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+ "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+ <head>
+ <title>
+ 'Fin Tireur', by Robert Hichens
+ </title>
+ <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
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+ P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
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+ .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
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+ .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
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+ .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+ margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
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+ pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
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+ <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of "Fin Tireur", by Robert Hichens
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: "Fin Tireur"
+ 1905
+
+Author: Robert Hichens
+
+Release Date: November 8, 2007 [EBook #23416]
+Last Updated: December 17, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "FIN TIREUR" ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+ <div style="height: 8em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h1>
+ &ldquo;FIN TIREUR&rdquo;
+ </h1>
+ <h2>
+ By Robert Hichens
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <h3>
+ Frederick A. Stokes Company Publishers
+ </h3>
+ <h4>
+ Copyright, 1905
+ </h4>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Two years ago I was travelling by diligence in the Sahara Desert on the
+ great caravan route, which starts from Beni-Mora and ends, they say, at
+ Tombouctou. For fourteen hours each day we were on the road, and each
+ evening about nine o&rsquo;clock we stopped at a Bordj, or Travellers&rsquo; House,
+ ate a hasty meal, threw ourselves down on our gaudy Arab rugs, and slept
+ heavily till the hour before dawn, drugged by fatigue, and by the strong
+ air of the desert. In the late afternoon of the third day of our
+ journeying we drove into a sandstorm. A great wind arose, carrying with it
+ innumerable multitudes of sand grains, which whirled about the diligence
+ and the struggling horses, blotting out the desert as completely as a
+ London fog blots out the street on a November day. The cold became
+ intense, and very soon I began to long for the next halting-place.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Where do we stop to-night?&rdquo; I shouted to the French driver, who, with his
+ yellow toque pulled down over his ears, was chirping encouragement to his
+ horses.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Sidi-Hamdane,&rdquo; he answered, without turning his head. &ldquo;At the inn of &lsquo;Fin
+ Tireur.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Three hours later we drew up before a low building, from which a light
+ shone kindly, and I scrambled down stiffly, and lurched into the
+ longed-for shelter.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There was a man in the doorway, a short, sturdy, middle-aged Frenchman,
+ with strong features, a tuft of grey beard, heavy eyebrows, and dark,
+ prominent eyes, with a hot, shining look in them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;<i>Bon soir, m&rsquo;sieu</i>,&rdquo; he said.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;<i>Bon soir!</i>,&rdquo; I answered.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This was my host, the innkeeper whom the driver had called &ldquo;Fin Tireur.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I found out afterwards that he was not only landlord of the desolate inn,
+ but cook, garçon; in fact, the whole personnel. He lived there absolutely
+ alone, and was the only European in this Arab village lost in the great
+ spaces of the Sahara. This information I drew from him while he waited
+ upon me at dinner, which I ate in solitude. My companions of the diligence
+ were Arabs, who had melted away like ghosts into the desolation so soon as
+ the diligence had rolled into the paved courtyard round which the
+ one-storied house was built.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When I had finished dinner I lit a cigar. I was now quite alone in the
+ bare <i>salle-à-manger</i>. The storm was at its height; the sand was
+ driven like hail against the wooden shutters of the windows, and I felt
+ dreary enough. The French driver was no doubt supping in the kitchen with
+ the landlord, perhaps beside a fire, I began to long for company, for
+ warmth, and I resolved to join them. I opened the door, therefore, and
+ peered out into the passage. There was no sound of voices; but I saw a
+ light at a little distance, went towards it, and found myself in a small
+ kitchen, where the landlord was sitting alone by a red wood fire in the
+ midst of his pots and pans, smoking a thin black cigar, and reading a
+ dirty number of the <i>Journal Anti-Juif</i> of Algiers. He put it down
+ politely as I came in.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;You&rsquo;re alone, monsieur,&rdquo; I said.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Yes, m&rsquo;sieu. The driver has gone to see to the horses.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I offered him one of my Havanas, which he accepted with alacrity, and drew
+ up with him before the fire.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;You have been living here long, monsieur?&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Twenty years, m&rsquo;sieu.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Twenty years alone in this desert place!&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Nineteen years alone, m&rsquo;sieu. Before that I had my little Marie.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Marie?&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;My child, m&rsquo;sieu. She is buried in the sand behind the inn.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I looked at him in silence. His brown, wrinkled face was calm, but in his
+ prominent eyes there was still the hot shining look I had observed in them
+ when I arrived.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;The palms begin there,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;Year by year I have saved what I
+ could, and now I have bought all the palm-trees near where she lies.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He puffed away at his Havana.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;You come from France?&rdquo; I asked presently.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;From the Midi&mdash;I was born at Cassis, near Marseille.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you ever intend to go back there?&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Never, m&rsquo;sieu. Would you have me desert my child?&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;But,&rdquo; I said gently, &ldquo;she is dead.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Yes; but I have promised her that her <i>bon papa</i> will lie with her
+ presently for company. Leave her alone with the Arabs!&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A sudden look of horror came into his face.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t like the Arabs?&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Like the dirty dogs! You haven&rsquo;t been told about me, m&rsquo;sieu?&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Only that your name was Fin Tireur.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;&lsquo;Fin Tireur.&rsquo; Yes; that&rsquo;s what they call me in the desert.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;You&rsquo;re a sportsman? A &lsquo;capital shot&rsquo;?&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He laughed suddenly, and his laugh made me feel cold.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Oh! they don&rsquo;t call me &lsquo;Fin Tireur&rsquo; because I can hit gazelle, and bring
+ them home for supper. No, no! Shall I tell you why?&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He looked at me half defiantly, half wistfully, I thought.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;But if I do, perhaps your stomach will turn against the food I cooked
+ with these hands,&rdquo; he added suddenly, stretching out his hands towards me,
+ &ldquo;You are English, m&rsquo;sieu?&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Then I daresay you won&rsquo;t understand.&rdquo; &ldquo;I think I shall,&rdquo; I answered,
+ looking full at him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The way he had spoken of his child had drawn me to him. Whatever he had
+ done, I felt that chivalry and tenderness were in this man.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Why do they call you &lsquo;Fin Tireur&rsquo;?&rdquo; &ldquo;The men of the Midi, m&rsquo;sieu, are not
+ like the men of the rest of France,&rdquo; said Fin Tireur&mdash;&ldquo;at least so
+ they say. We are boasters, perhaps; but we&rsquo;ve got more love of adventure,
+ more wish to see the world, and do something big in it. They&rsquo;re talkers,
+ you know, in the Midi, and they tell of what they&rsquo;ve done. I heard them at
+ Cassis when I was a boy, and one day I saw a Zouave in front of the inn
+ balcony, where folks come on fête days to eat the bouillabaisse. The talk
+ I had heard made me wish to rove; but when I saw the Zouave, in his big
+ red trousers and blue and red jacket, I said to myself: &lsquo;As soon as my
+ three years&rsquo; service is over I&rsquo;ll go to Africa, and make my fortune.&rsquo; I
+ did my three years at Grenoble, m&rsquo;sieu, and when it was done I carried out
+ my resolve. I came to Africa; but I didn&rsquo;t come alone.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He puffed at his cigar for a minute or two, and the hot look in his eyes
+ became more definite, like a fanned flame.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;You took a comrade?&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;I took a wife, a girl of Cassis. A good girl she was then.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He paused again, then continued, in rather a loud voice: &ldquo;She was good,
+ m&rsquo;sieu, because she had seen nothing. That&rsquo;s often the way. It was I who
+ put it into her head that there were things to be seen better than rocks,
+ and dead white dusty roads, and fishing boats against the quay. I&rsquo;ve
+ thought of that since I&mdash;since I got my name of Fin Tireur. Her name
+ was Marie, and she was eighteen when we stood before the priest. Next day
+ we went to Marseille, and took the boat for Algiers. Our heads were full
+ of I don&rsquo;t know what. We thought we were clever ones, and should do well
+ in a country like Africa. And so we did at first. We got into a hotel at
+ Algiers. She was housemaid, and I was porter in the hall, and what with
+ the goings and comings&mdash;strangers giving us a little when we&rsquo;d done
+ our best for them&mdash;we made some money, and we saved it. And I wish to
+ God we&rsquo;d spent it, every sou!&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ His voice became fierce for a moment. Then he continued, with an obvious
+ effort to be calm: &ldquo;You see, m&rsquo;sieu, at Algiers we had nothing to say to
+ the Arabs. With the money we&rsquo;d saved we left Algiers, and came into the
+ desert to take a café which was to let near the station at Beni-Mora.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve just come from there.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;They call it &lsquo;Au Retour du Sahara.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had coffee there.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;That was ours, and there little Marie was born. In those days there
+ weren&rsquo;t many strangers in Beni-Mora. The railway had only just come there,
+ and it was wild enough. Very few, except the Arabs. Well, they were often
+ our customers. We learned to talk a bit of their language, and they a bit
+ of ours; and, having no friends out there, I might say we made sort of
+ friends with some of them. The dirty dogs! The camels!&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He struck his clenched hand down on the table. As he talked he had lost
+ his former consciousness of my close observation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;But they know how to please women, m&rsquo;sieu.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;They are often very handsome,&rdquo; I said.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t only that. They can stare a woman down as a wild beast can, and
+ that&rsquo;s what women like. I never so much as looked on them as men&mdash;not
+ in that way, for a Cassis woman, m&rsquo;sieu. But Marie&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He choked, ground his teeth on his cigar stump, let it drop, and stamped
+ out the glowing end on the brick floor with his heel.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;She served them, m&rsquo;sieu,&rdquo; he resumed, after clearing his throat. &ldquo;But I
+ was mostly there, and I don&rsquo;t see how&mdash;but women can always find the
+ way. Well, one day she went to what they call a sand-diviner. She didn&rsquo;t
+ pretend anything. She told me she wanted to go, and I was ready. I was
+ always ready that she should have any little pleasure. I couldn&rsquo;t leave
+ the café, so she went off alone to a room he had by the Garden of the
+ Gazelles, at the end of the dancing-street.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;I know&mdash;over the place where they smoke the kief.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;She didn&rsquo;t answer, but went and sat down under the arbour, opposite to
+ where they wash the clothes. I followed her, for she looked ill.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;&lsquo;Did he read in the sand for you?&rsquo; I said.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;&lsquo;Yes,&rsquo; she said; &lsquo;he did.&rsquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;&lsquo;What things did he read?&rsquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;She turned, and looked right at me. &lsquo;That my fate lies in the sand,&rsquo; she
+ said&mdash;&lsquo;and yours, and hers.&rsquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;And she pointed at little Marie, who was playing with a yellow kid we had
+ then just by the door.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;&lsquo;What&rsquo;s that to be afraid of?&rsquo; I asked her. &lsquo;Haven&rsquo;t we come to the
+ desert to make our fortune, and isn&rsquo;t there sand in the desert?&rsquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;&lsquo;Not much by here,&rsquo; she said.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s true, m&rsquo;sieu. It&rsquo;s hard ground, you know, at Beni-Mora.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I said, offering him another cigar.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He refused it with a quick gesture.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;She never would say another word as to what the sand-diviner had told
+ her; but she was never the same from that day. She was as uneasy as a lost
+ bitch, m&rsquo;sieu; and she made me uneasy too. Sometimes she wouldn&rsquo;t speak to
+ our little one when the child ran to her, and sometimes she&rsquo;d catch her
+ up, and kiss her till the little one&rsquo;s cheek was as red as if you&rsquo;d been
+ striking it. And then one day, after dark, she went.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Went!&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;I&rsquo;d been ill with fever, and gone to spend the night at the sulphur
+ baths; you know, m&rsquo;sieu, Hammam-Salahkin, under the mountains. I came back
+ just at dawn to open the café. When I got off my mule at the door I heard&rdquo;&mdash;his
+ face twitched convulsively&mdash;&ldquo;the most horrible crying of a child. It
+ was so horrible that I just stood there, holding on to the bridle of the
+ mule, and listening, and didn&rsquo;t dare go in. I&rsquo;d heard children cry often
+ enough before; but&mdash;<i>mon Dieu!</i>&mdash;never like that. At last I
+ dropped the bridle, and went in, with my legs shaking under me. I found
+ the little one alone in the house, and like a mad thing. She&rsquo;d been alone
+ all night.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ His face set rigidly.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;And her mother knew I should be all night at the Hammam,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Fin
+ Tireur&mdash;yes, it was coming back, and finding my little one left like
+ that in such a place, made me earn the name.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He fell suddenly into a moody silence. I broke it by saying: &ldquo;It was the
+ sand-diviner?&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He looked at me sharply. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;You never found out?&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;At Beni-Mora the women go veiled,&rdquo; he said harshly.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Suddenly I realised the horror of the situation: the deserted husband
+ living on with his child in the midst of the ordained and close secrecy of
+ Beni-Mora, where many of the women never set foot out of doors, and those
+ who do, unless they are the public dancers, are so heavily veiled that
+ their features cannot be recognised.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;What did you do?&rdquo; I asked.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;I searched, as far as one can search in an Arab town, and found out
+ nothing. I wanted to tear the veil from every woman in the place; and then
+ I was sent away from Beni-Mora.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;By whom?&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;The French authorities, my own countrymen,&rdquo; he laughed bitterly. &ldquo;To save
+ me from getting myself murdered, m&rsquo;sieu.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;You would have been.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Why not? Then I came here to keep the inn for the diligence that carries
+ the mails to the south, for I wouldn&rsquo;t leave the country till&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He paused.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;And the sand-diviner?&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;I left him at Beni-Mora. He smiled, and said he knew no more than I; and
+ perhaps he didn&rsquo;t. How was I to tell?&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;But your name of Fin Tireur?&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo;&mdash;the thing in his eyes glowed like a thing red-hot&mdash;&ldquo;I&rsquo;d
+ been here eleven months when, one afternoon of summer, just near sunset, I
+ heard a noise of drums beating and African pipes screaming, and the snarl
+ of camels on the road you came to-night. I was in the house, in this room
+ where we are sitting now, and little Marie was playing just outside by the
+ well, so that I could see her through the window. By the sounds, I knew a
+ great caravan was coming up, and passing towards the south. They always
+ water at the well, and I stood by the window to see them. Little Marie
+ stood too, shading her eyes with her bit of a hand. The drums and pipes
+ got louder, and round the corner of the inn came as big a caravan as I&rsquo;ve
+ ever seen; near a hundred camels, horsemen, and led mules and donkeys,
+ Kabyle dogs and goats, the music playing all the time, and a Caïd&rsquo;s flag
+ flying in the front. They made for the well, as I knew they would, and
+ little Marie stood all the while watching them. M&rsquo;sieu, there were square
+ packs on some of the camels, and veiled women on the packs.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He looked across at me hard.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;Veiled women?&rdquo; I repeated.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;When they got to the well they made the camels kneel for the women to get
+ down; and one of the women, when she was down, caught sight of Marie
+ standing there, with her little hand shading her eyes. That woman gave a
+ great cry behind her veil. I heard it, m&rsquo;sieu, as I stood by the window
+ there, and I saw the woman run at the little one.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He got up from his seat slowly, and stood by the wooden shutter, against
+ which the sand was driven by the wind.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;In a place like this, m&rsquo;sieu, one keeps a revolver here.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He put his hand to a pocket at the back of his breeches, brought out a
+ revolver, and pointed it at the shutter.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;When I heard the woman cry I took my revolver out. When I saw the woman
+ run I fired, and the bullet struck the veil.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He put the revolver back into his pocket, and sat down again quietly.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s why they call me Fin Tireur.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I said nothing, and sat staring at him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;When the camels had been watered the caravan went on.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;But&mdash;but the Arabs&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;The Caïd had the body tied across a donkey&mdash;they told me.&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t see?&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;No. I took the little one in. She was screaming, and I had to see to her.
+ It was two days afterwards, when I was at the market, that a scorpion
+ stung her. She was dead when I came back. Well, m&rsquo;sieu, are you sorry you
+ ate your supper?&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Before I could reply, the door opening into the courtyard gaped, and the
+ driver entered, followed by a cloud of whirling sand grains.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ &ldquo;<i>Nom d&rsquo;un chien!</i>&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Get me a tumbler of wine, for the
+ love of God, Fin Tireur. My throat&rsquo;s full of the sand. <i>Sacré nom d&rsquo;un
+ nom d&rsquo;un nom!</i>&rdquo;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He pulled off his coat, turned it upside down, and shook the sand out of
+ the pockets, while Fin Tireur went over to the corner of the kitchen where
+ the bottles stood in a row against the earthen wall.
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 6em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
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+</pre>
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