 Chapter 5 of the Tragedy of the Corosco. This is a LibriVox recording, or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, reading by Lars Rolander. The Tragedy of the Corosco, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Chapter 5 The camels, some brown and some white, were kneeling in a long line, their champing jaws moving rhythmically from side to side, and their gracefully poised heads turning to right and left in a mincing self-conscious fashion. Most of them were beautiful creatures, true Arabian trotters, with the slim limbs and finely-turned necks which marked their breed. But among them were a few of the slower, heavier beasts, with ungroomed skins disfigured by the black scars of old firings. These were loaded with the Dora and the waterskins of the raiders, but a few minutes suffice to redistribute their loads and to make place for the prisoners. None of these had been bound with the exception of Mr. Stuart, for the Arabs understanding that he was a clergyman and accustomed to associate religion with violence, had looked upon his fears outburst as quite natural and regarded him now as the most dangerous and enterprising of their captives. His hands were therefore tied together with a plated camel halter, but the others, including the Dragoman and the two wounded blacks, were allowed to mount without any precaution against their escape, save that which was afforded by the slowness of their beasts. Then, with a shouting of men and a roaring of camels, the creatures were jolted on to their legs, and the long, straggling procession set off with its backs to the homely river and its face to the shimmering violet haze, which hung round the huge sweep of beautiful, terrible desert, striped tiger fashion with black rock and with golden sand. None of the white prisoners with the exception of Colonel Cochrane had ever been upon a camel before. It seemed an alarming distance to the ground when they looked down, and the curious swaying motion with the insecurity of the saddle made them sick and frightened. But their bodily discomfort was forgotten in the turmoil of bitter thoughts within. What a chasm got between their own life and their new, and yet how short was the time and space which divided them. Less than an hour ago, they had stood upon the summit of that rock and had laughed and chattered, or grumbled at the heat and flies, becoming peevish at small discomforts. Headingly had been hypercritical over the tints of nature. They could not forget his own tint as he lay with his cheek upon the black stone. Sadie had chattered about tailor-made dresses and Parisian chiffons. Now she was clinging half-crazy to the pommel of a wooden saddle with suicide rising as a red star of hope in her mind. Humanity, reason, argument all were gone, and there remained the brutal humiliation of force. And all the time, down there by the second rocky point, their steamer was waiting for them, their saloon with the white napery and the glittering glasses, the latest novel, and the London papers. The least imaginative of them could see it so clearly, the white awning Mrs. Schlesinger with her yellow sum hat, Mrs. Belmont lying back in the canvas chair, there it lay almost in sight of them, that little floating chip broken off from home, and every silent, ungainly step of the camels was carrying them more hopelessly away from it. That very morning how beneficent Providence had appeared, how pleasant was life, a little commonplace perhaps, but so soothing and restful, and now the red-head gear patched gibbous and yellow boots had already shown to the colonel that these men were no wandering party of robbers, but a troop from the regular army of the Caliphah. Now as they struck across the desert, they showed that they possessed the rude discipline which their work demanded. A mile ahead and far out on either flank were their scouts, dipping and rising among the yellow sandhills. Ali what Ibrahim headed the caravan, and his short sturdy lieutenant brought up the rear. The main party straggled over a couple of hundred yards, and in the middle was the little dejected clump of prisoners. No attempt was made to keep them apart. And Mr. Stevens soon contrived that his camel should be between those of the two ladies. Don't be downhearted, Miss Adams, said he. This is a most indefensible outrage, but there can be no question that steps will be taken in the proper quarter to set the matter right. I am convinced that we shall be subjected to nothing worse than a temporary inconvenience. If it had not been for that villain Mansoor, you need not have appeared at all. It was shocking to see the change in the little Bostonian lady, who she had shrunk to an old woman in an hour. Her swathe cheeks had fallen in, and her eyes shone widely from sunken, darkened sockets. Her frightened glances were continually turned upon Sadie. There is surely some record angel which can only gather her best treasures in moments of disaster. For there were all these wordlings going to their doom, and already frivolity and selfishness had passed away from them, and each was thinking and grieving only for the other. Sadie thought of her aunt. Her aunt thought of Sadie. The men thought of the women. Belmont thought of his wife, and then he thought of something else also, and he kicked his camel's shoulder with his heel until he found himself upon the near side of Miss Adams. I've got something for you here, he whispered. We may be separated soon, so it is as well to make our arrangements. Separate it? Well, Miss Adams, don't speak loud for that infernal mensour may give us away again. I hope it won't be so, but it might. We must be prepared for the worst. For example, they might determine to get rid of us men and to keep you. Miss Adams shuddered. What am I to do? For God's sake, tell me what I am to do, Mr Belmont. I'm an old woman. I have had my day. I could stand it if it was only myself. But Sadie, I am clean-crazed when I think of her. There's her mother waiting at home, and I... She clasped her thin hands together in the agony of her thoughts. Put your hand out under your dust cloak, said Belmont, siding his camel up against hers. Don't miss your grip of it. There, now hide it in your dress, and you'll always have a key to unlock any door. Miss Adams felt what it was which she had slipped into her hand, and she looked at him for a moment in bewilderment. Then she pursed up her lips and shook her stern brown face in disapproval. But she pushed the little pistol into its hiding place, all the same, and she wrote with her thoughts in a whirl. Could this indeed be she, Eliza Adams of Boston, whose narrow happy life had oscillated between the comfortable house in Commonwealth Avenue and the Tremont Presbyterian Church? Here she was hunched upon a camel with her hand upon the butt of a pistol, and her mind weighing the justifications of murder. Oh, life, sly, sleek, treacherous life, how are we ever to trust you? Show us your worst and we can face it, but it is when you are sweetest and smoothest that we have most to fear from you. At the worst, Miss Sadie, it will only be a question of ransom, said Stevens arguing against his own convictions. Besides, we are still close to Egypt, far away from the dervish country. There is sure to be an energetic pursuit. You must try not to lose your courage and to hope for the best. No, I am not scared, Mr. Stevens, said Sadie, turning towards him a blanched face which belied her words. We are all in God's hands, and surely he won't be cruel to us. It is easy to talk about trusting him when things are going well, but now is the real test, if he's up there behind that blue heaven. He is, said a voice behind him, and they found that the Birmingham clergyman had joined the party. His tight hands clutched on to his MacLuffa saddle, and his fat body swayed dangerously from side to side with every stride of the camel. His wounded leg was oozing with blood and clotted with flies, and the burning desert sun beat down upon his bare head, for he had lost both hat and umbrella in the scuffle. A rising fever fled his large white cheeks with a touch of color and brought a light into his brown ox eyes. He had always seemed a somewhat gross and vulgar person to his fellow travelers. Now this bitter healing draught of sorrow had transformed him. He was purified, spiritualized, exalted. He had become so calmly strong that he made the others feel stronger as they looked upon him. He spoke of life and of death, of the present and their hopes of the future, and the black cloud of their misery began to show a golden rift or two. Cecil Brown shrugged his shoulders, for he could not change in an hour the convictions of his life, but the others, even Fardy, the Frenchmen, were touched and strengthened. They all took off their hats when he prayed. Then the colonel made a turban out of his red silk camberbond and insisted that Mr. Stewart should wear it. With his homely dress and gorgeous head care, he looked like a man who was dressed up to amuse the children. And now the dull, ceaseless, insufferable torment of thirst was added to the aching weariness which came from the motion of the camels. The sun glared down upon them and then up again from the jello sand, and the great plain shimmered and glowed until they felt as if they were riding over a cooling sheet of molten metal. Their lips were parched and dried, and their tongues like tags of leather. They lisped curiously in their speech, for it was only the vowel sounds which would come without an effort. Miss Adam's chin had dropped upon her chest and her great hat concealed her face. Auntie will faint if she does not get water, said Sadie. Oh, Mr. Stevens, is there nothing we could do? The dervishes riding near were all bagara, with the exception of one negro, an uncuffed fellow with a face pitted with smallpox. His expressions seemed good-natured when compared with that of his Arab comrades, and Stevens ventured to touch his elbow and to point to his water-skin and then to the exhausted lady. The negro shook his head brusquely, but at the same time he glanced significantly towards the Arabs, as if to say that if it were not for them, he might act differently. Then he laid his black forefinger upon the breast of his tibi. Tipitili, said he. What's that? Ask Colonel Cochran. Tipitili, repeated the negro, sinking his voice as if he wished only the prisoners to hear him. The colonel shook his head. My Arabic won't bear much strain. I don't know what he's saying, said he. Tipitili, Hicks Pasha, the negro repeated. I believe the fellow is friendly to us, but I can't quite make him out, said Cochran to Belmont. Do you think that he means that his name is Tipitili and that he killed Hicks Pasha? The negro showed his great white teeth at hearing his own words coming back to him. Ayiva, said he. Tipitili, Bimbashi, murmur boom. Bajio, I've got it, cried Belmont. He's trying to speak English. Tipitili is as near as he can get to Egyptian artillery. He has served in the Egyptian artillery under Bimbashi Mortimer. He was taken prisoner when Hicks Pasha was destroyed and had to turn dervish to save his skin. How's that? The colonel said a few words of Arabic and received a reply, but two of the Arabs closed up and the negro quickened his pace and left them. You're quite right, said the colonel. The fellow is friendly to us and would rather fight for the Kediv than for the Khalifa. But he can do us any good, but I've been in worse holes than this and come out right side up. After all, we are not out of reach of pursuit and won't be for another forty-eight hours. Belmont calculated the matter out in his slow, deliberate fashion. It was about twelve that we were on the rock, said he. They would become alarmed aboard the steamer if we did not appear at two. Yes, the colonel interrupted. That was to be our lunch hour. I remember saying that when I came back I would have. Oh, Lord, it's best not to think of it. The race was a sleepy old croc, Belmont continued. But I have absolute confidence in the promptness and decision of my wife. She would insist upon an immediate alarm being given. Suppose they started back at two thirty, they should be at Halfa by three since the journey is downstream. How long did they say that it took to turn out the camel corpse? Give them an hour. And another hour to get them across the river. They would be at the Abusirok and pick up the tracks by six o'clock. After that it is a clear race. We are only four hours ahead and some of these beasts are very spent. We may be saved yet, Cochran. Some of us may. We don't expect to see the Padre alive tomorrow. Nor miss Adams either. They are not made for this sort of thing either of them. Then again we must not forget that these people have a trick of murdering their prisoners when they see that there is a chance of a rescue. See here, Belmont, in case you get back and I don't, there is a matter of a mortgage that I want you to set right for me. They rode on with their shoulders inclined to each other, deep in business. The friendly negro who had talked of himself as Tipitilli had managed to slip a piece of cloth soaked in water into the hand of Mr. Stevens. And miss Adams had moistened her lips with it. Even the few drops had given her renewed strength, and now that the first crushing shock was over her fiery elastic janky nature began to reassert itself. These people don't look as if they were angels, said she. I guess they have a working religion of their own such as it is. And that what's wrong to us is wrong to them. Stevens shook his head in silence. He had seen the death of the donkey boys, and she had not. Maybe we're sent to guide them into a better path, said the old lady. Maybe we are specially single out for a good work among them. If it were not for her niece, her energetic and capable of glorying in the chance of evangelising Khartoum and turning Om Durman into a little well-drained, broad- avenue replica of a New England town. Do you know what I'm thinking of all the time? said Sadi. Do you remember that temple that we saw? When was it? Why? It was this morning. They gave an exclamation of surprise all three of them. Yes, it had been this morning and it seemed away and away in some dim past experience of their lives. So vast was the change, so new and so overpowering the thoughts which had come between. They rode in silence full of this strange expansion of time until at last Stevens reminded Sadi that she had left her remark unfinished. Oh yes, it was the world picture on that temple that I was thinking of. Do you remember the poor string of prisoners who are being dragged along to the feet of the great king? How dejected they looked among the warriors who led them. Who could, who could have thought that within three hours the same fate should be our own? And Mr. Headingly she turned her face away and began to cry. Don't take on, Sadi said around. Remember what the minister said just now that we are all right there in the hollow of God's hand? Where do you think we are going, Mr. Stevens? The red edge of his pedicure still projected from the lawyer's pocket for it had not been worth their captors while to take it. He glanced down at it. If they will only leave me this I will look up a few references and we halt. I have a general idea of the country for I drew a small map of it the other day. The river runs from south to north so we must be travelling almost west. I suppose they feared pursuit if they kept too near the Nilebank. There is a caravan route I remember which runs parallel to the river about 70 miles inland. If we continue in this direction for a day we ought to come to it. There is a line of wells through which it passes. It comes out at Asiut if I remember right upon the Egyptian side. On the other side it leads away into the Dervish country so perhaps his words were interrupted by a high eager voice which broke suddenly into a torrent of jostling words words without meaning pouring strenuously out in angry assertions and foolish repetitions. The pink had deepened a scarlet upon Mr. Stewart's cheeks his eyes were vacant but brilliant and he gabbled gabbled gabbled as he rode kindly mother nature she will not let her children be mishandled too far this is too much she says this wounded leg these crusted lips this anxious weary mind come away for a time until your body becomes more habitable and so she coaxes the mind away into the nirvana of delirium why the little cell workers tinker and toil within to get things better for its homecoming when you see the veil of cruelty which nature wears try and peer through it and you will sometimes catch a glimpse of a very homely kindly face behind the Arab gods looked askance at this sudden outbreak of the clergyman for it verged upon lunacy and lunacies to them a fearsome and supernatural thing one of them rode forward and spoke with the emir when he returned he said something to his comrades one of whom closed in upon each side of the minister's camel so as to prevent him from falling the friendly negro sidled his beast up to the colonel and whispered to him we are going to hold presently Belmont said Cochran thank God they may give us some water we can't go on like this I told Tipitilli that if he could help us we would turn him into a bimbashi when we got him back into Egypt I think he's willing enough if he only had the power by Joe Belmont to look back at the river the route which had lain through sandstrune cores with jagged black edges places up do you think it possible that a camel could climb open out now onto a hard rolling plane covered thickly with rounded pebbles dipping and rising to the violet hills upon the horizon so regular were the long brown pebble strewn curves that they looked like the dark rollers of some monstrous ground swell here and there a little straggling sage green tuft between the stones brown plains and violet hills nothing else in front of them behind lay the black jagged rocks through which they had passed with orange slopes of sand and then far away a thin line of green to mark the course of the river how cool and beautiful that green looked in the stark abominable wilderness on one side they could see the high rock the accursed which had tempted them to their ruin on the other the river curved and the sun gleamed upon the water oh that liquid gleam and the insurgent animal cravings the brutal primitive longings which for the instant took the soul out of all of them they had lost families, countries, liberty everything but it was only of water water water that they could think Mr. Steward in his delirium began roaring for oranges and it was insufferable for them to have to listen to him only the rough sturdy Irishman rose superior to that bodily craving that gleam of river must be somewhere near Halfa and his wife might be upon the very water at which he looked he pulled his hat over his eyes and rode in gloomy silence biting at his strong iron gray moustache slowly the sun sank towards the west and their shadows began to trail along the path where their hearts would go it was cooler and a desert breeze had sprung up whispering over the rolling stone strewed plain the emir at their head had called his lieutenant to his side and the pair had peered about their eyes shaded by their hands looking for some landmark then with a satisfied grunt the chief's camel had seemed to break short of at its knees and then at its hocks going down in three curious broken jointed jerks until its stomach was stretched upon the ground as each succeeding camel reached the spot it lay down also until they were all stretched in one long line the riders sprang off and laid out the chopped tibbin upon claws in front of them the bread camel will eat from the ground in their gentle eyes their quiet leisurely way of eating and their condescending mincing manner there was something both feminine and gentile as though a party of prim old maids had foregathered in the heart of the Libyan desert there was no interference with the prisoners either male or female for how could they escape in the center of that huge plain the emmer came towards them once and stood combing out his blue-black beard with his fingers and looking thoughtfully at them out of his stark sinister eyes Miss Adam saw with a shudder that it was always upon Sadie that his gaze was fixed then seeing their distress he gave an order and a negro brought a water-skin from which he gave each of them about half a tumbler full it was hot and muddy and tasted of leather but oh how delightful it was to their parched palates the emmer said a few abrupt words to the dragman and left ladies and gentlemen Mansour began with something of his old consequential manner but a glare from the colonel's eyes struck the words from his lips and he broke away into a long whimpering excuse for his conduct how could I do anything otherwise he wailed with a very knife at my throat you will have the very rope round your throat if we all see Egypt again Grald Cochran savagely in the meantime that's all right colonel said Belmont but for our own sakes we ought to know what the chief has said for my part I'll have nothing to do with a black guard I think that is going too far we are bound to hear what he has to say Cochran shrugged his shoulders privations had made him irritable and he had to bite his lip to keep down a bitter answer he walked slowly away with his straight leg military stride what did he say then asked Belmont looking at the dragman with an eye which was as stern as the colonel's he seems to be in a somewhat better manner than before he said that if he had more water you should have it but that he is himself short in supply he said that tomorrow we shall come to the wells of Salema and everybody shall have plenty and the camels too did he say how long we stopped here very little rest he said and then forward oh Mr Belmont hold your tongue snapped the Irishman and began once more to count times and distances if it all worked out as he expected if his wife had insisted upon the indolent race giving an instant alarm at Halfa then the pursuers should be already upon their track the camel corpse or the Egyptian horse would travel by moonlight better and faster than in the daytime he knew that it was the custom at Halfa to keep at least a squadron of them all ready to start at any instant he had dined at the mess and the officers had told him how quickly they could take the field they had shown him the water tanks and the food beside each of the beasts and he had admired the completeness of the arrangements with the little thought as to what it might mean to him in the future it would be at least an hour before they would all get started again from their present halting place that would be a clear hour gained perhaps by next morning and then suddenly his thoughts were terribly interrupted the colonel raving like a madman appeared upon the crest of the nearest slope with an Arab hanging on to each of his wrists his face was purple with rage and excitement and he tugged and bent and writhed in his furious efforts to get free you cursed mothers he shrieked and then seeing the others in front of him Belmont he cried they've killed Cecil Brown what had happened was this in his conflict with his own ill-humour Cochran had strolled over this nearest crest and had found a group of camels in the hollow beyond with a little knot of angry loud-voiced men beside them Brown was the center of the group pale heavy-eyed with his upturned spiky moustache and listless manner they had searched his pockets before but now they were determined to tear off all his clothes in the hope of finding something which he had secreted a hijous negro with silver bangles in his ears grinned and jabbered in the young diplomatists in passive face there seemed to the colonel to be something heroic and almost inhuman in that white calm and those abstracted eyes his coat was already open and the negro's great black poor flew up to his neck shirt down to the waist and at the sound of that rip and at the abhorrent touch of those coarse fingers this man about town this finished product of the 19th century dropped his life traditions and became a savage facing a savage his face flushed his lips curled back he chattered his teeth like an ape and his eyes, those indolent eyes which had always twinkled so placidly were gorged and frantic he threw himself upon the negro and struck him again and again feebly but viciously in his broad black face he hit like a girl round arm with an open palm the man winced away for an instant appalled by this sudden blaze of passion then with an impatient snarling cry he slid a knife from his long loose sleeve upwards under the whirling arm brown sat down at the blow and began to cough to cough as a man cough who was choked at dinner furiously, ceaselessly spasm after spasm then the angry red cheeks turned to a mottled pallor there were liquid sounds in his throat and clapping his hands to his mouth he rolled over onto his side the negro with a brutal grunt of contempt slid his knife up his sleeve once more while the colonel frantic with impotent anger was seized by the bystanders and dragged raving with fury back to his forlorn party his hands were lashed with a camel halter and he lay at last in bitter silence beside the delirious non-conformist so headingly was gone and Cecil Brown was gone and their haggard eyes were turned from one pale face to another to know which they should lose next of that freeze of light-hearted riders who had stood out so clearly against the blue morning sky when viewed from the deck chairs of the Corosco two gone out of ten and a third out of his mind the pleasure trip was drawing to its climax Fardy the Frenchman was sitting alone with his chin resting upon his hands and his elbows upon his knees staring miserably out of the desert when Belmont saw him start suddenly and pick up his head like a dog who hears a strange step then with clenched fingers he bent his face forward and stared fixily towards the black eastern hills through which they had passed Belmont followed his gaze and yes yes there was something moving there he saw the twinkle of metal and the sudden gleam and flutter of some white garment a dervish vedette upon the flank turned his camel twice round as a danger signal and discharged his rifle in the air the echo of the crack had hardly died away before they were all in their saddles Arabs and Negroes another instant and the camels were on their feet and moving slowly towards the point of alarm several armed men surrounded the prisoners slipping cartridges into their remingtons as a hint to them to remain still my heaven they are men on camels cried Cochrane his troubles all forgotten as he strained his eyes to catch sight of these newcomers I do believe that it is our own people in the confusion he attacked his hands free from the halter which bound them they've been smarter than I gave them credit for said Belmont, his eyes shining from under his thick brows they are here long two hours before we could have reasonably expected them hooray Monsieur Fardy ça va bien, n'est-ce pas? aura aura merveilleusement bien vivant les anglais vivant les anglais gelled the excited Frenchman as the head of a column of Camelry began to wind out from among the rocks see here Belmont try the colonel these fellows will want to shoot us if they see it's all up I know their ways and we must be ready for it will you be ready to jump on the fellow with a blind eye and I'll take the big nigger if I can get my arms round him Stevens you must do what you can you Fardy, comprenne-vous il est nécessaire to plug these they can hurt us you Dragmon tell those two Sudanese soldiers that they must be ready but but his words died into a murmur and he swallowed once or twice these are Arabs said he and it sounded like another voice of all the bitter day it was the very bitterest moment happy Mr. Stuart lay upon the pebbles with his back against the ribs of his camel and chuckled consumedly at some Joe which those busy little cell workers had come across in their repairs his fat face was wreathed and squeezed with merriment but the others how sick how heart sick were they all the women cried the men turned away in that silence which is beyond tears Monsieur Fardy fell upon his face and shook with dry sobbing the Arabs were firing their rifles as a welcome to their friends and the others as they trotted their camels across the open returned the salutes and waved their rifles and lances in the air they were a smaller band than the first one not more than 30 but dressed in the same red headgear and patched divas one of them carried a small white banner with a scarlet text scrolled across it something there which drew the eyes and the thoughts of the tourists away from everything else the same fear gripped at each of their hearts and the same impulse kept each of them silent they stared at the swaying white figure half seen amidst the ranks of the desert warriors what's that they have in the middle of them cried Stevens at last look Miss Adams, surely it is a woman there was something here upon a camel but it was difficult to catch a glimpse of it and then suddenly as the two bodies met the riders opened out and they saw it plainly it's a white woman the steamer has been taken Belmont gave a cry that sounded high about everything Nora darling he shouted keep your heart up I'm here and it is all well end of chapter 5 read by Lash Rolander chapter 6 of the tragedy of the Corosco this is a LibriVox recording or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org reading by Lash Rolander the tragedy of the Corosco by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle chapter 6 so the Corosco had been taken and the chances of rescue upon which they had reckoned all those elaborate calculations of hours and distances were as unsubstantial as the Mirage which shimmered upon the horizon there would be no alarm at half until it was found that the steamer did not return in the evening even now when the Nile was only a thin green band upon the farthest horizon the pursuit had probably not begun in a hundred miles or even less they would be in the Dervish country how small then was the chance that the Egyptian forces could overtake them they all sank into silent sulky despair with the exception of Belmont who was held back by the guards as he strove to get to his wife's assistance two bodies of camelmen had united and the Arabs in their grave dignified fashion were exchanging salutations and experiences while the negro screamed chattered and shouted with a careless good humor which even the Quran has not been able to alter the leader of the newcomers was a greybeard a worn, ascetic high-nosed old man abrupt and fierce in his manner and so dearly in his sparing the dragman groaned when he saw him and flapped his hands miserably with the air of a man whose he's trouble accumulating upon trouble it is the emir abder aman said he I fear now that we shall never come to cartoom alive the name meant nothing to the others but Colonel Cochrane had heard of him as a monster of cruelty a red-hot Muslim of the old fighting preaching dispensation who never hesitated to carry the fierce doctrines of the Quran for their final conclusions he and the emir but Ibrahim conferred gravely together their camels side by side and their red turbans inclined inwards so that the black beard mingled with a white one then they both turned and stared long and fixedly at the poor head-hanging huddle of prisoners the younger man pointed and explained while his senior listened with a sternly impassive face oh, that nice-looking old gentleman in the white beard asked Miss Adams who had been the first to rally from the bitter disappointment that is their leader now Cochrane answered you don't say that he takes command over that other one yes, lady, said the dragon one he's now the head of all well, that's good for us he puts me in mind of Elder Matthews who was at the Presbyterian church in Minister Scott's time anyhow, I'd rather be in his power than in the hands of that black-haired one with the flint eyes say, dear, you feel better now it's cooler, don't you? yes, auntie don't you fret about me how are you yourself well, I'm stronger in faith than I was I set you a poor example, Sadie for I was clean-crazed at first at the suddenness of it all and at thinking of what your mother who trusted you to me would think about it my land, there'll be some headlines in the Boston Herald over this I guess somebody will have to suffer for it poor Mr. Stuart cried Sadie as the monotonous droning voice of the delirious man came again to their ears come, auntie, and see if we cannot do something to relieve him I money see about Mrs. Schlesinger and the child said Colonel Cochran I can see your wife Belmont but I can see no one else they are bringing her over cried he, thank God we shall hear all about it they haven't hurt you, Nora have they? he ran forward to grasp and kissed the hand which his wife held down to him as he held her from the camel the kind gray eyes and calm sweet face of the Irish woman brought comfort and hope to the whole party she was a devout Roman Catholic and it is a creed which forms an excellent prop in hours of danger to her to the Anglican Colonel to the non-conformist minister to the Presbyterian American even to the two-page and black riflemen religion in its various forms was fulfilling the same beneficent office whispering always that the worst which the world can do is a small thing and that however harsh the ways of providence may seem it is on the whole the wisest and best thing for us to cheerfully wither the great hand guides us they had not a dogma in common these fellows in misfortune but they held the intimate deep lying spirit the calm essential fatalism which is the world old framework of religion with fresh crops of dogmas growing like ephemeral lichens upon its granite surface you poor things she said I can see that you have had a much worse time than I have no really John Deere I am quite well not even very thirsty for our party filled their water skins at the Nile and they let me have as much as I wanted but I don't see Mr. Hedingly and Mr. Brown and poor Mr. Stewart what a state he has been reduced to Hedingly and Brown there troubles, her husband answered you don't know how often I have thanked God today Nora that you were not with us and here you are after all where should I be but by my husband's side I had much much rather be here than safe at Hulfa as any news gone to the town asked the colonel one boat escaped Mrs. Schlesinger and her child were in it I was downstairs in my cabin when the Arabs rushed on to the vessel those on deck had time to escape for the boat was alongside I don't know whether any of them were hit the Arabs fired at them for some time did they cried Belmont exultantly his response to him Irish nature catching the sunshine in an instant then by Joe we'll do them yet must have heard the firing what do you think Cochran they must be full cry upon our sent this four hours any minute we might see the white Pugary of a British officer coming over that rice my disappointment had left the colonel cold and skeptical they need not come at all unless they come strong said he these fellows are picked men with good leaders and on their own ground they will take a lot of beating suddenly he paused and looked at the Arabs by joy said he that's a sight worth seeing the great red sun was done with half its disc slipped by in the violet bank upon the horizon it was the hour of Arab prayer an older and more learned civilization would have turned to that magnificent thing upon the skyline and adored that but these wild children of the desert were nobler in essentials than the polished person to them the ideal was higher than the material and it was with their backs to the sun and their faces to the central shrine of their religion that they prayed and how they prayed these fanatical Muslims wrapped absorb with shining faces bracing, stooping, groveling with their foreheads upon their praying carpets who put out as he watched their strenuous heart-hold devotion that here was a great living power in the world reactionary but tremendous countless millions all thinking as one from Cape Juby to the confines of China let a common wave pass over them let a great soldier or organizer arise among them to use the grand material at his hand and who shall say that this may not be the best with which Providence may sweep the rotten, decadent, impossible half-hearted south of Europe as it did a thousand years ago until it makes room for a sounder stock and now as they rose to their feet the bugle rang out and the prisoners understood that having traveled all day they were fated to travel all night also Belmont groaned for he had reckoned upon the pursuers catching them up before they left this camp but the others had already got into the way of accepting the inevitable a flat Arab loaf had been given to each of them what effort of the chef of the post boat had ever tasted that dry brown bread and then luxury of luxuries they had a second ration of a glass of water for the fresh filled bags of the newcomers had provided an ample supply if the body would but follow the lead of the soul as readily as the soul does that of the body what a heaven the earth might be now with their base material for the instant their spirits began to sing within them and they mounted their camels with some sense of the Romans of their position Mr. Stewart remained babbling upon the ground and the Arabs made no effort to lift him into his saddle his large white upturned face glimmered through the gathering darkness I drag a man tell them that they are forgetting Mr. Stewart cried the colonel said Mansour they say that he is too fat and that they will not take him any farther he will die they say and why should they trouble about him not take him cried Cochrane why the man will perish of hunger and thirst where's the emmer hi he shouted as the black bear did Arab past with a tone like that in which he used to summon a deletory donkey boy the chief did not deign Mansouring but said something to one of the guards who dashed the butt of his Remington into the colonel's ribs the old soldier fell forward gasping and was carried on half senseless clutching at the pommel of his saddle the women began to cry and the men with muttered curses and clenched hands writhed in that hell of impotent passion where brutal injustice and ill usage without check or even remonstrance Belmont gripped at his hip pocket for his little revolver and then remembered that he had already given it to Miss Adams if his hot hand had clutched it it would have meant the death of the emmer and the massacre of the party and now as they rode onwards they saw one of the most singular of the phenomena of the Egyptian desert in front of them though the ill treatment of their companion had left them in no humour for the appreciation of its beauty when the sun had sung the horizon had remained of a slaty violet hue but now this began to lighten and to brighten until a curious false dawn developed and it seemed as if a vacillating sun was coming back along the path which it had just abandoned a rosy pink hanging over the west beautifully delicate sea green tins along the upper edges of it slowly these faded into slate again and the night had come it was about 24 hours since they had sat in their canvas chairs discussing politics by starlight on the saloon deck of the Corosco only 12 since they had breakfasted there and had started spruce and fresh upon their last pleasure trip what a world of fresh impressions had come upon them since then how rudely they had been jostled out of their take it for granted complacency the same shimmering silver stars as they had looked upon last night the same thin crescent of moon but they what a chasm lay between that old pampered life and this the long line of camels moved obviously as ghosts across the desert the foreign behind were the silent swaying white figures of the Arabs not a sound anywhere not the very faintest sound until far away behind them they heard a human voice singing in a strong droning unmusical fashion it had the strangest effect this far away voice in that huge inarticulate wilderness and then there came a well-known writ into that distant charm and they could almost hear the words we nightly pitch our moving tent a day's march nearer home was Mr. Stewart in his right mind again or was it some coincidence of his delirium that he should have chosen this for his song with moist eyes his friends looked back through the darkness for well they knew that home was very near to this wonderer gradually the voice tied away into hum and was absorbed once more into the masterful silence of the desert my dear old chap I hope you're not hurt said Belmont laying his hand upon Cochrane's knee the colonel had straightened himself though he still gasped a little in his breathing I am all right again now show me which was the man who struck me it was the fellow in front there with this camel beside Fardetz the young fellow with the moustache I can't seem very well in this light but I think I could pick him out again thank you Belmont but I thought some of your ribs were gone no it only knocked the wind out of me you must be made of iron it was a frightful blow how could you rally from it so quickly the colonel cleared his throat and hummed and stammered the fact is my dear Belmont I'm sure you would not let it go further above all not to the ladies but I am rather older than I used to be and rather than loose the military courage which has always been dear to me I stay spy Joe cried the astonished Irishman well some slight artificial support said the colonel stiffly and switched the conversation off to the chances of the morrow it still comes back in their dreams to those who are left that long nights march in the desert it was like a dream itself the silence of it as they were born forward upon those soft shuffling sponge feet and the flitting flickering figures which oscillated upon every side of them the whole universe seemed to be hung as a monstrous time dial in front of them a star would glimmer like a lantern on the very level of their path they looked again and it was a hand spread up and another was shining beneath it hour after hour the broad stream flowed seedically across the deep blue background worlds and systems drifting majestically overhead and pouring over the dark horizon in their vastness and their beauty there was a vague consolation to the prisoners for their own fate and their own individuality seemed trivial and unimportant amid the play of such tremendous forces slowly the grand procession swept across the heaven first climbing then hanging long with a little apparent motion and then sinking grandly downwards until away in the east the first cold gray glimmer appeared and their own haggard faces shocked each other's sight the day had tortured them with its heat and now the night had brought the even more intolerable discomfort of cold the Arabs swathed themselves in their gowns and wrapped up their heads the prisoners beat their hands together and shivered miserably miss Adams felt it most for she was very thin with the impaired circulation of age Steven slipped off his Norfolk jacket and threw it over her shoulders he rode beside Sadie and whistled and chatted to make her believe that her aunt was really relieving him by carrying his jacket for him but the attempt was too dangerous not to be obvious and yet it was so far true that he probably felt the cold less than any of the party for the old, old fire was burning in his heart and a curious joy was inextricably mixed with all his misfortunes so that he would have found it hard to say if this adventure had been the greatest evil or the greatest blessing of his lifetime the boat, Sadie's youth her beauty, her intelligence and humor all made him realize that he could at the best only be expected to charitably endure him but now he felt that he was really of some use to her that every hour she was learning to turn to him as one turns to one's natural protector and above all he had begun to find himself to understand that the really was a strong, reliable man behind all the tricks of custom which had built up an artificial nature which had imposed even upon himself a little glow of self-respect began to warm his blood he had missed his youth when he was young and now in his middle age it was coming up like some beautiful belated flower I too believe that you are all the time enjoying it Mr. Stevens said Sadie with some bitterness I would not go so far as to say that he answered but I am quite certain that I would not leave you here it was the nearest approach to tenderness which he had ever put into speech and the girl looked at him in surprise I think I've been a very wicked girl all my life she said after pause because I have had a good time myself I never thought of those who were unhappy this has struck me serious if I ever get back I shall be a better woman a more earnest woman in the future and I a better man I suppose it is just for that that trouble comes to us look how it has brought out the virtues of all our friends take poor Mr. Stewart for example should we ever have known what a noble constant man he was and see Belmont and his wife in front of us there going fearlessly forward hand in hand thinking only of each other and Cochrane who always seemed on board the boat to be a rather standoffish narrow sort of man look at his courage and his unselfish indignation when anyone is ill-used for there too is as brave as a lion I think misfortune has done us all good Sadie sighed yes if it would end right here one might say so but if it goes on and on for a few weeks or months of misery and then ends in death I don't know where we reap the benefit of those improvements of character which it brings suppose you escape what will you do you are hesitated but his professional instincts were still strong I will consider whether an action lies and against whom it should be with the organizers of the expedition for taking us to the Abusirok or else with the Egyptian Government for not protecting their frontiers it will be a nice legal question and what will you do Sadie it was the first time that he had ever dropped and the girl was too much in earnest to notice it I will be more tender to others she said I will try to make someone else happy in memory of the mysteries which I have endured you have done nothing all your life but made others happy you cannot help doing it said he the darkness made it more easy for him to break through the reserve which was habitual with him you need this rough schooling how could your character be changed for the better you show how little you know me I have been very selfish and thoughtless at least you had no need for all these strong emotions you were sufficiently lie without them now it has been different with me why did you need emotions Mr. Stevens the cause anything is better than stagnation pain is better than stagnation I have only just begun to live hitherto I have been a machine upon the earth's surface I was a one-idead man and a one-idead man is only one removed from a dead man that is what I have only just begun to realize for all these years I have never been stirred never felt a real throb of human emotion pass through me I had no time for it I had observed it in others and I had vaguely wondered whether there was someone in me which prevented my sharing the experience of my fellow mortals but now these last few days have taught me how keenly I can live that I can have warm hopes and deadly fears that I can hate and that I can well that I can have every strong feeling which the soul can experience I have come to life I may be on the brink of the grave but at least I can say now that I have lived and why did you lead this soul-killing life in England I was ambitious I wanted to get on and then there were my mother and my sisters to be thought of thank heaven here is the morning coming your aunt and you will soon cease to feel the cold and you without your coat oh I have very good circulation I can manage very well in my shirt sleeves and now the long cold werey night was over and the deep blue black sky had lightened to a wonderful mauve violet with the larger star still glinting brightly out of it and crept higher and higher deepening into delicate rose-ping with the fan-like rays of the invisible sun shooting and quivering across it then suddenly they felt its warm touch upon their backs and there were hard black shadows upon the sand in front of them the dervishes loosened their cloaks and proceeded to talk cheerily among themselves the prisoners also began to thaw and eagerly ate the dora which was served out for their breakfasts a short halt had been called and a cup of water handed to each can I speak to your colonel Cochrane ask the dragonman no you can't snuck the colonel but it is very important all our safety may come from it the colonel frowned and pulled at his moustache well what is it at last you must trust to me for it is as much to me as to you to get back to Egypt my wife and home and children are on one part and a slave for life upon the other you have no cause to doubt it well go on you know the black man who spoke with you the one who had been with Hicks yes what of him he has been speaking with me during the night and long talk with him he said that he could not very well understand you nor you him and so he came to me what did he say he said there were eight egyptian soldiers among the Arabs six black and two felaen he said that he wished to have your promise that they should all have very good reward if they help you to escape of course they shall they asked for one hundred egyptian pounds each they shall have it I told him that I would ask you but that I was sure that you would agree to it what do they propose to do they could promise nothing but what they thought best was that they should write their camels not very far from you so that if any chance should come they would be ready to take advantage well you can go to him and promise two hundred pounds each if they will help us you do not think we could buy over some Arabs he broke his head too much danger to try said he suppose you try and fail then that will be the end to all of us I will go tell what you have said he strolled off to where the old negro gunner was grooming his camel and waiting for his reply the emmer had intended to halt for a half hour at the most but the baggage camels which bore the prisoners were so worn out with a long rapid march that it was clearly impossible that they should move for some time they had laid their long necks upon the ground which is the last symptom of fatigue the two chiefs shook their heads when they inspected them and the terrible old man looked with his hard lined rock features at the captives then he said something to Mansour whose face turned a shade more shallow as he listened the emmer of the ramen says that if you do not become Muslim it is not worthwhile delaying the whole caravan in order to carry you upon the baggage camels if it were not for you he says that we could travel twice as fast he wishes to know therefore once forever if you will accept the Quran then in the same tone as if you were still translating he continued you had far better consent for if you do not he will most certainly put you all to death the unhappy prisoners looked at each other in despair the two emmer stood gravely watching them for my part said Cochran I had as soon die now as a spear slave in Khartoum what do you say Nora asked Belmont if we die together John I don't think I shall be afraid it is absurd that I should die for that I have never had belief said Fardé and yet it is not possible for the honour of a Frenchman that he should be converted in this fashion he drew himself up with his wounded wrist stuck into the front of his jacket just we cut yin she rest he cried a gallant falsehood in each sentence what do you say Mr Stevens asked Massourine a beseeching voice if one of you would change please them in a good humour I implore you that you do what they ask no I can't said the lawyer quietly well then you miss Sadie you miss Adams it is only just to say it once and you will be saved oh aunty do you think we might whimpered the frightened girl would it be so very wrong if we said it the old lady threw her arms round her no no my own dear little Sadie she whispered you will be strong you would just hate yourself forever after keep your grip of me dear and pray if you find your strength is leaving you don't forget that your old aunt Eliza has you all the time by the hand for an instant they were heroic this line of disheveled bedraggled pleasure seekers they were all looking death in the face and the closer they looked the less they feared him they were conscious rather of a feeling of curiosity together with the nervous tingling with which one approaches a dentist's chair the drageman made a motion of his hands and shoulders as one who has tried and failed the emir abdaraman said something to a negro who hurried away what does he want to scissors for? asked the colonel he's going to hurt the women said Mansour with the same gesture of impotence a cold chill fell upon them all they stared about them in helpless horror death in the abstract was one thing but these insufferable details were another each had been braced to endure any evil in his own person but their hearts were still soft for each other the women said nothing but the men were all buzzing together there is the pistol Miss Adams said Belmont give it here we won't be tortured we won't stand it offer them money Mansour offer them anything cried Stevens look here I'll turn Mohammedan if they'll promise to leave the women alone after all it isn't binding compulsion but I can't see the women hurt no wait a bit Stevens said the colonel we mustn't lose our heads I think I see a way out see here Dragman you tell that grey bearded old devil that we know nothing about his cursed tin pot religion put it smooth when you translate it tell him that he cannot expect us to adopt it until we know what particular brand of rot it is that he wants us to believe tell him that if he will instruct us we are perfectly willing to listen to his teaching and you can add that any creed which turns out such beauties as him and that other boundary with the black beard must claim the tension of everyone with bows and suppliant sweepings of his hands the dragman explained that the Christians were already full of doubt and that it needed a little more light and knowledge to guide them on to the path of Allah the two emirs stroked their beards and gazed suspiciously at them then Abdulrahman spoke in his crisp stern fashion to the dragman and the two strode away together an instant later the bugle rang out as a signal to mount what is this is this Mansour explained as he rode in the middle of the prisoners we shall reach the wells by midday and there will be a rest his own Mullah a very good unlearning man will come to give you an hour of teaching at the end of that time you will choose one way or the other when you have chosen it will be decided whether you are to go to Khartoum or to be put to death that is his last word they won't take ransom what Ibrahim would but the emir Abdulrahman is a terrible man I advise you to give in to him what have you done yourself you are a Christian too Mansour blushed as deeply as his complexion would allow I was yesterday morning perhaps I will be tomorrow morning I served the Lord as long as what he asked seemed reasonable but this is very otherwise he rode onwards amongst the guards with a freedom which showed that his change of faith had put him upon a very different footing to the other prisoners so they were to have a reprieve of a few hours though they rode in that dark shadow of death which was closing in upon them what is there in life that we should cling to its soul it is not the pleasures for those whose hours are one long pain shrink away screaming when they see merciful death holding his soothing arms out for them it is not the associations for we will change all of them before we walk of our own free wills down that broad road which every son and daughter of man must tread is it the fear of losing the eye that dear intimate eye which we think we know so well although it is eternally doing things which surprise us is it that which makes the deliberate suicide cling madly to the bridge pier as the river sweeps him by or is it that nature is so afraid that all her weary workmen may suddenly throw down their tools and strike that she has invented this fashion of keeping them constant to their present work but there it is and all these tired harassed, humiliated folk rejoiced in the few more hours of suffering which were left to them End of Chapter 6 Read by Lars Rolander Chapter 7 of the Tragedy of the Corosco This is a LibriVox recording or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Reading by Lars Rolander The Tragedy of the Corosco by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Chapter 7 There was nothing to show them as they journeyed onwards that they were not on the very spot that they had passed at sunset upon the evening before The region of fantastic black hills and orange sand which boarded the river had long been left behind and everywhere now was the same brown rolling gravelly the ground swell with the shining rounded pebbles upon its surface and the occasional little sprouts of sage green camel grass behind and before it extended to where far away in front of them it sloped upwards towards a line of violet hills the sun was not high enough yet to cause the tropical shimmer and the wide landscape brown with its violet edging which stood out with a hard clearness in that dry pure air the long caravan struggled along at the slow swing of the baggage camels far out on the flanks rode the vedettes halting at every rise and peering backwards with their hands shading their eyes in the distance their spares and rifles seemed to stick out of them straight and thin as in knitting How far do you suppose we are from the Nile? asked Cochran he rode with his chin on his shoulder and his eyes straining wistfully to the eastern skyline A good fifty miles Filmont answered Not so much as that said the Colonel We could not have been moving more than fifteen or sixteen hours and the camel thus would have been two and a half miles an hour unless it is trotting that would only give about forty miles but still it is I fear rather far for a rescue I don't know that we are much the better for this postponement What have we to hope for? We may just as well take our gruel Never say die cried the cheery Irishman Plenty of time between this and midday Hamilton and Hiddley of the camel corpse are good boys and they'll be after us like a streak They'll have no baggage camels to hold them back You can lay your life on that Little did I think when I dined with them at mess that last night and they were telling me all their precautions against a raid that I should depend upon them for our lives Well we'll play the game out but I'm not very hopeful said Cochran Of course we must keep the best face we can before the women I see that Tipitilly is as good as his word for those five niggers and the two brown Johnnys must be the men he speaks of They all write together and keep well up but I can't see how they are going to help us I've got my pistol back whispered Belmont and his square chin and strong mouth set like granite If they try any games on the women I mean to shoot them all three with my own hand and then we'll die with our minds easy Good man said Cochran and they rode on in silence None of them spoke much a curious dreamy irresponsible feeling crept over them It was as if they had all taken some narcotic drug the merciful anodin which nature uses when a great crisis has fretted the nerves too far They thought of their friends and of their past lives in the comprehensive way in which one views that which is completed A subtle sweetness mingled with the sadness of fate They were filled with a quiet serenity of despair It's devilish pretty said the Colonel looking about him I always had an idea that I should like to die in a real good yellow London fog You couldn't change for the worse I should have liked to have died in my sleep said Sadie How beautiful to wake up yourself in the other world There was a piece that Hettysmith used to say at the college Say not good night but in some brighter world wish me good morning The Puritan aunt shook her head at the idea It's a terrible thing to go unprepared into the presence of your maker said she It's the loneliness of death that is terrible If we and those whom we loved all passed over simultaneously we should think no more of it than of changing our house If the worst comes to the worst we won't be lonely said her husband We'll all go together and we shall find brown and headingly and stewart waiting on the other side The Frenchman shrugged his shoulders He had no belief in survival after death but he envied the two Catholics the quiet way in which they took things for granted He chuckled to think of what his friends in the café Kubat would say if they learned that he had laid down his life for the Christian faith Sometimes it amused and sometimes it maddened him and he rode onwards with alternate gusts of laughter and of fury nursing his wounded wrist all the time like a mother with a sick baby Across the brown of the hard pebbly desert there had been visible for some time a single long thin yellow streak extending north and south as far as they could see It was a band of sand not more than a few hundred yards across and rising to eight or ten feet But the prisoners were astonished to observe that the Arabs pointed at this with an air of the utmost concern and they halted when they came to the edge of it like men upon the brink of an unfordable river It was very light, dusty sand and every wandering breath of wind sent it dancing into the air like a whirl of midges The leader of the Raman tried to force his camel into it but the creature after a step or two stood still and shivered with terror The two chiefs talked for a little and then the whole caravan trailed off with their heads further north and the streak of sand upon their left What is it? asked Belmont who found the dragon riding at his elbow Why are we going out for a course? Drift sand, Mansour answered Every sometimes the wind bring it all in one long place like that Tomorrow if a wind comes perhaps there will not be one grain lift but all will be carried up into the air again An Arab will sometimes have to go fifty or a hundred miles to go round the drift Suppose he tries to cross his camel breaks its legs and he himself is sucked in his wallet How long will this be? No one can say Well Cochran, it's all in our favor the longer the chase the better chance for the fresh camels and for the hundredth time he looked back at the long hard skyline behind them There was the great empty dune-colored desert but where the glint of steel or the twinkle of white helmet for which he joined and soon they cleared the obstacle in their front It spindled away into nothing as a streak of dust would which has been blown across an empty room It was curious to see that when it was so narrow that one could almost jump it the Arabs would still go for many hundreds of yards rather than risk the crossing Then with good hard country before them once more the tired beasts were whipped up and they ambled on with a double jointed jog-trop which set the prisoners nodding and bowing in grotesque and a dickrous misery It was fun at first and they smiled at each other but soon the fun had become tragedy as the terrible camel ache seized them by spine and waist with its deep dull throb which rises gradually like a burning agony I can't stand it, Sadie cried Miss Adam subtly I've done my best I'm going to fall No, no aunty you'll break your limbs if you do hold up just a little and maybe they'll stop Lean back and hold your saddle behind said the colonel There, you'll find that will ease the strain He took the pagerie from his hat and tying the ends together He slung it over her front pommel Put your foot in the loop said he It will steady you like a stirrup The relief was instant so Stevens did the same for Sadie But presently one of the wary Dora camels came down with a crash Its limbs starred out as if it had split asunder down to its old sober gate Is this another belt of drift sand? asked the colonel presently No, it's white, said Belmont Hermelsoor What is that in front of us? But the dragon shook his head I don't know what it is, sir I never saw the same thing before Right across the desert from north to south there was drawn a white line as straight and clear as if it had been slashed with chalk across a brown table It was very thin but it extended without a break from horizon to horizon Tipitilly said something to the dragonman It's the great caravan root said Mansour What makes it whiten? The bones It seemed incredible and yet it was true For as they drew nearer it was indeed a beaten track across the desert hollowed out by long usage and so covered with bones that they gave the impression of a continuous white ribbon Long snouty heads were scattered everywhere and the lines of ribs were so continuous that it looked in places like the framework of a monstrous serpent The endless road gleamed in the sun as if it were paved with ivory For thousands of years this had been the highway over the desert and during all that time no animal of all those countless caravans had died there without being preserved by the dry antiseptic air No wonder then that it was hardly possible to walk down it now without treading upon their skeletons This must be the route I spoke of said Stevens I remember marking it upon the map I made for you, Miss Adams Be'edekir says that it has been desused on account of the cessation of all trade which followed the rise of the dervishes but that it used to be the main road by which the skins and gums of Darfur found their way down to Lower Egypt They looked at it with listless curiosity for there was enough to engross them at present in their own fates The caravans struck to the south along the old desert track and this Golgotha of a road seemed to be a fitting avenue for that which awaited them at the end of it weary camels and weary riders dragged on together towards their miserable goal And now as the critical moment approached which was to decide their fate Colonel Cochran, way down by his fears lest something terrible should befall the women, put his pride aside to the extent of asking the advice of the renegade Dragman The fellow was a villain and a coward but at least he was an oriental and he understood the Arab point of view His change of religion had brought him into closer contact with the dervishes and he had overheard their intimate talk Cochran's stiff aristocratic nature fought hard before he could bring himself to ask advice from such a man and when he at last did so it was in the graffist and most unconciliatory boys You know the rascals and you have the same way of looking at things, said he Our object is to keep things going for another 24 hours after that it does not much matter what befalls us for we shall be out of the reach of rescue but how can we stave them off for another day You know my advice the Dragman answered I have already answered it to you if you will all become as I have you will certainly be carried to cartoom in safety if you do not you will never leave our next camping place alive the Colonel's well-curved nose took a higher tilt and an angry flush reddened his thin cheeks he rode in silence for a little for his Indian service had left him with a carried prawn temper which had an extra touch of cayenne added to it by his recent experiences it was some minutes before he could trust himself to reply Whale said that aside said he at last some things are possible and some are not this is not you need only pretend that's enough said the Colonel abruptly Mansour shrugged his shoulders what is the use of asking me if you become angry when I answer if you do not wish to do what I say then try your own attempt at least you cannot say that I have not done all I could to save you I am angry the Colonel answered after pause in a more conciliatory voice but this is climbing down rather farther than we care to go now what I thought is this you might if you choose give this priest or mula who is coming to us a hint that we really are softening a bit upon the point I don't think considering the whole that we are in objection to that then when he comes we might play up and take an interest and ask for more instruction and in that way hold the matter over for a day or two don't you think that would be the best game you will do as you like said Mansour I have told you once forever what I think if you wish that I speak to the mula I will do so it is the fat little man the grey beard upon the brown camel in front there I may tell you that he has a name among them for converting the infidel and he has a great pride in it so that he would certainly prefer that you were not injured if he thought that he might bring you into Islam tell him that our minds are open then said the Colonel I don't suppose the Padre would have gone so far but now that he is dead I think we may stretch a point you go to him Mansour and if you work it well we will agree to forget what is past by the way has Tipitilli said anything no sir he has kept his men together but he does not understand yet how he can help you neither do I well you go to the mula then and I'll tell the others what we have agreed the prisoners all acquiesced in the Colonel's plan with the exception of the old New England lady who absolutely refused even to show any interest in the Mohammedan creed I guess I am too old to bow the knee to bow she said the most that she would concede was that she would not openly interfere with anything which her companions might say or do and who is to argue with the priest asked for thee as they all wrote together talking the matter over it is very important that it should be done in a natural way for if he thought that we were only trying to gain time he would refuse to have any more to say to us I think Cochrane should do it as the proposal is his said Belmont pardon me cried the Frenchman I will not say a word against our friend the Colonel but it is not possible that a man should be fitted for everything it will all come to nothing if he attempts it the priest will see through the Colonel will he said the Colonel with dignity guess my friend he will for like most of your countrymen you are very wanting in sympathy for the ideas of other people and it is the great fault which I find for you as a nation oh drop the politics cried Belmont impatiently I do not talk politics what I say is very practical how can Colonel Cochrane pretend to this priest that he is really interested in his religion when in effect there is no religion in the world to him outside some little church in which he has been born and bred I will say this for the Colonel that I do not believe he is at all a hypocrite and I am sure that he could not act well enough to deceive such a man as this priest the Colonel sat with a very stiff back and the blank face of a man who is not quite sure whether he is being complimented or insulted you can do the talking yourself if you like said he at last I should be very glad to be relieved of it I think that I am best fitted for it since I am equally interested in all creeds when I ask for information it is because in verity I desire it and not because I am playing a part I certainly think that it would be much better if Monsieur Fardy would undertake it said Mrs Belmont with decision and so the matter was arranged the sun was now high and it shone with dazzling brightness upon the bleached bones which lay upon the road again the torture of thirst fell upon the little group of survivors and again as they rode with withered tongues and crusted lips a vision of the saloon of the Corosco danced like a mirage before their eyes and they saw the white neighboring the wine cars by the places the long necks of the bottles the seafonds upon the sideboard Sadie who had born up so well became suddenly hysterical and the shrieks of senseless laughter jarred horribly upon their nerves her aunt on one side of her and Mr Stevens on the other did all they could to soothe her and at last the weary over strong girl relapsed into something between a sleep and a faint hanging limp over her pommel and only kept from falling by the friends who clustered ground her the baggage camels were as weary as their riders and again and again they had to jerk at their nose ropes to prevent them from lying down from horizon to horizon stretched that one huge arc of speckless blue and up its monstrous concavity crept the inexorable son like some splendid but barbarous deity who claimed the tribute of human suffering as his immemorial right their course still lay along the old trade route but their progress was very slow and more than once the two emirs rode back together and shook their heads as they looked at the weary baggage camels on which the prisoners were perched the greatest laggard of all was one which was ridden by a wounded Sudanese soldier it was limping badly with a strained tendon and it was only by constant prodding that it could be kept with the others the emir what Ibrahim raised his remington as the creature hobbled past and sent a bullet through its brain the wounded man flew forwards out of the high saddle and fell heavily upon the hard track his companions in misfortune looking back saw him stagger to his feet with a dazed face at the same instant a bagara slipped down from his camel with a sword in his hand don't look, don't look cried Belmont to the ladies and they all rode on with their faces to the south they heard no sound they saw them a few minutes afterwards he was cleaning his sword upon the hairy neck of his camel and he glanced at them with a quick malicious gleam of his teeth as he trotted by but those who are the lowest pitch of human misery are at least secured against the future that vicious threatening smile which might once have thrilled them left them now unmoved or stirred them at most to vague resentment there were many things to interest them in this old trade route had they been in a condition to take notice of them here and there along its course where the crumbling remains of ancient buildings so old that no date could be assigned to them but designed in some far-off civilization to give the travelers shade from the sun protection from the ever-lowless children of the desert the mud bricks with which these refuges were constructed showed that the material had been carried over from the distant Nile once upon the top of a little knoll they saw the shattered flint of a pillar of a red aswan granite with a wide-winged symbol of the Egyptian god across it and the cartouche of the second after three thousand years one cannot get away from the ineffasible footprints of the warrior king it is surely the most wonderful survival of history that one should still be able to gaze upon him high-nosed and masterful as he lies with his powerful arms crossed upon his chest majestic even in decay in the geesey museum to the captives the cartouche was a message of hope as a sign that they were not outside the swear of Egypt they've left their cart here once and they may again said Belmond and they all tried to smile and now they came upon one of the most satisfying sights on which the human eyes can ever rest here and there in the depressions at either side of the road there had been a thin which meant that water was not very far from the surface and then quite suddenly the track dipped down into a bowl shaped hollow with the most dainty group of palm trees and a lovely green sword at the bottom of it the sun gleaming upon that brilliant patch of clear restful color with the dark glow of the bare desert around it made it shine like the purist emerald in a setting of burnished copper and then it was not its beauty only but its promise for the future water, shade all that weary travelers could ask for even Sadie was revived by the cheery sight and the spent camels snorted and stepped out more briskly stretching their long necks and sniffing the air as they went after the unholy harshness of the desert it seemed to all of them that they had never seen anything more beautiful than this they looked below at the green sword with the dark star like shadows of the palm crowns then they looked up at those deep green leaves against the rich blue of the sky and they forgot their impending death in the beauty of that nature to whose bosom they were about to return the wells in the center of the groove consisted of seven large and two small saucer-like cavities filled with peat-colored water enough to form a plentiful supply for any caravan camels and men drank it greedily though it was tainted by the all-pervading natron the camels were picketed the Arabs threw their sleeping mats down in the shade and the prisoners after receiving a ration of dates and of Dora were told that they might do what they would during the heat of the day and that the Mola would come to them before sunset the ladies were given the thicker shade of a Nakasia tree and the men lay down under the palms the great green leaves swished slowly above them they heard the low hum of the Arab talk and the dull champing of the camels and then in an instant by that most mysterious and least understood of miracles one was in a green Irish valley and another saw the long straight line of Commonwealth Avenue and the third was dining at a little round table opposite the bust of Nelson in the Army and Navy Club and for him the switching of the palm branches had been transformed into the long-drawn hum of Paul Mall although the spirits went their several ways wandering back along the strange untrace tracks of the memory while the weary grimy bodies lay senseless under the palm trees in the oasis of the Libyan desert End of Chapter 7 Read by Lorsch Rolander