The Secret of the Desert, or How we crossed Arabia in the 'Antelope.'

Front matter

THE SECRET OF THE DESERT THE RESCUE OF MANNERS, Frontispiece. THE SECRET OF THE DESERT OR HOW WE CROSSED ARABIA IN THE 'ANTELOPE' by E. DOUGLAS FAWCETT AUTHOR OF HARTMANN THE ANARCHIST," ' SWALLOWED BY AN EARTHQUAKE, ETC. EDWARD ARNOLD LONDON NEW YORK 37 Bedford Street 70 Fifth Avenue PEEFATORY NOTE. I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness to the general literature of Arabian travel, and, more par ticularly, to Palgrave'B most interesting ' Central and Eastern Arabia,' for the geographical and like facts required as the support of this story. The Author. Winthorpb, Torquay. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. THE RELIEF EXPEDITION - - 1 II. IN THE CONNING-TOWER OF THE ' ANTELOPE ' - 11 III. ACROSS THE NORTHERN ARABIAN DESERT TO THE DJOWF .... - - 21 IV. IN TARIK's HALL — TIDINGS OF OUR LOST FRIEND - 39 V. A STRANGE RESCUE IN MID-DESERT — FERRAND THE EXPLORER - - - - - -54 VI.

HAYEL — A VISIT TO THE PALACE OF THE SULTAN, - ABD-EL-KEREEM - - - - - 67 VII. SUPPER AT THE PALACE — TRAPPED — A FRIEND IN NEED - - - - - - 79 VIII. A MARVELLOUS ESCAPE — THE ' ANTELOPE ' UNDER FIRE — DEATH OF M. FERRAND - - -91 IX. A GRIM REVENGE — ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS TO TEYM 101 X. SURPRISED — BREAKDOWN OF THE ' ANTELOPE ' - 112 XI. AN AWKWARD QUANDARY .... 122 XII. ON THE BORDER OF THE GREAT DESERT - - 133 XIII. AMID THE SANDWASTES OF THE DAHNA - - 141 XIV. THE OASIS OF GAZELLES AT LAST - - - 147 XV. THE WONDERFUL RUINS ON TEMPLE ROCK • - Contents VIII CHAPTER PAUE XVI. NEJM THE GUIDE ----- 170 XVII. THE RESCUE PARTY STARTS - - - - 183 XVIII. THE SEARCH FOR MANNERS ... - 194 XIX. HOW WE GOT CLEAR OF THE TEMPLE BOCK - - 207 XX. AT BAY ...... 220 XXI. AFTER THE FIGHT ..... 230 XXII. THE LAST OF THE ' ANTELOPE ' — HOMEWARD BOUND- 240 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. the rescue of manners - - - Frontispiece WE STARTLE AN ARAB ENCAMPMENT - To face page 34 THE ESCAPE FROM HAYEL - - - ,, ,, 90 AN OASIS AT LAST - ,, ,, 152 THE ASCENT OF TEMPLE ROCK - - ,, ,, 192 INSIDE THE TREASURE HOUSE - - „ „ THE SECEET OF THE DESEKT

Chapter I. The Relief Expedition

' Have you made up your minds to come, then ?' ' Well, you may rely on me, at any rate, Thiselton.' ' And on me, too.' The speakers were Robert Thiselton, Frank Symington, and I, Ronald Archer, and we were sitting chatting over our wine on an April evening in the dining-room of Thiselton's house, which stood on the Warberry Hill, Torquay. Robert Thiselton, our host, was even at that time a well-known engineer and inventor, with many notable services to civilization standing to his credit. A very rich man, he was not harnessed to a profession, but pursued his researches for their own sake far from the fever of business life in his snug Devonian retreat. Crofton, the retreat in question, was a veritable museum in its way ; in fact, there seemed to be hardly a branch of engineering that was not represented there by a model or two at least.

And Thiselton's devotion to his craft was such as to leave him little time to spare for social pleasures. A stubborn bachelor, with a dread of ordinary conventions, he led a retired life, passing his time mainly among his artisans in the extensive work shops which lay behind the house. It was rumoured that he had been recently perfecting some novel discovery that was one day to startle Europe; but the secret, if secret there was, had been wonderfully well kept, both by himself and his myrmidons. Doubt less the garrulous townsfolk thought it safe to predict something striking in view of his many previous triumphs, more especially as the inventor was no hoary veteran, but a robust worker only forty years of age, and in the full enjoyment of his powers. However, as Thiselton had been content to leave Symington and me, his intimates, altogether in the dark, we were inclined to attach little importance to the imaginings of his neighbours.

In appearance he was a short, wiry man, somewhat careless in his dress, with a strikingly intellectual head, furnished with keen black eyes, a thickly-bearded chin, and a fine, but somewhat lined, forehead. Frank Symington, who was sitting on my right, was a handsome young fellow of some twenty-nine summers. We had been allies in our schooldays and at the 'Varsity, and latterly had distinguished ourselves not a little as explorers. Both of us were excellent Arabic scholars, and had done good work in adding to the current knowledge, at that time very defective, of the geography and archæology of Southern Arabia, chiefly of Yemen and the south-west portion of the Hadramaut. Our enthusiasm had been originally fired by a cousin of Thiselton's, Arthur Manners, whom we had met at Oxford. Manners had even accompanied us on one expedition into Yemen.

Latterly, however, with characteristic independence and ambition, he had decided to act on his own account, and we had not in consequence met him for several years. Nevertheless, he was destined to play a leading part in the story of our roving life. Indeed, it was the ill-luck of my old companion in travel that had been the means of bringing Frank, Thiselton and me together that night, and was to result in the organ izing of an expedition in many ways more remarkable than any former one in which we had taken part. Two years previously, when Frank and I were returning from Egypt, Manners, fired no doubt by the eulogies heaped on his former exploits, had deter mined to try and achieve some really signal success. He was to have no European associates in accom plishing his task, possibly thinking that it would be just as well to enjoy what celebrity might be in store for him unshared — so weak is the nature of the best of us.

He lost no time in parley. One afternoon he ran down from London, broke in upon his cousin's retirement, and announced that he was once more starting for the East. It was his ambition, so he averred, to throw some more light on the problem of Central Arabia — that so largely ' undiscovered country ' — on its deserts, highlands, general topography, inhabitants, and the customs, etc., of these latter, subjects about which current information certainly left very much to be desired. Having been furnished with funds by enthusiasts of the Royal Geographical Society, he declined Thiselton's proffered monetary assistance. His plan of campaign was to proceed to Gaza, in Palestine, organize a small caravan, cross Palestine in a south-easterly direction, and, aided by reliable guides, to push on through the Northern Arabian Desert to the oasis of the Djowf, the ' outlying station ' of inhabited Central Arabia, thence across the sandy Nefud to the sultanate of Djebel Shomer and the Nejd (hill country), stay some time taking notes at the Wahhabee capital, Riadh, and then pass through El Hofhoof and the Turkish province of El Hassa to Kateef, on the Persian Gulf.

There he would adapt his further action to circumstances, but he expected, after disposing of his camels, etc., to take passage on some chance craft to Muscat, whence he could return home on one of the many British vessels that touch at that port. Thiselton had strongly advised him to postpone the venture until we returned, and had even hinted that he, too, might perhaps seek relaxation in travel shortly, and throw in his fortunes with ours. But Manners, as always, insisted on having his own way. In less than a week he had left England for Palestine. A brief letter from Gaza stated that the caravan had been organized, and was about to be despatched on its adventurous journey. Then followed a silence that lasted nearly two years. Owing to the intense suspicion and often hatred with which Europeans are viewed in Central Arabia, and more particularly among the Wahhabee Moham medans of Nejd, the inner hill country, it had been necessary that Manners should adopt a disguise and play an appropriate part, and accordingly he had chosen the role of a Syrian merchant travelling for the purposes of trade, his camels being, of course, suitably laden, and his following duly chosen, so as to bear out effectively the cheat.

Messages and letters, despatched by a passing caravan, were not to be expected from one who was not desirous of imperilling the success of his role. Hence at first neither Thiselton nor Frank and I thought anything of the absence of these. We merely awaited eagerly the news of the arrival of the caravan at Kateef, in the hope that Manners' quest would be attended with full success. But a year and a half of waiting proved absolutely barren of results, and impatience gradually began to give place to anxiety. The possibilities of misadventure, the dangers of the desert, of Bedouin marauders, of treachery on the part of followers, of arrest or worse at the hands of the fanatics of the Nejd, of the passage of the Dahna, or Great Desert, a part of which must be crossed on the way to El Hofhoof, etc., were numerous, and tried travellers such as Frank and I could not well underrate them.

Two years had passed, and we were beginning to shake our heads, when an unexpected message reached Thiselton, through the medium of an Englishman, who happened to meet an ex-member of Manners' party at Akaba, the little fort at the head of the east gulf of the Red Sea, through which pilgrim caravans pass on their way to Mecca. The member in question was one Hamood, who stated that he had been employed as one of the guides of the apparently illfated expedition. The Djowf, he said, had been reached after a series of the usual privations and difficulties, but nothing seriously amiss had occurred until the caravan reached Riadh, the capital of the sultanate of Nejd. After a few days' stay the treachery of an Arab, who had been reprimanded for some trifling offence, and had revenged himself by revealing the nationality of his master, forced Manners to hurry away as rapidly as possible.

Hamood could not say for certain where Manners had gone, as the party had been scattered owing to the confusion and secrecy of departure, and he, Hamood, along with others, had been left behind in Riadh. He believed, however, that Manners, accompanied by two trusty Arabs, had made off towards the south-east, with the intention of eventually reaching El Hofhoof by a roundabout route, calculated to baffle pursuers. Even allowing for unusual delays, the three fugitives ought, he said, to have reached the coast months ago. They had apparently escaped the Wahhabee pursuers ; indeed, their very flight had been forgotten by the time that Hamood and the other Arabs and Syrians left behind slipped away from Riadh to Bereydah some weeks after. But it had to be remembered that Manners and his trusty men had to face special risks when crossing the Dahna, — the great Red Desert, of which a prolongation intervenes between Nejd and El Hassa — owing to the necessity of their avoiding the usual ways that lead to its brink.

Had they missed the rejms, or stone heaps, that alone mark the safe routes in these trackless and shifting sand-wastes ? Caravans had been lost in this way, and had never been heard of after wards. This was the wheat separated from the chaff of Arab chatter by our informant. Brief, however, as was this report, it gave Thiselton (who was deeply attached to his cousin) something definite to act upon. A couple of letters had brought Frank and me to Torquay, and we were now eagerly discussing the feasibility of an expedition in search of our missing comrade. Much to our surprise, Thiselton came forward not only as an enthusiastic promoter of the enterprise, of which he proposed to bear the cost, but as a would-be sharer of its perils and delights also. Hitherto we had not viewed this recluse in the light of a possible traveller, and the surprise was naturally acut^.

Thiselton had never been out of England before, and at forty years of age it may be a serious matter to better one's experience by way of expeditions as arduous as ours, to my thinking, would be. We knew him to be an exceptionally well-read man, but had he realized fully all that his novel resolution would involve ? The tedious three-mile an-hour march of the camel-train over burning and monotonous deserts, with wretched fare, discomforts, mishaps and risks of a thousand kinds to allow for — this prospect might surely give pause to one whose endurance had been hitherto tested by little more than a bout of golf on the downs or a twenty-mile bicycle ride ! ' Yes, you can rely on me, Thiselton,' I repeated, ' and on Frank, too ; but what on earth has put it into your head to go? Believe me, the expedition will be no joke, and you are fairly well on in years to begin this sort of game.' 'I know very well what I am doing, Mr. Ronald,' he said, with an odd twinkle in his eye. ' I am not a travelled authority on things Arabic like you, but, after all, I have read something about the country, and probably know what to expect much about as well as you do.

And then, you see, there is always the off-chance that a poor engineer like me may have something worth considering up his sleeve. Perhaps I may be of more use to you than you think.' ' Oh, as to that, my dear fellow, don't for a moment think that I am against your joining us ! If you are to frank expenses, as you insist, why not see the whole thing through in person ? After all, Manners is your cousin, and we are more or less outsiders. I only meant to suggest that it would be worth while for you to realize fully what this kind of travelling means.' ' Putting aside the usual risks — these, I dare say, will only whet your taste for travel,' put in Frank — ' how are you going to sham a character without knowing a word of Arabic ? You know very well that you can't travel safely through Nejd if suspected to be a European.

We two can play our roles as of old, but what are you to do if spoken to? Besides, you cannot possibly have realized by way of mere books the state of things you are so anxious to face. Hadn't you really better do as Ronald suggests, and think the matter over ?' ' No ; I have weighed everything in the balance already. This is no hasty resolve, due, as you seem to think, to the receipt of the news about Manners. Years ago I had a wish to do a bit of exploration on my own account. I told Manners as much before he started on his madcap mission two years back. Only at that time I was not ready with my preparations ; now I am, as you two critics will shortly see. As to your conundrum, Frank, I will give you an answer later on to-night, and I warrant that you will find it satisfactory. And now a word as to the route.

As I am to run this business, I had better let you know of my intentions at once. Well, we start from Akaba the first week in June, pick up Hamood, and make for the Djowf, following in the wake of our predecessors, and making inquiries as we go, until we reach Riadh. There we must, perforce, stay awhile and "prospect." I hope to goodness Manners is all right, and, for my part, I believe that he is ; but it will be a difficult business to track him down, and we may possibly pick up some thing worth knowing about him in the capital. A little show of gold may find us staunch allies even among Wahhabees in the heart of Nejd. As to distances — well, there's no need for any extraordinary hurry. Let us see; roughly speaking, 280 miles or so of desert lie between Akaba and the Djowf ; we could no doubt get over the ground nicely in three days, but ' ' What !' almost shouted Frank, while I thought that too much study must have really turned our friend's brain ; ' three days ?

WThy, man, don't you know that a laden camel can't get along at a rate of more than two or three miles an hour, and the most speedy dromedary can't be asked for more than six ; that riding is impossible for us during large portions of the day ; that ' ' I don't question the accuracy of your remarks, Frank, believe me. But, to continue, four days at the most, misadventures apart, will suffice for us. Then we might allow for two days' stay in the Djowf. Hayel, our next stopping -place, and the capital of Djebel Shomer, is distant from the Djowf, say, 250 miles — route in part across sand-wastes — let us allow three days for the journey. We shall do well to spend a day or two in these parts. Distance from Hayel to Riadh is, say, 300 miles — should be covered in two or three days. Anyhow, we shall be at Riadh by the end of June at the latest, and probably considerably earlier.' We listened in mute astonishment.

Thiselton must be either trifling with us or talking drivelling nonsense. Suddenly he looked up and, seeing the expression of vexation on our faces, burst out laughing. ' You seem highly amused, Thiselton,' said Frank; ' but why talk nonsense ? If you think lightly of this project, give us, at any rate, the credit for being serious. You appear to think that poor Manners' disappearance is a capital subject for merriment. Let's have some sense, for goodness' sake.' I growled out my acquiescence with these senti ments. ' But, my dear fellows, you don't give me time to explain. Didn't I say that I might have something up my sleeve, suggesting thereby that I had not been meditating exploration all these years to no purpose ? Yet when I venture to remark that I propose to get to the Djowf in a shorter time than is usual, I am at once promptly sat upon.' ' But you mention absurd times,' said Frank irritably. ' You said that it was possible to get nicely from Akaba to the Djowf in three days.

Why, anyone who knows anything about a camel caravan ' ' But I never mentioned camels or camel caravans, my dear fellow; and, for my part, I can assure you that I haven't the remotest intention of bestriding a camel. If you are particularly fond of that mode of travelling, by all means stick to it. But permit me to dispense with the animal ; it is not only undesirable, I gather, in point of temper, but it has the additional bad quality of being unconscionably slow.' 'What do you mean, Thiselton, in plain English?' I asked, for assuredly the great engineer seemed to be talking at random. ' A truce to all these enigmas !' ' Well, it comes to this, I suppose. You two propose to cross Arabia on the ordinary " Ship of the Desert," to wit, the camel ; I propose to do so on a far more reliable ship of my own.

You stare ; but, if you will remember, I threw out many a hint to you both months ago. However, those seeds seem to have fallen on barren soil.' ' What ! do you mean to say you are going to take us through Arabia in some new mechanical wonder, a craft propelled by some new motor-power, such as we used to dream dreams about ?' ' Precisely. Our expedition will be the trial-trip of a craft worked by an invention which may yet revo lutionize modern industry. The news of Manners' mishap — I trust it is nothing worse — reached me just as I had completed this craft with a view to a novel jaunt on my own account. But come ; we are wasting valuable time. Let me show you the "Antelope" herself. I will then explain everything, and you can both heckle me to your complete satisfaction.' He rose, and, now deeply interested, we followed him out of the room by way of one of the windows that opened on to the terrace above the sloping lawn.

Down over the soft bank we went, and soon reached the barrier of pines that bordered the further side of the lawn. Our host here struck into a little path leading through the trees, and stopped at the door of one of the spacious sheds that lay beyond. Pushing this open, he switched on the electric light, which was shed from a solitary large globe hanging from the roof. ' And now, my critics,' he said laughingly, ' behold the "Antelope"!'

Chapter II. In The Conning-tower Of The

'ANTELOPE.' So this was Thiselton's mysterious ' Ship of the Desert ' ! What we saw was a yellowish-brown craft, of seemingly forty feet or so in length, which was supported on three pairs of tube-spoked pneumatic tyred wheels, the central pair having diameters of fully eight feet. A figure-head, resembling an ante lope, horns, head and neck, rose above us, to a height of seven or eight feet, curving downwards and inwards till the lower portion of its base joined the deck frame or platform at a point about three and a half feet above the floor of the shed. Along the edge of this frame or platform ran a light scrollwork railing, four feet high, broken between the front and central wheels by a gap, serving as a gangway, but reaching, if we ignore this break, nineteen feet or so from the rear of the figure-head to a point opposite the insides of the hubs of the great central wheels, where it gave place to the steel-plated walls of a sort of deck-house or citadel that rose with a domelike sweep to a flat roof some ten feet above the deck.

The area of the roof in question was little more than half that of the citadel base. Planted in its centre was a conning-tower, having small square ports, and capped by a movable apparatus, seemingly designed to furnish a ' searchlight ' ; this device was poised on a short thick stem, over twenty feet above the shed floor. The lower portion of the citadel was studded with loopholes. At the rear of the citadel ran a semicircular fringe of railing bounding a small portion of clear 'deck,' constituting the stern-enclosure of this extraordinary craft. A stairway led from this enclosure to the roof mentioned above. ' Here are some particulars which may prove of service,' said Thiselton, thrusting a sheet of paper into my hand. ' I had intended sending them on to you in town, but the temptation to give you a little surprise proved too strong.

And I fancy I have startled you both a bit — eh ?' Frank and I were still gazing silently at the extraordinary structure, too much overcome for the moment to offer criticisms or put questions. Nodding confusedly to my amused host, I glanced at the sheet I was toying with. It was a rough specification of some of the leading features of the 'Antelope,' intended for the benefit of one not altogether unversed in the mysteries of modern engineering. Here are some instructive state ments which I select from a crowd of others, of little interest to the ordinary reader : Length of craft from back of figure-head to stern-railing - - . - - - - 40 feet. Height of deck-frame from ground - 3£ „ Breadth of deck-frame between hind-wheels - 15 ,, ,, ,, ,, central or driving wheels - - - - . - 15 ,, Breadth of deck-frame between front or steering wheels - - - - - - 8 ,, (The narrowed frame allows scope for the sideplay required for steering-wheels.)

Length of fore-deek - - - - 18 ,, Height of citadel (protected by steel plates covering a structure of wood with iron supports) above deck - - - . . - 10 ,, Width of citadel - - - - - 15 ,, Length „ - - - . - 18 „ Height of steel-plated conning -tower on citadel roof 7 „ Diameter of driving-wheels - - - 8 ,, Diameter of other wheels - - - - 6 feet. Distance between hubs of different pairs of wheels 14 ,, Diameters of tyres - - - - - 6 inches. The clear portions of deck-frame are of boards resting on a skeleton of cycle-tubing. The railings are but I need not burden the reader with a load of unnecessary details. ' Oh ! the steering?' I heard Thiselton say in reply to a question put by Frank. ' Well, I provide for that in two ways : by a chain-gear controlled from the look-out, and by the supplementary hand-wheel which you see just in front of the gangway.

To ensure a due amount of weight forward, I have placed the largest portion of our stores in the lockers that back the fore-railings and rear of the figure-head. The water-tank lies below the left series of lockers. That will counteract any tendency to skid on the part of the steering wheels. But come, jump on board, and see the rest for yourselves.' We obeyed in a trice. 'But, stay, Thiselton,' said I, looking down at the front-wheel tyre, which rose to within one and a half feet of the top of the railing on which I was leaning, ' how are these tyres to carry us across a desert ? Will they not slip and sink into every sandy patch ? And how are they to be repaired if they are punctured or explode ?' ' Oh, as to that there is no difficulty. As regards slipping, note those thick transverse ridges, moulded across the tread of the cover; they will "bite" any ordinary soil, sandy or other.

And, of course, a great deal of desert country is merely gravelly or stony soil, perfectly suited to our fastest modes of travel ling. For wastes, where the wheels would tend to sink into the sand, specially broad flat tyre covers, furnished with paddle-like projections, slightly concave towards the centre, and fitted over the top of the ordinary covers on to a broad inner rim, will The Secret os the Desert 14 be used. Of course we shall be seriously slowed up at times, but that is inevitable. As to possible punc tures and bursts — well, with "puncture-proof bands" covering the inner tubes, punctures at any rate are unlikely to occur ; if they do, repairs will be easy. The tyre covers are wired on the Dunlop principle. We have merely to raise the frame by jacks, detach the tyre-covers, whip out the inner tubes, and patch them in a trice.

A burst cover would entail elaborate repairs, but we should not be really incom moded, as spare covers are carried, and no serious delay need ensue in any event. Inflation is effected through indiarubber tubes, running from a small pumping-engine in the citadel ; the amount of in flation required is accurately known by way of gauges fixed to the valves on the wheel-rims. Believe me, you will never repent speeding across the desert on these luxurious tyres. The "Antelope," borne along by admirably-shod wheels, with their dust-proof bear ings, will leave Frank's precious camels standing.' It seemed impracticable to pick holes in the inven tion, so far at any rate as tyres, frame and wheels were concerned. Frank and I had no further objec tion to offer. But, after all, wheels and tyres alone do not make a reliable craft for the desert.

I fully expected to hit upon some grave blemish soon. A low wooden projection divided the deck from a line reaching from under the hand-steering wheel just above the front axle, to the citadel, fourteen feet away. It clearly contained the chain-steering gear already mentioned. Along the railings of the deck frame, in front of the steering-wheel, were fitted spacious lockers, which were continued till they met at the back of the figure-head. Their use has been noticed. Though taking up a good deal of useful space, they served, when filled with ballast or stores, to weight the front-wheels effectively. ' We shall fix canvas awnings above the whole of the deck, from the citadel to the figure-head,' observed Thiselton. ' A couple of tents will be shortly forthcoming also, but those who like to sleep in hammocks outside the tents can, of course, please themselves.

Two electric globes, suspended from the woodwork of the awning, will give us light by night. What ex traordinary beings we shall appear to the nomad Bedouins in those lone wastes, rushing mysteriously through the night ! With regard to watches, we must all take turns. How you will enjoy directing the "Antelope" from the look-out when your spell of con trol comes round ! You may be sure, however, that I shall take good care to put you properly through your paces before you start. The Manleys, two young fellows who helped me to build the "Antelope," and are real enthusiasts about her, will form part of our small crew, and will delight in taking your education in hand.' So we were to have companions. Thiselton ex plained that these future companions of our voyage were clever young men, sons of an old friend of his, who had been long admitted to his confidences.