Chapter 4
Forebodings
It was flood time. The waters of the Nile were thick and green in color, deeply impregnated with rich slime. Great clods of mud came floating down the current from the Abyssinian highlands, swirling round and round on the swollen stream, and away down the river, from cataract to cataract, to fertilize the valley of Egypt. A dull, never-ceasing roar, the sound of rushing waters, filled the streets of Khartoum, and the "Khors," or affluents of the main stream, dry in summer time, rolled along in wild, tumbling torrents.
Grace had started out, accompanied by a domestic, to see the sight, which was grandly impressive. Having looked her fill at last, she decided to make a detour and so return home by the negro quarter of the city, which lay quite close at hand. Soon she entered a labyrinth of narrow, gloomy alleys, William, the English footman, having assured her he knew the way out again. At the very first step, the stench seized her by the throat, and she was obliged to call a halt and resort to her smelling bottle. The same smell reigned everywhere in Khartoum, an indescribably mixture of putrefaction and perfume, but here it was positively suffocating. Seated at the doors of their houses, which were mere mud-walled huts, the women were busy, weaving with lengths of alfa grass, mats, baskets and a thousand similar articles. Others were making fishing nets or even painting pottery, while others again were engaged in combing out their coarse hair and weaving it into a host of tiny ringlets.
The men, on the contrary, lay full length in happy idleness, blocking up the narrow path. Grace was continually stepping over their prostrate forms, and turning aside to avoid heaps of garbage and filth. She felt angry at their laziness, leaving all the heavy work to the women and forcing them to work, while they indulged in one long, interminable siesta. The scenes she saw of coarse animality astounded her. These niggers were far from particular; in the open street, without a thought for either neighbours or passers-by, they would kiss and cuddle the women in the most outrageously indecent fashion. At the same time she was surprised to find the felt little or no indignation; surely if she had beheld white folks behaving so, she would have been filled with insurmountable disgust and indignation. Somehow these negroes seemed more like animals, altogether unamenable to the ordinary rules applying to men and women.
Then she began to think of James. He was on the point of arriving; any moment she might find him standing before her. What would her feeling be, when that moment came? Presently she asked herself what they were at this present instant, a question the answer to which was both very complex and very simple. Under all the superficial varnish of civilization, with all his dignified carriage and handsome manly face, with all his external marks of education and elaborate training, he was no better really than these filthy negroes. In the space of a few minutes, that fatal Christmas Eve, in that vile house off Leicester Square, the veil had been rent away, and her respect for him annihilated by the details of that odious scene. She simply despised him, with a cold, calm disdain, that was quite free from the smallest active resentment. She did not even feel any anger at him for having scattered her illusions to the winds, delicious as these had been! Apparently he possessed every quality to flatter the pride of the woman of his choice; and on an assured basis, as she thought, of honest love, she had constructed a whole delightful edifice of hope and future felicity. But all this was over and done with! Even had she wished to forget those awful minutes, she could not do it. When she tried to force herself, and urged every argument she knew in favor of a reconciliation, there she saw him, hideous, brutal, at once terrible and ridiculous, as she had beheld him at the moment he overtook her after chasing her round the table in that room of evil associations.
On reaching home, she found James already there, sitting with Uncle Dick and young Dufour, the French merchant, over a bottle of sherry. He rose instantly and ran forward to greet her. She reached him her hand at arm's length, throwing her head and bust well back at the same time. James pressed her hand softly and meaningly, putting at once a caress and a prayer into this simple action, while his eyes implored forgiveness and the kiss he had hoped to receive. But Grace remained merely polite and gentle in her manner, though really and truly she was not without a certain feeling of proud aloofness.
Her Uncle looked hard at her. He had frowned when he saw her avoid the expected kiss, but now he was smiling, his eyes sparkling with mischief.
"So you were saying, James, you had left Gordon at Metemmeh," he inquired, "at the capital of the Djaalin?"
"Yes, Uncle! Just as I came away, he was issuing a proclamation, of the effect of which he entertains high hopes."
"Proclamations! a fig for proclamations!"
"But why?" struck in Dufour. "Everywhere, in the Sudan no less than elsewhere, it is with phrases men govern events. Don't tell me these Blackamoors are more clear-sighted than Europeans! A well-worded proclamation is the best panacea yet discovered for soothing malcontents."
"I daresay!" Uncle Dick agreed. "Come, let us have a look at this chef-d'oeuvre of Gordon's."
"I do not think it over and above judicious, to tell you the truth," added James. "He states in it that he is come armed with full and unlimited powers and is ready to grant entire and unconditional amnesty."
"Perfect! excellent! admirable!"
"Wait till you hear the rest ... He proclaims further that Egypt, renouncing all authority over the Sudan, proposes to withdraw her troops and that all the Egyptian garrisons are ready to evacuate the country. He adds that, if he has himself returned to the country, it is in the capacity of Governor General, with a view to pacification merely."
"You don't mean that? What a piece of folly-of downright, doltish stupidity, I should say!"
"How so?" persisted Dufour. "It seems to me on the contrary that, with a view to make men believe in his character as pacificator, Gordon has acted very sagaciously in promising a withdrawal of the troops. It shows he has no wish for hostilities. After all, what is it these Sudanese ask for? Is it not their independence? Well! we give it them; what more have they to do but hold their tongues?"
"You think so, do you? Yes truly, a fine piece of work, this unfortunate proclamation ... And what a singularly happy thought, to go and issue it at Metemmeh of all places, the very headquarters of slavery!"
"But really I fail to see precisely what harm it can do."
"You fail to see?. . . Why the Sheiks, the Chiefs of Tribes, even such as are hostile to the Malidi, who see through his selfish objects and dread the despotism he wishes to establish, even these, do you see, will be forced to tremble for their safety now. Once the Egyptian garrisons are withdrawn, who is to protect them against the Dervishes' fury, I should like to know?"
"Why of course," put in James, in support of his Uncle.
"And that's not all!" the latter went on, showing more and more clearly his true opinions. "This fine harangue, I tell you, is an open invitation to treason. I do not say there are traitors among the garrison of Khartoum itself, but among the populace-and among the merchant classes too, just as much as among the mere proletariat,-the Malidi already possesses only too many partisan. Now he is going to have a good many more! ... Shall I tell you what I think? I have half a mind to pack up my traps and take Grace out of it all; I have a shrewd notion we are in for a very bad time ... Come what may, we are bound to have to stand a siege."
"A siege,-well! what can be more amusing than a siege?" cried Dufour excitedly. "Why! it breaks the monotony of things first-rate ... During the siege of Paris, was just twenty then,-I found plenty of diversion. The food certainly left something to be desired; but the excitement was fine, and of endless variety, though always coming from the same causes!"
"Bosh!" exclaimed the astonished Uncle Dick, who had never yet been able to fathom the Frenchman's persiflage. "But you forget the end of it all, if things turn out ill. And besides, the Prussians barely entered Paris at all, whereas if the Dervishes once take Khartoum, you may take your oath they will behave quite differently from what European belligerents are accustomed to."
Grace slipped out of the room, under pretence of having orders to give to the servants.
"In the first place," retorted Dufour, "what is there to prove the Dervishes will ever take Khartoum? It is open to doubt even if they will come to try. As for drawing fine distinctions between belligerents, that is mere playing with words; in war all men are savages, whether their skin is black or white."
"You will allow, I presume, that Europeans are more highly civilized than the Sudanese?"
"If you mean by civilization refinement in art, ingenuity in talk, hypocrisy in conduct, why certainly! But it's only a veneer."
"The same cruelty then?"
"Undoubtedly! The same barbarous cruelty exactly! What is it you reproach them with, your Arabs, and negroes? Why! their greed, and their sensuality! Europeans are built differently, I suppose? Is it their respect for brute force? But Darwin has proved in so many words that the 'struggle for life,' as he calls it, has existed always and in all societies. Only in Europe, among our dense agglomerations of population, it is fiercer than ever."
"At any rate we have abolished slavery!"
"Indeed? And the wage-earning classes, what of them? What are they better than slaves? A poor devil works, works from morning to night, all day and every day, while all the joys of life pass in front of his nose, without his so much as getting a whiff of them. His labor goes to enrich his master, who has only to enjoy it all, and do a trifle of superintendence. If the laborer kicks against the pricks and is for stopping work, hunger twists his guts. Is hunger any more tolerable than the lash? No such thing as fulsome respect for power and wealth in Europe? Why! the blackest of all crimes in our code, is the crime of poverty!"
"Bah! theories!"
"Confirmed alas! by the facts we see around us every day."
"At any rate, in war time, Europeans respect women!"
"No! not even their own countrywomen! Look here, I must tell you a thing I saw with my own eyes, a scene I played an active part in myself ... It was just after the surrender of Paris ... As soon as the armistice had been signed, the French ladies were allowed to circulate freely ... Those by-the bye who sought outrage, found they had to take considerable trouble to attain their end!. . . At that first news of the Prussian advance, our fashionable cocottes had taken wing. Brussels swarmed with them; but still a goodish few were left. Now during the siege, as you may suppose, these young ladies' trade was far from flourishing. Men were not much disposed just then for light amusement,-and the less so, as you never knew if a Prussian shell might not any moment explode in the night and change the bed of pleasure into a funeral couch! Besides foreigners were of course entirely absent,-always these fair creatures' best customers. Well there were two cocottes who had had a most excellent time with German officers they had made the acquaintance of in 1867, at the date of King William's visit to the Paris Exhibition. So now, four years afterwards, these same Officers, who were handsome, wealthy, open-handed fellows, sick of war's alarms and thirsting for all the pleasures they had been so long deprived of, recall to mind their little friends. They had preserved their address, and it so happened the ladies were there still! The instant the armistice was concluded, they dispatched a message, begging the fair ones to come out and sup with them at St. Cloud. The ladies kept the appointment; but unfortunately they had chattered to their concierge, who spread the news in the neighborhood. From the street the information extended to the whole district; and it was not long before all Paris knew that two ladies, two Frenchwomen, heedless of the misfortunes of their country, had gone to make diversion for a couple of the hated enemy. A crowd gathered to greet their return; and when at length they appeared, they were astounded to see a host of people waiting their arrival. However they were not given much time to recover from their surprise. Each was taken between two strong men, and so forced to tramp on, with petticoats well tucked up. Then ensued a wild storm of howls and laughter; all who would might let fly at their exposed posteriors. The majority were good-natured and only gave a light slap; but others, impressed by the importance of their functions, struck with all their might and the full weight of their heavy hands. The poor girls were soon reduced to tears, and begged and prayed to be released; but the sport was far too diverting for their tormentors to give it up so quickly. They had to endure a full hour of public smacking,-to say nothing of the surreptitious caresses sundry naughty-minded patriots took the opportunity of applying ... Alas for their poor bottoms, so plump and round they looked like two full moons amid the light clouds of delicate lace and fine linen ... and their satiny skin, all bruised and showing the marks of rough, coarse fingers."
"How abominable!" ejaculated Grace, who had returned to the apartment in time to hear the tale, and whose face was pale and her teeth clenched with horror and indignation. "How can men possibly..."
"Ah-Miss Grace, I did not know you were there!" exclaimed Dufour, with much contrition. "Otherwise, believe me..."
"Oh! you may talk freely before me ... In this awful country, I have seen such horrible atrocities I am not-likely to be offended by mere words. But such things ... in Europe! odious! horrible!"
However she quitted the room again, leaving the gentlemen to converse without the constraint of her presence.
"You are sitting right facing the door," cried Dufour reproachfully to Uncle Dick; "you might have given me a word of warning."
"Nay! it's not so easy to stop you, when once you are started! But anyway, what does your story prove?"
"Oh! nothing; I did not want to prove anything; but I thought it was worth telling for its own sake. After all, perhaps the young women were not so much aggrieved as all that. There are plenty who quiver deliciously under men's brutality. However, you see this, crowds are the same everywhere."
"They took the chances of their trade; if they had chosen a better..."
"Listen to me!. . . At Berber there is a brothel, kept by an Egyptian official, a functionary in the Revenue department. He recruits his boarders among slave-women, whom he buys from the Djaalin. As an official of the Egyptian Government he discountenances slavery, but as keeper of a house of ill-fame he profits by the institution. If it should happen that one of the poor girls revolts against the caprices of a customer, she is brought to reason by a few good strokes of the kourbash judiciously applied ... This brings me round to what I was saying just now,-the lash or starvation, the two come to very much the same thing after all. In France, in England, in any European country, there's many a poor girl would be only too glad to live decently, but is forced to live a life of sin by circumstances..."
"Because they have no proper pride! If they really wished..."
"Proper pride!" broke in Dufour sarcastically. "Women and proper pride! ... I've known pretty women, and proud women enough,-and they let themselves be seduced by an unscrupulous fellow, who drilled them for the trade of gallantry, living on the gains his mistress for the time being brought in. A woman's pride makes no sort of a show against the ascendancy of a man who means business. And the curious thing is, they one and all like it, ... they want to be bullied, humiliated! Women become what men wish them to be..."
"What!" protested James, while Uncle Dick merely laughed. "Do you go so far as to tell me that a girl of birth, a young lady, well brought up and well educated, would ever come to love a mere brute?"
"Will I go so far? Why certainly! ... You amaze me, you English! ... Here we have a Cavalry Officer, a man of thirty, with plenty of good looks, who ... Why! my good man, you are just as simple as a child! It is only in the old romances of Chivalry you find brave and strong men playing the part of timid lovers. Your sweet, tender maid accepts a lover's respectful homage with a degree of coldness that in our day would mean a good box on the ear ... And then ... Courts of love, there were Courts of love in those days, weren't there!. . . Mere literature, and nothing else; I am quite convinced the manners and customs of the time bore no sort of resemblance to these insipid descriptions ... Your English habit of flirtation is all very well; but let me tell you, a coquette always finds her master in the long run. All the while she is keeping one admirer sighing at her feet, she's sighing herself for someone else. The thing of all others a woman abominates in this world is a chilly lover ... And, by Jove! she is perfectly right too!"
"You make too sweeping assertions, surely. There are women and women."
"So you think,-honest women, and the other sort ... Do you seriously believe all that stuff? ... Even the women we describe as having no spunk are astonishingly like those we credit with the largest supply of that article ... Everything depends on the man!"
"Bravo! what a display of philosophy!" cried Uncle Dick, interrupting. "You are a past master, monsieur Dufour, in the art of wandering from the point ... So it appears, according to you, we shall not be attacked at all."
"Upon my word, I know nothing about it. . . But I can't help thinking that as Egypt gives them all they wanted, the Malidi's partisans have nothing left to ask."
"They won't ask, they'll take!"
"I don't think Khartoum anyway will be very easy to take," James remarked.
"You've only just come; you've not had time to see anything yet. Go and take a walk in the streets, particularly in the evening, when the people are coming out of the Great Mosque. Then you will see them gathering in groups, always with a fellow speechifying in the middle of each, with imposing gestures and appalling grimaces and all the mimicry of Orientals, who rely as much on action as on actual words to make their meaning plain. The rest stand round, drinking in his words, now and again indulging in a grunt of approbation, but nothing more. Should a European come on the scene, or even an Egyptian, the orator stops dead, while the audience pretend to have nothing to do with him. But all the while they are looking askance at the intruder from under their brows, and directly his back is turned and they see him well round the corner of the street, they are at it again. I tell you it's treason hatching! the city swarms with adherents of the Malidi."
"Why, yes! it's all perfectly true," Dufour declared. "And the worst of't is, it's not merely the populace lets itself be over persuaded, but among the rich traders there are many who keep up a secret correspondence with
El-Obayd---After all, if the Dervishes do come, we shall know how to receive them. The guns of Omdurman are not there simply as a raree-show, I presume."