Chapter 16
Graces Subjugation
A single luminous point in a colored lamp pierced the darkness with a reddish gleam. Grace sat lounging on her mat wrapped in her own thoughts. In spite of every disappointment she was still hopeful. What was Slatin doing? No doubt he was not idle, while Father Ohrwalder had-likewise promised his help. All that was wanted was a friendly disposed camel-driver. Only how was she to manage her escape from the harem? Neufeld was similarly situated, and must remain a prisoner in the gaol, unless assistance came to him from outside. She devised plan after plan, but each was rejected as soon as formed. She ended by resting all her expectations on Slatin. She knew him to be determined, cool, courageous, and nothing if not practical, not the man to leave anything to chance. Fertile as he was in the ruses of war, he was bound to have more than one shot in his locker, when it came to contriving their liberation.
She was listening to the sounds proceeding from the sleeping women round her, some snoring,-a deep hollow note, others breathing softly and lightly, others making a short, panting whistle as if in pain, while at the other extremity of the vast sleeping apartment half stifled giggles and sighings could be heard. But now footsteps echoed in the vestibule. It was the Eunuch Fardji, who coming straight to Grace, ordered her to dress. She obeyed, her fingers trembling so they would hardly perform their task, for she had a shrewd idea of why he came for her. Still she would not despair, but still hope for the best. As she followed the eunuch, she was forced to cling to the wall for support; her limbs shook under her, her heart throbbed as if it would burst, and her brain was clouded and seemed utterly incapable of thought.
The Eunuch pushed her into the little chamber she knew so well,-the chamber where Abu-Anga had been wont to receive the chosen concubine. Now Fadl-el-Maula was there, lying on an angareb. He did not move at her entrance, and she stood motionless, waiting his pleasure. Some minutes passed thus before he rose, and looking her hard in the face, grinned an odious smile that reached from ear to ear. Then he ordered her to undress, and half mad with fear she obeyed. He sprang forward and took her in his arms. Suddenly she uttered a scream, a wild cry of anger and distress. All her resignation, all her passivity, vanished before the indignant resentment this last abominable outrage roused. The Negro, blas' and satiated with women, was trying to have her in the other, the filthy way. Her very flesh revolted, and an innate loathing of such bestiality drove her to resistance ... She struggled fiercely, scratching and biting, fighting as if for life. Blows, mutilation, death, anything seemed preferable to such vile humiliation.
Fadl-el-Maula let go, and still smiling, looked her up and down. Firm on her feet, her fists thrown forward, she was superb in her slim muscularity, her naked body a dead white and her loosened hair wrapping her about in a golden mantle. He put two fingers to his mouth and whistled. Aisha came in at the summons, and going straight to Grace, seized her breasts one in each of her big hands and began to twist them. The girl yelled with the pain, grasping the negress's wrists and struggling to make her let go. Then Aisha shifted her hands a little and got hold of the two nipples, which she pinched and dragged at with her fingers of iron. Grace stooped forward, moaning piteously. Her eyes seemed turning in her head, and she could see nothing but the negress's huge, black, vigorous arms and their swelling muscles. Under the steady pull of the relentless fingers, she was forced to bend her spine and stoop more and more, so that the posteriors were tightly strained, and thrown out in conspicuous prominence. Suddenly she gave a wail of agony; a fierce pain tortured her entrails and was repeated in her brain,-a pain so poignant and intense it even made her forget her disgust for the moment. Then Fadl-el-Maula left her, laughing his cackling laugh, followed by Aisha, while Grace sank down at the foot of the angareb, overwhelmed with shame and exhaustion, longing for death to end her misery!
Presently the Eunuch came to fetch her, and led her back to the sleeping room. She could scarcely walk; her cheeks were burning and she kept her eyes fixed on the ground. She heard Fardji say something to her, as if in a dream:
"The master is not pleased with you. He says tomorrow you shall be taken to the slave-market and sold."
She made no reply, and directly she found herself back again on her own angareb, she experienced a sort of joy, a childish feeling of satisfaction at being alone once more. But she could not sleep; a whole world of wild, disordered thoughts besieged her brain. She thought she must pass through the fire to be purified! But all her indignation and disgust culminated in one horrid thought, one anxiety that troubled her more and more. She was to be sold! sold! Yet is was simple enough! Abu-Anga's concubine to begin with, she now belonged to Fadl-el-Maula. She was a slave,-what else? She said the word over and over again, striving to extort its real meaning. Yet had she not been already a slave of the Dervishes for pretty well five years now? Then she exhausted herself in guessing who was-likely to buy her,-a rich merchant, or possibly an Emir? She passed in review all such she had known or had heard spoken of, deciding which she would prefer. She ended by calling herself a fool for her pains, for what useful purpose could her suppositions possibly serve, when chance was sure to overthrow them every one?
Grace shuddered with feverish apprehension when she thought of the peril of being bought by a married man whose wife should be jealous. On this head she had heard some appalling stories told of the atrocities committed by the Sudanese ladies. They would tolerate a caprice, but when it came to a serious attachment, then they interfered and exacted vengeance with a barbarous and refined cruelty. They always inflicted the punishment with their own hands. The victim was presented to them bound and extended on a wooden support, arms stretched out as if on a cross and legs wide apart. The ball opened with the Kourbash,-a hail of blows on face, bosom, arms, belly and thighs, till the blood spurted. Then the mistress would stop beating, and laying down her whip, go to a great jar of salt, take great handfuls from it and rub this well into the wounds. The pain was said to be beyond everything, the revival of the dulled sensibility and the further exasperation of the pangs being intolerable. Every nerve was touched, and quivered in palpitations of indescribable agony.
Next the Fury armed herself with a razor, and began hacking the flesh in little jags on the breasts, the thick of the arm, the cheeks, the inside of the thighs, always stopping at intervals to rub in salt, rub it in with all her might, in great handfuls. Then there was a short respite, very short,-after which with delicate manipulation, the fingers now stroking lightly now rubbing vigorously, she administered a hideous caress. Do what she might to refrain, the victim's nerves ended by tightening in the venereal spasm under the unwearying hands. Then quick between thumb and forefinger the jealous woman would take all she could get hold of and lop it off with a sweep of the razor. Excited by what she had done, she would now proceed to further mutilations, cutting off the nipples, then the nose, ears and lips. When she saw the blood flow and smelt its heavy, insipid odor, her cruelty changed into hysterical fury. She was as if intoxicated, and her razor was wielded at random, amputating a finger or a toe as happened, slicing through the flesh like butter.
Other wives under like circumstances contented themselves with the infliction of one wound, and one wound only. They carefully refrained from touching the face and left its prettiness intact; but pressing heavily on the razor they cut a great gash, uniting two openings in one huge cloaca of abominations. The great majority succumbed under the consequences of this hideous injury, though some who seemed to have a hundred lives survived. Mutilated, incapable of love, they dragged out a miserable existence, the supremest pleasure denied them, the ecstasies of passion abolished for ever.
Grace was led off to the "Suk er Rekik," the Slave-market, a great square enclosed with brick walls not far from the Beit-el-Maal. The Eunuch pushed her forward into the interior, which consisted of a courtyard, with an open shed or penthouse of thatch running all round, supported by slender pillars. There in a row along the walls, raised on rough platforms carried on trestles, were the slaves. Among them were old decrepit women, half naked, their skins greasy, sun burnt and covered with wounds. These were house-slaves, domestic servants, driven to perform hard menial work by fear of the lash. Others were young, dressed out in silks and looking bright and smart in their gay apparel,-the "Sarayas," well practiced concubines, choice instruments of pleasure, spoiled and made much of, so long as their charms lasted. Unless indeed the lawful wife, in a fit of jealousy, destroyed their beauty for ever in one fatal moment.
When all were set in order, each on her little stand, the doors of the market were thrown open, and the buyers came in, each followed by a slave urging an ass before him, intended to carry off the purchase if it so happened the master invested in a pretty girl. Solemnly the customers made the circuit of the enclosure. If a slave-girl pleased them, they would halt in front of her in silence. Then the merchant would run up, and endless discussions ensue, the vendor praising his merchandise and enumerating each point. As he spoke he would be giving the woman little taps and pokes all the while on her arms and posteriors, to show how firm the flesh was; then he would make her walk, to prove the ease of her movements, and speak to her, to display her wit and to assure the customer she knew Arabic. But the client always discovered something to find fault with. Besides it was not at all the sort of article he really wanted. Still, if the price were not too heavy, they might perhaps come to terms. Then more long speeches from the dealer, who would make the slave step forward and then draw back again, displaying all sorts of attitudes and airs and graces. Finally he would make up his mind to say something definite and actually name the price. Instantly the customer, with a look of indignant surprise, would execute a turn to the right about, in shocked silence,-at which the dealer would pluck the sleeve of his djibbeh, signing with the other hand to the slave-girl to come down from her stand, and strip, to show she was really worth the money asked. Then followed more haggling. Eventually if they managed to agree, the pieces were counted down on the spot, and the master carried off his purchase directly the Cadi had had the deed of sale, which was already written out, signed by the two parties.
Many stopped before Grace, but the price asked put all purchasers to flight, and that without Fardji uttering one word to detain them. Ahmed-Ouad-Ali however, one of the richest merchants of the city, seemed disposed to pay the fifteen hundred dollars demanded,-more than double what was usually paid for the prettiest Sarayas. But first he wished to know whether she had any defect to prevent his buying, to make sure she did not snore, that she was not a thief. Then he demanded permission to convince himself she was well made. Grace turned pale, but she had to strip under the peremptory eye of the Eunuch, whose hand lay caressingly on the handle of his kourbash.
But at this crisis the market was thrown into sudden confusion by the arrival fo Fadl-el-Maula, who rushed in like a whirlwind, pushing people right and left. He halted in front of Fardji, and with arms crossed on his breast, fiercely apostrophized him:
"Miserable slave! How have you dared to go beyond my orders like thus? Take the woman back to my harem this instant!"
In vain Ahmed-Ouad-Ali protested:
"You are breaking the recognized customs! I am ready to pay the price asked; here is my money; hand me over the slave!"
But Fadl-el-Maula only laughed in his face, and cried:
"As long as the deed of sale is not signed, there's nothing settled!"
And wheeling nimbly about, he turned his back, and away after Fardji, who with a chastened air was walking Grace off the premises.
The girl was brought back to the harem; and in spite of everything that had occurred, she experienced a certain feeling of satisfaction, when she saw the familiar angareb again, a pleasure to the renewal of old habits and the postponement of the plunge into an unknown future. When the same evening Fardji arrived to lead her to Fadl-el-Maula's presence, she called up all her resignation, though her heart sank within her and her lips quivered with disgust. The moment she was undressed, her master seized her by the back of the neck and threw her down on the angareb. Then he tied her two feet, passing the cords round the bed in such a way that her back was offered to the kourbash, posteriors thrown out prominently and legs widely separated. The heavy thong described a figure of eight, then came down with a whistle and met the flesh with a dull thud. Grace howled and begged for mercy, her voice interrupted by sobs, while under the biting lash the blood spurted out. She struggled to avoid the blows, shirking back all she could, but the kourbash drawn cleverly from below upwards, cut the tenderest parts, its tip teaching as far up as the navel. Her cries were desperate,-shrill, harsh shrieks of agony; but Fadl-el-Maula only chuckled.
At last he untied her, and at once she fell into the negro's arms and put up her lips to his. He advanced his great, thick lips and saluted her with a long, clinging kiss ... But poor Grace's heart now felt nothing but an impulse of abject and complete submission; she ached all over, and had to confess herself entirely subjugated, absolutely under the domination of the superior male. It was grievous, but at the same time delicious; and her nerves, stimulated by pain, craved strong, fierce emotions. Henceforth Fadl-el-Maula often thrashed her, she knew not why,-for the first time had utterly broken her spirit and she was ready to do anything, whatever he required. Introduced by the Eunuch to the usual little room, she would see her master sitting on the angareb, playing with his kourbash. Then she would kneel down before him and remain in the same posture till she received his order to rise. He held out his feet to her, and she took off his sandals, and humbly and fondly kissed his naked feet. Then he stripped, and lying motionless full length on the angareb, received her caresses, which, with senses keenly excited and shuddering deliciously under the threat of the kourbash, she lavished on his passive body in every variety a perverted ingenuity could suggest. If on the contrary the negro took her in his arms, every nerve in her body quivered, and with eyes turned back in her head and muscles stiffened in a spasm of pleasure, she fell into a very ecstasy of enjoyment. She would scream with excess of delight, and experience transports such as she had never dreamed of as possible to a human being. She could not tell what to do to testify her submissiveness; the more she exaggerated her servility, the more overjoyed was she with a happiness full of intense voluptuousness...
In England, her dreams of love had always been ethereal; her senses had never been really awakened. The night of Khartoum had seemed only a horrid nightmare, in spite of the instant of pleasure that had momentarily interrupted her agonies. Later again, she had enjoyed a satisfaction to her pride, when she saw Abu-Anga at her feet, begging an alms of love, so deeply smitten she could keep him starving without his finding any resistance possible. Then when he withdrew degraded and humiliated, she had known a delightful feeling of gratification, but one that was purely mental. Only afterwards, when she had to do his will, after the Malidi had condemned her to the Eunuch's kourbash, had she felt the real mastery of the male. But now it was something different altogether! Fadl-el-Maula had conquered her by sheer terror and excess of torment; and she felt herself devoured by carnal appetites he alone could appease. She exhausted heringenuity in efforts to please him,-and she succeeded. Almost every night Fardji came to summon her and conduct her to the master's chamber, and he began to neglect his other women, and took no more pains to increase their number. At the same time he kept all his empire over her, and still inspired her with dread. No sooner was she in his presence than a shudder ran through her; her throat was dry, her heart convulsed with anguish, so that she could scarcely speak. Her wish to leave the harem enclosure was a thing of the past, and she was quite content to remain inside its guarded walls. Outside events became indifferent to her, and she hardly listened now to the chatter of the other women, her companions in captivity, who spent the whole day in endless gossip, and were posted in everything that occurred in the city.
At this time famine was raging in Omdurman, and throughout the Sudan. Never ending wars had destroyed the harvests, and men were wanting to sow the fields. Moreover since the death of King John nothing now came from Abyssinia, a country from which the Dervishes had previously drawn so many supplies. Locusts had devoured all the vegetation, and the drought seemed as though it would never end. Had it not been for wheat imported from the district of Fashoda, the whole population of Omdurman would have perished of starvation. But the distance was great and the cost of transport excessive. Prices went up fast, and soon the distress became intense. The town swarmed with beggars; gaunt and thin, they were everywhere to be seen gazing about them with glassy eyes and prowling around in search of food. Above all other places they haunted the markets, where they sharpened the pangs of hunger by looking at the leaps of provisions there displayed. In a sudden access of frenzy some poor wretch would spring upon the food, seize hold of all he could, and instantly fall to devouring it. The stall-keeper would lash out with savage blows, but the hungry thief seemed insensible to pain and went on gorging himself regardless of the other's efforts. At the slaughter-houses, they used to wait till the butchers cut an animal's throat, when every man would dash up to catch a cupful of the blood. In the scramble some of the precious fluid would spirt on to the ground, and men would actually kneel down and lick the soil, stuffing their bellies with the moistened sand. Corpses strewed the streets, while the living were mere walking skeletons, the skin scarce covering the bones. With feverish eyes and staggering steps, they would hold by the walls to save themselves from falling; then suddenly they would topple over and sink down, never to rise again.
Still things continued to go from bad to worse, as the country population came flocking in to increase the number of those dying of famine in the city. Never were thefts so numerous. Many of the inhabitants had covered the roofs of their huts with the skins of the camels captured from the Batahin; these starving wretches would drag off, boil down and then drink the atrocious mess. Children were kidnapped for the pot; and a woman was actually caught in the act of carving up her own son. Meantime the Khalif ordered that corn should be sold to the Bagaras at six dollars the ardeb, while to the men of all other tribes and dealers were vending it at twenty or even as much as forty dollars. Then everybody started robbing the Bagaras. Even Emirs trained their slaves to steal; if they were detected, they immediately disavowed them, the evidence of a slave being held inadmissible by the Judges.
One night the harem of Fadl-el-Maula had been attacked. The assailants surprised the soldiers on guard, and promptly gagged and bound them, while Fardji was rendered helpless in the same way. The Eunuch, his fat person trembling all over, had made his usual gesture of intimidation, laying his hand on his kourbash. But he was not allowed to finish it; in next to no time he found himself stretched on his mat, his arms tied behind his back and his turban unwound and knotted across his mouth. He was even treated to a few lashes with his own kourbash. The miscreants disappeared without further injury; but they took Grace with them. A tall sunburnt Arab grasped her by the arm, showing her a sharp cutlass; and she followed him obediently, so terrified she would have walked straight into the fire, if such had been his orders. She now left the house leaning on the tall Arab's arm. They crossed the garden, and as they passed through the outer door opening on the street, Grace saw the soldiers of the guard securely tied and propped like so many packages against the wall. Then her guide told her to step out briskly, and they proceeded some distance, keeping close along the walls and as much in the shade as possible. When finally he halted before a house of imposing exterior, she at once recognized it as the dwelling of Ahmed-Ouad-Ali, the rich merchant who had wished to buy her in the slave-market. The Arab knocked at the door, which was half opened stealthily, and the man slipped in, drawing the girl after him. She found herself in darkness, and stood hesitating, but her conductor's strong hand dragged her on. Suddenly her eyes were dazzled by a brilliant light, and she found herself in a room. For furniture it held nothing beyond an angareb covered with embroidered silks and a small table inlaid with mother-of-pearl, on which was a display of dainties on silver dishes, while the floor was spread with rich Kurdistan carpets.
Presently Ahmed-Ouad-Ali entered. He seemed embarrassed, though he smiled amiably; and appeared to think himself bound to offer an explication of his conduct:
"Fadl-el-Maula acted very meanly ... But then he is a ruffian, and everybody knows how he goes on. He thinks to make women love him by the lash. You cannot but esteem yourself lucky to have changed masters ... And thenl his conduct was outrageous altogether ... Did he not send you to the slave-market?. . . I acted in perfect good faith, and see no reason why I should not have done as I did. I could afford it, and I think I have as much right to be in love as he has! ... And I am in love, believe me,-as I have never been before! ... I will soon show you how good I am to women that please me."
He spoke eagerly, with extreme volubility, but Grace listened to him without a word of reply. Even after he had finished, she found nothing to say. The man looked at her hard, startled somewhat at her silence; but presently, laughing no doubt at his own weakness, he assumed a "conquering hero" air, and tried to kiss her. She slipped gently from his embrace, and holding out her hands, kept him at arm's length.
Then her dark sombre pupils began to dilate strangely, and her gray eyes, those eyes of steel, grew black and threatening. The old man bowed his neck, while his gaze became riveted on hers. Before long he dropped to the floor before Grace, kneeling and gluing his lips to the hand she abandoned to him. She only smiled a haughty smile that was full both of malice and contempt.