Nicha rose, pale, hesitating. She stepped slowly into the light. Her beauty added to the light.
"Beloved," she said, "knew you this?"
"No," he said, "but I know it now, and welcome it."
"Oh, my beloved," she cried, "to think that you are all my own, that I do not have to share you," and she flung her arms about him.
"Hush," said the priest, "or, as Philip says, you will wake the camels."
"Father," asked Abdullah, "will you now marry us, since we are Christians?"
"I would," answered the priest, "but it is necessary to have two witnesses."
Abdullah"s face fell, but in an instant it brightened again. He went to the door of the hut and stood, listening. In a moment he turned and said, "Allah is good, or, rather, G.o.d is good. This new religion works well. Here are our witnesses."
And, even as he spoke, there came out of the darkness the halt-cry of the camel-driver.
"It is Ali," said Abdullah, "and Nicha"s maid is with him. They have caught us up."
He ran out and found the camels kneeling and Ali easing the surcingles.
"Ali," he cried, "you must change your religion."
"Willingly," said Ali; "what shall the new one be? The old one has done little for me."
"Christian," said Abdullah.
"That suits me," said Ali; "under it one may drink wine, and one may curse. It is a useful religion for a trader."
"And the maid?" asked Abdullah.
"We have travelled a day and a part of a night together," said Ali, "and she will believe what I tell her to believe."
"The old religion is good in some respects," said Abdullah. "Call the maid;" and they went to the hut.
"Here are the witnesses," said Abdullah, "ready to be Christians."
"It is not necessary," said the priest, "if they can make their mark; that is all that is required."
So, in the little hut, before an improvised altar, they were married--the camel-driver and the daughter of the Chief of Ouled Nail.
The next morning the caravan took up the march for Biskra.
THE MOTHER OF THE ALMEES
It was the great fast of Rhamadan, and the square of Biskra was crowded with white-robed men waiting for the sun to set that they might eat.
The rough pavement was dotted with fires over which simmered pots filled with what only a very jealous G.o.d indeed would have called food.
About them were huddled the traders from the bazaars, the camel-drivers from the desert, the water-carriers from Bab el Derb. Each man held a cigarette in his left hand and a match in his right. He would smoke before he ate.
In the long arcades the camels, in from the Soudan, knelt, fasting. An Arab led a tame lion into the square and the beast held back on his chain as he pa.s.sed the flesh-pots, for he, too, was fasting. Crowds of little children stood about the circle of the fires, fasting. A G.o.d was being placated by the sufferings of His creatures.
There is little twilight in the lat.i.tude of Biskra. There is the hard, white light of the daytime, five minutes of lavender and running shadows, and then the purple blackness of the night.
The mueddin took his place on the minaret of the mosque. His shadow ran to the centre of the square and stopped. He cried his admonition, each white-robed figure bowed to the earth in supplication, a cannon-shot at the citadel split the hot air, and in an instant the square was dotted with sparks. Each worshipper had struck his match. The fast was over until sunrise.
The silence became a Babel. All fell to eating and to talking. A marabout, graceful as a Greek statue, came out of the mosque and made his way among the fires. As he pa.s.sed, the squatting Mussulmans caught at his robe and kissed it. Mirza, the mother of the Almee girls, her golden necklaces glinting in the firelight, came walking by. As she pa.s.sed the marabout he drew back and held his white burnoose across his face. She bent her knee and then went on, but as she pa.s.sed she laughed and whispered, "Which trade pays best, yours or mine?" and she shook her necklaces.
"Daughter," said the marabout, "there is but one G.o.d."
"Yes," she replied, "but He has many prophets, and, of them all, you are the most beautiful," and she went on.
An officer of _spahis_ rode in and, stopping his horse before the arched door of the commandant, stood motionless. The square was filled with color, with life, with foreignness, with the dancing flames, the leaping shadows, the fumes of the cook-pots, the odor of Arabian tobacco, the clamor of all the dialects of North Africa.
A bugle sounded. Out of a side street trotted a cavalcade. The iron shoes of the horses rang on the pavement, and the steel chains of the curbs tinkled. The commandant dismounted and gave his bridle to his orderly.
The commandant walked through the square. He wore a fatigue cap, a sky-blue blouse, with white loopings, white breeches, tight at the knee, and patent-leather boots, with box spurs. He walked through the square slowly, smoking cigarette after cigarette. He was not only the commandant but he was the commissioner of police. With seventy men he ruled ten thousand, and he knew his weakness. The knowledge of his weakness was his strength.
As he walked through the square he met Mirza. He pa.s.sed her without a sign of recognition and she, on her part, was looking at the minaret of the mosque.
In their official capacities they were strangers. On certain occasions, when the commandant was in _mufti_ they had, at least, pa.s.sed the time of day. The commandant walked through the long rows of fires, speaking to a merchant here, nodding to a date-grower there, casting quick glances and saying nothing to the spies who, mingling with the people, sat about the kouss-kouss pots, and reported to the commandant, each morning, the date set for his throat-cutting. This was many years ago, before there was a railroad to Biskra.
The commandant, having made the round of the fires, crossed over to his house under the arcades. He dismissed the sergeant and the guard, and they rode away to the barracks, the hoof-beats dying in the distance.
The _spahi_ remained, silent, motionless. The commandant was about to enter his door, when a man sprang from behind one of the pillars of the arcade and held out to him a paper. The commandant put his hands behind his back. The _spahi_ edged his horse up closely.
"Who are you?" asked the commandant, in French.
The man shook his head, but still held out the paper.
"Who are you?" asked the commandant again, but now in Arabic.
"I am Ali, the slave of Abdullah," answered the man, "and he sends you this letter."
The commandant remained motionless. "Will your horse stand, corporal?"
he asked of the _spahi_.
"Perfectly, my colonel."
"Leave him, then," said the commandant, "and bring one of your pistols."
The _spahi_ gathered his long blue cloak off the quarters of his horse, took a revolver from its holster, swung his right leg over his horse"s head, so that he might not for an instant turn his back, threw the reins over his horse"s neck, brought the heels of his red boots together, saluted, and stood silent.
The horse began to play with the pendant reins and to shift his loosened bit.
"Go in," said the commandant, and the _spahi_ opened the door. "You next," and Ali followed. The commandant brought up the rear.