<h2><SPAN name="chap05"></SPAN>CHAPTER V.<br/> PHARAOH MAKES TROUBLE</h2>
<p>Another six weeks or so had gone by, and at length the character of the country
began to change. At last we were passing out of the endless desert over which
we had travelled for so many hundreds of miles; at least a thousand, according
to our observations and reckonings, which I checked by those that I had taken
upon my eastward journey. Our march, after the great adventure at the oasis,
was singularly devoid of startling events. Indeed, it had been awful in its
monotony, and yet, oddly enough, not without a certain charm—at any rate
for Higgs and Orme, to whom the experience was new.</p>
<p>Day by day to travel on across an endless sea of sand so remote, so unvisited
that for whole weeks no man, not even a wandering Bedouin of the desert,
crossed our path. Day by day to see the great red sun rise out of the eastern
sands, and, its journey finished, sink into the western sands. Night by night
to watch the moon, the same moon on which were fixed the million eyes of
cities, turning those sands to a silver sea, or, in that pure air, to observe
the constellations by which we steered our path making their majestic march
through space. And yet to know that this vast region, now so utterly lonesome
and desolate, had once been familiar to the feet of long-forgotten men who had
trod the sands we walked, and dug the wells at which we drank.</p>
<p>Armies had marched across these deserts, also, and perished there. For once we
came to a place where a recent fearful gale had almost denuded the underlying
rock, and there found the skeletons of thousands upon thousands of soldiers,
with those of their beasts of burden, and among them heads of arrows,
sword-blades, fragments of armour and of painted wooden shields.</p>
<p>Here a whole host had died; perhaps Alexander sent it forth, or perhaps some
far earlier monarch whose name has ceased to echo on the earth. At least they
had died, for there we saw the memorial of that buried enterprise. There lay
the kings, the captains, the soldiers, and the concubines, for I found the
female bones heaped apart, some with the long hair still upon the skulls,
showing where the poor, affrighted women had hived together in the last
catastrophe of slaughter or of famine, thirst, and driven sand. Oh, if only
those bones could speak, what a tale was theirs to tell!</p>
<p>There had been cities in this desert, too, where once were oases, now
overwhelmed, except perhaps for a sand-choked spring. Twice we came upon the
foundations of such places, old walls of clay or stone, stark skeletons of
ancient homes that the shifting sands had disinterred, which once had been the
theatre of human hopes and fears, where once men had been born, loved, and
died, where once maidens had been fair, and good and evil wrestled, and little
children played. Some Job may have dwelt here and written his immortal plaint,
or some king of Sodom, and suffered the uttermost calamity. The world is very
old; all we Westerns learned from the contemplation of these wrecks of men and
of their works was just that the world is very old.</p>
<p>One evening against the clear sky there appeared the dim outline of towering
cliffs, shaped like a horseshoe. They were the Mountains of Mur many miles
away, but still the Mountains of Mur, sighted at last. Next morning we began to
descend through wooded land toward a wide river that is, I believe, a tributary
of the Nile, though upon this point I have no certain information. Three days
later we reached the banks of this river, following some old road, and faring
sumptuously all the way, since here there was much game and grass in plenty for
the camels that, after their long abstinence, ate until we thought that they
would burst. Evidently we had not arrived an hour too soon, for now the
Mountains of Mur were hid by clouds, and we could see that it was raining upon
the plains which lay between us and them. The wet season was setting in, and,
had we been a single week later, it might have been impossible for us to cross
the river, which would then have been in flood. As it was, we passed it without
difficulty by the ancient ford, the water never rising above the knees of our
camels.</p>
<p>Upon its further bank we took counsel, for now we had entered the territory of
the Fung, and were face to face with the real dangers of our journey. Fifty
miles or so away rose the fortress of Mur, but, as I explained to my
companions, the question was how to pass those fifty miles in safety. Shadrach
was called to our conference, and at my request set out the facts.</p>
<p>Yonder, he said, rose the impregnable mountain home of the Abati, but all the
vast plain included in the loop of the river which he called Ebur, was the home
of the savage Fung race, whose warriors could be counted by the ten thousand,
and whose principal city, Harmac, was built opposite to the stone effigy of
their idol, that was also called Harmac——</p>
<p>“Harmac—that is Harmachis, god of dawn. Your Fung had something to
do with the old Egyptians, or both of them came from a common stock,”
interrupted Higgs triumphantly.</p>
<p>“I daresay, old fellow,” answered Orme; “I think you told us
that before in London; but we will go into the archæology afterwards if we
survive to do so. Let Shadrach get on with his tale.”</p>
<p>This city, which had quite fifty thousand inhabitants, continued Shadrach,
commanded the mouth of the pass or cleft by which we must approach Mur, having
probably been first built there for that very purpose.</p>
<p>Orme asked if there was no other way into the stronghold, which, he understood,
the embassy had left by being let down a precipice. Shadrach answered that this
was true, but that although the camels and their loads had been let down that
precipitous place, owing to the formation of its overhanging rocks, it would be
perfectly impossible to haul them up it with any tackle that the Abati
possessed.</p>
<p>He asked again if there was not a way round, if that circle of mountains had no
back door. Shadrach replied that there was such a back door facing to the north
some eight days’ journey away. Only at this season of the year it could
not be reached, since beyond the Mountains of Mur in that direction was a great
lake, out of which flowed the river Ebur in two arms that enclosed the whole
plain of Fung. By now this lake would be full, swollen with rains that fell on
the hills of Northern Africa, and the space between it and the Mur range
nothing but an impassable swamp.</p>
<p>Being still unsatisfied, Orme inquired whether, if we abandoned the camels, we
could not then climb the precipice down which the embassy had descended. To
this the answer, which I corroborated, was that if our approach were known and
help given to us from above, it might be possible, provided that we threw away
the loads.</p>
<p>“Seeing what these loads are, and the purpose for which we have brought
them so far, that is out of the question,” said Orme. “Therefore,
tell us at once, Shadrach, how we are to win through the Fung to Mur.”</p>
<p>“In one way only, O son of Orme, should it be the will of God that we do
so at all; by keeping ourselves hidden during the daytime and marching at
night. According to their custom at this season, to-morrow, after sunset, the
Fung hold their great spring feast in the city of Harmac, and at dawn go up to
make sacrifice to their idol. But after sunset they eat and drink and are
merry, and then it is their habit to withdraw their guards, that they may take
part in the festival. For this reason I have timed our march that we should
arrive on the night of this feast, which I know by the age of the moon, when,
in the darkness, with God’s help, perchance we may slip past Harmac, and
at the first light find ourselves in the mouth of the road that runs up to Mur.
Moreover, I will give warning to my people, the Abati, that we are coming, so
that they may be at hand to help us if there is need.”</p>
<p>“How?” asked Orme.</p>
<p>“By firing the reeds”—and he pointed to the dense masses of
dead vegetation about—“as I arranged that I would do before we left
Mur many months ago. The Fung, if they see it, will think only that it is the
work of some wandering fisherman.”</p>
<p>Orme shrugged his shoulders, saying:</p>
<p>“Well, friend Shadrach, you know the place and these people, and I do
not, so we must do what you tell us. But I say at once that if, as I
understand, yonder Fung will kill us if they can, to me your plan seems very
dangerous.”</p>
<p>“It is dangerous,” he answered, adding with a sneer, “but I
thought that you men of England were not cowards.”</p>
<p>“Cowards! you son of a dog!” broke in Higgs in his high voice.
“How dare you talk to us like that? You see this man
here”—and he pointed to Sergeant Quick, who, tall and upright,
stood watching this scene grimly, and understanding most of what
passed—“well, he is the lowest among us—a servant only”
(here the Sergeant saluted), “but I tell you that there is more courage
in his little finger than in your whole body, or in that of all the Abati
people, so far as I can make out.”</p>
<p>Here the Sergeant saluted again, murmuring beneath his breath, “I hope
so, sir. Being a Christian, I hope so, but till it comes to the sticking-point,
one can never be sure.”</p>
<p>“You speak big words, O Higgs,” answered Shadrach insolently, for,
as I think I have said, he hated the Professor, who smelt the rogue in him, and
scourged him continually with his sharp tongue, “but if the Fung get hold
of you, then we shall learn the truth.”</p>
<p>“Shall I punch his head, sir?” queried Quick in a meditative voice.</p>
<p>“Be quiet, please,” interrupted Orme. “We have troubles
enough before us, without making more. It will be time to settle our quarrels
when we have got through the Fung.”</p>
<p>Then he turned to Shadrach and said:</p>
<p>“Friend, this is no time for angry words. You are the guide of this
party; lead us as you will, remembering only that if it comes to war, I, by the
wish of my companions, am Captain. Also, there is another thing which you
should not forget—namely, that in the end you must make answer to your
own ruler, she who, I understand from the doctor here, is called Walda Nagasta,
the Child of Kings. Now, no more words; we march as you wish and where you
wish. On your head be it!”</p>
<p>The Abati heard and bowed sullenly. Then, with a look of hate at Higgs, he
turned and went about his business.</p>
<p>“Much better to have let me punch his head,” soliloquized Quick.
“It would have done him a world of good, and perhaps saved many troubles,
for, to tell the truth, I don’t trust that quarter-bred Hebrew.”</p>
<p>Then he departed to see to the camels and the guns while the rest of us went to
our tents to get such sleep as the mosquitoes would allow. In my own case it
was not much, since the fear of evil to come weighed upon me. Although I knew
the enormous difficulty of entering the mountain stronghold of Mur by any other
way, such as that by which I had quitted it, burdened as we were with our long
train of camels laden with rifles, ammunition, and explosives, I dreaded the
results of an attempt to pass through the Fung savages.</p>
<p>Moreover, it occurred to me that Shadrach had insisted upon this route from a
kind of jealous obstinacy, and to be in opposition to us Englishmen, whom he
hated in his heart, or perhaps for some dark and secret reason. Still, the fact
remained that we were in his power, since owing to the circumstances in which I
had entered and left the place, it was impossible for me to act as guide to the
party. If I attempted to do so, no doubt he and the Abati with him would
desert, leaving the camels and their loads upon our hands. Why should they not,
seeing that they would be quite safe in concluding that we should never have an
opportunity of laying our side of the case before their ruler?</p>
<p>Just as the sun was setting, Quick came to call me, saying that the camels were
being loaded up.</p>
<p>“I don’t much like the look of things, Doctor,” he said as he
helped me to pack my few belongings, “for the fact is I can’t trust
that Shadrach man. His pals call him ‘Cat,’ a good name for him, I
think. Also, he is showing his claws just now, the truth being that he hates
the lot of us, and would like to get back into Purr or Mur, or whatever the
name of the place is, having lost us on the road. You should have seen the way
he looked at the Professor just now. Oh! I wish the Captain had let me punch
his head. I’m sure it would have cleared the air a lot.”</p>
<p>As it chanced, Shadrach was destined to get his head “punched”
after all, but by another hand. It happened thus. The reeds were fired, as
Shadrach had declared it was necessary to do, in order that the Abati watchmen
on the distant mountains might see and report the signal, although in the light
of subsequent events I am by no means certain that this warning was not meant
for other eyes as well. Then, as arranged, we started out, leaving them burning
in a great sheet of flame behind us, and all that night marched by the shine of
the stars along some broken-down and undoubtedly ancient road.</p>
<p>At the first sign of dawn we left this road and camped amid the overgrown ruins
of a deserted town that had been built almost beneath the precipitous cliffs of
Mur, fortunately without having met any one or being challenged. I took the
first watch, while the others turned in to sleep after we had all breakfasted
off cold meats, for here we dared not light a fire. As the sun grew high,
dispelling the mists, I saw that we were entering upon a thickly-populated
country which was no stranger to civilization of a sort. Below us, not more
than fifteen or sixteen miles away, and clearly visible through my
field-glasses, lay the great town of Harmac, which, during my previous visit to
this land, I had never seen, as I passed it in the night.</p>
<p>It was a city of the West Central African type, with open market-places and
wide streets, containing thousands of white, flat-roofed houses, the most
important of which were surrounded by gardens. Round it ran a high and thick
wall, built, apparently, of sun-burnt brick, and in front of the gateways, of
which I could see two, stood square towers whence these might be protected. All
about this city the flat and fertile land was under cultivation, for the season
being that of early spring, already the maize and other crops showed green upon
the ground.</p>
<p>Beyond this belt of plough-lands, with the aid of the field-glasses, I could
make out great herds of grazing cattle and horses, mixed with wild game, a fact
that assured me of the truth of what I had heard during my brief visit to Mur,
that the Fung had few or no firearms, since otherwise the buck and quagga would
have kept at a distance. Far off, too, and even on the horizon, I saw what
appeared to be other towns and villages. Evidently this was a very numerous
people, and one which could not justly be described as savage. No wonder that
the little Abati tribe feared them so intensely, notwithstanding the mighty
precipices by which they were protected from their hate.</p>
<p>About eleven o’clock Orme came on watch, and I turned in, having nothing
to report. Soon I was fast asleep, notwithstanding the anxieties that, had I
been less weary, might well have kept me wakeful. For these were many. On the
coming night we must slip through the Fung, and before midday on the morrow we
should either have entered Mur, or failed to have entered Mur, which
meant—death, or, what was worse, captivity among barbarians, and
subsequent execution, preceded probably by torture of one sort or another.</p>
<p>Of course, however, we might come thither without accident, travelling with
good guides on a dark night, for, after all, the place was big, and the road
lonely and little used, so that unless we met a watch, which, we were told,
would not be there, our little caravan had a good chance to pass unobserved.
Shadrach seemed to think that we should do so, but the worst of it was that,
like Quick, I did not trust Shadrach. Even Maqueda, the Lady of the Abati, she
whom they called Child of Kings, had her doubts about him, or so it had seemed
to me.</p>
<p>At any rate, she had told me before I left Mur that she chose him for this
mission because he was bold and cunning, one of the very few of her people also
who, in his youth, had crossed the desert and, therefore, knew the road.
“Yet, Physician,” she added meaningly, “watch him, for is he
not named ‘Cat’? Yes, watch him, for did I not hold his wife and
children hostages, and were I not sure that he desires to win the great reward
in land which I have promised to him, I would not trust you to this man’s
keeping.”</p>
<p>Well, after many experiences in his company, my opinion coincided with
Maqueda’s, and so did that of Quick, no mean judge of men.</p>
<p>“Look at him, Doctor,” he said when he came to tell me that I could
turn in, for whether it were his watch or not, the Sergeant never seemed to be
off duty. “Look, at him,” and he pointed to Shadrach, who was
seated under the shade of a tree, talking earnestly in whispers with two of his
subordinates with a very curious and unpleasing smile upon his face. “If
God Almighty ever made a scamp, he’s squatting yonder. My belief is that
he wanted to be rid of us all at Zeu, so that he might steal our goods, and I
hope he won’t play the same trick again to-night. Even the dog
can’t abide him.”</p>
<p>Before I could answer, I had proof of this last statement, for the great yellow
hound, Pharaoh, that had found us in the desert, hearing our voices, emerged
from some corner where it was hidden, and advanced toward us, wagging its tail.
As it passed Shadrach, it stopped and growled, the hair rising on its back,
whereon he hurled a stone at it and hit its leg. Next instant Pharaoh, a beast
of enormous power, was on the top of him, and really, I thought, about to tear
out his throat.</p>
<p>Well, we got him off before any harm was done, but Shadrach’s face, lined
with its livid scars, was a thing to remember. Between rage and fear, it looked
like that of a devil.</p>
<p>To return. After this business I went to sleep, wondering if it were my last
rest upon the earth, and whether, having endured so much for his sake, it would
or would not be my fortune to see the face of my son again, if, indeed, he
still lived, yonder not a score of miles away—or anywhere.</p>
<p>Toward evening I was awakened by a fearful hubbub, in which I distinguished the
shrill voice of Higgs ejaculating language which I will not repeat, the baying
of Pharaoh, and the smothered groans and curses of an Abati. Running from the
little tent, I saw a curious sight, that of the Professor with Shadrach’s
head under his left arm, in chancery, as we used to call it at school, while
with his right he punched the said Shadrach’s nose and countenance
generally with all his strength, which, I may add, is considerable. Close by,
holding Pharaoh by the collar, which we had manufactured for him out of the
skin of a camel that had died, stood Sergeant Quick, a look of grim amusement
on his wooden face, while around, gesticulating after their Eastern fashion,
and uttering guttural sounds of wrath, were several of the Abati drivers. Orme
was absent, being, in fact, asleep at the time.</p>
<p>“What are you doing, Higgs?” I shouted.</p>
<p>“Can’t—you—see,” he spluttered, accompanying each
word with a blow on the unfortunate Shadrach’s prominent nose. “I
am punching this fellow’s beastly head. Ah! you’d bite, would you?
Then take that, and that and—that. Lord, how hard his teeth are. Well, I
think he has had enough,” and suddenly he released the Abati, who, a gory
and most unpleasant spectacle, fell to the ground and lay there panting. His
companions, seeing their chief’s melancholy plight, advanced upon the
Professor in a threatening fashion; indeed, one of them drew a knife.</p>
<p>“Put up that thing, sonny,” said the Sergeant, “or by heaven,
I’ll loose the dog upon you. Got your revolver handy, Doctor?”</p>
<p>Evidently, if the man did not understand Quick’s words, their purport was
clear to him, for he sheathed his knife and fell back with the others.
Shadrach, too, rose from the ground and went with them. At a distance of a few
yards, however, he turned, and, glaring at Higgs out of his swollen eyes, said:</p>
<p>“Be sure, accursed Gentile, that I will remember and repay.”</p>
<p>At this moment, too, Orme arrived upon the scene, yawning.</p>
<p>“What the deuce is the matter?” he asked.</p>
<p>“I’d give five bob for a pint of iced stone ginger,” replied
Higgs inconsequently. Then he drank off a pannikin of warmish, muddy-coloured
water which Quick gave to him, and handed it back, saying:</p>
<p>“Thanks, Sergeant; that’s better than nothing, and cold drink is
always dangerous if you are hot. What’s the matter? Oh! not much.
Shadrach tried to poison Pharaoh; that’s all. I was watching him out of
the corner of my eye, and saw him go to the strychnine tin, roll a bit of meat
in it which he had first wetted, and throw it to the poor beast. I got hold of
it in time, and chucked it over that wall, where you will find it if you care
to look. I asked Shadrach why he had done such a thing. He answered, ‘To
keep the dog quiet while we are passing through the Fung,’ adding that
anyhow it was a savage beast and best out of the way, as it had tried to bite
him that morning. Then I lost my temper and went for the blackguard, and
although I gave up boxing twenty years ago, very soon had the best of it, for,
as you may have observed, no Oriental can fight with his fists. That’s
all. Give me another cup of water, Sergeant.”</p>
<p>“I hope it may be,” answered Orme, shrugging his shoulders.
“To tell the truth, old fellow, it would have been wiser to defer
blacking Shadrach’s eyes till we were safe in Mur. But it’s no use
talking now, and I daresay I should have done the same myself if I had seen him
try to poison Pharaoh,” and he patted the head of the great dog, of which
we were all exceedingly fond, although in reality it only cared for Orme,
merely tolerating the rest of us.</p>
<p>“Doctor,” he added, “perhaps you would try to patch up our
guide’s nose and soothe his feelings. You know him better than we do.
Give him a rifle. No, don’t do that, or he might shoot some one in the
back—by accident done on purpose. Promise him a rifle when we get into
Mur; I know he wants one badly, because I caught him trying to steal a carbine
from the case. Promise him anything so long as you can square it up.”</p>
<p>So I went, taking a bottle of arnica and some court plaster with me, to find
Shadrach surrounded by sympathizers and weeping with rage over the insult,
which, he said, had been offered to his ancient and distinguished race in his
own unworthy person. I did my best for him physically and mentally, pointing
out, as I dabbed the arnica on his sadly disfigured countenance, that he had
brought the trouble on himself, seeing that he had really no business to poison
Pharaoh because he had tried to bite him. He answered that his reason for
wishing to kill the dog was quite different, and repeated at great length what
he had told the Professor—namely, that it might betray us while we were
passing through the Fung. Also he went on so venomously about revenge that I
thought it time to put a stop to the thing.</p>
<p>“See here, Shadrach,” I said, “unless you unsay those words
and make peace at once, you shall be bound and tried. Perhaps we shall have a
better chance of passing safely through the Fung if we leave you dead behind us
than if you accompany us as a living enemy.”</p>
<p>On hearing this, he changed his note altogether, saying that he saw he had been
wrong. Moreover, so soon as his injuries were dressed, he sought out Higgs,
whose hand he kissed with many apologies, vowing that he had forgotten
everything and that his heart toward him was like that of a twin brother.</p>
<p>“Very good, friend,” answered Higgs, who never bore malice,
“only don’t try to poison Pharaoh again, and, for my part,
I’ll promise not to remember this matter when we get to Mur.”</p>
<p>“Quite a converted character, ain’t he, Doctor?”
sarcastically remarked Quick, who had been watching this edifying scene.
“Nasty Eastern temper all gone; no Hebrew talk of eye for eye or tooth
for tooth, but kisses the fist that smote him in the best Christian spirit. All
the same, I wouldn’t trust the swine further than I could kick him,
especially in the dark, which,” he added meaningly, “is what it
will be to-night.”</p>
<p>I made no answer to the Sergeant, for although I agreed with him, there was
nothing to be done, and talking about a bad business would only make it worse.</p>
<p>By now the afternoon drew towards night—a very stormy night, to judge
from the gathering clouds and rising wind. We were to start a little after
sundown, that is, within an hour, and, having made ready my own baggage and
assisted Higgs with his, we went to look for Orme and Quick, whom we found very
busy in one of the rooms of an unroofed house. To all appearance they were
engaged, Quick in sorting pound tins of tobacco or baking-powder, and Orme in
testing an electric battery and carefully examining coils of insulated wire.</p>
<p>“What’s your game?” asked the Professor.</p>
<p>“Better than yours, old boy, when Satan taught your idle hands to punch
Shadrach’s head. But perhaps you had better put that pipe out. These
azo-imide compounds are said to burn rather more safely than coal. Still, one
never knows; the climate or the journey may have changed their
constitution.”</p>
<p>Higgs retreated hurriedly, to a distance of fifty yards indeed, whence he
returned, having knocked out his pipe and even left his matches on a stone.</p>
<p>“Don’t waste time in asking questions,” said Orme as the
Professor approached with caution. “I’ll explain. We are going on a
queer journey to-night—four white men with about a dozen half-bred
mongrel scamps of doubtful loyalty, so you see Quick and I thought it as well
to have some of this stuff handy. Probably it will never be wanted, and if
wanted we shall have no time to use it; still, who knows? There, that will do.
Ten canisters; enough to blow up half the Fung if they will kindly sit on them.
You take five, Quick, a battery and three hundred yards of wire, and I’ll
take five, a battery, and three hundred yards of wire. Your detonators are all
fixed, aren’t they? Well, so are mine,” and without more words he
proceeded to stow away his share of the apparatus in the poacher pockets of his
coat and elsewhere, while Quick did likewise with what remained. Then the case
that they had opened was fastened up again and removed to be laden on a camel.</p>
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