Sa'ad Was
Reproved And Apologised For By The Rest Of The Party; And Presently He
Himself Was Pacified, Principally, I Believe, By The Intelligence That
No Camel Was To Be Hired At Bir Abbas.
One of the Arnaut garrison, who
had obtained leave to go to Al-Madinah, came to ask us if
We could
mount him, as otherwise he should be obliged to walk the whole way.
With him we debated the propriety of attempting a passage through the
hills by one of the many by-paths that traverse them: the project was
amply discussed, and duly rejected.
We passed the day in the usual manner; all crowded
[p.272] together for shelter under the tent. Even Maryam joined us,
loudly informing Ali, her son, that his mother was no longer a woman
but a man; whilst our party generally, cowering away from the fierce
glances of the sun, were either eating or occasionally smoking, or were
occupied in cooling and drinking water. About sunset-time came a report
that we were to start that night. None could believe that such good was
in store for us; before sleeping, however, we placed each camel's pack
apart, so as to be ready for loading at a moment's notice; and we took
care to watch that our Badawin did not drive their animals away to any
distance. At last, about 11 P.M., as the moon was beginning to peep
over the Eastern wall of rock, was heard the glad sound of the little
kettle-drum calling the Albanian troopers to mount and march. In the
shortest possible time all made ready; and, hurriedly crossing the
sandy flat, we found ourselves in company with three or four Caravans,
forming one large body for better defence against the dreaded
Hawamid.[FN#8] By dint of much manoeuvring, arms in hand,-Shaykh Hamid
and the "Demon" took the prominent parts,-we, though the last comers,
managed to secure places about the middle of the line. On such
occasions all push forward recklessly, as an English mob in the strife
of sight-seeing; the rear, being left unguarded, is the place of
danger, and none seeks the honour of occupying it.
We travelled that night up the Fiumara in an Easterly direction, and at
early dawn (July 24th) found ourselves in an ill-famed gorge called
Shuab al-Hajj,[FN#9] the "Pilgrimage Pass." The loudest talkers became
silent as we neared it, and their countenances showed apprehension
written in legible characters. Presently from the high precipitous
[p.273] cliff on our left, thin blue curls of smoke-somehow or other
they caught every eye-rose in the air; and instantly afterwards rang
the sharp cracks of the hillmen's matchlocks, echoed by the rocks on
the right. My Shugduf had been broken by the camel's falling during the
night, so I called out to Mansur that we had better splice the
framework with a bit of rope: he looked up, saw me laughing, and with
an ejaculation of disgust disappeared. A number of Badawin were to be
seen swarming like hornets over the crests of the hills, boys as well
as men carrying huge weapons, and climbing with the agility of cats.
They took up comfortable places on the cut-throat eminence, and began
firing upon us with perfect convenience to themselves. The height of
the hills and the glare of the rising sun prevented my seeing objects
very distinctly, but my companions pointed out to me places where the
rock had been scarped, and where a kind of rough stone breastwork-the
Sangah of Afghanistan-had been piled up as a defence, and a rest for
the long barrel of the matchlock. It was useless to challenge the
Badawin to come down and fight us like men upon the plain; they will do
this on the Eastern coast of Arabia, but rarely, if ever, in Al-Hijaz.
And it was equally unprofitable for our escort to fire upon a foe
ensconced behind stones. Besides which, had a robber been killed, the
whole country would have risen to a man; with a force of 3,000 or
4,000, they might have gained courage to overpower a Caravan, and in
such a case not a soul would have escaped. As it was, the Badawin
directed their fire principally against the Albanians. Some of these
called for assistance to the party of Shaykhs that accompanied us from
Bir Abbas; but the dignified old men, dismounting and squatting in
council round their pipes, came to the conclusion that, as the robbers
would probably turn a deaf ear to their words, they had better spare
themselves the trouble of speaking.
[p.274] We had therefore nothing to do but to blaze away as much
powder, and to veil ourselves in as much smoke, as possible; the result
of the affair was that we lost twelve men, besides camels and other
beasts of burden. Though the bandits showed no symptoms of bravery, and
confined themselves to slaughtering the enemy from their hill-top, my
companions seemed to consider this questionable affair a most gallant
exploit.
After another hour's hurried ride through the Wady Sayyalah, appeared
Shuhada, to which we pushed on,
"Like nighted swain on lonely road,
When close behind fierce goblins tread."
Shuhada is a place which derives its name, "The Martyrs," because here
are supposed to be buried forty braves that fell in one of Mohammed's
many skirmishes. Some authorities consider it the cemetery of the
people of Wady Sayyalah.[FN#10] The once populous valley is now barren,
and one might easily pass by the consecrated spot without observing a
few ruined walls and a cluster of rude Badawin graves, each an oval of
rough stones lying beneath the thorn trees on the left of and a little
off the road. Another half hour took us to a favourite halting-place,
Bir al-Hindi,[FN#11] so called from some forgotten Indian
[p.275] who dug a well there.
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