Chapter 10
Dreams of Desire
In his dying moments the Malidi had repeated again and again:
"The Prophet has designated my successor. You will submit to the orders of the Khalif Abdullahi, as you have obeyed mine. He is a second me!"
So saying and folding his arms over his breast, he had breathed his last, murmuring the sacred formula, "La Illaha ilia Illahi; Mohammed Rasul Allahi!" Beside the Master's corpse, still warm with vital heat, those present had sworn fidelity to the Khalif Abdullahi; his colleagues, the two other Khalifs being the first to proffer the oath of allegiance.
The lawful wife of the dead Chief, the Dongola negress who in company with the poor "Fiki," the wandering Dervish, had endured his days of indigence, was there. "Sidina Aisha Un el Muminin,"-Our Lady Aisha, Mother of True Believers, lay crouched in a corner, wound about wiih her veils, the thick "feridjeh" drawn high up to hide her grief. Presently she rose to her full height, and with howls and cries and lamentations, went to announce the death to the other wives and to the whole harem.
The populace had already learned the mournful news. But it was generally maintained that if the Malidi had left this world, it was of his own free will and pleasure. He had besought God to design to recall him to Himself, to receive him in His Paradise; and the Almighty had granted the prayer of the just Man.
In the beginning, the new Malidi consolidated the wprk and confirmed the legislation of his predecessor,-especially in all matters connected with the form of service and other rites and ceremonies. The customary ablutions were simplified, and the pilgrimage to Mecca forbidden altogether. The "Mahr," or price which the bridegroom is bound to pay to the father of the bride, remained at the rate the former Malidi had fixed, viz., ten dollars and two sets of robes, when the bride was a virgin, five dollars and two sets, when she was a widow. Also the new custom of a meal of dates and milk in lieu of the nuptial banquet previously in vogue, a feast both profuse and costly. The prohibition of dancing and gaming was renewed, under penalty for offenders of the kourbash and confiscation of goods. Blasphemers, as before, were to be punished with seven days' imprisonment. The Khalif confirmed the prohibition, decreed by the Malidi, of all fermented liquors, such as marissa,-or palm wine, and tobacco. All drunkards, and all smokers or snuff-takers, were to be thrashed and imprisoned for eight days, their property moreover being confiscated to the Beit-el-Maal, the Khalif's treasure.
Previously in the Sudan, the religious orders only had been in the habit of removing the hair of the head, laymen, and especially the nomad Arabs, letting it grow, and indeed wearing it very long. But the Malidi had ordered the men of his Ansar to shave their heads, just as he had made them wear the djibbeh, or Dervishes' frock, and these injunctions were maintained by his successor. A death was declared to be a cause for rejoicing, for it is the liberation of the True Believer, and marks for him the beginning of an era of bliss. To bewail a death or organize funeral ceremonials were offences punishable by confiscation. The pilgrimage to Mecca was forbidden, on account of the inevitable contact with the Gentiles on the journey.
To make up for this, that to Omdurman, to the Malidi's tomb, was made obligatory. Workmen were set to work on the erection of a gigantic Mausoleum, a regular temple crowned by a dome that was to rise to a height of a hundred feet from the ground, the whole surmounted by a lance carrying three golden balls one above the other, and threatening the heavens with its point.
Meantime many and divers ambitions and intrigues came into existence about the new Monarch. For some time now various tribal chiefs had been aiming at independence and watching for an opportunity of throwing off the yoke of Malidism, while among the Ashraf, the Malidi's '. own kinsmen, not a few, in spite of the dead chiefs injunctions, held the new Sovereign to be an intruder and an outsider, and were already plotting to dispossess him I for their own advantage. At the earliest opportunity Abu-Anga was sent against the rebels, and his expedition was j crowned with complete success. The campaign was a mere F march of victory, which ended in his bringing in the vanquished chiefs in chains to Omdurman This preference for Omdurman was no new thing; the old Malidi had begun to manifest the same predilection for the little town built on the rocks just peeping above the sand, opposite Khartoum on the other bank of the Nile. To humiliate the Ashraf, who had chosen the best quarters of Khartoum to establish themselves in, the Khalif ordered the demolition of their stately houses, the materials to be carried over to Omdurman to build fresh ones with. Soon streets were laid out, lined with spacious mansions of red brick, while on either side, to right and left, a huddle of narrow tortuous alleys grew up where gradually little f houses of sun-dried clay replaced the former straw huts and sheltered a dense population. From all quarters of the Sudan, Abu-Anga's soldiers were driving in upon Omdurman such tribes as were of doubtful fidelity, and the inhabitants grew daily more numerous. The town increased at a rate to compare with the great capitals of
Europe; but in spite of all laws and regulations it continued abominably filthy. Carrion lay everywhere, rotting in the sun, the stench of fever and uncleanness filled even the nobles' palaces, and flies swarmed in myriads.
Every time Abu-Anga returned from one of his victories, he went straight to Grace's side, whom he still cherished with a tender and ardent love. Though he had hundreds of women in his harem, and never went on an expedition but he brought more to join them, it was always for Grace he reserved the best nights. She quivered deliciously in his strong arms, a devoted slave of the mighty man with the gentle ways whom she had fascinated.
Nevertheless there was another sentiment, morbid and born of sheer dislike, fermenting within her bosom ever since the day she had recognized in Fadl-el-Maula, Abu-Anga's brother, the brutal ravisher of her maidenhood. On first seeing him again, she had experienced only terror and abhorrence; but presently curiosity gained the upper hand, and she would have liked Fad-el-Maula to come again. She wanted to look at him once more, wondering what she would say to him, if he began making love. He had been obliged to force her, that was certain; she would never, never have consented, if she had been a free agent! Thinking thus, she felt a spasm of renewed disgust; she once more breathed the insipid, deadly smell, and her tongue curled as she recalled the evil sourness of that kiss. These thoughts refused to leave her, though they only caused her pain and anguish, and she would fly into wild rages, muttering imprecations on this Fadl-el-Maula whom she loathed. Still she could not get rid of her thoughts, as she lay there dreaming in the idleness of the harem, heedless of the other women, whose laughter and chatter she scarcely heard.
She racked her brains to discover a means of involving Abu-Anga in a quarrel with his brother. It would have been easy enough once; but now she no longer dared try the magic of her glance. She knew only too well the charm was broken for ever under the Eunuch's kourbash. Abu-Anga was calm and self-possessed, and everything showed he was another man now. He loved Grace for the joy of bodily satisfaction, but his will was out of her reach and altogether unassailable. He always spoke gently to her; but if by chance she put on her imperious airs again for a moment he would only laugh, and with a touch of his iron finger force her to do his wish.
For all that, he had granted her more freedom than it was his habit to allow his concubines. She could go abroad in the city, and so escape the deadly stagnation of the harem and hear some news of the outside world. In the markets she had an opportunity of meeting people she could talk to. Of these markets there were several, at long distances from each other. The slave market was the most important and much the most frequented. Rich men would visit it, even when they had no immediate intention of buying; but women were excluded. The grain market also was crowded, whereas the square where the peasants came to sell their vegetables was patronized only by cooks, nearly always slaves, and women of the people.
In the neighborhood of the prison there was invariably much movement and animation, as it was a favorite lounging place, idlers resorting thither to see the victims of the Khalif's displeasure pass by in chains.
Quite close to the prison lived Slatin-Bey. He had been an officer in the Austrian service when at the prompting of an adventurous disposition, he had asked his Government for permission to enter the Egyptian army. He had fought gallantly against the Dervishes, and won a number of victories; but had finally been shut up in Dara, and forced eventually to capitulate. He was spoil of war, and became the slave of the Khalif Abdullahi, who enrolled him in his "Muzalemin," or body-guards. But fearing he might resort to some extreme measure, he set a watch on poor Slatin, and for the slightest offense he would throw him into prison, his body bent double under the weight of his fetters. All the Austrian could do was to affect a resignation he was far from feeling, meanwhile impatiently gnawing the bit and only waiting a favorable chance to escape.
He had known James, whose gallantry and good humor he greatly admired. He was acquainted with all Grace's tragic story,-except the fact that she was still alive. Suddenly, her hair rippling in golden waves above her brow, and the transparent feridjeh only heightening the brilliance of her clear eyes, Grace accosted him, speaking in English. Tall and well built, with straightforward, easy, gentlemanly manners, the ex-officer exclaimed in wonder:
"What! you here! ... Poor young lady, how you must have suffered! ... But patience,-the English cannot be much longer; they are bound to avenge Gordon, the noblest and most disinterested of their heroes. They will soon be here, and smoke out these wild cats in their holes ... But suppose I were to rescue you? Eh? ... But when? Why! I have not the faintest notion, upon my word! ... But soon perhaps, for indeed they seem to me to have very much the look of flying at each other's throats, our Dervish friends, before very long ... You may rest assured, the very first opportunity that offers, I shall take French leave and be off."
"And my best wishes go with you!"
"Better it were yourself ... It cuts me to the heart to see you prisoner among-these Blackamoors ... If you knew how sick I am of playing the Mussulman and True Believer and trusty muzalemin! Look here, ... shall I pass you the word, when everything is ready?"
"By no means! You would only ruin your plans without helping me!"
She gave him her hand, which he shook in the English way, and then went off with her active step to loiter in the quarter of the jewelers' shops. True the Malidi had prohibited their trade. Worldly pomps and vanities were all forbidden, and women could only wear ornaments of paltry value, mother-of-pearl and coral being the only materials tolerated. But gradually the strictness of the rule had been relaxed, and all along the river bank, the jewelers and ornament-makers filled a whole street, vending gew-gaws of gold and silver filagree work, to say nothing of gems and pearls. The traders were delighted to bring out their most precious wares and make the stones flash to tempt the favorite slave of Abu-Anga, chief of the Djedediah, that ever victorious troop of negro braves.
But Grace was pensive, and threw only a careless glance at the sparkling gems and iridescent pearls. Her encounter with Slatin-Bey had stirred a whole host of memories.
"Poor James!. . . Yes! poor James! But there, he ought to have been more respectful. Or else he ought to have set about it differently altogether ... Now these negroes, they were savages; granted! ... but they were no fools, far from it! They knew remarkably well how to get what they wanted with women ... If only names ... Well, it must be allowed he was to blame for it all! For how was she to know?"
No doubt she still pitied James, and thought of him with no small tenderness. Yet she ended by holding him to have been little better than a fool. Her senses were strongly stirred, and under the burning African sun were ever on the alert. She found herself sighing for the return of Abu-Anga, and gave way to long hours of languor and reverie. She thought of her native land and her life as a young girl, and was filled with an intense craving for affection. Her heart would swell with melancholy, till she was on the point of weeping. In her loneliness and desolation she decided exactly what it was she longed for,-she would fain be loved by a young man, quite young, who would offer her an artless, timid affection, an ardent affection, yet tempered with fear and respect!
At these times she would like to have gone to see Slatin again, to tell him to make haste as she wished now to escape with him. But what chance had any such enterprise of meeting with success? They would have been retaken, for a certainty; horsemen would be sent off in pursuit, who must very soon come up with the fugitives. Then would follow punishment, the odious, humiliating, detestable lash! But this time the lash applied without mercy or pity,-her body degraded by the marks of permanent disfigurement ... Worse perhaps,-mutilation, or even death? Death! Her teeth chattered with terror at the idea, which she fought against with all the intense vitality of twenty, all the lusty vigor of strong and healthy youth.
However, as Slatin had observed, the Blackamoors had very much the look of soon coming to blows among themselves. The Malidi's name still continued to inspire a fierce fanaticism. The Ansar, the army, rallied round the successor of his choice, and the Khalif Abdullahi took for motto, "Ed Din, mansour,"-To conquer by the Faith.
The two other khalifs on the contrary, for their first oaths of allegiance, were anxious, envious and ill-content. First came various manifestations of slight importance, mere childish displays of pride. They delighted to parade the city with a numerous escort and make display of their magnificence. They loved to draw the populace about their persons, and at all hours of the day the great war drums might be heard beating. It was not long before the crowd took sides, and Omdurman was divided into two hostile camps.
On the one side the Ashraf, the kinsmen of the dead Malidi; on the other the partisans of Abdullahi, the successor of the Prophet, declared such by the Malidi himself. The two Khalifs, Mohammed Sherif and Ali Ouad Helu, openly announced themselves ready to maintain by force the rights of the Ashraf, whose prerogatives had been passed over. Among the people, each man espoused one side or the other in the quarrel, according to his individual preferences. Not a day passed without disputes breaking out in the market and degenerating into personal conflicts. Uneasiness and anxiety pressed heavy on all hearts, and both parties were making preparations for the coming contest. Abdullahi's faction included his own tribe, the Ba garas, olive-complexioned Arabs, chiefly engaged in cattle breeding, and the negro soldiers of the Djedediah, commanded, in Abu-Anga's absence, by Fad-el-Maula, without counting his muzalemin, or body-guards. The Dongolawi and the Gellabas marched under the banner of the Ashraf.
No sooner, however, were the two rival hosts in position than the imposing array and unflinching attitude of the black troops quite intimidated Abdullahi's enemies. The Khalif Ouad Helu was the first to wish to come to terms, and after sundry negotiations, surrendered at discretion. At this the other, the Khalif Sherif, feeling no inclination to fight single-handed with so formidable an antagonist, also laid down his arms.
He was forced to hand over to Abdullahi his troops with arms, munitions of war and flags complete, besides,-and this was the most bitter blow of all-his great war drums. The victorious Abdullahi allowed him merely a guard of fifty men, to serve as personal escort, while to mark the humiliation of the Ashraf, the two uncles of the late Malidi, Abdul Kerim and Abdul Kader, were thrown into chains.