Stevens County tribune. (Morris, Minn.) 1877-1880, 1879-11-13
THEPANIC IN THEDEsERT.
A Tale Of Seven Years Since.

A Tale Of Seven Years Since.
~ am afraid, sir, is it true"
Upon my word, Mr.. Marston, am very
sorry to hear it,"
The second speaker was, like myself,
an Englishman-a tall dignl6ed old man,
who, as he spoke, cast a quick, anxious
glance towards a bright-eyed, slender
girl of nineteen, who stood at the tent
door watching the picturesque process OF
saddling and loading the kneeling camels
for the start. Mr.. Wynne was q widower,
with an entailed estate, large income,
aud but two children, one Of whom was
the son in England, heir to the property,
and II. P. tor some borough; and the
other, his young daughter, Ethel, with
whom, after travelling in the Holy Lands,
the father had ventured so far as Bagdad.
As for myself, l was simply a young
English civil engineer, lately employed
by Midhat Pasha in some of his magnifi-
cent projects for irrigating neglected
Mesopotamia, and now homeward bound.
There were rumor5 of war and disturb
ance among the Anay8e BedOuins, and
consequently both the Wynne family and
myself had been glad to avail ourselves of
the opportunity of joining the Bagdad
Damascus caravan, which was under the
protection of Turkish military guard.
Caravan travel is tedious, but full of
interest to those whose curiosity as to
Eastern manners and Eastern costumes
is not yet dulled 0y custom; and Miss
Wynne never sCmed tired of sketehing
some group Of pilgrims IN flowing robes
turbans of sacred green, some knot OF
the Irregular sOldiery as they cooked
their pilatf or groomed their horses, or a
party of solemn Arabs shrouded in their
white hacks.
All went on prosperously until, on the
evening of the fourth day, ugly rumors
began to circulate through the camp, and
the inquiries which Mr.. Wynne, more
anxious on his daughters account than
on his own, requested me to make, had
but served to prove their truth. The
plague was among Us, and two members
ct our migrasory community-onea Kur-
dish householder, the other a Syrian
Christian-had died IN the night. To
return, however, is impossible; not mere
" on account of the desert robbers who
logged our course, but because Bagdad
itself was already hot bed Of disease, tC
which fatallstic apathy might render Mo.
hommedanS Indifferent, from which Eu.
ropcans were glad to escape.
knew but 100 well-for spent three
years already in the East-that when one
sickness breaks out iii caravan it is. {
grisly companion very difficult 70 shake
off. And SC, in this instance, it PROVED
itself to be. Never day passed with
out fresh victims being claimed by tn,
DESTROYER that shared our march and bi
vouac; never hating place but wa
marked, when we left it, by mounds o
sand heaped hastily over the shalloy
graves scooped in the yellow soil, and il
some cases protected by thorn 5ushe
and loose stones from the jackals tina
prowled in the rear of our motley multi
tude. and the vultures that lowered hig1
aloft in the sunny sky, and which follow
ed us as sharks pursue some water-lOgget
ship in the trOpic seas. Familiar face
were constantly missed from the circle
that formed at evening around the camp
fires. Now it was some gallant soldier
whose gay Albanian garb and bronze
features Miss Wynne had transferred t
her sketch-book, now o venerable Hadj
with silver beard and flowing robes; an
anon fat Parsec merchant from BON
bay, or shrewd, supple young Greel
who was lett behind in the wilderness
None seemed exempt save the brown
skinned. scantily CLAD camel driver
who plodded on-true children of til
sun-unconcernedly, under the sultr
glare.
Under these circumstances it is NJ
surprising that my casual acquaintanc
with my fellow travellers of nv ow
speech and race should have rapidly Ri
ened into close intimacy. Mr.. Wynn
was proud man. and like most old fasl
toned Englishmen, reluctant to MAX
new friends without the formality Of q
introduction, but it SO happened that
had, at Bagdad, dismissed his roguis
dragoman for peculation beyond the tr
ditional percentage which such interpre
eIs are allowed to levy, and was Their
fore glad to avail himself of the smatte
ing Of Arabic and Turkish, which l hs
picked up.
Ever sirce the outbreak of the plagr
i had observed the old man to be though
full and anxions, and at times he won
glance apprehensivelv at his daughter,
if he feared to see the first signs of t
deadly blight dim her girlish beaut
Miss Ethel's own high spirits began
decline-not from fear, but from syl
patty with the distress that reign
round US. There were bereaved fathe
and orphaned children in the carava
and sadder still, perhaps, were thu Ii
hours of those who were journeylng alor
and to whom care and burial had to
rendered by the hands of strangers.
"Poor people, wish 1 could be
them!" said the English girl, more til
once to me as relgncd up my horse
side the camel on whose high sadd
trapped with embroidered cloth, she v
mounted.
..Indeed, Miss Wyune, it would be n
less,". I replied. "These poor crcatu
have an almost suderstitious faith
European medical skill, but we have n
ther doctor nor medicine-chest,a and fir
the moment Of the seizure there is lii
hope ofrecovery. ALI we can do is
struggle on"