Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1894-06-13

more, and we should be fuller of holes thar
O. fishermen's net.
"Save us. Save US" we screamed. I'VE
are not enemies, but friends. For the love
of the prophet, take US in"
There was not the tenth part of a second
to decide. The pilgrims looked swiftly
from us to our pursuers. The steel hedge
opened, we shot through, and it CLOSED
quickly again as the Bedouins wheeled
within yard of it, brandishing their lances
and screeching vegeance. They stood awhile
vociferating, then, yowing they would yet
give us to the vultures, slowly returned tc
look after their booty.
Meantime Rance and Baruk were scraIn
bling down with the breathless haste of feal
straight upon the center of the caravan, as
being the point remotest from the Bedou
ms. We spoke earnestly for them, but In
deed they required no pleader, their own
distracted manner being ample evidence Of
their need. As the descent was extremely
hazardous, 1 hurried forward to assist
Rance, and as ran some shots were fired
from above. Poor Rance gave little
scream, and losing her hold came toppline
into my arms. put her gently on the
ground, thinking she must have been hit
but cursory examination showed she suf
fered from nothing worse than fright.
Baruk, however, did not escape so easily.
Some of the flying slugs found billet in
his left arm, and the good man being un'
accustomed to pain cried out till tue gorge
rang with his wailings. But there was
little opportunity to console him, for the
children Of the desert having levied their
tax and been baked in their revenge had
disappeared like water in sand. and the
caravan was ordered to proceed. So the
great snake stretched out its cumbrous
length once more, making what haste it
could to quit such ugly quarters Rance
chung to me like scared child, murmur-
ing how good was and wondering, with
many calculations that were strange to
me, if we were yet safe. did what could
to encourage her, till venerable man with
long white beard and compassionate
manner led her off to the company of her
own sex.
No questions were asked of us strangers
till the caravan halted safe on the open
plain. Then, while fires were being lighted,
we were taken before some of the chief men
and requested to give an account OF our
selves. Tabal, who was a plausible fellow,
with ready invention, got through the
ordeal quickly and well, but 1 had more
trouble in proving myself pious Moham-
medan. Perhaps it was owing to my face,
or it may have been from some defect in my
accent. Eut one scurvy priest, who was
the most active of the inquisitors, made
point at the beginning of doubling all
said.
"Art not thou q hereto unbelierer?" be
asked, bending pair of funcommonly sharp,
black eyes on me- Art not. thou an enemy
Of our holy religion, a scoffer, an infidel'
Here, what sayest thou?" he demanded OF
, Tabal "Is not this fellow an unbeliever?"
"As lahell Allah may heaven set you
rightl," replied Tabal, with a rapt and
pious expression. Surely man never knew
his Koran better"
ave will see." said the priest.
Whcreupon, whipping out his greasy copy
of the sacred volume, lie began to catechise
me with the air of one who would say,
'sNow YOU shall see me do up this hereto. u
But in my enforced leisure | had not
studied the Koran in vain. To every ques.
ton came :, pat answer in the very words
of the prophet himself, till the priest, first
amazed and then convinced, thrust the
book back into his bosom and embraced
me rs true believer.
"Nlarhaba, marhaba" welcome, vel.
comel, he said, with fervor more embar.
RAISING than his doubt. "Icrave thy pardon
for my distrust. Thou art indeed worthy
follower of our holy prophet. Would that
all hissons knew his words sowell. And now
sit thee down. El hamdu l'illah. Praise be
to heaven it hath fallen to our lot to rescue
believer from the fangs of these wolves.
Semmo [eat]." And forthwith we all set
to work with an appetite that the exercise
with the Koran hadin no wise dull!ed.
It required constant watchfulness, how.
ever, to preserve me from lapsing into
Christian barbarities and heathenisms.
Even Tabal had to be kept out of my inner
secrets, and as to Rance, though doubted
not her desire to be secret, had careful
remembrance of the natural weakness of q
woman's tongue.
Once satisfied with our credentials the
pilgrims made US as one of themselves.
When we spoke of their kindness to stran-
gers, they made ever the one answer:
Think ye it is the will of God that any
true believer should be left to perish on the
way to the holy city? At the gathering OF
the nations, when the angels shall render
their account of mems deeds, both good
and bad, what would bo our recompense il
we were guilty of such thing" And
somehow it seemed to me the spirit was one
that Christians who boast Of their charity
might occasionally initiate with advantage.
We travelled fast and made our destina-
ton without loss by sickness or violence.
No Bedouin molested us, because we were
1000 strong and our way lay through the
open, where the children of the desert sell
dom attack. We went by arid strips and
fertile pasture lands, among focks and
herds and herdsmen that are today as they
were in the days of the patriarcEs, and ap-
pear not to miss the blessings of civiliza-
tion. We paid eXtortionate tolls to legal
lied robbers for allowing US to pass where
all the world was free, and we halted for
rejection and prayers beside pleasant wells
that were in no fanciful sense the eye OF
the landscape The Bedouin, living mostly
among torrid sands, very appropriately
calls water the eye Of the landscape. And
ever as we drew nearer the holy city the
pace increased and the enthusiasm grew.
We smote ourselves on the breast, ejacu-
lating fervid passages of the Koran, and
many would have dismounted and run, so
ardent and inspiring was their JOY.
At last one evening, as we were winding
among short, stony ravines that edged a
verdurous plain, the leaders raised an
ecstatic shout, and the rest of the caravan
crushing forward with beating hearts be-
held in a sort of valley below them the
minarets of Mecca cleaning in the sun like
thousand points of fire, the great mosque
being conspicuous in the midst.
We descended like an avalanche in a
storm of dust, every Moslem of us beside
himself with JOY, and awe and excitement,
and, reaching the foot of the declivity, we
burst into such a scene of commotion as
human eye could witness nowhere else un.
der the wide cope of heaven.
We talk of Babel, but the credit OF the
rel confusion of tongues belongs to Mecca.
There were hundred thousand strangers
in the city and, judging by the ear, ten
times as many tongues and dialects. There
were faces of eI cry imaginable hue and
shann from every known cline, and cos