Just as the sailor had got firmly into the saddle, the moon shone out with a brilliance that almost rivalled the light of day. In the midst of that desert landscape, against the ground of snow-white sand, the figures of both camel and rider were piquantly conspicuous; and although the one was figuratively a ship, and the other really a sailor, their juxtaposition offered a contrast of the queerest kind. So ludicrous did it seem that the three "mids", disregarding all ideas of danger, broke forth with one accord into a strain of loud and continuous laughter.
They had all seen camels, or pictures of these animals; but never before either a camel or the picture of one with a sailor upon his back. The very idea of a dromedary carries along with it the cognate spectacle of an Arab on its back--a slim, sinewy individual of swarth complexion and picturesque garb, a bright burnouse streaming around his body, with a twisted turban on his head. But a tall camel surmounted by a sailor, in dreadnought jacket and sou"wester, was a picture to make a Solon laugh, let alone a trio of midshipmen; and it drew from the latter such a cachinnation as caused the sh.o.r.es of the Saara to echo with sounds of joy, perhaps never heard there before. Old Bill was not angry. He was only gratified to see these young gentlemen in such good spirits; and calling upon them to keep close after him, he gave the halter to his maherry and started off over the sand.
For some time his companions kept pace with him, doing their best. But it soon became apparent, even to the sailor himself, that unless something was done to restrain the impetuosity of the camel, he must soon be separated from those following afoot.
This something its rider felt himself incapable of accomplishing. It is true he still held the halter in his hand, but this gave him but slight control over the camel. It was not a Mameluke bit, not even a snaffle, and for directing the movements of the animal the old sailor felt himself as helpless as if standing by the wheel of a seventy-four that had unshipped her rudder. Just like a ship in such a situation did the maherry behave. Surging through the ocean of soft sand, now mounting the spurs that trended down to the beach, now descending headlong into deep gullies, like troughs between the ocean waves, and gliding silently, gently forward as a shallop upon a smooth sea. Such was the course that the sailor was pursuing. Very different, however, were his reflections to those he would have indulged in on board a man-o"-war; and if any man ever sneered at that simile which likens a camel to a ship, it was Sailor Bill upon that occasion.
"Avast there!" cried he, as soon as the maherry had fairly commenced moving. "Shiver my old timbers! what do yez mean, you brute? Belay there! belay! "Ang it, I must pipe all hands, an" take in sail. Where the deevil are ye steerin" to? Be jabers, yez may laugh, young gentlemen, but this ain"t a fair weather craft, I tell yez. Thunder an"
guns! it be as much as I can do to keep her to her course. Hullo! she"s off afore the wind!"
As the rider of the maherry gave out this declaration, the animal was seen suddenly to increase its speed, not only in a progressive ratio, but at once to double quick, as if impelled by some powerful motive.
At the same time it was heard to utter a strange cry, half scream, half snort, which could not have been caused by any action on the part of its rider.
It was already over a hundred yards in advance of those following on foot; but after giving out that startling cry, the distance became quickly increased, and in a few seconds of time the three astonished "mids" saw only the shadow of a maherry, with a sailor upon its back, first dissolving into dim outline until it finally disappeared behind the sand-dunes that ab.u.t.ted upon the beach.
CHAPTER NINETEEN.
THE DANCE INTERRUPTED.
Leaving the midshipmen to their mirth, which, however, was not of very long duration, we must follow Sailor Bill and the runaway camel.
In reality the maherry had made off with him, though for what reason the sailor could not divine. He only knew that it was going at the rate of nine or ten knots an hour, and going its own way; for instead of keeping to the line of the coast, the direction he would have wished it to take, it had suddenly turned tail upon the sea, and headed towards the interior of the country.
Its rider had already discovered that he had not the slightest control over it. He had tugged upon the hair halter and shouted "Avast!" until both his arms and tongue were tired. All to no purpose. The camel scorned his commands, lent a deaf ear to his entreaties, and paid not the slightest heed to his attempt to pull up, except to push on in the opposite direction, with its snout elevated in the air and its long ungainly neck stretched forward in the most determined and provoking fashion.
There was not much force in the muscular efforts made to check it. It was just as much as its rider could do to balance himself on its hump, which, of course, he had to do Arab fashion, sitting upon the saddle as on a chair, with his feet resting upon the back of the animal"s neck.
It was this position that rendered his seat so insecure, but no other could have been adopted in the saddle of a maherry, and the sailor was compelled to keep it as well as he could.
At the time the animal first started off, it had not gone at so rapid a pace but that he might have slipped down upon the soft sand without much danger of being injured. This for an instant he had thought of doing; but knowing that while "unhorsing" himself the camel might escape, he had voluntarily remained on its back, in the hope of being able to pull the animal up.
On becoming persuaded that this would be impossible, and that the maherry had actually made off with him, it was too late to dismount without danger. The camel was now shambling along so swiftly that he could not slip down without submitting himself to a fall. It would be no longer a tumble upon soft sand, for the runaway had suddenly swerved into a deep gorge, the bottom of which was thickly strewed with boulders of rock, and through these the maherry was making way with the speed of a fast-trotting horse.
Had its rider attempted to abandon his high perch upon the hump, his chances would have been good for getting dashed against one of the big boulders, or trodden under the huge hoofs of the maherry itself.
Fully alive to this danger, Old Bill no more thought of throwing himself to the ground; but on the contrary, held on to the lump with all the tenacity that lay in his well tarred digits.
He had continued to shout for some time after parting with his companions; but as this availed nothing, he at length desisted, and was now riding the rest of his race in silence.
When was it to terminate? Whither was the camel conducting him? These were the questions that now came before his mind.
He thought of an answer, and it filled him with apprehension. The animal was evidently in eager haste. It was snuffing the wind in its progress forward; something ahead seemed to be attracting it. What could this something be but its home, the tent from which it had strayed, the dwelling of its owner? And who could that owner be but one of those cruel denizens of the desert they had been taking such pains to avoid?
The sailor was allowed but little time for conjectures; for almost on the instant of his shaping this, the very first one, the maherry shot suddenly round a hill, bringing him in full view of a spectacle that realised it.
A small valley, or stretch of level ground enclosed by surrounding ridges, lay before him; its grey sandy surface interspersed by a few patches of darker colour, which the moon, shining brightly from a blue sky, disclosed to be tufts of tussock-gra.s.s and mimosa bushes.
These however, did not occupy the attention of the involuntary visitor to that secluded spot; but something else that appeared in their midst-- something that proclaimed the presence of human beings.
Near the centre of the little valley half a dozen dark objects stood up several feet above the level of the ground. Their size, shape, and colour proclaimed their character. They were tents, the tents of a Bedouin encampment. The old man-o"-war"s-man had never seen such before; but there was no mistaking them for anything else; even going as he was at a speed that prevented him from having a very clear view of them.
In a few seconds, however, he was near enough to distinguish something more than the tents. They stood in a sort of circle of about twenty yards in diameter, and within this could be seen the forms of men, women, and children. Around were animals of different sorts; horses, camels, sheep, goats, and dogs, grouped according to their kind, with the exception of the dogs, which appeared to be straying everywhere.
This varied tableau was distinctly visible under the light of a full mellow moon.
There were voices; shouting and singing. There was music, made upon some rude instrument. The human forms, both of men and women, were in motion, circling and springing about. The sailor saw they were dancing.
He heard and saw all this in a score of seconds, as the maherry hurried him forward into their midst. The encampment was close to the bottom of the hill round which the camel had carried him. He had at length made up his mind to dismount _coute qui coute_; but there was no time.
Before he could make a movement to fling himself from the shoulders of the animal, he saw that he was discovered. A cry coming from the tents admonished him of this fact. It was too late to attempt a retreat, and, in a state of desponding stupor, he stuck to the saddle. Not much longer. The camel, with a snorting scream, responding to the call of its fellows, rushed on into the encampment, right into the very circle of the dancers; and there, amidst the shouts of men, the screeches of women, the yelling of children, the neighing of horses, the bleating of sheep and goats, and the barking of a score or two of cur dogs, the animal stopped, with such abrupt suddenness that its rider, after performing a somersault through the air, came down on all-fours in front of its projecting snout!
In such fashion was Sailor Bill introduced to the Arab encampment.
CHAPTER TWENTY.
A SERIO-COMICAL RECEPTION.
It need scarce be said that the advent of the stranger produced some surprise among the Terpsich.o.r.ean crowd, into the midst of which he had been so unceremoniously projected. And yet this surprise was not such as might have been expected. One might suppose that an English man-o"-war"s-man, in pilot-cloth pea-jacket, glazed hat, and wide duck trousers, would have been a singular sight to the eyes of the dark-skinned individuals who now encircled him; dressed, as all of them were, in gay-coloured floating shawl-robes, slippered or sandalled feet, and with fez caps or turbans on their heads.
Not a bit of a singular sight; neither the colour of his skin, nor his sailor-costume, had caused surprise to those who surrounded him. Both were matters with which they were well acquainted, alas! too well.
The astonishment they had exhibited arose simply from the _sans facon_ manner of his coming amongst them; and on the instant after it disappeared, giving place to a feeling of a different kind.
Succeeding to the shouts of surprise, arose a simultaneous peal of laughter from men, women, and children; in which even the animals seemed to join, more especially the maherry, who stood with its uncouth head craned over its dismounted rider, and looking uncontrollably comic.
In the midst of this universal exclamation the sailor rose to his feet.
He might have been disconcerted by the reception, had his senses been clear enough to comprehend what was pa.s.sing. But they were not. The effects of that fearful somersault had confused him; and he had only risen to an erect att.i.tude under a vague instinct or desire to escape from that company.
After staggering some paces over the ground, his thoughts returned to him; and he more clearly comprehended his situation. Escape was out of the question. He was prisoner to a party of wandering Bedouins, the worst to be found in all the wide expanse of the Saaran desert, the wreckers of the Atlantic coast.
The sailor might have felt surprise at seeing a collection of familiar objects, into the midst of which he had wandered. By the doorway of a tent, one of the largest upon the ground, there was a pile of paraphernalia, every article of which was typical, not of the Saara, but the sea. There were "belongings" of the cabin and caboose, the "tween decks and the forecastle, all equally proclaiming themselves the debris of a castaway ship.
The sailor could have no conjectures as to the vessel to which they had belonged. He knew the articles by sight, one and all of them. They were the spoils of the corvette that had been washed ash.o.r.e and fallen into the hands of the wreckers.
Among them Old Bill saw some things that had appertained to himself.
On the opposite side of the encampment, by another large tent, was a second pile of ship"s equipments, like the first guarded by a sentinel, who squatted beside it. The sailor looked around in expectation to see some of the corvette"s crew. Some might have escaped, like himself and his three companions, by reaching the sh.o.r.e on cask, coop, or spar. If so, they had not fallen into the hands of the wreckers; or if they had, they were not in the camp, unless, indeed, they might be inside some of the tents. This was not likely. Most probably they had all been drowned, or had succ.u.mbed to a worse fate than drowning--death at the hands of the cruel coast robbers who now surrounded the survivor.
The circ.u.mstances under which the old sailor made these reflections were such as to render the last hypothesis sufficiently probable. He was being pushed about and dragged over the ground by two men, armed with long curved scimitars, contesting some point with one another, apparently as to which should be first to cut off his head!
Both of these men appeared to be chiefs, "sheiks", as the sailor heard them called by their followers; a party of whom, also with arms in their hands, stood behind each sheik, all seemingly alike eager to perform the act of decapitation.
So near seemed the old sailor"s head to being cut off, that for some seconds he was not quite sure whether it still remained upon his shoulders. He could not understand a word that pa.s.sed between the contending parties; though there was talk enough to have satisfied a sitting of parliament, and probably with about the same quant.i.ty of sense in it.
Before it had proceeded far, the sailor began to comprehend, not from the speeches made, but the gestures that accompanied them, that it was not the design of either party to cut off his head. The drawn scimitars, sweeping through the air, were not aimed at his neck, but rather in mutual menace of one another.