked us endless questions as to
who we were, where we had been, and where we were going, and finally
gave his opinion that we knew nothing about the theft of the horses. He
upbraided us for our folly in wandering about the desert without an
escort, and he told us that we should remain as his guests until he
reached his home, when he would endeavour to send us with some caravan
to a place from which we should be able to return to Baghdad in safety.
We thanked him profusely, and, afraid of showing any disinclination to
accompany him, we agreed to accept his offer. We were soon on very good
terms with our new host, and, in the course of the conversation that
followed, I told him that Edwards was a great doctor.

"If that be so," said the Governor, turning to Edwards, "when we reach
Adiba, you shall try your skill on my small son, whom none of my own
doctors are able to cure."

"That will I certainly," replied Edwards enthusiastically.

"Good," said the Governor, "and should you want for anything, ask for
it, and it shall be yours. We shall proceed on our journey in the
morning, and, if it please Allah, in about two weeks from now shall be
in the town."

Edwards and I were overjoyed at our good fortune, for it seemed to us
that we were going to make a most interesting expedition under the most
favourable circumstances, and when we returned to our tent we solemnly
shook hands and congratulated ourselves.

"We shall be back in Baghdad in no time," said Edwards. "I have already
overstayed my leave, but I daresay, when I turn up safe and sound, the
Consul-General will understand, and will put matters right."

"You do not mean to say," said I, "that you propose rushing back to
Baghdad?"

"As straight as a die," said he, "and jolly glad I shall be to get
there."

"But what about our old friends, the sheik and Sedjur?" I asked.

"Oh," said he, "I can find out what happened to them when I get back to
Baghdad. You surely do not suggest that we should continue to fool about
in the desert any longer?"

"My dear boy," I said, "you can think of nothing but that wretched leave
of yours. Do, for goodness' sake, forget it. You are overdue now, and if
you start from Adiba the day after you get there, you will be weeks
late. In all probability, the authorities have killed us, buried us, and
put up memorial tablets to us by now. Much better let them go on
grieving a bit longer."

Edwards looked at me and laughed.

"You are the most extraordinary person that I have ever come across,"
said he. "Here you are, a perfect wreck, and looking as if you had seen
a hundred ghosts in the last few days; yet you do not seem at all
anxious to get back to an ordinary life of peace and comfort."

"You do not understand," I argued. "You have not been inspired by the
sight of the glittering serpents. Think, George, what it would be to get
hold of it, and ride into Baghdad with it!"

"It would be tolerably nice," he replied, "to ride into Baghdad even
without it. Honestly, I do not much care which it is. I waive all claim
to carrying the Golden Girdle."

"What a scoffer you are," I said. "You do not really believe in its
existence. For my part, I should not be a bit surprised if at this very
moment it was in the Jelas camp. Faris is as keen about it as I am, and
he would not waste any time in preparing for his raid on the Shammar. I
agree that we must go to Adiba now, but as soon as we leave the place,
we will make straight for our old quarters, see what the sheik has been
about, and find out if he has heard anything of the girdle."

"All right," said Edwards, "I will see you through the business. You
shall have your way, and I will stick to you. But I beg of you not to
let me in for adventures such as you and Faris have just been indulging
in. My feeble brain would not stand that sort of thing."

During the journey of the succeeding fortnight or more, we made friends
with all the members of the caravan, and George Edwards covered himself
with glory by looking after the ailments of the party. Fortunately, no
one had attempted to rifle his saddle-bags, and, when starting with
Sedjur on the ride to meet me, he had taken the precaution to bring with
him his travelling medicine-case and instruments. It was an uneventful
ride, through a barren and ugly country, and glad were we when, at last,
we came in sight of the walls of Adiba, and saw a body of horsemen
issuing out to greet their Governor.




CHAPTER XII.

RIVAL DOCTORS.


Our entry into Adiba much resembled the procession in the Lord Mayor's
Show. There were trumpeters and drummers, camelmen armed with
matchlocks, horsemen with spears, and foot soldiers carrying bludgeons,
knives, and a variety of weapons. Crowds of people lined the principal
thoroughfare, leading from the gateway by which we had entered to the
palace of the Governor--for it was dignified by the name of palace,
though in reality it was by no means a sumptuous dwelling. Edwards and I
rode on either side of the great man, and our presence created a
considerable amount of interest, since the news had already spread that
we were Englishmen, and that one of us was a famous doctor. Yet, I
noticed that there were faces in the crowd that did not look on us with
favour, which, as I said to myself, was only natural in a country
hitherto practically forbidden to Europeans.

A separate apartment in the palace was allotted to us, and we were made
thoroughly comfortable, the floor being spread with rich Persian carpets
and hung with silken draperies; but the most delightful part of our
quarters was the flat roof, up to which a flight of steps led from the
corner of the room. The palace itself abutted on the fortified wall of
the town, and our room and roof-top formed a kind of bastion, surmounted
by a low parapet with loopholes. It had the advantage of seclusion,
since it was a little higher than the other buildings of the town; and
on the roof, during our stay in Adiba, we slept at night and enjoyed the
cool hours of the day.

Hardly had we settled down than Edwards was summoned to visit the sick
child, and as, during our march, I had always assisted him in his
medical duties, I went with him. We were conducted, through several
apartments, to the women's quarters, where we found Ali Khan and his
chief wife, sitting by the side of a frail boy of about twelve years of
age. The mother was weeping bitterly, and begged us to do what we could
to save the life of her only son. Three grave-looking and aged native
physicians were also present, and were evidently none too well-pleased
at our interference, one of them even going so far as to remonstrate
with the Governor for having called in a foreigner and an unbeliever, an
act which he pronounced to be equivalent to lack of faith.

"By the will of Allah," he said, "the child is sick; by the will of
Allah, he will either live or die."

[Illustration "'BY THE WILL OF ALLAH,' HE SAID, 'THE CHILD IS SICK'"]

"You speak with wisdom, O Sea of Learning," said Edwards quietly, "but
does the Prophet anywhere forbid the use of medicines for the relief of
a sufferer? If so, how comes it that you yourself practise medicine?"

"I and my brethren," replied the other, with an obvious sneer, "are of
the True Faith, and though we may possess as great a knowledge of the
art of healing as even yourself, we do not take to ourselves any credit
for our cures. They are effected through Allah alone. The works of
infidels----"

"Enough," shouted the Governor, cutting him short; "this is no place or
time for wrangling. These are my guests, and must be treated with due
respect."

Edwards's rival bit his lip with rage at the rebuke, and with a sullen
gaze watched the "unbeliever" examining the little patient. This did not
take long, and after offering some consoling words to the parents,
Edwards said he would go and prepare some medicines for their child,
adding that, if his instructions were properly carried out, he saw no
reason why he should not eventually recover. The Governor and his wife
were overjoyed at the news, but the old Arab doctor merely shrugged his
shoulders, and remarked "if it be the will of Allah."

"Well, what is the matter with the poor little chap?" I asked, as we
walked back to our room.

"He is pretty bad," said Edwards. "High fever. Been hideously neglected,
I should say. I shall try antipyrine, and then pile in quinine for all I
am worth."

"Those old native impostors mean to be nasty," I said. "The chief
villain would cut your throat as soon as look at you."

"I believe he would," said Edwards, laughing, "and display very little
surgical skill in the operation."

The medicine was soon prepared, and sent off by a servant, with
injunctions that he was to deliver it into the hands of the Governor or
his wife, and that it was to be administered at once. A little later, we
repaired to the Guest Hall, where a feast was to be given in our honour,
and where we were introduced to all the notables of the town. It was a
magnificent entertainment, and there was no lack of food, the principal
dishes consisting of camel's flesh, and sheep roasted whole. The Arab
physicians were there, and it seemed to me that they went out of their
way to make themselves affable, so I imagined that they had got over
their scruples concerning the infidel practitioner. Our old friend
Haroun, the captain of the Governor's escort, was also present, and he
told us that he was leaving Adiba in a few days, as he had to take his
men off on another expedition. Until then, we had thought that he and
his men were in the permanent service of Ali Khan, but now we gathered
that he was more or less of a free lance, and that he hired out himself
and his horsemen for the protection of caravans wishing to cross the
desert.

The supper passed off pleasantly enough, and the guests eventually
dispersed, when, expressing many good wishes for the speedy recovery of
his son, we took leave of our host, and, accompanied by Haroun, made our
way to our room. At the door we found two of Haroun's men armed with
naked swords; and, on inquiring why they were there, we were informed
that the Governor had given orders for them to be posted, to prevent
anyone entering our apartment. Haroun came in with us, and closing the
door behind him, said that he wished to have a word with us in private.

"Before long," he said, in a low voice, "you will desire to return to
Baghdad. Indeed the Governor dare not detain you here for any length of
time; for the news of your presence in the town will soon reach Majma
and Hayil, when the Governor will receive peremptory orders to send you
on your journey. The Amir of Hayil will not permit foreigners to sojourn
in Nejd; but, since he finds it to his advantage to keep on good terms
with the Turks, he will be afraid to lay violent hands on two Europeans.
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 horsemen 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 space, 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 amusement, 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 noble 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 passed, 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 reassured 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 neve

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