Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-06-17

Of oases-forbidden to any strangers.
Her daily danger was eenulne-not only
from the menace Of the wateriess way,
but from bandits and fanatics eager to
kill "christian dogs" She bore letter
Of safe conduct from the sayed-re-
lelous and temporal ruler Of the re-
cIon-but many tribesmen scorned the
sayed, and her own guide wished to see
fer die-was eager, In fact, to reveal
her Mohammedan disguise. The only
member Of her little caravan on whom
she could absolutely depend was Has
saneIn 6ey. educated Egyptian.
BY ROSITA FORBES.
ARTICLE IL.
w Y HEN first the rumor spread
n through Jedabia. in Tripoli.
" " that "a rich woman" was
travelling into the interior
and a guard Of sorts became neces-
sary, Sayed Rida, our host. instantly
offered some of his soldier slaves. Not
till after we left the little mud viii
lage on the edge of the world did we
grasp all the threads of the situation
we left behind. There had been a
cunning wool of plot and counter
plot both to aid and prevent our going.
from the moment when the aged
ekhwan (brother), Hail Fetater. had
vowed on the "Fatha" (first chapter
OF the Koran). to take the English
woman safely to the holy oasis. up to
the night of our desperate flight with
out other guard than Mohammed and
Yusuf.
From the point where we had
halted so long in the desert to wait
for our escort after our escape from
.Iedabia, we had searched the far
Horizon for so many weary hours, we
had magnified so many grazing herds
into our longed-for caravan that
when Yusuf, standing on the rise
above us, said, There is a caravan
coming" we took no notice. We had
eaten one good meal in eleven days.
When. however. Yusuf raced down
the hill screaming. Our caravan
Hamdulillah. Our caravan at last"
lethargy departed and we all rushed
up the rise with more speed than
dignity.
1t was quite true. Twelve camels
and a. dozen men were within a hun
dred yards of US. First came stately
figure in white burnoose, Abdullah. a
renowned guide, who knew all the
Litbyan routes, of whom the Bedouins
said, He has a great heart" and next
the neat, brisk little commandant,
with his thin, humorous face and
quiet. dry manner, the ebony Abdul
Rahim. He was followed by a SER
seant, Moraja. whose home was in
kufara, and six men.
I'VE asked for news of Jedabia.
w They say in the suq that you
escaped in an aeroplane sent by
Allah" said AbdulIah grav,ly, but
Abdul Rahim smiled his wise little
smile. They asked me where 1 was
going with my big caravan" he said,
"and 1 told them I was travelling to
punish some Bedouins who had not
paid their taxes to the sayed" (actual
and spiritual ruler of the region, who
approved Mrs. Forbes secret jour-
ney). The ekhwan and the party
which had opposed our going were
furious at our escape, which had been
quite unsupported.
So. apparently, were certain rohber
bands upon the road, for near Biz
Rassam, the caravan, marching day
and night to overtake US Git had done
the go kilometers in four and half
days., was accosted by some armed
Bedouins who asked where they were
going, while two or three others who
gathered in the vicinity said, Where
is the rich Nasrani woman who is 90
ing to travel south with large stores
of food?"
II know nothing about her." said
Abdul Rahim. There is no woman
with us. but if you want to fight us
we shall be delighted!''
The disappointed Arabs retired
hastily.
We started at $50 am. on Decem-
Der 10 for the six hours ride to Jalo
over A fiat country of fine gravel,
browntsh-yellow,w without a spark of
vegetation.
Abdullah. the most famous tracker
in Libya, who had recovered four
camels which had strayed the pre-
vious night, following their footprints
among many thousands on the soft
sand, led our caravan. kept the
compass on him for an hour. and ne
did not vary his direction by one
point. We made an absolutely straight
line between the two cases.
At 1880 am. we saw a belt of
palms on the horizon-Sharruf, the
northern end of the big oasis:
At 2:30 In the afternoon we entered
the palm belt in the middle. Here
the palms were dotted over thick
white sand rolling up to low dunes.
The scattered palms grew rarer and
we swung around a broad dune, so
that we faced a rise on which stood
a formidable row of walled buildings
Among the desert cities of Libya each
has its own special character
There are two separate villages at
Jalo-El Erg and Lebba. The former
looks like a fortress at first sight.
It's long. solid mud houses with their
strong walled courts line the brow of
the rise. To the left of the buildings
stretched what appeared to be a long,
low, white wall. solid and even. which
continued indefinitely. Mohammed
seeing 1t, rushed forward excitedfy.
1T is a royal reception in your hon
$ or" he shouted.
1t is no easy matter loading a cara
van that has got to travel $50 miles
with seven days waterless stretch.
looked at our eighteen camels with
much anxiety. However, 1t was no
use worrying in advance. Long ago
I had realized that we should get to
Kufara only If Allah SO willed, and