The Bedouin Girl

Chapter I

The Haj Caravan was about starting on its annual pilgrimage from Bagdad to the Harameyn, — two sacred cities, as Mecca and Modena are designated by the Mohammedans, — when Hamed Ibn Rashid, a prince of the blood, arrived from an outlying province of Mesopo tamia, to travel with the religious convoy some four hundred miles across the desert to Hayil, the Arabian metropolis of his relative the Emir Mahommed, Prince of Sham mar. Obeyd Alee, a young Turkish official, traveling on a secret mission for his master, the Sultan in Constan tinople, was also going down to Hayil, and by reason of being a favorite of the Chief of Islam, had been in vited by Hamed to make the painful and tedious journey as a member of his train. This considerate courtesy on the part of the Arab Prince, the Turk gladly accepted, for it assured to him the enjoyment of comforts and luxuries unusual on a caravan journey across the desert interior of Arabia, but with which Hamed, as a member of the royal family of Abdallah Ibn Rashid, surrounded himself on all his travels ; and which were now only equaled by the state and grandeur of the Emir el Haj — Commander of the Caravan — commonly styled the Haj Pasha, whose extensive accommo dations were provided for out of the purse of the Ottoman Empire.

To avoid the uproarious confusion which reigns in Bagdad for a month before the departure of the great pilgrim caravan, Hamed, when he reached the city, proceeded at once to the camping-ground appointed as a place of meeting, some distance beyond the walls of Bagdad, on the banks of the Tigris, where a number of hajjies, and a multitude of other pilgrims and nonde script persons going down with the Haj, were daily assembling to wait for the arrival of the Emir, who was to order the firing of the cannon which announced the departure of the train. It wras here that Obeyd joined the Prince, and saw, with satisfaction, that his servants and camels were assigned to a place of honor among those of Hamed ; while he and Yusuf, a pious Egyptian Mussulman, ac credited with being Hamed's confidential secretary, were to share together a goat's-hair tent, large and well appointed for such a journey, pitched close beside the portable" domicile of the Prince, who, like the Pasha, reclined alone under his silken awnings.

All the other conveniences pertaining to the daily life in the Haj caravan, Hamed shared in common with his secretary and the fastidious young Turk. The muddy waters of the Tigris flowed in nearly a straight line from Bagdad to the pilgrim's camp, affording from the latter an imposing view of this queen of ancient splendor, immortalized by the renown of her fascinating romances and the reminiscent magnifi cence of her haughty Caliphs. From this vantage ground, the sun-dried brick walls of the city, on both sides of the stream, were quite hidden by the wealth of foliage composing its lovely gardens and groves of palm, peach and pomegranate, above which myriads of glazed cupolas, slender mina rets and gilded crescents blazed and glittered in the sun, with a brightness that dazzled the eye and gave promise of the glory of old — a promise dissipated, however, the moment one passes within the octagonal and crumbling barricade by which the city is still encircled, and enters its narrow streets, swarming with half-naked children, half-clothed Bedouins, disheveled Jews and noisy Turkish soldiers.

Bagdad was now crowded with strangers who were constantly arriving from all parts of el Islam, and going and coming incessantly from the city to the camp, filling the streets with the jabber of strange languages, and overcrowding the bazaars and markets, making purchases and preparations for the long march of the Haj, which drew the devout of the various Mos lem nations together at the nearest great starting-point. The huge black lamb-skin hats and brilliant fluffy silk trousers of the Persians, mingled with the close fez, short jacket, scant skirt and bare ankles of the village Arab ; the broad white turbans and full panta loons of the Turk, with the wild, shaggy locks and the sun-tanned limbs, half covered with long-haired patches of undressed sheep and goat skins, of the desert Bed ouin ; and the coarse woolen robes and dirty skull caps of the poor dervishes, with the rich shawls and glittering jewels of the kingly Shahs.

The beggarly poor and the gorgeously resplendent crowded, side by side, through the narrow, circuitous streets, crying, "The Haj ! The Haj ! Make way; we are going down with the Haj ! " in one universal shout. Camels, jackasses and dromedaries (a superior breed of camel) flew to enormous prices. Leather water buckets, pack-saddles, shugduffs, sleeping litters, camel gear, and tents from the last year's pilgrimage, were brought out into the streets to be overlooked, hammered, tinkered, repaired, and furnished with fresh ropes and leathers ; while tent-poles were fitted, saddles tried on the camels' backs, and grain and provisions weighed, measured, bought, sold and packed for the coming journey. Wealthy nobles, and hajjies with pale olive faces and deep-set, black eyes, were buying, from ragged Bed ouins, beautiful mares of coveted Mesopotamian lin eage, to take down with them to the Holy Cities, at the risk of leaving the bones of their docile, expensive pets to bleach on the burning sands of the wilderness.

Arabs were conducting through the streets, with loud-mouthed profanity, flocks of sheep and goats and strings of jackasses, to the adjacent camp, the hardy donkeys to aid in bearing burdens on the march, the long-haired goats to be slaughtered in the Haj market, and sold to pilgrims on the way. The camel-drivers, now feeling the great importance of their animals, swaggered up and down shout ing " lu ! lu ! " to the high-headed beasts silently putting down their enormous feet, and going calmly for ward, indifferent to the maledictions fluttering through the air from the lips of the Arabs who annually shared with them the perils of the religious caravan ; and who were easily recognized by faces, blackened by exposure to the desert sun and wind, as well as by their remorse less consciences, seared and hardened by yearly asso ciation with the knavish tricks of the perfidious Bedouin.

In truth, there seemed to be no parallel to the noise and confusion that suddenly converted the slumbering old city into a modern Babel, nor limit to the needed preparations for the nine hundred miles of barren desert that had to be traversed before the zealous pilgrims could kiss the Black Stone, and mutter their prayers before the curtain-shrouded Kaaba. At last all was ready. The city on both sides of the Tigris was quiet, the streets empty, and the extensive camel-sheds that spread over the suburbs on the right bank of the river were suddenly deserted. The noise, the bustle, the cattle, the wrater-bags, the tents, pro visions and pilgrims, had all been transferred to the canvas metropolis beyond, which was now swelled to gigantic proportions, and only waited the arrival of the Haj Pasha and the boo'm of the signal gun, to roll up its flimsy walls and depart.

Finally, one morning at daybreak, the reverberations of a discharged cannon rolling up and down the river, gave notice that the important moment had arrived ; adieux were immediately said, and the traveling town, with its motley aristocracy and the mixed crew of retainers that always follow the Haj, suddenly arose and perched itself on the high bumps of the camels, and the caravan was in motion, the pilgrims on their way ; some with happy, satisfied faces, some with tears of apprehension streaming down their cheeks, and some with anxious eyes and straining gaze directed far out on the desolate plains glittering with wind-ribbed sand, and girt by the falling rim of the glowing horizon. Mahommed Ally, the Haj Pasha, led the column, his military escort marching in advance in charge of two pieces of cannon borne on the backs of mules ; and following him came hundreds of pack-camels bear ing his servants, his woven-silk tents, soft rugs, pliable curtains, indispensable litters and water-skins, besides the innumerable and superfluous luxuries that he carried with him down into the desert.

Next in the train was Hamed, the Prince, accompanied by a similar retinue, similarly equipped. Then came the Persian nobles, with their numerous effects packed and mounted like those preceding, followed by the trains of the rich Hajjies, and other religious grandees, gradually diminishing in evidences of wealth and comfort, till they lengthened into the one or two asses, or the camel of the poor pilgrim, conveying all that he possessed on the back of his beast ; behind these was a mixed multitude of Haj followers transport ing goats, sheep, water, bread, biscuits, dates, grapes, and other provisions, collectively termed the Suk, or Haj market. The Suk contained anything and everything that could be conveyed on the backs of animals over the wastes of the desert, which would be likely to tempt the pilgrim, weary and famished on the desolate plains, to buy at prices enormously high.

A rear-guard of troopers closed the procession. Some two miles behind all came a squadron of dromedary riders composed of pure-blooded Arabs brought up on the oases of the desert, and thoroughly acquainted with the unsettled habits and knavish artifices of the nomad tribes of the wilderness, and, therefore, specially em ployed by the Ottoman government to protect the Haj, when halting or encamped, from the thievish depreda tions of the surrounding Bedouins. The caravan, numbering about seven thousand human beings, one-third of whom were servants, and eleven thousand animals, marching usually three, and never more than five abreast, formed a long, sinuous line, moving slowly over the arid sands on a trail left by the tramping of the thousands of hoofs that had for centuries followed the same route ; the camel-drivers trudging along by the sides of their beasts, laughing, singing, or more frequently swearing, and when op pressed or overcome by heat or fatigue, climbing into the lkters on the backs of their camels.

Chapter II

At sunset the train made the first halt and all dis mounted for prayers. After which fires were made in holes scooped in the sand with the hands, the water bags opened and coffee-brewing and drinking begun, each party, or individual, furnishing his own supplies and utensils and retaining his own respective place in the column. Refreshment over, smoking commenced ; the rich no bles and Persians drawing on their perfumed nargillahs, the Turks on their chibooks, and the poor resorting to their clay pipes and hastily rolled cigarettes. Three hours of precious time were thus wasted in the desert, before the boom of the cannon signified a forward move ment ; and in a few moments the whole column, from two to three miles in length, was again in motion. Cool and invigorating currents of air now swept over the heated plains, while a sky of sapphire blue, streaked with a thousand brilliant tints and studded with innumerable points of glittering light, diffused the darkness with a soft radiance, imposing silence and peaceful con templation on the steadily-moving column till midnight arrived, when a kella — fortified water-station — was reached and the weary multitude halted for rest.

Camels were now hastily unpacked, tents pitched outside of the kella walls, and cooking, eating, coffee drinking and smoking duly performed. Paper lanterns were hung in front of each tent, and sentinels placed along the line to watch and warn off the prowding and ever-vigilant Bedouins, who hover on the horizon, await ing an opportunity to sweep in on their swift mares and fly off with a stray goat, sheep or camel, or perhaps cautiously to approach and mingle with the pilgrims and quietly appropriate whatever might happen in their way. As the multitude settled into silence and repose, low music issued from some of the tents ; from others the measured rhythm of oft-repeated prayers floated out on the silent night-air, while from many came the sound of subdued laughter following a grave jest, or the softly modulated tones of the Oriental story-teller, rolling im aginative tales from a glib tongue to a circle of eager auditors, lying at full length on the warm sand, with raised heads resting on their hands and elbows, and large black eyes fixed on the narrator, drinking in his wondrous romances with the credulity of children.

An hour or more passed thus, before the extinguished lights within most of the tents proclaimed universal quiet throughout the Haj. Hamed was already asleep on his soft Persian rugs, and Yusuf and Obeyd, waiting to have their lights put out, had drawn the last whiffs of smoke from their coils of jeweled tubes and were stretched on their respective couches, far apart in the middle of each half of their tent, the damask curtains between them thrown up for so ciability and good ventilation, When Obeyd lazily raised his head and turned his ear to listen. " Hearest thou naught, Yusuf? " he asked, in the solemn Arabian tongue. " Naught," replied Yusuf, looking at him inquiringly. " By the life of my dromedary. I heard the scream of a woman, " continued Obeyd, assuming a sitting pos ture as he spoke.

" Hah ! yes, and there it is again — and again," getting off his couch and drawing back the thick silk curtain-door of the tent better to catch the sounds that aroused his curiosity, merely because he believed they issued from the throat of a woman ; other wise the whole Haj might have shrieked till daylight without disturbing the Turkish Effendi. " Perchance some wretch belaboring his harem," remarked Yusuf, his amiable face taking on an expression of pitying indifference, and his hand caressing his flow ing saffron beard as he composed his cramped limbs for sleep. " The cry appears to come from yonder sand-hills," said Obeyd, drawing the curtains further apart and peering forth into the starlit night towards the horizon, where the level surface was shaped by the winds into groups of mound-like eminences faintly visible against the illuminated sky.

" Hah ! what have we here ! " he exclaimed, start ing back, as a small weird figure rushed out of the gloom and darted past him into the tent. " Eigh ! what have we, forsooth !" echoed Yusuf, rising on his elbow and gazing in astonishment on a pale-faced, trembling, panting, wild-eyed girl of ten or twelve years of age, who suddenly stood before them, staring from one to the other with beseeching glances and trying to speak, her hair hanging down her back in tangled bronze masses, her shoulders covered with a rude cape of undressed sheepskin, a short skirt of blue cotton depending to her knees, and her legs and feet bare. " A Bedouin girl ! " cried Obeyd, recovering from his surprise, and dropping the curtain to come forward and Thy name, bint?" . . . " I am Feydeh !"— p. gaze with curious interest on the untamed aspect of their visitor.

" A beauty, a desert belle, shot in upon us, Yusuf," continued the young Turk, laughing, and twirling his mustache according to the latest fashion at Stamboul, and noting with admiration the wild and savage grace of the lithely-erect figure, well-shaped arms, and small, haughtily-poised head, his keen creative sense rapidly estimating the beauty of the golden sheen that diligent brushing would impart to the dull glimmer of the matted locks now circling the anxious, childish face in a frame of uncouth disorder. "Whence comest thou? Where are thy people?" questioned Yusuf, bending his sharp eyes suspiciously on the child. " There ! " ejaculated the girl, making a step nearer her interlocutor and throwing her hand towards the closed curtains. "Thy name, bint (girl); hast thou fled from thy kin ?

Wherefore comest thou to a stranger's tent in the middle of the night ? " continued Yusuf reprovingly. " I have no kin ; I am Feydeh — I fly from Motlog, the Sheikh of our tribe," answered the girl in the purest Arabic, moving still closer to the side of Yusuf. " I heard thy shriek. Why didst thou fly from Motlog?" interrupted Obeyd. " Motlog would take me to wife to-morrowr, and I will not," replied Feydeh, looking fierce and defiant. "Aha ! and thou hast sought the Haj for protection ? " said Obeyd comprehendingly. "Aye ; and Motlog commanded the young men of the tribe to catch me, but I got away," answered Feydeh, looking up at Obeyd and laughing unconsciously', in the enjoyment of her victory. "What shall we do with the bint?" asked Yusuf, turning his eyes reflectively on his companion, and letting his open palm slide down over his chest and flowing beard.

" Place her with the women in the train of some of the hajjies," promptly replied Obeyd. At that, moment, a black and dirt-begrimed face thrust the rear curtains apart and fixed a pair of keen, ferocious eyes on Feydeh. " Motlog ! " screamed the child, rushing through the canvas on the opposite side. The forbidding coun tenance, with its wind-combed head, was instantly withdrawn, but not before Obeyd and Yusuf had caught a glimpse of its owner's cruel character, and each grasped the scimitar carefully and conveniently placed at the head of his couch. Obeyd hurried out after Feydeh, stumbling over the outstretched tent-ropes, and crying to the sentinels, "Bedouins are around," which word, running along the line, was followed by the various exclamations, ' ' Look well to thy beasts. " " Count thy cattle.

" ' ' The Bedouins ! Allah blight their hands ! " and like exhorta tions, causing a general stir among the camel-drivers and their masters in counting and protecting their recumbent animals. Obeyd, now outside the tent, turned his face and strained his eyes, gazing in every direction to discover a moving object resembling the slight figure of a girl, but nothing that he could construe into the semblance of a child met his vision. As far along the line as he could distinguish, he saw only the dying embers of fiery little spots in the gloom, around which the poorer pilgrims, the servants and the camel-drivers were stretched in circles on the warm sand, with their feet to the light ; and, here and there, the form of a vigilant camel-master moving among his cattle, or the motionless turbaned head of a sentinel, the vertical gleam of his matchlock above it, defined in the obscurity.

A squad of the dromedary troopers, balancing their long lances in the air, thundered along on both sides of the column ; beyond them was nothing but the expanse of the desert joining the horizon. Obeyd concluded that the fugitive had concealed herself in a tent near by, or behind a kneeling camel, or in an empty litter on the back of a beast. Cautiously picking his way, and keeping his head half-turned, on the watch lest he should receive a death-wound in the back from the lance of Motlog 04 one of his daring tribe, he passed the numerous tents belonging to Prince Hamed, and approached a group of couching camels, belonging to the train of the Emir el Haj, some of which stretched their long necks forward on the sand in absolute repose, whilst others gave evidence of less fatigue from the day's march, by holding their heads higher than their humps and chewing their cuds.

Here he thought he perceived an object gliding between the humpy backs, then disappearing beside a shugduff looming like a small tower above the fleshy hills. Speaking a word or two to the sentinels, Obeyd wound in and out among the recumbent camels till he reached the shugduff on which he had kept his eyes, which was strapped to the back of a huge white dromedary. "Feydeh ! " he called in a low voice ; but there was no response, and he moved closer and called again, "Feydeh, child! be not afraid," then, with his gaze on the shugduff, listened to catch the faintest whisper. A pair of large eyes and two little hands clasped in entreaty, and a set of small white teeth, suggesting the ghost of a smile, became dimly visible between the slightly-drawn curtains of the shugduff, but no sound was made.

"Remain where thou art till I come again ; no harm shall befall thee," continued the young Turk, trying to inspire the wild creature with confidence. Another phantom of childish white teeth, a wave of the little hand, and a gleam of the eyes, and the canvas closed with an audible sigh of satisfaction. Seeking the camel-master in charge of that particular group of animals, Obeyd, after a short conference, gave him a piece of silver. "May evil overt^e the desert fiends ! " responded the recipient, a tall, lean, desert Arab, called Metaab, bending his body forward till his turban nearly touched the ground, meanwhile, adroitly slipping the coin in his hand under his belt

Chapter III

When Obeyd returned to his tent he found Yusuf fast asleep, one hand grasping his scimitar, the other softly holding his precious beard. "What would be his surprise if he were relieved of that cherished appendage ! " thought Obeyd, laughing at the idea of the secretary's amazement should he awaken and find a portion of his face-adornment come away with the withdrawal of his fingers. In much merri ment, the young Turk took a pair of scissors from a small case and snapped the sharp blades in such close proximity to Yusuf's chin, that, had the latter opened his eyes he would have been as much alarmed as if bend ing above him he beheld the angry visage of Motlog. "Thy beard is sacred, but thy vanity should be cor rected," murmured the Turk, giving the scissors a last swish above Yususs face and then throwing them on the ground, lest he should be tempted to commit an un pardonable mischief ; for to desecrate the beard of a Moslem is an insult that an Arab can only wipe out with the offender's life.

Obeyd replaced his scimitar behind his pillow and threw himself on his couch with a noise that awoke his companion, who arose, and while he similarly bestowed his weapon, inquired what had become of the girl. Obeyd told him how Feydeh had disposed of herself, continuing, "I dreamed, Yusuf, that Motlog, the Sheikh, had entered and cut off thy beard," his black eyes sparkling with suppressed mirth. "The Prophet forbid!" exclaimed Yusuf, clapping both hands to his chin, "but, by my soul! I had nearly the same vision. Methought a bright instru ment whisked past my eyes and hovered threateningly above my beard. Thinkest thou that is a dream of dangerous portent ? " staring anxiously in Obeyd's face. " It is strange. He may have been here, indeed — but what is that ? " answered Obeyd, affecting to scru tinize the bright little scissors lying on the ground between him and Yusuf. ' ' The Sheikh has been here !

" said Yusuf, with a shudder, as he picked up the instrument; "and they are new, fresh from Bagdad," examining them carefully. " The Bedouin dog ! he may return ! " "He'll come back for his scissors," said Obeyd laughing, the secretary thought, most irrelevantly. Yusuf reflected a moment, then proceeded to roll up his long beard in the folds of a handkerchief which he secured under his chin, and wrapping another around the lower part of his face and the back of his neck, he declared he would rather go out and creep in among the servants of Hamed than risk the danger of another visit from the enraged Bedouin Sheikh ; and, taking up one of the cushions used as pillows, he departed, while Obeyd nearly went into fits of quiet laughter. " If I had confessed, he would have distrusted me in future," thought the Turk, feeling some compunctions at having thus sent off the pious Yusuf, whom he liked and greatly respected.

The boom of the cannon at the head of the column echoed along the line at the first streak of dawn, and almost instantly the water-skins were filled, the tents packed, and the caravan was going forward. In the hurry and excitement of the early departure, Obeyd and Yusuf forgot the child that had so unceremoniously sought their protection during the night. Near midday the column crossed the Euphrates, and the train stopped to fill the gurbies with the sparkling blue water for the two days' march before reaching the next station, and to allow the horses and jackasses to drink their fill, both unable to sustain thirst, and being, therefore, the very poorest of desert travelers. "What a nuisance is all this watering," cried Obeyd, who had intended to lie comfortably on his back till sunset, and then take an agreeable exercise on his chestnut mare.

"The horses must drink at least once a day, and the jackasses once every other day ; the camels can hold out two, and even three, days without signs of injury. Thy life now depends upon the strength of thy beasts," explained Yusuf warningly. While these preparations were going forward, the riders dismounted to say prayers, drink coffee, smoke and rest an hour, without unloading the camels, and Metaab, the camel-master, presented himself before Obeyd, to remind him that the young girl was still in the shugduff on the back of his best dromedary, assert ing that he could no longer find an excuse for crowding one of the two rightful occupants into the scant quarters of another. "Is there not a woman in your company to whom you could confide the child ? " asked Obeyd, smiling at the remembrance of his nocturnal enthusiasm, and at a loss to know how to dispose of the girl.

" Aye, wellah ! " answered Metaab, concealing his pleasure. "There is my wife going down to the Hara meyn." "Well, give her the child, and see that she reaches Hayil unharmed, and I will reward thee properly," said Obeyd. "And her garments, 0 Effendi, give ye not them also ? She looks like a wild desert thing with naught but a sheepskin to cover her body and no pagee to hide her face." "There, and away with you ! " cried Obeyd, flinging him some gold. "Cover her as best you can, but let me hear no more about it ; only, I charge you, take good care of your trust. " "Aye, aye, billah ! that I will," answered Metaab, catching the money, as he made his best salaam, and calculating how many reals he might be able to extract from the purse of the Turkish Effendi for conveying that ' wild-eyed Bedouin,' as he called Feydeh, to Hayil.

Metaab sought Ayeba, his wife, in the shugduff, where she and Feydeh had comfortably passed the morning together in an extended nap. Giving Ayeba one of the coins he had received, he commanded her to put some proper garments on the child, and to keep her by her side till they reached the capital of the Emir Mahommed, assuring her that if her new charge looked well when they arrived, the young Turk would undoubtedly give her a present. He had trained his wife so thoroughly, with harsh words and threats many times fulfilled, that he was confident of being obeyed.

Chapter IV

"Tell me, bint, why hast thou left thy people?" asked Ayeba, attempting to comb out Feydeh's tangled hair, in obedience to the orders of her husband, as they jogged along that afternoon in the shugduff. Feydeh, not sure that she was beyond the clutches of the dreaded Motlog, whom she knew might follow the caravan for days when there was a chance of plunder, considered it best to tell nothing about herself till she was further away ; besides, she quickly perceived that the camel-master wras paid to give her a passage, and, therefore, thought she was not obliged to tell any thing to either him or his wife ; she would be silent to all save the Effendi, who had promised that no harm should befall her. " How many of thy kindred are in the train ? " pursued Ayeba, her curiosity piqued by the girl's reticence.

"Art thou Bedouins going down with the Haj ? Well, billah, that's a wonder. I never heard of Bedouins go ing dowm with the Haj ! " "I have no kindred, and I am not a Bedouin," at last said Feydeh. "Not a Bedouin ! " laughed Ayeba. "Whence did'st get thy sheepskin ? " regarding Feydeh's woolly cape with the disdain that all city-bred Arabs entertain for the dress of the nomads of the desert. "Look ! " said Feydeh, allowing her despised cape to slide from her shoulders and show her bare skin, soft and white where it was not exposed to the sun and wind. "The Bedouin is not thus," touching the white flesh on the upper part of her arm with a little yellow finger. "Aye, by my soul ! it is true, bint," exclaimed Ayeba, bending down in surprise to examine the delicately tinted flesh. "Not in Bagdad, nor in Damascus, have I ever seen the Arab skin so fair and soft !

" and she bent her eyes curiously on her charge and handled her more tenderly. " I see thou belongest to a tribe in the North?" resumed Ayeba, after a moment's reflection. " I have told you," answered Feydeh impatiently ; "and more, the Sheikh found me on the sand before I could talk and gave me to Khurba." "What Sheikh? what Khurba? a likely tale!" laughed Ayeba. "Was thy mother a camel?" Feydeh pouted her lips and looked angrily at her two naked brown feet stretched out straight before her, without replying. Ayeba also remained silent, trying to think, while she untangled the fine bronze hair, how she could get befitting garments for the child she was to robe respectably and bring in safety to the desert capital of the Prince of Shammar. At last she remembered the Haj market, which brought relief to her face.