The Turquoise Cup, and, the Desert

  II

  They met. In the midst of threescore goats whose feet had made theyellow cloud of dust was a man, tall, gaunt, dressed in the garb of thedesert, and burned by the sun as black as a Soudanese.

  "Ah, my son," he cried, in French, when he was within distance, "youtravel light this time. Whom have you with you, another mistress, or,at last, a wife?"

  "Hush," said Abdullah, "she is a little damsel who has ridden twelveleagues and is cruel tired."

  "God help her," said the man of the goats; "shall I give her some warmmilk--there is plenty?"

  "No," said Abdullah; "let us go to thy house," and the goats, at thewhistle of their master, turned, and followed the camels under thepalms of the oasis of Zama.

  They halted before a little hut, and Abdullah held up his hand. Thecamels stopped and kneeled. The girl did not move. Abdullah ran to her,took her in his arms, lifted her, turned, entered the hut, passed tothe inner room, laid her upon a low couch, beneath the window, put awayher veil, kissed her hand, not her lips, and came out.

  In the outer room he found his host. Upon the table were some smallcheeses, a loaf of bread, a gourd of milk. Abdullah fell upon the food.

  "Well, my son," said his host, after Abdullah began to pick and choose,"what brings you to me?"

  "This," said Abdullah, and he felt in his bosom, and drew out theinvoice of his passenger.

  His host took from a book upon the table a pair of steel-bowedspectacles--the only pair in the Sahara. He placed the bow upon hisnose, the curves behind his ears, snuffed the taper with his fingers,took the invoice from Abdullah, and read. He read it once, looked up,and said nothing. He read it a second time, looked up, and said: "Well,what of it?"

  "Is it legal?" asked Abdullah.

  "Doubtless," said his host, "since it is a hiring, merely, not a sale;and it is to be executed in Biskra, which is under the French rule."

  "The French rule is beneficent, doubtless?" asked Abdullah.

  His host did not answer for some minutes; then he said: "It is acompromise; and certain souls deem compromises to be justice. The realmen of this age, as of all others, do not compromise; they fight outright and wrong to a decision. The French came into Algeria to avenge awrong. They fought, they conquered, and then they compromised. Havingcompromised, they must fight and conquer all over again."

  "You are a Frenchman, are you not?" asked Abdullah.

  "No," replied his host, "I am a Parisian."

  "Ah," exclaimed Abdullah, "I thought they were the same thing."

  "Far from it," replied his host. "In Brittany, Frenchmen wear black tothis day for the king whom Parisians guillotined."

  "Pardon," said Abdullah; "I have been taught that Paris is French."

  "Not so, my son," rejoined his host; "Paris is universal. If you willgo to the Museum of the Louvre, and take a seat before the Venus ofMilo, and will remain long enough, everybody in this world, worthknowing, will pass by you; crowned heads, diplomats, financiers, thedemimonde; you may meet them all. They tell me that the same thinghappens to the occupant of the corner table of the Cafe de la Paix--thetable next to the Avenue de l'Opera; if he waits long enough, he willsee every one--"

  "Pardon me, Monsieur," said Abdullah, "but I care to see no one savethe little maid sleeping within."

  "Ah," said his host, "it is love, is it? I thought it wascommercialism."

  "No," said Abdullah; "it is a question of how I can keep the woman Ilove, and still keep my commercial integrity. She is consigned to me byher father, to be delivered to Mirza, the mother of the dancers, inBiskra. I am the trusted caravan owner between El Merb and Biskra. Inthe last ten years I have killed many men who tried to rob my freightof dates, and hides, and gold-dust. Now I long to rob my own freight ofthe most precious thing I have ever carried. May I do it, and still bea man; or must I deliver the damsel, re-cross the desert, return thepassage money to her father, come once more to Biskra, and find my lovethe sport of the cafes?"

  The Man who Keeps Goats rose and paced the floor.

  "My son," he said, finally, "when the French occupied Algeria, theymade this bargain--'Mussulmans shall be judged by their civil law.' Itwas a compromise and, therefore, a weakness. The civil law of theMohammedans is, virtually, the Koran. The law of France is, virtually,the Code Napoleon. The parties to the present contract beingMohammedans, it will be construed by their law, and it is not repugnantto it. If, on the contrary, the damsel were a Christian, the Frenchcommandant at Biskra would tear the contract to pieces, since it isagainst morals. Better yet, if _you_ were a Christian, and the damselyour wife, you might hold her in Biskra against the world."

  Abdullah sat silent, his eyes half closed.

  "Monsieur," he said at length, "is it very difficult to become aChristian?"

  The Man who Keeps Goats sat silent--in his turn.

  "My son," he said, finally, "I myself am a priest of the Church. I havelived in the desert for twenty years, but I have never been unfrocked.I cannot answer you, but I can tell you what a wiser than I declared toa desert traveller who put this same question nineteen hundred yearsago."

  He took up the book upon the table, turned a few pages, and read--"'Andthe angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go towardthe south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, whichis desert. And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, aeunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, whohad the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for toworship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias theprophet.... And Philip ran thither to _him_, and heard him read theprophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And hesaid, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philipthat he would come up and sit with him.... Then Philip opened hismouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.And as they went on _their_ way, they came unto a certain water: andthe eunuch said, See, _here is_ water; what doth hinder me to bebaptized?

  "'And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son ofGod.

  "'And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down bothinto the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.'"

  Scarcely had the reader ceased when Abdullah sprang to his feet."Father," he cried, "see, _here_ is water. What doth hinder _me_ to bebaptized?"

  "My son," said the old man, "how canst thou believe with all thineheart? No Philip has preached Jesus unto thee."

  "What need?" exclaimed Abdullah. "Can a man's belief need preaching toin such a case as this? How long must I believe a religion that savesher I love? A month, a year, until it avails nothing, and she is gone?This eunuch was a blacker man than I; like me, he was a man of thedesert. He did not ride with Philip long. I have not only heard whatPhilip said to him, but I have also heard what you have said to me.Both of you have preached unto me Jesus. What right have you to doubtmy belief in a God who will save my love to me? Again, I ask you, whatdoth hinder me to be baptized?"

  "Nothing," said the old man, and they went out both to the well,sparkling beneath the palms, both Abdullah and the Man who Keeps Goats;and he baptized him.

  When Abdullah rose from his knees, his forehead dripping, he drew hishand across his face and asked, "Am I a Christian?"

  "Yes," said the priest, "so far as I can make you one."

  "Thank you," said Abdullah; "you have done much, and in the morning youshall do more, for then you shall baptize the damsel and shall marry usaccording to your--pardon me--our religion."

  They entered the hut, and the priest, pointing toward the chamber-door,asked: "Does she believe?"

  "She believes what I believe," said Abdullah.

  The priest shook his head. "You speak," he said, "not as a Christian,but as a Moslem. You were brought up to look upon woman as a mereadjunct, a necessary evil, necessary because men must be born into theworld. A female child, with you, was a reproach; she was
scarcely seenby her parents until she was brought out to be sold in marriage. WithChristians it is different. A woman has a soul--"

  "Hush," said Abdullah, "or you will awaken the camels with that strangedoctrine. A woman has a soul, has she? You read me no such propositionfrom your prophets, a half-hour ago. Woman was not mentioned by Philipor by the Ethiopian in what you read to me. Is there aught in your bookthat argues that woman has a soul?"

  "Doubtless," said the priest, "but I do not recall it."

  He caught up his Bible. He opened it unluckily, for the first wordsthat met his eye were these, and he read them: "Woman, what have I todo with thee?" and he paused, embarrassed.

  "Whose words were those?" asked Abdullah.

  The priest hesitated, crossed himself, and answered: "They were thewords of Jesus."

  "To whom were they spoken?" asked Abdullah.

  The answer lagged. Finally, the priest said, "To His mother."

  "Master," said Abdullah, "the more I learn of my new religion, the moreI am enamoured of it;" and he went to the chamber-door and knocked.

  "Beloved," he said, and waited.

  He knocked again, and again he said, "Beloved."

  "Who art thou?" came a voice.

  "'Tis I, Abdullah," he said.

  "Enter," said the voice.

  "Not so," said Abdullah; "but come you out."

  "Art thou alone?" asked the voice.

  "No," replied Abdullah, "the man who keeps goats is here."

  "I have no light," said the voice.

  Abdullah took the taper from the table, opened the door six inches,felt a warm soft hand meet his own, pressed it, left the taper in it,closed the door, and groped in darkness to his seat.

  "Father," he said, after some moments of silence, "_have_ women souls?"

  "Doubtless," answered the priest.

  "God help them," said Abdullah; "have they not trouble enough, withoutsouls to save?"

  The two men sat silent in the darkness.

  The door creaked, a line of light appeared; the door swung wide out,and on the threshold stood Nicha, the taper in her hand.

  The two men sat silent, gazing.

  She had put off her outer costume of white linen and stood dressed forthe house, the seraglio. Upon her head was a _chachia_, a little velvetcap, embroidered with seed-pearls. Her bust was clothed with a _rlila_,or bolero of brocaded silk, beneath which was a vest of muslin, heavywith gold buttons. About her slim waist was a _fouta_, or scarf ofstriped silk. Below came the _serroual_, wide trousers of white silkthat ended mid-leg. Upon her feet were blue velvet slippers, pointed,turned up at the toes and embroidered with gold. About her ankles were_redeefs_, or bangles of emeralds, pierced, and strung on commonstring. At her wrists hung a multitude of bangles, and on her bare leftarm, near the shoulder, was a gold wire that pinched the flesh, andfrom it hung a filigree medallion that covered her crest, tattooedbeneath the skin. It is always so with the tribe of Ouled Nail.

  This was the costume of the woman, but the woman herself, as she stoodin the doorway, the taper in her hand, who may describe her? Tall,lithe, laughing--her black hair, braided, tied behind her neck, andstill reaching the ground; her eyebrows straight as though pencilled;her ears small and closely set; her nose straight and thin, withfluttering nostrils; her shoulders sloping; her bust firm and pulsatingbeneath her linen vest; her slender waist; her little feet, in the bluevelvet slippers; the charm of breeding and of youth; the added charm ofjewels and of soft textures; what wonder that the two men sat silentand gazing?

  Abdullah spoke first. "Beloved," he said, "I have broken your night'srest that you may have eternal rest."

  The girl laughed. "That is a long way off," she said. "The cemetery,with the cypress-trees, is beautiful, but this hut, with thee, isbetter. Why did you wake me?"

  "Because, since you slept," said Abdullah, "I have changed myreligion."

  "Good," exclaimed the girl; "then I change mine. I am tired of areligion that makes me plait my hair for eight hours of the day andsends no man to see it."

  "What religion do you choose?" asked Abdullah.

  "Yours," said the girl, seating herself and dropping her hands,interlaced, and covered with turquoise rings, about her knees; "whyshould a woman question anything when her husband has passed upon it?"

  "Did I not tell thee?" said Abdullah.

  "Yes," said the priest, "but I waited for her own words."

  "You have them now," said Abdullah, and they went out to the spring.

  "I name thee Marie," said the priest, "since it is the name borne bythe Mother of our Lord."

  "Ah," said the girl, "I was baptized Fathma, after the Mother of theProphet. There seems to be not so much difference thus far."

  When the sacrament had been administered and they had returned to thehut, the priest addressed his converts. "My children," he said, "inorder to do a great right I have done a little wrong. I have baptizedyou into a religion that you know nothing of. How should you? You,Abdullah--I beg your pardon, Philip--that was the name I gave you, wasit not?"

  Abdullah bowed.

  "You, Philip," resumed the priest, "have changed your religion to win awoman whom you love; and you, Marie, have changed yours because the manyou love bade you. Neither of you knows anything of the faith you haveadopted. I have had no chance to instruct you; but one thing I declareto you, the Christian religion tolerates but one husband and one wife."

  Nicha rose, pale, hesitating. She stepped slowly into the light. Herbeauty added to the light.

  "Beloved," she said, "knew you this?"

  "No," he said, "but I know it now, and welcome it."

  "Oh, my beloved," she cried, "to think that you are all my own, that Ido not have to share you," and she flung her arms about him.

  "Hush," said the priest, "or, as Philip says, you will wake thecamels."

  "Father," asked Abdullah, "will you now marry us, since we areChristians?"

  "I would," answered the priest, "but it is necessary to have twowitnesses."

  Abdullah's face fell, but in an instant it brightened again. He went tothe door of the hut and stood, listening. In a moment he turned andsaid, "Allah is good, or, rather, God is good. This new religion workswell. Here are our witnesses."

  And, even as he spoke, there came out of the darkness the halt-cry ofthe camel-driver.

  "It is Ali," said Abdullah, "and Nicha's maid is with him. They havecaught us up."

  He ran out and found the camels kneeling and Ali easing the surcingles.

  "Ali," he cried, "you must change your religion."

  "Willingly," said Ali; "what shall the new one be? The old one has donelittle for me."

  "Christian," said Abdullah.

  "That suits me," said Ali; "under it one may drink wine, and one maycurse. It is a useful religion for a trader."

  "And the maid?" asked Abdullah.

  "We have travelled a day and a part of a night together," said Ali,"and she will believe what I tell her to believe."

  "The old religion is good in some respects," said Abdullah. "Call themaid;" and they went to the hut.

  "Here are the witnesses," said Abdullah, "ready to be Christians."

  "It is not necessary," said the priest, "if they can make their mark;that is all that is required."

  So, in the little hut, before an improvised altar, they weremarried--the camel-driver and the daughter of the Chief of Ouled Nail.

  The next morning the caravan took up the march for Biskra.