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diff --git a/41700-0.txt b/41700-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c7e336 --- /dev/null +++ b/41700-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4358 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41700 *** + + HI JOLLY! + + By Jim Kjelgaard + + Illustrated by Kendall Rossi + + + Dodd, Mead & Company New York 1960 + + © _by Eddy Kjelgaard, 1959._ + + _Second printing_ + + _All rights reserved_ + + _No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without + permission in writing from the publisher_ + + _The general situation and many of the events described in this book + are based upon historical facts. However, the fictional characters + are wholly imaginative: they do not portray and are not intended to + portray any actual persons._ + + _Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 59-6197_ + + _Printed in the United States of America by Vail-Ballou Press, Inc., + Binghamton, N. Y._ + + + + + _Dedicated to_ DOROTHY AND ED HANSEN + + + + +Contents + + + 1. ALI FINDS THE DALUL 1 + + 2. FUGITIVE 21 + + 3. AMBUSH 38 + + 4. THE HADJ 52 + + 5. THE UNPARDONABLE SIN 64 + + 6. THE STRANGE SHIP 78 + + 7. ANOTHER PILGRIMAGE 94 + + 8. TROUBLE 105 + + 9. LIEUTENANT BEALE 120 + + 10. THE EXPEDITION 133 + + 11. THE WILDERNESS 145 + + 12. THE ROAD 158 + + 13. REUNION 174 + + + + +1. Ali Finds the Dalul + + +The first gray light of very early morning was just starting to thin +the black night when Ali opened his eyes. He came fully awake, with no +lingering period that was part sleep and part wakefulness, but he kept +exactly the same position he had maintained while slumbering. Until he +knew just what lay about him, he must not move at all. + +Motion, even the faintest stir and even in this dim light, was sure to +attract the eye of whoever might be near. In this Syrian desert, where +only the reckless turned their backs to their own caravan companions, +whoever might be near--or for that matter far--could be an enemy. + +When Ali finally moved, it was to extend his right hand, very slowly and +very stealthily, to the jeweled dagger that lay snugly sheathed beneath +the patched and tattered robe that served him as burnous by day, and bed +and bed covering by night. When his fingers curled around the hilt, he +breathed more easily. Next to a camel--of course a _dalul_, or riding +camel--a dagger was the finest and most practical of possessions, as +well as the best of friends. + +As for owning a _dalul_, Ali hadn't even hoped to get so much as a +baggage camel for this journey. When it finally became apparent that the +celestial rewards of a trip to Mecca would be augmented by certain +practical advantages if he made his pilgrimage now, he had just enough +silver to pay for the _ihram_, or ceremonial robe that he must don +before setting foot in the Holy City. Even then, it had been necessary +to provide Mustapha, that cheating dog of a tailor, with four silver +coins--and two lead ones--and Mustapha had himself to thank for that! +When Ali came to ask the price, it was five pieces of silver. When he +returned to buy, it was six. + +But the _ihram_, as well as the fifth silver coin which Mustapha might +have had if he'd retained a proper respect for a bargain, were now safe +beneath Ali's burnous. The dagger was a rare and beautiful thing. It had +been the property of some swaggering desert chief who, while visiting +Damascus, Ali's native city, had imprudently swaggered into a dark +corner. + +Though he frowned upon killing fellow humans for other than the most +urgent reasons, and he disapproved completely of assassins who slew so +they might rob, it never even occurred to Ali that he was obliged to do +anything except disapprove. He knew the usual fate of swaggering desert +chieftains who entered the wrong quarters of Damascus, and, when the +inevitable happened, he did not spring to the rescue. That was not +required by his code of self-preservation. So the assassin snatched his +victim's purse and fled without any intervention. Ali got the dagger. + +In the light of the journey he was undertaking, and the manner in which +he was undertaking it, a dagger was infinitely more precious than the +best-filled purse. Mecca was indeed a holy city, but of those who +traveled the routes leading to it, not all confined themselves to holy +thoughts and deeds. Many a pilgrim had had his throat slit for a trifle, +or merely because some bandit felt the urge to practice throat slitting. +A dagger smoothed one's path, and, as he waited now with his hand on the +hilt of his protective weapon, Ali thought wryly that his present path +was in sore need of smoothing. + +He'd left Damascus two weeks ago, intending to offer his services, as +camel driver, to the Amir of the nearby village of Sofad. He would then +travel to Mozarib with his employer's caravan. The very fact that there +would be force behind the group automatically meant that there would +also be reasonable safety. Located three days' journey from Damascus, +two from Sofad, Mozarib was the assembly point and starting place for +the great Syrian _Hadj_, or pilgrimage. It went without saying that, if +Ali tended to his camel driving and kept his dagger handy, he would go +all the way to Mecca with the great _Hadj_, which often consisted of +5000 pilgrims and 25,000 camels. + +Thus he had planned, but his plans had misfired. + +He reached Sofad on the morning scheduled for departure, only to find +that the Amir, at the last moment, had decided to make this first march +toward Mozarib a cool one and had left the previous night. Hoping to +catch up, but not unmindful of the perils that beset the way when he +neared the camp of the Sofad pilgrims, Ali had decided that it would be +prudent to reconnoiter first. It had indeed been prudent. + +Peering down at the camp from a nest of boulders on a hillock, Ali was +just in time to see the Amir and his fourteen men beheaded, in a most +efficient fashion, by sword-wielding Druse tribesmen who'd taken the +camp. Afterwards, the raiders had loaded everything except the stripped +bodies of their victims on their own camels and departed. + +It was a time for serious thinking, to which Ali had promptly devoted +himself. Unfortunately, he failed also to think broadly, and the only +conclusion he drew consisted of the fact that it was still possible for +him to go on and join the _Hadj_. Camel drivers were always welcome. +Sparing not a single thought to the idea that Druse raiders would +rather kill than do anything else, Ali had almost been caught unawares +by the one who had slipped hopefully back to see if he could find +somebody else to behead. Ali had taken to his heels and, so far, he had +proved that he was fleeter than his pursuer. Tenacious as any bloodhound, +the Druse had stayed on his trail until yesterday morning. Now he was +shaken. Ali knew that he was somewhere south of Damascus and, with any +luck, might yet join the _Hadj_. + +Help would not come amiss. Ali drank the last sip from his goatskin +water flask, shifted his dagger just a little, so it would be ready to +his hand should he have need of it, and made ready to address himself to +the one unfailing Source of help. + +Though he had no more water, there was an endless supply of sand. Good +Moslems who could read and write had assured him that this statement +appears in the _Koran_: "When ye rise up to prayer, wash your faces and +your hands and your arms to the elbows, and wipe your heads and your +feet to the ankles." Though it was commonly assumed that one would +cleanse himself with water before daring to mention Allah's name, +special provisions applied to special occasions. For those who had no +water, sand was an acceptable substitute. + +His ablutions performed, Ali faced toward Mecca, placed an open hand on +either side of his face and intoned, "God is most great." Remaining in +a standing position, he proceeded to the next phase of the prayer that +all good Moslems must offer five times daily. + +It was the recitation of the opening _sura_, or verse, of the _Koran_. +Ali, who'd memorized the proper words, had not proceeded beyond, "In the +name of the merciful and compassionate God. Praise belongs to God--" +when he was interrupted by the roar of an enraged camel. + +Ali halted abruptly, instantly and completely, forgetting the sacred +rite in which he'd been absorbed and that had five more complete phases, +each with prescribed gestures, before he might conclude it. When he +finally remembered, he was a little troubled; Allah might conceivably +frown upon whoever interrupted prayers to Him. But Ali remembered also +that Allah is indulgent toward those who are at war, in danger, ill, or +for other good reasons are unable to recite the proper prayers in the +proper way at the prescribed times. + +Surely a camel in trouble--and, among other things, the beast's roar +told Ali that it was in trouble--was the finest of reasons for ignoring +everything else. Not lightly had the camel been designated as Allah's +greatest gift to mankind. To slight His gift would be to slight Him. His +conscience clear on that point, Ali devoted himself to analyzing the +various things he'd learned about when a camel roared in the distance. + +The earliest recollection of Ali, who'd never known father or mother, +was of his career as a rug vendor's apprentice in the bazaar of The +Street Called Straight. His master worked him for as many hours as the +boy could stay awake, beat him often and left him hungry when he was +unable to steal food. But the life was not without compensations. + +Though no longer enjoying the flourishing trade it had once known, +Damascus sat squarely astride the main route between the vast reaches of +Mohammedan Turkey and Mecca, the city that every good Moslem must visit +at least once during his lifetime. The Turks came endlessly, and in +numbers, and since it's only sensible to do a little trading, even when +on a holy pilgrimage, when they reached Damascus, they stopped to trade +at The Street Called Straight. But though the pilgrims were interesting, +Ali found the camels that carried both the Turks and their goods +infinitely more so. + +He knew them all--plodding baggage beasts, two-humped bactrians, the +hybrid offspring of bactrians and one-humped camels, and all the species +and shades of species in between. But though he liked all camels, he +saved his love for the dromedary, the _heira_, the _hygin_, riding +camel, or, as Ali called them, the _dalul_. + +Invariably ridden by proud men and never used for any purpose other +than riding, they were a breed apart. Slighter and far more aristocratic +than the baggage beasts, they could carry a rider one hundred miles +between sunrise and sunset, satisfy themselves with a few handfuls of +dates when the ride ended, and go without water for five days. Their +pedigrees, in many instances longer than those of their riders, dated +back to pre-Biblical history. The owner of a _dalul_ considered such a +possession only slightly less precious than his life. + +It was when he became acquainted with the _dalul_ that Ali invented his +own mythical father. This parent was not a nameless vagabond, petty +thief, or fly-by-night adventurer who never even knew he'd sired a son +and wouldn't have cared if he had, but a renowned trainer of _dalul_. It +was he who went to the camel pastures and chose the wild young stallions +that were ready for breaking. Though they would kill any ordinary man +who ventured near, Ali's father gentled them and taught them to accept +the saddle and rein. Ali determined that he himself must go out with the +camels and promptly ran away from his master. + +Because he was too young to be of any imaginable use, the few caravan +masters who condescended to look at him usually aimed a blow right after +the look. For two years Ali was one of the numerous boy-vagabonds who +infested the bazaars of Damascus. If such a life did not elevate the +mind it could not help but sharpen the wits. + +Then, just after his ninth birthday, Ali got his chance to go out with a +caravan. It was a very small and very poor one, fewer than fifty camels, +and the caravan master decided to take Ali only because he was a boy. As +such, quite apart from the fact that he could safely be browbeaten, it +was reasonable to assume that he had not had time to learn all the +tricks of experienced drivers, the more talented among whom have been +known to get rich, and leave the owners poor, on just one journey. + +Apart from their uses and physical functions, which he learned so +precisely that one glance enabled him to cite any camel's past history, +age, present state of health, and what it would probably do next, Ali +came to appreciate the true miracle of a camel. He was the one in ten +thousand, the camel driver who knew everything the rest did--and much +they did not--and who transcended that to understand clearly the nature +of the camel itself. So fine was his touch and so complete the affinity +between camels and himself, that even beasts thought hopelessly +unmanageable responded to him. + +Nine years old when he made his first trip, Ali had spent the past nine +years on the caravan routes. He'd been to Baghdad, Istanbul, Tosya, +Trebizond. He went where the camels went and never cared if it was two +hundred miles or two thousand. But though every member of a caravan is +entitled to trade for himself, and many a camel driver has become a +caravan master or owner, Ali was as poor as on the day he started. + +Partly responsible for this was his consuming passion for camels and his +negligible interest in trading. Far more at fault was his origin. The +men of the caravans knew him as Ali, and only Allah could know more +about camels. To the merchants, who saw camels merely as the most +convenient method for transporting goods, he remained the orphan waif of +Damascus. They turned their backs upon one who had neither family nor +prestige, who could point to no achievement other than an outstanding +skill with camels. Now, camels were very convenient, but, as every +merchant in a perfumed drawing room knew, they also smelled! + +So Ali had a most compelling reason for deciding to undertake his +pilgrimage at this time. After he'd been to Mecca, like all others who +have completed the difficult and dangerous journey, he'd be entitled to +add the prefix "Hadji" to his name. That alone would never make him the +equal of the wealthy merchants who also had been to Mecca, but it would +surely make him the superior of all who had not. And this was a vast +number, since the life of a merchant is not necessarily conducive to +physical achievement and the journey to Mecca is hard. + +Now, in a desert wilderness, while on the way to Mecca, a camel had +cried out to Ali, and he could not have helped responding, even if the +camel had cried while he was at prayer in the _masjid-al-haram_, the +Great Mosque of Mecca. + +Its roar had already told Ali many things about the beast, including the +exact direction he must take to find it and approximately how far he +must go before locating it. The sound had had a certain timbre and +quality that hinted of regal things and regal bearing, therefore it was +not a baggage animal. However, neither did it have the awesome blast of +a fully-grown _dalul_. It was not challenging another stallion to +battle, but roaring in rage and defiance at something that it did not +know how to fear. + +Ali's hand slipped back to the hilt of his dagger. Unmindful of the hot +little wind that had just arisen, and that would become hotter as the +day grew longer, he started toward the camel. Although he had never been +here before, he had traveled similar country often enough to make a +reasonably accurate guess as to the terrain that lay ahead. + +It was a land of low hills, or hillocks, whose sides and narrow crests +supported a straggling growth of Aleppo pine intermixed with scrubby +brush. There was more than average rainfall, so the trees were bigger +and not as parched as those found in very arid regions. The camel was in +a gulley between the second and third hills. Ali climbed the hill, slunk +behind an Aleppo pine, peered around the trunk and gasped. + +There was a camp in the gulley--and a string of baggage camels and +men--but at first glance Ali saw nothing except the _dalul_. Of a deep +fawn color, which stamped it as one of the Nomanieh dromedaries, it was +still so young that it had not yet attained full growth. Located apart +from the rest, each separate leg was held by a separate rope, and the +bonds were stretched so tightly that the beast could hardly move. A +fifth rope, that encircled its neck, was equally tight. + +Evidently bound in such a fashion for many hours, the young _dalul_ was +weary, thirsty and choking. But, despite its obvious misery, this was +far and away the most magnificent beast Ali had ever beheld. It was the +riding camel he'd often dreamed of when, plodding along some lonely +caravan trail, he'd conjured up mental images of the perfect _dalul_. + +Further examination revealed why the young _dalul_ was bound so cruelly. +Ali's lip curled in contempt. + +The men--he counted nineteen--were part of the same band of Druse +tribesmen who'd pillaged the camp of Sofad and massacred its people. +Evidently they considered themselves safe here, since they kept no watch +at all and seemed to be unconcerned about anything. The twenty-nine +camels on the picket line were all stolid baggage animals such as even +Druse could handle. The young _dalul_ was something else. + +There was no telling just how it had fallen into the hands of the +Druse; a _dalul_ so fine would certainly be carefully guarded. +Regardless of how the raiders had obtained the animal, they could not +handle it. Obviously, it had turned on them and probably hurt +somebody--Ali voiced a fervent hope that the injury was not a light +one--and now the _dalul_ was tightly bound, to insure that it would hurt +nobody else. + +Ali whispered, "Have patience, brother." + +Slowly and thoroughly, beginning at one end and letting his eyes move +alertly to the other, Ali inspected the camp and confirmed an ugly truth +that had already been pointed out by common sense. With eight good men +at his back, and the element of surprise in their favor, he would have a +reasonable chance of storming the camp. But, as things were-- + +He'd help neither the _dalul_ nor himself by joining his ancestors at +this moment, Ali decided. He pulled the burnous over his head, drew the +dagger from its sheath and settled down to wait. + +The light grew, and the heat with it, as the sun climbed higher. Ali +risked moving just enough to pick up a pebble and put it on his tongue. +He had no water, and if the wait proved a long one, the pebble would +help relieve thirst. He must not move again, though. The merest flicker +could be one too many, and certainly a Druse tribesman with even a +baggage camel could run down a man who hadn't any. + +A camel rider, coming into camp from the south, roused not the least +interest among the men already there, and Ali took mental note of the +incident. Doubtless these raiders were flanking the great _Hadj_, but +surely they could not be insane enough to attack it. Probably they +intended to waylay small groups coming from various sources to join the +_Hadj_, just as they had the camp of Sofad. The very fact that the camel +rider came almost unnoticed proved that the raiders had a sentry posted +to the south, and the sentry had somehow advised his companions of the +rider's approach. Apparently, they anticipated no interference from any +other point of the compass. + +Sudden hope rose in Ali's heart. The rider might be bringing news of +another caravan to be attacked, and, if so, he and his companions would +depart very shortly. Since they did not know how to control it anyhow, +they would not take the _dalul_ with them. Ali's eyes strayed back to +the tethered animal. + +It must have come from the very choicest of the riding camels of some +mighty official. Even the Pasha of Damascus would not have many such, +for the simple reason that there weren't many. More than ever, it +represented all the perfection dreamed of by some camel breeder--some +long-dead camel breeder, since the _dalul_ had never been produced in +one generation or during the life span of one man--who knew the desert +and yearned for the ideal camel. + +Watching the _dalul_, Ali found his own mounting thirst easier to bear. +The animal had been without water longer than he and probably was +desperate for a drink--but refused to show it. Ali had learned while +still apprenticed to the rug vendor that camels may be as thirsty as any +other creatures. He turned his eyes back to the men. + +One, in a rather desultory fashion, was mending a pack saddle. Two or +three others were at various small chores and the rest were sleeping in +the shade of their own tents. The hardness flowed back into Ali's eyes. + +No followers of Mohammed, the Druse were devoted to heathen gods and +rituals. It was not for that, or their hypocrisy--a Druse tribesman +going among other peoples usually pretended to accept the religion of +his hosts--or their thievery, or the fact that they seldom attacked +anyone at all unless the odds were heavily in their favor, that Ali now +hated them. He'd have hated anyone at all who mistreated such a _dalul_ +in such a fashion! + +It occurred to Ali that he had neglected the prayer he should have +offered immediately after the sun rose and probably would have to omit +proper ceremonies at high noon, but it did not worry him. Allah, the +Compassionate, would surely understand that there are certain +inconveniences attached to the observance of prayers while in the full +sight of hostile Druse. Nor would He frown upon Ali for refusing to let +the _dalul_ out of his sight. When Ali left the camp, the _dalul_ was +leaving with him. + +Passing the noon mark and starting its swing to the west, the full glare +of the sun no longer burned down on Ali's burnous, and the branches of +the Aleppo pine offered some shade. But since the day became hotter as +it grew longer, with the hottest hour of any being that one just +preceding sunset, there was little relief from the heat. + +Ali lay as still as possible, partly because the slightest motion would +be sure to excite the curiosity of any Druse who happened to glance his +way and partly because moving must inevitably make him hotter. Helping +him to accept with grace what almost any other man of almost any other +nation would have found an unendurable wait were certain talents and +characteristics that had been his from birth. + +Though he'd never even known his own father, Ali was of ancient blood. +Few of his ancestors, throughout all the generations, had ever had the +facilities, even though they might possess the best of reasons, for +going anywhere in a hurry. Ali came of people who knew how to wait, and +added to his inheritance was his experience with the caravans. +Regardless of when a shipment had been promised for delivery in Baghdad +or Aleppo, it lingered along the way, if the camels that carried it +developed sore feet en route. + +In some measure, Ali suffered from heat, and, to a far greater extent, +he knew the tortures of thirst, but he accepted both with the inborn +fatalism of one who knows he must accept what he can neither change nor +prevent. Heat and thirst were passing factors. Unless he died first, in +which event he'd join Allah's celestial family, sooner or later he'd be +cool and he'd drink. + +There'd been little action in the camp all day, but toward night the +Druse stirred. They did so surlily, grudgingly, after the fashion of men +who do not like what they've been doing in the recent past and have no +reason to suppose they'll be doing anything more interesting in the near +future. Rather than build cooking fires, they nibbled dates, meal and +honey cakes, and drank from goatskin flasks. There was no singing, not +even much shouting. The Druse, born raiders who could be happy only when +in the saddle and riding to the attack, must now be unhappy and snarl at +each other because their scouts, who were doubtless haunting every +caravan trail, had brought no news of quarry sighted. + +Night came, and with it a coolness so refreshing that it inspired Ali to +thoughts of the heavenly bath that must be enjoyed by Allah's angels. +The cool night air fell and enfolded him like a gentle flood, but with +no hint of the earth's dross. After a blazing day, it was as welcome as +the sight of green palms ringing an oasis. + +Ali reveled in the coolness, but not nearly as much as he did in the +fact that, with night, the Druse camp quieted. After waiting another +hour, he drew his dagger and went forward. + +The sky was cloudless, but there was no moon and, at this early hour, +very few stars shone. Ali advanced with silent and unfaltering speed, in +spite of the fact that he could see almost nothing. A dozen times during +the day he had marked the exact route between himself and the young +_dalul_. He knew where he was going. + +Ali's fingers tightened on the dagger's hilt. If Allah saw fit to reveal +him to the Druse, he hoped that the All Merciful would see equally fit +to defend himself manfully. When Ali was within a dozen yards of the +_dalul_, the peaceful night was shattered by an alarm. + +"Ho! Wake and arm! There is an enemy among us!" + +Because that was all he could do, Ali began to run. He had cast his lot, +and now all depended on the _dalul_. If he could free it, then mount and +ride, he and the camel would be safe at least until morning. + +Ali was within an arm's length of the _dalul_ when it turned and spoke +to him. It was a guttural sound, and scarcely audible, but as different +from the usual camel's grunt as the scream of a hawk is from the chirp +of a robin. Even as he flung himself forward and started slashing at the +nearest rope, Ali heard and correctly interpreted. + +The _dalul_ had just said that it would kill him if it could! + + + + +2. Fugitive + + +The picketed camels, that never saw any reason to give way to +excitement just because humans did, shuffled their feet, grunted and +went on munching fodder. His warning voiced, the young _dalul_ remained +silent. He would waste no more breath on threats or further warnings; +just let any man who came near enough look to his own safety! His very +silence had all the lethal promise of a poised, unsheathed dagger! + +Ali said, "I hear, oh lord of all _dalul_, and I understand. But behold, +I free you!" + +He spoke calmly, and there was no fear to be detected by the young +camel because there was none in Ali. This young camel driver, who had +seen the shadow of death, or heard death whisper, as frequently as did +all those who ventured forth on the lonely caravan routes, now assured +himself that he was not necessarily looking upon a forbidding being in +this tortured camel. But, be that as it may, he must take the chance. +The incurably ill, the weary old, the oppressed, the mistreated, knew no +friend more kind than Ali. + +However, though he talked slowly and softly, he moved swiftly as a +leaping panther while he cut the first rope and went at once to the +second. The Druse camp was silent, and had been since that first shouted +alarm, but it was alert and the Druse were no fools. Certainly they +would know better than to come yelling and leaping, brandishing weapons +and mouthing threats. + +Far more probable, Ali wouldn't even know an enemy was within striking +distance until he saw--or felt--the pointed dagger that was seeking his +heart or heard the swish of a descending sword. Then, if Allah so +decreed, one less camel driver would return to the caravan routes. + +As he cut the remaining ropes, Ali continued to speak soothingly to the +young _dalul_. Far from nervous, or even slightly excited, the young +rescuer was almost serenely calm. Death would certainly be his portion +if the Druse had their way, and, of course, there was also a good +chance that he would die if he liberated the young _dalul_. But some +deaths are much sweeter than others. + +It would be far easier, and more honorable, to die under the trampling +feet of a good Moslem _dalul_ than under the sword or dagger of a +heathen Druse. Besides, even though the _dalul_ first killed Ali, there +remained the satisfactory probability that he would then turn upon and +kill one or more of the villains. + +Ali cut the final rope, the one about the _dalul's_ neck, and waited +calmly. He lowered the hand holding the dagger. He'd have sheathed the +weapon, except that one or more of the Druse might be upon him at any +moment and a dagger would be a convenient article to have in hand. But +Ali had no intention of fighting the _dalul_, or even of resisting +should it attack him. + +He said calmly, "You are free, brother." + +Not accustomed to freedom after standing so long bound by cramping +ropes, the _dalul_ shook his head and stamped his forefoot. Then he gave +two prodigious sidewise leaps toward the picketed baggage camels and +roared. + +The baggage camels crowded very close together, as though for the +comfort each found in the others, when the _dalul_ leaped. His roar +robbed them of common sense, so that they began a wild plunging. Even +better than Ali, the baggage camels knew the _dalul's_ quality. They'd +have broken their tethers and stampeded had not some of the Druse taken +note of the situation and rushed in to quiet the terrified beasts. + +For the first time, Ali had a few fleeting moments to wonder why he +still lived. It had seemed inevitable that, if the Druse did not kill +him, the _dalul_ most certainly would. Perhaps, during the tortured +hours it had stood as captive, it had marked its enemies and knew Ali +was not among them. More probable, Ali's gift, his ability to +understand and be understood by all camels, had proved itself once +again. + +Ali shrugged. He didn't know, and probably never would know, just why +the _dalul_ had not killed him the instant it was free. But Allah knew, +and it was not for Ali to question or even wonder about His judgments. + +Ali's business was camels. He decided that it was high time he took his +business in hand and called the _dalul_. + +It responded, but before coming all the way to Ali, it stopped twice to +bestow a long, lingering and disappointed look upon the camp of the +Druse. Raging, but bound and helpless, the _dalul_ had promised his +captors a battle as soon as he was free. The challenge still stood, and, +even though the Druse were not accepting, the situation rebounded to +Ali's benefit. While the _dalul_ roamed the camp, the enemy dared not +move freely, and Ali's peril was correspondingly less. + +After his second inspection of the enemy camp, the _dalul_ did not stop +again or even look about him but continued straight to Ali. He halted a +few steps away and grunted a little camel song. Then he extended his +long neck and lightly laid his head on his rescuer's shoulder. Ali +embraced the great head with both arms and pressed his cheek close to +the _dalul's_ neck. + +"Mighty one!" he crooned. "Peerless one! Where is a name worthy of such +as you?" + +The Druse were continuing the hunt, and when and if they found Ali, +they'd be overjoyed to kill him as dead as possible in the shortest +necessary time. But creeping into an armed Druse camp, his only weapons +a dagger and courage, was one matter. Waiting beside the young _dalul_, +whom the Druse had every reason to fear, was quite another. Again Ali +addressed the young stallion. + +"Sun of cameldom! Jewel of the caravan routes! By what title may you be +called so that, wherever you may venture, all men shall know your deeds +when you are called by name?" + +The young _dalul_--and if he had the faintest interest in the name Ali +or anyone else might bestow, there was no indication of that--took his +head from Ali's shoulder to sniff his hand. Obviously, it was high time +for Ali to seek divine assistance in determining a name for the _dalul_, +and it would not come amiss to indicate that haste was in order. Even +Druse tribesmen, knowing Ali was in camp but failing to find him, must +sooner or later deduce that he was with the _dalul_. + +Ali faced Mecca. He began his supplication with the customary "_Allahu +akbar_--God is most great." He ended it at precisely the same place, +more than a little overwhelmed by the speed with which Allah may respond +to even the least of His worshipers. Ali had scarcely started when he +knew the name he sought. He whirled to the _dalul_. + +"From this moment you shall be known as Ben Akbar!" he declared +happily. "Ben Akbar!" + +Transcending mere perfection, the name was a stroke of genius. Ben +Akbar, the unequaled, the peerless, the greatest _dalul_ of any. No +matter how hard they racked their own brains, regardless of the masters +of rhetoric they might consult, no camel rider anywhere would ever hit +upon a name that described his favorite in terms more superlative. + +Now that Ben Akbar bore the only name that truly conformed to his +dignity and power, Ali turned his thoughts to affairs of the moment. + +His entry into the Druse camp, audacious though it had been, never would +have created other than momentary alarm. Freeing Ben Akbar, a confirmed +killer camel in the mind of every Druse, gave a wholly different meaning +to the entire affair. The least of the raiders would happily prowl the +camp in search of Ali. But while darkness held sway, not even the best +of them cared to chance an encounter with Ben Akbar. + +In addition, or so the Druse would think, killer camels made no +distinction among Moslems, Christians, Jews, or men of any other faith. +They killed whomsoever they were able to catch. Since Ali had been near +enough to cut the _dalul's_ bindings, it followed that the killer camel +had been able to catch him. + +Regardless of anything the Druse thought at the moment, Ali knew that +they would not continue to remain deceived after sunrise. The signs, +the tracks, would be there for them to read, and few desert dwellers +read signs more skillfully. Despite anything their minds told them, +their eyes would leave no doubt that Ali and the _dalul_ had gone away +together. + +For a brief interval, Ali speculated concerning the inscrutable ways of +Allah, who had bestowed upon the Druse tribesmen a maximum of ferocity +and a minimum of common sense. Obviously, it was his duty to take +certain most urgent action if he would live to greet another sunset. + +At night, the Druse would have no stomach for attacking, or even coming +near, Ben Akbar. As soon as a new day brought light enough so they could +see, they'd never hesitate. If Ali happened to be near Ben Akbar, where +he had every intention of being, he'd be found. + +Ali said softly, "We go, brother." With Ben Akbar pacing contentedly at +his shoulder, he faded into the darkness. + +Although Ali wanted to go south, where he thought he'd have the best +chance of meeting the great _Hadj_, and the gulley in which the Druse +were camped ran almost directly north-south, he did not go down that +gulley. There was at least one enemy outpost stationed there--and +possibly more. + +Ali climbed the ridge, retracing almost exactly the path he'd followed +when he came to the rescue of Ben Akbar. Rather than stop when he +gained the summit, he went on down into the next gulley and climbed the +following ridge. On the summit of that, he finally halted. Ben Akbar, +who sported neither tether rope nor rein but who was amiably willing to +walk behind Ali where the path was narrow and beside him where space +permitted, came up from behind and thrust his long neck over his +friend's shoulder. Ali reached up to caress the mighty head. + +The baggage animals he'd seen in the Druse camp were just that, +ponderous beasts, bred to carry six hundred or more pounds a distance of +twenty-five miles at a stretch and to bear this enormous burden day +after day. Under ordinary circumstances, they'd be no match for the +_dalul_, but Ben Akbar was more than just tired and hungry. An hour of +the torment he'd endured was enough to sap more strength than an entire +day on the trail. His hump, that unfailing barometer of a camel's +condition, was half the size it should have been. There was no way of +telling when he'd had his last drink of water. + +This last, Ali told himself, was of the utmost importance. Every urchin +on every caravan route knows that camels store water in their own +bodies, and that it is entirely possible for some seasoned veterans of +the caravan trails to plod on, though at an increasingly slower pace, +for three, four, or even five days without any water save that which +they absorb from their fodder. But those are the exceptions. As noted, +given an opportunity, camels will drink as much and as frequently as any +creature of similar size, and a thirsty camel is handicapped. + +So, although Ali might have laughed in their faces had Ben Akbar been +rested and well-nourished, the Druse, who would most certainly be on +their trail the instant it was light enough to see, had more than a good +chance of overtaking them before nightfall. But before Ali could concern +himself with the Druse, there was something he must do. + +"Kneel!" he commanded. + +Ben Akbar knelt, settling himself with surprising grace. Ali mounted. +Though there was no riding saddle, he seated himself where it should +have been and placed his feet properly, one on either side of the base +of Ben Akbar's neck. There was no rein either, but the finest of the +_dalul_ were carefully schooled to obey the spoken word without regard +to rein. Ali gave the command to rise, then bade Ben Akbar go. + +Ben Akbar's gait was as gentle as the evening wind that ruffles the +new-sprouted fronds of young date palms. Ali sent him to the right, then +the left, relying on spoken commands alone and getting a response so +perfect that there'd have been no need of a rein, even if the _dalul_ +wore one. Ali no longer had reason to wonder if Ben Akbar was the +property of a rich man. None except the wealthy could afford the fees +demanded by riding masters who knew the secret of teaching a camel to +obey spoken orders. + +Though he knew he should not, Ali ordered Ben Akbar to run. The camel +obeyed instantly, yet so imperceptible was the change in pace, and so +rhythmically smooth was his run, that he had attained almost full speed +before his rider realized that the change had been made. + +Ali sat unmoving, letting the wind fan his cheeks and reveling in this +ride as he had delighted in nothing else he could remember. The gait of +riding camels varies as much as that of riding horses, but Ben Akbar +stood alone. Rather than landing with spine-jarring thuds as he raced +on, his feet seemed not even to touch the earth. + +Ali had never ridden a smoother-gaited camel...but suddenly it occurred +to him that the ride had better end. Bidding his mount halt, Ali slid to +the ground and went around to where he could pet Ben Akbar's nose. + +"You are swift as the wind itself, and the back of the downiest bird is +a bed of stones and thorns compared with the back of Ben Akbar," he +stated. "But it is not now that you should run." + +Ben Akbar sniffed Ali gravely and blew through his nostrils. Ali +responded, as though he were answering a question. + +"The Druse," he explained, "tonight they are helpless, for even if they +would follow, they cannot see our path in the darkness. But rest assured +that they shall be upon our trail with the first light of morning and +they know well how to get the most speed from their baggage beasts. If +you were rested and nourished, I would laugh at a dozen--nay!--a +thousand such! But you are weary and ill-cared-for, so tonight we must +spare your strength. Tomorrow, you may have to run away from the Druse!" + + * * * * * + +The next day was two hours old, and Ali and Ben Akbar were still walking +south, when Ali glanced about and saw the mounted Druse sweep over a +hillock. + +At the same instant, they saw him and raced full speed to the kill. + +Hearing, scenting or sensing pursuit, Ben Akbar swung all the way +around. He was very quiet, an indication that he would look to and obey +Ali. But there was about him a complete lack of nervousness, plus a +certain quality in the way he faced enemies, rather than turned from +them, that betrayed a war camel. He would flee from the Druse, if that +were Ali's wish, but he would run just as eagerly and just as swiftly +toward them, should Ali decide to attack. + +Nervous, but controlling himself, Ali counted the Druse as they raced +down the hill. There were twenty-three, three more than had been in camp +last night, therefore some must have arrived after he left. They were +not the organized unit they would have been if they expected formidable +resistance. Since there was only one man to kill, and every Druse burned +to kill him, they came in wild disorder, with those on the swiftest +camels leading. + +Though the charge was only seconds old, three of the Druse had already +drawn ahead of the rest. A glance told Ali that all three were mounted +on _dalul_. Since there had been no riding camels in the Druse camp, +obviously these were the three newcomers who had arrived during the +night. The rest were all mounted on baggage camels. + +Because he had had a whole night's start, and the pursuing Druse should +have been hampered by the necessity for working out his trail, Ali had +not expected them before midday. Something had gone amiss. Possibly, +during the night, Ali and Ben Akbar had passed another outpost that they +had not seen, but that had managed both to shadow them and to send word +back to the camp. Perhaps the outpost had even consisted of the three +riders of _dalul_. + +Ali concentrated on the three _dalul_. All were good beasts, but none +were outstanding, and, in an even contest, none could have come near to +matching Ben Akbar's speed. No, however-- + +Ali turned to Ben Akbar and said gently, "Kneel." + +Ben Akbar obeyed. Ali mounted and gave the command to rise, then to +run. He unsheathed the dagger and held it in his hand. The Druse were +armed with guns, which they knew how to use, but there were good reasons +why they would hesitate to shoot one lone man. In the first place, +powder and shot were expensive and to be used only when nothing else +sufficed. In the second, when the odds were twenty-three to one, the +Druse who shot when he might have killed his enemy with sword or dagger +must lose face as a warrior. + +The dagger in his hand was Ali's only concession to the possibility that +he might be overtaken. When and if he was, might Allah frown if at least +one of the Druse did not join his ancestors before Ali did likewise. + +Other than that, the race was not unpleasant. Weary though he was, the +power and strength that Ali had seen in Ben Akbar when the young _dalul_ +stood captive in the Druse camp were manifest now. Ben Akbar flowed +along, seeming to do so almost without effort, and Ali thought with +wonder of the magnificent creature this _dalul_ would be when properly +fed and rested. Only when Ben Akbar stumbled where he should have run on +was his rider recalled to the grim realities of the situation. + +He did not have to look behind him because he knew what lay there. +Having been detected when they appeared over the crest of the far +hillock, the Druse must still descend it, cross the gulley and climb the +opposite hill before they could be where Ali had been when they saw him. +Though they must know that Ben Akbar was not in condition to run his +best, they certainly knew the quality of such a camel. Looking from the +crest of the hill upon which Ali had been sighted and seeing nothing, +they could by no means be certain that camel and rider had not already +gone out of sight on the hill beyond. A terrified fugitive would +logically run in a straight line. + +A third of the way down the hill, Ali gave Ben Akbar the command to turn +left. He was about three hundred yards from the floor of the gulley and +the same distance from its head, where a thick copse of mingled Aleppo +pine and scrub brush offered more than enough cover to hide a whole +caravan. Reaching the thicket, Ali halted Ben Akbar and dismounted. Then +he turned and waited for the Druse to appear. + +Led by the three riders of _dalul_, they broke over the crest at the +exact spot where Ali had been sighted. They did exactly as he had hoped +they would and raced straight on. A smile of satisfaction flitted across +Ali's lips as the advance riders swept past that place where he had +turned Ben Akbar. + +Then something went amiss. + +Though the three _dalul_ had seemed equally matched, one now led the +other two by some ten yards. Reaching the gulley's floor, the leading +rider halted his mount, swung him abruptly and shouted, "He has gone +another way!" + +As the truth forced itself on Ali, his first thought was that the rider +of the leading _dalul_ must be a very giant among the Druse. + +Noted trackers, most Druse would have some trouble trailing a single +camel on a sun-baked desert. But, incredible though it seemed, the +leading pursuer had been tracking Ali while riding at full speed. He had +raced on because he had thought exactly what Ali hoped he would--that +Ali and Ben Akbar were already out of sight behind the next hill. But he +had stopped when he no longer saw tracks. + +While the two remaining riders of _dalul_ swung unquestioningly in +behind him, and the Druse mounted on baggage camels halted wherever they +happened to be, the tracker trotted his _dalul_ back up the hill. His +eyes were fixed on the ground as he sought to pick up the trail he had +lost. + +With Ben Akbar behind him, Ali stole through the thicket toward the far +end. He clutched the dagger tightly. He would mount and ride when he was +clear of the thicket; nobody could ride a camel through such a place. +But it was questionable as to how long he'd ride with such a tracker on +his trail. + +Ali was almost out of the thicket when a man who swung a wicked-looking +scimitar seemed to rise from the earth and bar his path. Ali gazed upon +the countenance of an old acquaintance. + +The man was a Druse that Ali knew as The Jackal! + + + + +3. Ambush + + +Ali took a single backward step that brought him nearer Ben Akbar. The +move could have been interpreted as a wholly natural desire to find such +comfort as he might in his camel, the one friend he had or was likely to +have. But Ali's purpose was more practical. + +Unless every imaginable advantage was on his side, the wielder of a +dagger hadn't the faintest chance of overcoming anyone armed with a +scimitar, but Ali intended to concede no point not already and +unavoidably given by the difference in weapons. When The Jackal swung, +which he would do when he considered the moment right, he would not +miss. But if Ali was agile enough at ducking, and ducked in the right +direction, it did not necessarily follow that he must be killed +outright. + +For a split second immediately following his blow, The Jackal would be +off guard. Before he recovered, always supposing he was still able to +move, Ali might go forward with his dagger and work some execution, or +at least inflict some damage, of his own. All else failing, there was +reason to hope that Ben Akbar would trample his foe after he went down. +Ali studied The Jackal. + +Of medium height and probably middle-aged, he was veiled in a certain +mystic aura that defied penetration and prevented even a reasonably +accurate guess as to how many years he had been on earth. He blended in +a curious manner with the harsh and wild desert background, as though he +had been a part of it from the beginning. His hair was concealed beneath +a hood, but not even a thick beard succeeded in hiding a cruel mouth. +His nose was thin and aquiline, with nostrils that seemed forever to be +questing. His eyes were unreadable, but they possessed certain depths +that combined with a broad sweep of forehead and a vast arrogance of +manner to mark The Jackal as a man apart. + +Ali remembered the first time he had run across him, or rather, evidence +of his work. + +It was Ali's third year with the caravans, and they were going from +Mersin to Erzerum, with seven hundred camels and an assorted load, when +they overtook all that remained of the caravan preceding them. It had +been the entourage of some wealthy Amir, traveling north with his family +and a powerful guard of soldiers. When Ali arrived, The Jackal had been +there and gone, but he had left his trademark. + +All human males, from babes in the arms of his wives to the gray-bearded +Amir himself, lay where they had fallen. The older women and the girl +children were massacred, too. Only the young girls had been carried away +with the remainder of the legitimate booty. + +Savagely cruel though it was, the raid was equally audacious. Of the +many bandit leaders infesting the caravan routes, few had the +imagination to plan a successful attack on a heavily-guarded Amir's +caravan or the courage to proceed, once such an attack was planned. + +Thereafter, at sporadic intervals, Ali found additional evidence that +The Jackal was still at work, and there could be no mistake about his +identity. His raids were noted for cruelty and for the fact that he +never bothered with any except wealthy caravans. Three years later, Ali +met The Jackal. + +The caravan for which Ali was handling camels came to an oasis one day +out of Ankara and found another caravan already encamped. However, +there was ample room for both and no apparent reason for either to +challenge the other. Ali took care of the camels for which he was +responsible, then set about to do something he would have done before +had an opportunity offered itself. + +He had been in Antioch, temporarily idle, when he happened across a +youngster mishandling some half-broken baggage camels. He had stepped in +to bring the situation under control. On succeeding, he discovered that +the young man had disappeared while he was occupied, and an older person +was quietly watching him instead. The older man, whom Ali thought was +the caravan master, invited him to come along as a camel driver. + +Ali had accepted and discovered, too late, that the imperious youngster +who'd been mishandling baggage camels was the real caravan master, which +position he held solely by virtue of the fact that his father was Pasha +of Damascus. He didn't like Ali and he missed no opportunity to +demonstrate his disapproval. Ali had stayed with the caravan until +reaching this oasis for the simple reason that there was no other +choice. If he had left sooner, he would have been one lone man in a land +noted for the brief span of life enjoyed by solitary travelers. But he +felt that he could make it from here to Ankara without difficulty and +he'd had more than his fill of the Pasha's son. He went to the caravan +master's tent to demand his pay. + +He found the youngster engaged in amiable conversation with the man who +now stood before him, The Jackal, who said he was master of the other +caravan. Ali also found that, in the eyes of the Pasha's son, his own +state was less than exalted. He was ordered out of the tent. + +When Ali refused to leave without first receiving his pay, the youngster +unsheathed a dagger and advanced with the obvious intention of having +him carried out feet first. Unluckily for the Pasha's son, Ali also had +a dagger and his skill with the same exceeded by a comfortable margin +any adroitness the other might claim. Ali got his due wages, which he +took from a moneybag, and the Pasha's son had fainted from a series of +dagger wounds in his right arm. + +Ali was on the point of leaving when The Jackal, who had offered not the +faintest interference, rose, complimented him on a superb bit of dagger +work and thanked him for making it easier to sack the caravan. He intended +to do this tomorrow, somewhere between the oasis and Ankara, but the +Pasha's son had presented an awkward problem. The Jackal, who introduced +himself as such, had no fear of soldiers in reasonable numbers but he was +not prepared to cope with the armies that must inevitably take the field +against whoever molested a son of the Pasha--this despite the fact that +the Pasha had no fewer than twenty-nine known sons. The Jackal had been +trying to persuade the young man to leave and go into Ankara when Ali's +dagger had settled the matter in a most satisfactory fashion. + +The Jackal was not ungrateful, and, to prove his gratitude, he would +arrange for Ali to ride into Ankara with a small group of his own men, +who would leave shortly. After they had gone, The Jackal would see to it +that a sufficient number of his own trusty brigands, under such oaths as +might be appropriate, would swear that they had seen the Pasha's son +struck down by an unknown assailant. + +Ali had ridden and so had escaped the next morning's massacre, which +several travelers had reported as taking place after the Pasha's son had +been "_killed by an assassin_." Thereafter, he had waited for lightning +to strike although he had only injured his attacker in self defense, but +so far, it hadn't which meant that The Jackal had kept his lips sealed. +Now it no longer mattered. The Jackal would cut his own mother down if +by so doing he served his own ends. + +Suddenly, "Why hesitate, Abdullah?" somebody growled. + +Another man came from the brush to stand beside The Jackal. Then there +was another...and more...until nineteen men were grouped about The +Jackal and facing Ali. The Jackal stepped aside. Another took his place. + +Ali glanced briefly at The Jackal. He looked at the others, all good +Moslems and all wearing on their turbans the distinctive emblem that +marked them as members of the Pasha's crack personal soldiery. The +present "Abdullah," the former Jackal, wore the same emblem but, until +now, it had escaped Ali's notice because, not in his wildest flight of +imagination had he dreamed he'd ever see it on a Druse. + +The soldier who'd spoken and for whom The Jackal had stepped aside, +evidently the commander of this patrol, spoke again and directed his +words to Ali, "Where found you the _dalul_, dog?" + +Ali answered, "I stole him from some Druse." + +The soldier drew his dagger and spoke again, "Die you will, but choose +whether you die swiftly or slowly. Why are you found in possession of +the finest _dalul_ among two thousand such owned by the Pasha of +Damascus?" + +"I stole him--" Ali began. + +At that moment, out in the thicket, one of the camels being led by the +dismounted Druse as they made their way among the trees and brush, chose +to grunt. The eyes of every man except the officer turned toward the +sound. + +Ali said, "The Druse from whom I stole the _dalul_ are in close pursuit. +They are twenty-three in all." + +Except for the officer, who thoughtfully kept the point of his dagger +pricking Ali's ribs, the Moslems scattered and, a few seconds later, it +was as though they had never been. + +The officer addressed Ali. "Bid the _dalul_ lie down." + +Ali gave the order and Ben Akbar obeyed. Unconcerned as though there +were no Druse within forty miles, but not forgetting to prick Ali's ribs +with his dagger, the officer scorned even to glance in the direction +from which the Druse approached. Ali wondered. Some Moslems yearned so +ardently for the life to come that they set not the least value on the +one they already had, but the officer seemed more practical-minded. + +"The Druse number a score and three," Ali ventured finally. "They come +from the direction where the camel grunted and they cannot fail to see +you should you neglect to hide." + +"I did not ask your opinion," the officer growled. "Be silent!" + +Since the order was emphasized with a sudden jab of the dagger, Ali +remained silent. He composed himself. This, as well as everything else, +was now in the hands of Allah and He alone would determine the outcome. +But it never harmed anything to ponder. + +The rest of the Moslems and The Jackal had disappeared as suddenly and +completely as morning dew when the sun turns hot. Though they could not +be very far away, neither was the end of the thicket. Once out of the +brush, Ali could mount Ben Akbar and ride. If the pursuit were resumed, +and, regardless of who won the forthcoming battle, it would be, it must +still be delayed while the fight was in progress. If Allah would only +see fit to make the officer take the point of his dagger out of Ali's +ribs and go wherever his men had gone, it would be worth Ali's while to +try to break away. + +But the officer entertained no ideas about going anywhere or of using +his dagger for any purpose except to remind Ali how swiftly a painful +situation could become fatal. Ali looked at Ben Akbar, still lying where +he had been ordered to lie, but not liking it. Though reclining, he was +anything but relaxed. His head was up, his eyes missed nothing, his +nostrils quested, and tense muscles indicated both a readiness and an +ability to spring instantly to his feet. + +Ali decided that Ben Akbar did not like these strange Moslems any better +than he had the Druse who captured him, and that he tolerated them at +all only because Ali commanded him to do so. It occurred to Ali that +none of the Moslems had been eager to venture too near Ben Akbar, and, +suddenly, he knew something he hadn't known before. + +Certainly no killer, Ben Akbar was most discriminating when it came to a +choice of human companions. Incapable as the Druse of handling him +properly, the Moslems were wisely leaving him alone. The fierce little +officer never would have told Ali to make Ben Akbar lie down if he +thought the _dalul_ would obey him instead. + +That being so, and if Allah smiled and the Moslems won the forthcoming +fight, Ali felt that he had some hope of staying alive, at least until +the soldiers returned to whatever headquarters camp they had left to go +out on patrol. It would reflect little credit on any emissary of the +Pasha of Damascus to bring a favorite _dalul_ before the eyes of his +master as a raging brute at the end of ropes. If the Moslems could not +take him in except by force, but Ali could, there were reasons to +suppose that Ali would. + +When they appeared on foot, the Druse were led by a sinewy man who +advanced at a trot, and who, in turn, led a _dalul_. Evidently the same +talented tracker who'd followed Ali's trail while riding full speed, the +man strained like a leashed gazelle hound that sights its quarry. The +remaining Druse grouped behind him. + +Ali glanced at the officer. + +That fierce Moslem, who certainly knew the Druse were coming, +contemptuously refused even to look around until the leader was within +thirty yards of him. Then, maintaining enough pressure on the dagger to +remind Ali that he was not forgotten, he swung and shouted insults. + +"Dogs!" he spat. "Eaters of pork! Spawn of flies that infest camel dung! +I have your prisoner and your _dalul_! Come take them if you're men!" + +The leading Druse dropped the reins of his _dalul_, shouted fiercely, +drew his sword and rushed. His followers did likewise, and, even though +some were delayed by frightened camels that plunged to one side or the +other, Ali counted nine sword-waving Druse hard on the heels of their +leader and all too close for comfort. He stole another glance at the +officer. + +Neither taking the dagger from Ali's ribs nor making any move to draw +his sword, he seemed to regard the attacking Druse as he might some +particularly repulsive vermin that might soil his shoes if he stepped on +them. Then it happened. + +From both sides of the trail, where they had concealed themselves as +soon as they knew the Druse were coming, Moslem swordsmen rose. So +complete was the surprise and so overwhelming the shock, half the Druse +were down before the rest even thought of rallying. Ali acknowledged his +approval--and even some admiration--for an officer who could plan so +well. + +The ambushed Moslems must have seen Ali and Ben Akbar when they were at +least as far off as the Druse had been when they were sighted. They had +marked the exact route, which made it unnecessary to do any second-guessing +about the Druse. If they were following Ali, they were tracking him. So +an ambush on either side of the track, an officer to act as bait and +convince the Druse that there was only one man and-- + +The last Druse went down. The Moslems ranged out to catch the scattered +camels and bring in any loot that was worth bringing. Some wounded, but +all on their feet, they arranged themselves and their booty before the +officer. + +"You fought like old women," he sneered. "It is well that there were no +real warriors to oppose you. But now that we have the _dalul_ we set out +to find, we may return." + +"The prisoner?" someone called. + +"He stays." The officer pushed his dagger a quarter inch into Ali's +ribs. + +Because it was an ideal time to think of something else, Ali speculated +about The Jackal. Whatever else he might be, The Jackal was a brave man. +What would happen, if he were detected, to a Druse who not only joined +the _Hadj_ but the Pasha's personal soldiers too, and who was obviously +representing himself as a Moslem, Ali couldn't even imagine. + +He did know that one false step would be one too many for the deceiver. +If The Jackal took that step, he would live a very long while in agony +before voicing his final shriek. Of course, it was a true Moslem's duty +to tell what he knew, but The Jackal had only to speak and Ali would +face the torturers with him. Whatever purpose had brought The Jackal +here, he must be playing for tremendous stakes. + +Ali was considerably relieved, but not greatly astonished, when the +officer withdrew his dagger and sheathed it. He addressed Ali as he +might have spoken to a stray cur. + +"On second thought, we will take you to Al Misri, The Egyptian, and let +him kill you. Bring the _dalul_, dog, and, for your own sake, see that +it does not stray." + + + + +4. The Hadj + + +As soon as possible, which was as soon as their own riding camels +could be brought from wherever they had been hidden, the Moslem soldiers +mounted and prepared to set out. On the point of mounting Ben Akbar, Ali +was knocked to the ground by the flat of the fierce officer's sword and +informed in terms that left no room for doubt that he was Ben Akbar's +attendant. Nobody except the Pasha of Damascus was to be his rider. + +Despite clear grounds for argument, Ali smothered his anger and +comforted himself with logic. There are times to fight, but on this +specific occasion logic indicated clearly that one man armed with a +dagger can hope for nothing except a very certain demise by defying +twenty men who are armed with everything. Ali walked beside the _dalul_, +a rather simple process, since the speed of all must necessarily be +regulated by the pace of the slow baggage camels, and Ben Akbar refused +to leave his friend's side, anyhow. + +With nightfall, they made camp at a water hole too small to be dignified +by the title of oasis. After he had finished eating, the officer +contemptuously tossed Ali the remains of his meal and a silken cord. He +said nothing, apparently he had no desire to degrade himself by speaking +unnecessarily to anyone who was so clearly and so greatly his inferior, +but the implication was obvious. Ben Akbar must not stray. + +Knowing the cord was unnecessary, Ali chose the diplomatic course. He +tied one end of the cord to his wrist and the other around the young +_dalul's_ neck. While Ben Akbar grazed, Ali sat quietly and devoted a +few fleeting thoughts to the various possibilities of a social position +that is approximately on a level with the fleas that torment camels--and +sometimes riders of camels. + +While it was true that the soldiers, grouped about their evening fire, +ignored him as completely as though he didn't even exist, Ali saw no +good reason why he should ignore them in a similar fashion. He breathed +a silent thanks to Allah for blessing him with sharp ears. What those +ears heard as Ali sat pretending to doze, but alert as a desert fox, +might have a powerful influence on his plans for the future. + +There were diverse possibilities. One that had already been considered +most thoroughly and at great length was rooted in the pleasing thought +that Ben Akbar was no longer a tired, hungry and thirsty _dalul_. Given +as much as a five-second start, there wasn't another camel on the desert +that could even hope to catch him. + +If this was to be Ali's choice, tonight was the time for action. But +before committing himself to anything, he wanted to consider everything. + +The patrol, as Ali had learned from the conversation at the campfire, +was one of several dispatched from the great _Hadj_ six days ago. Their +only purpose was to find Ben Akbar; their orders were not to return +without him. + +Ben Akbar had been lost, so Ali learned, through the laxity of a +seven-times-cursed camel driver from Smyrna. His only duty, a task to +which he'd been assigned because he was one of the very few men Ben +Akbar would obey, was to watch over the Pasha's most-prized _dalul_. +Somehow or other--a soldier voiced the opinion that he'd been in +collusion with the very Druse from whom Ali had taken him--he'd managed +to lose his charge. All the soldiers gave fervent thanks to Allah +because their mission was successfully completed. Hunting lost camels +was not their idea of interesting diversion. + +Ali digested the food for thought thus provided and decided, to his own +satisfaction, that his previous deduction had been entirely correct. He +had not been spared because the Moslem soldiers were compassionate, but +because not one among them knew how to handle Ben Akbar without resorting +to force. Furthermore, if Ben Akbar were not greatly esteemed, several +patrols of soldiers who might at any time be needed for other duties +never would have been charged with the exclusive task of recovering him. + +While Ben Akbar moved so carefully that the silken cord was never even +taut, Ali lay back to gaze at the sky and consider the most profitable +use of the information at his disposal. + +If he rode into the desert on Ben Akbar, a possibility that retained +much appeal, he need have no fear of successful pursuit. However, the +Pasha's soldiers would certainly continue their search. As long as Ben +Akbar was with him--and Ali had already decided that that would be as +long as he lived--he must inevitably be a marked man. Unless he rode +into a country ruled by some sultan or Pasha who was hostile to the +Pasha of Damascus--in which event there was a fine chance of having his +throat cut by someone who wanted to steal Ben Akbar--he would lead a +harassed and harried life. + +On the other hand, if he stayed with the soldiers and went into camp, he'd +be doing exactly what he'd set out to do in the first place--he'd join the +great _Hadj_. As there seemed to be few camel drivers who knew how to +handle Ben Akbar, there was more than a good chance that Ali would make +the pilgrimage as his attendant. Since he'd already determined that Ben +Akbar would be a part of his future, regardless of what that was or where +it led him, this prospect was entrancing. In addition, once his holy +pilgrimage was properly completed, he would be entitled to call himself +Hadji Ali and to take advantage of the expanded horizon derived therefrom. + +Only one small cloud of doubt prevented Ali from choosing this latter +course without further hesitation or thought. The Moslem officer's voice +had been laden with more than casual respect when he referred to Al Misri, +or The Egyptian. The casual pronouncement that The Egyptian was to have +the pleasure of executing Ali might be, and probably was, just another +attempt to intimidate him. But this was the Syrian _Hadj_. As such, it +differed distinctly from the Moslem pilgrimage that originated in and +departed from Cairo, Egypt. Every Syrian knew that Egyptians are inferior. +The very fact that a responsible and high-ranking officer of the Syrian +_Hadj_ possessed the sheer brazen effrontery to call himself The Egyptian, +plus the strength and authority to command respect for such a title, was +more than enough to mark him as a man apart. Doubtless he was a man of +firm convictions that were translated into action without loss of time. If +he had, or if he should develop, a firm conviction that Ali dead was more +pleasing than Ali alive-- + +Ali finally decided to go in with the soldiers and trust Allah. His +decision made, he lay down, arranged his burnous to suit him and went +peacefully to sleep. + +In the thin, cold light of very early morning, he came awake and, as +usual, lay quietly before moving. The silken cord that was tied to his +wrist and Ben Akbar's neck was both slack and motionless; the _dalul_ +must be resting. The dagger and pilgrim's robe were safe. Reassured +concerning the state of his personal world and possessions of the +moment, Ali sat up and looked toward Ben Akbar. + +No more than a dozen feet away, the young _dalul_ was standing quietly +where he had finished grazing. An ecstatic glow lighted Ali's eyes. Ben +Akbar's recuperative powers must be as marvelous as his speed and +endurance. He scarcely seemed to be the same spent and reeling beast +that Ali had led into ambush yesterday morning. After only one night's +rest and grazing, even his hump was noticeably bigger. + +Ali joined the other Moslems at morning prayer, stood humbly aside as +they saddled and mounted and started the baggage camels moving and fell +in behind with Ben Akbar. Nobody paid the least attention to him; if he +planned to escape, he would not be fool enough to make the attempt by +day. + +Four hours later, the travelers looked from a hillock upon the great +_Hadj_. + +A sea of tents, like rippling waves, overflowed and seemed about to +overwhelm a broad valley. There were no palms or any other indication of +water. Obviously, this was a dry camp--one of many on the long, dangerous +route--and dry camps were the primary reason why so many baggage camels +were needed. But even with thousands of baggage camels burdened with food +and water, often there was not enough. Falling in that order to thirst, +bandits, disease or hunger--or succumbing to the desert itself--a full +third of the pilgrims with any _Hadj_ might die before reaching the Holy +City. + +Save for a few tethered camels and some horses, there were no animals in +sight. Ali knew that the majority had been given over to herders and +were in various pastures. The picketed camels and horses were for the +convenience of those who might find it necessary to ride. + +For the most part, the camp would rest all day. Only when late afternoon +shadows tempered the glaring sun would it come awake. Then, guided by +blazing torches on either flank, at the mile-or mile-and-a-half-an-hour +which was the swiftest pace so many baggage animals could maintain, it +would march toward Mecca all night long. + +Impressive as the camp appeared, Ali knew also that it was just a small +part--though one of the wealthier parts or there would not have been so +many tents--of the great _Hadj_. There was not a single valley in the +entire desert spacious enough to accommodate the five thousand humans, +and the more than twenty thousand beasts, whose destination was the Holy +City of Mecca. + +After a brief halt, the officer led his men down into the camp. There +were few humans stirring, and those who were regarded the returning +patrol with complete indifference. + +In the very center of the camp, before a huge and luxurious tent that, +together with its furnishings, must require a whole herd of baggage +camels just to transport it, the officer dismounted, handed the reins of +his riding camel to a soldier and entered the tent. The remainder of the +patrol formed an armed circle around Ali and Ben Akbar. + +Wishing he could feel as unconcerned as he hoped he appeared, Ali sought +to ease the tension by observing and speculating. This tent, he +presently decided, was not headquarters for the Pasha himself. Though +the Pasha's tent couldn't possibly be much more luxurious, it would be +surrounded by the camps of other dignitaries, and the whole would be so +well-guarded by soldiers that nobody could have come even near. Ali +guessed that this was the headquarters of Al Misri, and that they were +in a camp of officers and lesser notables. + +Twenty minutes after he entered the tent--Ali guessed shrewdly that he +had been allowed to cool his heels for a decorous interval--the officer +backed out. He bowed, a curious and somehow a ludicrous gesture for anyone +so fiery, and held the tent flaps open. When a second man emerged, the +officer stepped humbly to one side and waited whatever action the other +might consider. + +Short and squat, at first glance Al Misri seemed a shapeless lump of +human flesh that has somehow been given the breath of life. His silken +robe hung loosely open. Uncovered, his massive head seemed to be +supported directly on his shoulders, without benefit of or need for a +neck. It was bald as an egg. He plopped a date into his mouth and chewed +it as the soldiers moved respectfully back to give him room. + +Yet Ali needed only one glance to tell him that Al Misri was far more +than just a funny little fat man who chewed dates in a rather disgusting +manner. His grotesque body was enveloped in an aura not unlike that +which enfolded Ben Akbar. Al Misri commanded because it was his destiny +to command. + +He came near, spat the date pit into Ali's face and spoke to the +officer. The latter conveyed the message to Ali. + +"Even though Al Misri prefers to kill vermin, you are granted your life. +You win this favor, not through compassion, but because you are able to +ride a _dalul_ that kills other men." + +Ali remained silent, as was expected of him. Al Misri gave the officer +another message for the captive camel driver. + +"The other keeper of the _dalul_ let it stray," the officer announced. +"The keeper died in a fire, a very slow fire that was kindled at dawn, +but the keeper still nodded his head at high noon. You are now keeper of +the _dalul_. Take care that it strays not." + +Without another word or a backward glance, Al Misri turned and waddled +back to his tent. The officer disbanded his men. + +Ali led Ben Akbar to pasture at the edge of camp. + + * * * * * + +The travelers came to Tanim, far enough outside Holy Territory so that +there was no possibility of desecrating it, but near enough to furnish a +convenient stopping place for donning the _ihram_, in the cool of early +morning. Not all who had been with the _Hadj_ when Ali finally joined +it--and not all who had since come from one place or another--were still +present. Many good Moslems who would never see the Holy City had died +trying to reach it. + +Ali reflected curiously that some of the more devout were dead, while +some who seemed to regard this holy journey in anything except a pious +light were very much alive. A merchant who had come all the way from +Damascus, and who was about to don the _ihram_, deferred the ceremony so +that he might bargain about something or other with another merchant +from Smyrna. Though they were all Moslems--except for The Jackal, Ali +thought quickly--obviously the true light burned brightly for some and +dimly for others. + +Ali wondered uneasily about the category in which he belonged. He +worried about the fact that he did not feel greatly different from the +way he had felt while out on the caravan routes or in the bazaar of The +Street Called Straight. He thought he should feel something else. + +Though many had died, his pilgrimage had been almost luxurious. He had +nothing at all to do except watch over Ben Akbar, which was simplicity +itself because the powerful young _dalul_ wanted nothing except to be +where Ali was. Though Ali was forbidden to ride, the Pasha of Damascus, +the only human worthy of riding Ben Akbar, had allowed himself to be +carried all the way to Mecca in a sedan chair. Seeing the Pasha once, +and from a distance, Ali decided, to his own satisfaction, at least, +that he had not asked to ride Ben Akbar for the simple reason that he +couldn't. Judging by the Pasha's looks, he'd have trouble riding an +age-broken baggage camel. + +Always together, Ali and Ben Akbar had walked all the way. It had still +been the easiest of walks since, as long as he took care of Ben Akbar +and kept himself in the background, Ali was assured ample food and +water. With the finest of care and nothing to do, Ben Akbar was at the +very peak of perfection. + +With appropriate ceremony, Ali donned the _ihram_ and ran a mental tally +of the things he must not do until the _Hadj_ came to an end. He must wear +neither head nor foot covering. He must not shave, trim his nails--But +there was nothing in the entire list that forbade taking Ben Akbar with +him. Ali remained troubled, nevertheless because, try as he would, he was +unable to achieve what he considered a necessary level of piety. + +Rather than feeling spiritually uplifted by what had been and what was +to be, he could think only that, very shortly, he would have the right +to call himself Hadji Ali. + + + + +5. The Unpardonable Sin + + +Mecca, Holy City of the Moslems, spoke in a strangely subdued whisper +when this particular night finally enfolded it. The great _Hadj_ was +ended--the official termination announced when the wealthier pilgrims +sought barbers to shave them and those without money shaved each other. + +The unofficial, but more realistic, termination came about in a +different manner. + +Whatever their motives, or degree of zeal, an inspired army had gone to +Mecca. With the _Hadj_ ended, suddenly weary human beings thought with +wistful longing of the homes they'd left and the beloved faces that +became doubly precious because they were absent. Thus the sudden silence +in Mecca, where--every night until this one--lone pilgrims and bands of +pilgrims had gone noisily about various errands. However, not all pilgrims +had chosen to spend this night in their beds. + +Ali, now Hadji Ali, stood very quietly in the darkest niche he'd been +able to find of The Masa, The Sacred Course between Mounts Safa and +Marwa. Ben Akbar, never far from Ali's side, stood just as quietly +beside him and Ali wanted no other companion. Hoping to ease a troubled +conscience, he had sought this lonely and deserted spot to try to find +the true significance, which he was sure must exist but had so far +escaped him, of the ceremonies in which he had just participated. + +Perhaps, he thought seriously, he was now confused because he had had no +real understanding of any part of anything from the very beginning. +Nobody had told him why the _ihram_ must be donned and adjusted in a +certain way, with certain prescribed motions, and in no other fashion. + +With Ben Akbar, who followed like a faithful dog but aroused little +comment in this city where camels were the commonest means of +transportation, Ali had entered Mecca in the prescribed fashion, though +he hadn't the faintest idea as to who had prescribed it or why. At +intervals, and solely because all his companions were doing likewise, +he had shouted "_Labbaika_," a word whose meaning he had not known and +still did not know. + +At this point, Ali became so hopelessly entangled in matters he did not +understand that it was necessary to start all over again. However, he +decided not to begin with the _ihram_ this time. The Sacred Course was +also a part of the ceremony, and, being near at hand, it might yield +clues that could not be discerned in that which was far away. + +The Sacred Course, connecting the eminences of Safa and Marwa and locale +of the liveliest and most unmanageable bazaar in Mecca, was four hundred +and ninety three paces in length. It was the Trail of Torment imposed on +Hagar, who ran it seven times in a desperate effort to find water for +her infant son. Pilgrims arriving in Mecca accepted as part of their own +ceremony a seven times running of The Sacred Course. This, as Ali had +seen with his own eyes, was subject to various interpretations. Some +pilgrims ran the prescribed seven times but some would have difficulty +walking it once, for despite the hardships of the journey, some of the +afflicted, aged and the simply lazy arrived with every _Hadj_. Then +there were always the eccentrics. Ali himself had been an astounded +witness when one fat Amir reclined in a cushioned sedan chair which six +sweating slaves carried over The Sacred Course the requisite number of +times. + +Ali tilted his head and stared miserably into the darkness as the utter +hopelessness of his quest for understanding became increasingly +apparent. It had been important that he earn the right to call himself +Hadji Ali, but, in his heart of hearts, he knew that he'd wanted far +more than that from his holy pilgrimage and he had not received it. +Since millions of Moslems who found all they hoped for in Mecca could +not be wrong, it followed that the fault was personal. So-- + +Ali's meditations were interrupted by that which he understood +perfectly. + +Ben Akbar, swinging his head in the darkness as he turned to look toward +something that had attracted him, gave the first sign that they were no +longer alone. Ali had not seen the move, but he knew Ben Akbar had moved +because he always knew everything the _dalul_ did. + +Presently, he knew that a man, or men, were approaching because Ben +Akbar always breathed in a certain cadence whenever men came near. Ali +held very still, hoping the strangers would pass without noticing him. +He knew by their footsteps that there were two of them. + +Ali sighed in disappointment when the pair halted only a few feet away. +He was about to call out and make his presence known, for those who have +reason for silence in the darkness also have reason to expect violence, +when someone spoke. + +"All know of the plan then, Ahmet?" It was the voice of The Jackal! + +"All know," a second man replied. + +Ali stood very still, holding his breath. The fact that The Jackal, +whose intentions were anything except holy, was with the _Hadj_, had +caused Ali some uneasy moments. But, he reminded himself once more, if +it was the obvious duty of a good Moslem to reveal a Druse or anyone +else traveling with the _Hadj_ and pretending to be a Moslem, it was +equally true that The Jackal was in an excellent position to do some +revealing of his own. Ali had decided he would not be the first to +speak. Evidently The Jackal was not talking either. + +"When is the exact appointed time?" the man named Ahmet asked. + +"In another hour, when the followers of Mohammed and the worshipers of +Allah will be enjoying their deepest dreams." + +The Jackal voiced a low laugh, and, despite his anxiety, Ali had to +wonder. In the heart of Mecca, surrounded by thousands of Moslems and +certainly with no hope of fighting his way clear, The Jackal could laugh +as easily as though he were in a Druse stronghold. His companion was +less assured. + +"Speak gently," he cautioned. "Someone may hear!" + +"_Pouf!_" The Jackal scoffed. "The Moslems hear nothing tonight save +the hot wind that shall sing about their ears until they are once again +safe in their homes. The city sleeps, Ahmet." + +Ahmet said uneasily, "Some are always awake." + +"Have you turned lily-livered?" The Jackal asked sardonically. + +Ahmet answered, "I do not think so, but better a lily than a +sword-pierced liver." + +"Have I not planned well?" The Jackal demanded. + +"One who can select thirty-four men, scatter them throughout a Moslem +_Hadj_ and bring all safely to Mecca, has planned as wisely as he chose +men," Ahmet commented. "Just let there be no mistake at this late hour." + +The Jackal said, "The only mistake of which we can be guilty now is in +leaving this place without The Black Stone." + +Ali clapped a hand over his mouth to stifle a gasp. The Jackal was +indeed playing for big stakes, one of the most colossal prizes in the +history of brigandage, and he seemed in a fair position to get it. Fixed +in the wall of The Kaaba, an edifice so ancient that some claimed it was +here even before Mohammed, The Black Stone was possibly the holiest of +Moslem shrines. In common with all other pilgrims, Ali had dutifully +kissed it. As far as its physical aspects were concerned, it was a +small, dark mass that at one time might have been part of a meteor. +Should anyone ever succeed in stealing it, the Moslem world would pay a +fantastic ransom for its safe return. If nobody stopped The Jackal and +his accomplices, each of them could be so wealthy that the Pasha of +Damascus would seem a beggar by comparison. + +Ben Akbar swung his head to nudge Ali's shoulder with an inquiring nose, +and Ali stroked the _dalul's_ soft cheek. Accustomed to spending his +nights in some peaceful pasture, Ben Akbar had no liking for this +confined place, and he was telling his friend so. + +Ali tried to conjure up a mental image of The Sacred Course, but he +couldn't do it, in spite of the fact that he had run its length the +stipulated seven times. Because he had hoped to find that in their faces +which would tell him just why they had come to Mecca, and thus furnish +some sure basis upon which he could build his own right motivation for +coming, Ali had studied his fellow pilgrims and ignored the street. Who +could imagine that he or anyone else might have to leave The Masa by the +nearest and quietest path? + +There had to be a way because there was always a way, but Ali was still +seeking it when Ben Akbar, increasingly eager to be out of the city that +he did not like and into the desert he did, expressed his impatience in +a racking grunt. + +Then there was just one way. Ali drew his dagger and waited. + +Out in the night, there was sudden silence, but the very lack of noise +was as lethal as and somehow remarkably similar to the desert adder that +awaits its prey in complete silence and, in striking, makes no noise +that is ever heard by the victim. Ali considered the situation. + +Since it was most improbable that there'd be a camel at this place and +hour without a camel driver, the conspirators knew they had been +overheard. In addition, since every camel has its own distinctive voice, +The Jackal had probably recognized Ben Akbar. Therefore, he knew that +Ali had overheard him. + +Swiftly, Ali weighed the advantages and disadvantages and considered +possible ways to make the best use of the former, while yielding as +little as possible to the latter. + +Beyond any doubt, The Jackal knew that Ben Akbar accepted certain +favored human beings and rejected all others, unless they foolishly +tried to interfere with him. Then he showed his resentment, often +violently. So only a fool would rush in, and The Jackal was no fool. +Neither, Ali told himself, was he a coward who'd be swerved from his +determined purpose by a threatening incident. He'd face a dozen Ben +Akbars before he'd abandon his plan to steal The Black Stone and seek +refuge in flight, but he'd face them in his own way. Ali took a +calculated risk. + +"Kneel," he whispered in the _dalul's_ ear. + +Ben Akbar obeyed. Stifling a sigh of relief, Ali slipped five paces to +one side and turned so that he was again facing the _dalul_. There had +been a certain unavoidable rattling of pebbles and other small noises +when Ben Akbar knelt, but no sound of a camel leaving the scene. If +Allah were kind, The Jackal would know that Ben Akbar remained where he +had been and would expect to find Ali with him. Rushing in from an +unexpected quarter at the right moment, Ali would have the advantage of +surprise and some hope of victory, in spite of two to one odds. + +Ali thought, but very fleetingly, of calling out an offer to negotiate. +He'd go his way and maintain his silence, if the pair would promise no +interference. But The Jackal had come too far and risked too much to +incur the further risk of a knowing head and a possibly loose tongue; +he'd never accept the offer. Nor could Ali really have brought himself +to make it. + +Even though he had failed to find the assured spiritual awakening he'd +earnestly hoped to discover in Mecca, he could not be disloyal to a +Faith he'd voluntarily accepted. Even though he himself failed to +appreciate the significance of The Black Stone, as a good Moslem, he +could not see it defiled. + +Dagger in hand, Ali stood very quietly in the darkness. Though he was +looking toward Ben Akbar and the _dalul_ was only a few paces away, the +darkness was so intense that he could barely discern the camel's +outline. He neither saw nor heard anything else. It was as though Ali +and Ben Akbar were the only inhabitants of a world suddenly turned +black. + +Ali battled the illusion, for the very silence and the feeling that he +was alone were sufficient evidence that he faced deadly danger. The +Jackal was no amateur who would seek to cow his enemy by hissed threats, +mislead him by thrown stones or other ruses, or indulge in any other +melodrama. He compared favorably with the tawny-maned lion who lays his +ambush at a water hole where gazelles drink. Having decided that killing +was in order, The Jackal would kill with a maximum of speed and +efficiency, brought about by a lifetime of experience. + +Ben Akbar did not even move. He would remain exactly as he was and where +he was until Ali himself gave permission to get up or until circumstances +beyond his friend's control forced him to arise. A lump rose in Ali's +throat. Ben Akbar was far more than just a magnificent _dalul_. He was +Ali's other self, a true brother and to be loved as such. Ali renewed +his vow that, so long as Allah saw fit to spare him, just so long would +he and Ben Akbar face the same winds, traveling side by side. + +Suddenly, seeing his pilgrimage in an entirely new light, it was no +longer a disappointment but more than rewarding. Perhaps, in His +infinite wisdom, Allah bestowed different gifts upon different +pilgrims, according to their true intentions. Ali knew that he was +contented now, for, because of his pilgrimage, he had Ben Akbar. He +would no longer stand alone against the world. + +Presently, Ali became aware of great and immediate danger. + +It was no sudden perception accompanied by sudden shock, but a complete +and whole revelation, the ripening of each separate incident since The +Jackal and Ahmet had appeared. Unless he did something about it, Ali's +senses told him, he would be dead very shortly. At the same time, so +clear was the light that bathed his mind, he was instantly able to +understand exactly how this had come about. + +He had underestimated The Jackal. Hearing Ben Akbar grunt, the man had +identified him instantly. But he had also identified the tiny sounds +made by a camel kneeling and he'd known why Ben Akbar was made to kneel. +The Jackal, had decided, not only that Ali would not await directly +beside Ben Akbar, but also exactly where he would be found. It was what +The Jackal himself might have done under similar circumstances. Now, +dagger poised, he stood directly behind Ali and needed only one more +silent step to carry him into a striking position. + +When Ali moved, he did so swiftly, bending at the knees even while he +swiveled the upper portion of his body forward to make a smaller +target. At the same time, he pivoted on the balls of his feet, so that +he made a complete turn and faced his enemy. He thrust with all his +strength. + +The dagger's point found resistance, but not unyielding resistance. It +bit hungrily into something that was both soft and warm. There was a +gasp, a strangled grunt, then an almost gentle rustle as The Jackal +wilted backwards and his own burnous enfolded him. + +A shout cracked the darkness as a hammer blow might crack a pane of +glass. "Now then! Close in!" + +Bloody dagger still in his extended hand, Ali only half heard either the +shout or the patter of running feet that immediately followed. Aghast at +what he'd done but never intended to do, he remained rooted in his +tracks. This was Mecca, The Holy City, and shedding blood within its +borders was one of the very few sins for which there was no pardon. +Mohammed himself, when making prisoners of some enemies who sought to +hide in Mecca, could carry out his own death sentence only by locking +them in a building and letting them starve. No Moslem was wealthy or +influential enough to attain forgiveness for shedding blood in Mecca. + +So complete was his horror and so shocking, for a short space Ali was +only vaguely aware of rough hands that gripped him. Then someone spoke. +Ali recognized the voice of the fierce officer who had ambushed the +Druse. + +"It is the camel rider who was made keeper of the _dalul_, and he too +has let his charge stray." + +A groan sounded in the darkness. + +"He has done more than that," someone whom Ali could barely see said in +an awed whisper. "He has shed blood in the Holy City." + +"Fool!" the officer said to Ali contemptuously. "We knew who they were +and were ready to take them! I would not care to wear your burnous at +this moment!" + +The single reason why he was not already lying beside the wounded man, +Ali told himself, could be ascribed to the fact that the fierce officer +dared not shed blood in Mecca. Certainly his execution would not be +delayed when they no longer stood on Holy Ground. + +Then the fog that had dulled Ali's brain when he stabbed The Jackal +faded away. He thought of words voiced by the officer, 'the camel rider +who was made keeper of the _dalul_, and he too has let his charge +stray.' Obviously, the soldiers were unaware of Ben Akbar's nearness. +Ali saw his one hope of escape. + +"Ho!" he called loudly and clearly. "Ben Akbar! Come to me! Run!" + +There was a rattling of pebbles as Ben Akbar hastened to obey. +Astonished soldiers, who hadn't even suspected this and needed a moment +to decide what it might be, dodged out of the _dalul's_ path or were +knocked out of it. + +Side by side, Ali and Ben Akbar ran on until the friendly mantle of +night hid both. + + + + +6. The Strange Ship + + +The first light of day was followed almost at once by the first blast +of heat. Then the sun rose, a burning red ball that seemed to roll +across the eastern horizon with steadily increasing speed, as though to +gain momentum for leaping into the sky. + +The rein hung slack and Ali dozed in the saddle as Ben Akbar paced +steadily onward. When the bright sun flashed in his eyes, Ali awakened +and halted his mount with, "Ho, my brother! Let us stop." + +Ben Akbar halted, knelt when commanded to do so, and Ali dismounted. + +As the sun climbed higher and grew hotter, Ali pondered his present +situation, the immediate past and the probable future. In his mind's +eye, he drew a map of the general area and of his approximate position. + +At a rough estimate, Mecca was halfway down the east shore of the Red +Sea, a great sweep of water whose most northerly waves break on the +Sinai Peninsula and whose southern extremity mingles with the Gulf of +Aden, a thousand or more miles away. Directly to the east was the land +of the Arabs. Ali's native Syria was northeast, and beyond Syria lay +Turkey. + +Since it was manifestly impossible to cross the Red Sea without a +suitable ship, Ali's choice of directions were north, south and east. It +was a difficult choice, for, wherever he went, he would still be in a +land of Moslems. Even if he might somehow contrive to cross the Red Sea, +he must necessarily disembark in Moslem Egypt. + +Because he had shed blood in Holy Mecca, he was and forever must be +outcast by all true Moslems. Moreover, with thousands of home-going +pilgrims and each one an indignant bearer of the tale of desecration, +very shortly Ali would be a marked man throughout the Moslem world. Any +Moslem who killed him would be honored, not prosecuted. + +Now all that belonged to the dead past. This was the living present, and +Ali wondered curiously why he was unable to regard that present in the +grave light cast by facts as they were. He'd gained in Mecca the coveted +right to call himself Hadji Ali, and, considering the turn of +circumstances that now meant nothing whatever. It made not the slightest +difference what name he carried. But, far from surrendering to despair +or even giving way to anxiety, Ali felt that the _Hadj_ had brought him +a whole new future and that it had never been so hopeful. + +He stroked the _dalul's_ neck with affectionately understanding hands. +Ben Akbar made happy little noises with his mouth and the rein trailed +in the desert sand. Ali stooped to pick it up. The rein was not +necessary because he could still guide Ben Akbar by voiced commands, +but, since he was setting out on what would most certainly be a long +journey, he had felt that it was desirable to have proper trappings for +his mount. + +As soon as Ali began to plan ahead after his flight from Mecca, he +decided that he must reach the camp of Al Misri, the most accessible +source of camel harness, before the soldiers were able to bring their +news there. He accomplished that by making Ben Akbar kneel when both had +run a safe distance, then mounting and riding at full speed until he was +within a discreet distance of the camp. There--even if he has completed +the _Hadj_, a camel's groom must not be caught riding a _dalul_ reserved +exclusively for the Pasha of Damascus--Ali dismounted and walked the +rest of the way. + +Familiar figures about the camp, the pair attracted only indifferent +glances from the sentries. As though he were acting under orders, Ali +went directly to the supply tent to choose a proper saddle and bridle. +The bridle presented no problem, but Ali was able to find a saddle only +after rejecting a dozen of the biggest ones and finally hitting upon the +largest of all. In superb condition, Ben Akbar's sleek hump seemed ready +to burst. None but the biggest saddle would fit. + +However, foreseeing probable hardship, and the consequent shrinking of +the _dalul's_ hump, Ali gathered up a sufficient supply of saddle pads. +Finally, he chose a goatskin water bag and, as payment for all, left the +single coin that had remained to him after paying for his _ihram_. It +was not enough, and he knew it, but it was all he had. + +Leading Ben Akbar, Ali filled his water bag at the oasis and went on. +The sentries who watched all this but failed to act were lulled partly +by the fact that Ali was a familiar part of the camp and, as far as the +sentries knew, above suspicion. They were further disarmed by the very +audacity of the scheme. Nobody, certainly not a camel's groom, would +walk brazenly into a camp commanded by Al Misri and steal trappings to +equip the Pasha's prized _dalul_, which he also intended to steal! + +A safe distance from camp, Ali mounted and rode. He struck inland, +veering away from the route that would be selected by most of the +home-going pilgrims, letting Ben Akbar choose his own moderate pace all +night long. Nobody could follow him in the darkness, anyhow, and it was +wise to spare his mount. + +Now, as he stood beside the reclining _dalul_ and the burning sun +pursued its torrid course, Ali considered that which was as inevitable +as the eventual setting of the sun. + +It was a foregone conclusion that some tracker had taken the trail as +soon as he was able to see it, and the pursuers would waste no time. Nor +would they ever give up. Who stole a _dalul_ from the Pasha of Damascus +might escape only if he sought and found asylum with one of the Pasha's +powerful enemies. But who desecrated Holy Mecca would never find safety +in any Moslem land. In addition, Ali thought, the officer and all the +men who'd been with him would now make a heretic's punishment a point of +honor, a blood quest from which only death would free them. + +Ali still saw hope that could not have been without Ben Akbar. As +individuals, either was assailable. Together, they were invincible. + +Counting from the time they'd left Al Misri's camp to the first light of +day, Ali gave meticulous consideration to the pace set by Ben Akbar and +the type of terrain they'd traveled. When finished, he knew within a few +rods either way just how far they had come and within a few minutes, +plus or minus, when pursuers could be expected. Ali turned to Ben Akbar. + +"Rest," he crooned, as he removed saddle and bridle. "Rest and forage, +oh Prince among _dalul_. Come to me then, and you shall teach the +Pasha's soldiers the true speed of a _dalul_." + +Ben Akbar wandered forth to crop the coarse desert vegetation. Choosing +the doubtful shade offered by a copse of scrub, Ali lay down and drew +his burnous about him. He slept peacefully and soundly, as though he'd +somehow managed to purge his mind of certain grim prospects for the +immediate future and rest alone mattered. A bit more than three hours +later, as Ali had planned when he chose his bed, the blazing sun shone +directly upon him and its glare broke his slumber. + +He did not, as had been his habit, lie quietly and without moving until +he determined exactly what lay about him and what, if anything, he +should do about it. Ben Akbar, who always knew long before his master +when anything approached--and always let Ali know--made such precautions +unnecessary. The great _dalul_ was grazing quietly and only a few feet +away. + +"To me, my brother," Ali called softly. + +Ben Akbar came at once and Ali replaced the saddle and bridle. About to +take a swallow of water, he decided to wait until Ben Akbar could also +have a satisfactory drink or until thirst became unbearable. In the +latter event, they'd share the contents of the water bag. + +Ali thought calmly of the journey before him. A novice attempting such a +trip would invite his own death, and even an experienced desert traveler +would find such an undertaking very precarious. However, Ali, who'd +spent most of his life on the caravan routes, thought of it as just one +more journey. + +The merciless sun spared nothing. Waves of heat rolled along with +monotonous regularity, as though the heat blanket were a mighty ocean +beset by a steady wind. Ali turned his back to the sun's direct rays and +watched Ben Akbar. He was hot and thirsty, and becoming hotter and +thirstier, but so had he been before and would be again. + +The sun was almost exactly where Ali had decided it should be when Ben +Akbar raised his head and fixed his attention on the western horizon. It +was the direction from which they had come, that from which pursuit +should come. Ali turned to face the same way as Ben Akbar. + +A few minutes later, they rode over a hillock and Ali saw them. They +were a little group of the Pasha's crack troops, superbly mounted on +magnificent _dalul_ and maintaining tight formation behind a tracker. +Ali reached up to fondle Ben Akbar's neck but kept his eyes on the +riders. They were seven, including the tracker, and Ali knew at once why +there were no more than seven and no fewer. + +He was no ordinary outlaw, but a direct affront to all that Moslems held +most dear. He must be brought to justice, and no effort would be spared +to do so. Thus the tracker was the best to be found. The six soldiers +were picked men. Finally, the seven _dalul_ were the very elite of the +almost thirty thousand camels with the _Hadj_. There were no more than +seven pursuers because there was not another _dalul_ to keep pace with +these seven. + +Ali did not have to ask himself if the seven _dalul_ were fresh or +weary; their riders would know how to conserve their mounts. Ben Akbar +had had less than four hours' rest. + +Standing quietly beside Ben Akbar, Ali told himself that he had wanted +and planned to have the pursuit take form in just this way, and he would +not change now if he could. He himself might have ridden much farther in +the hours that had elapsed since leaving Al Misri's camp, but he'd have +done it at the expense of Ben Akbar. The test had to come, and it was +better to meet it in this fashion. + +The soldiers sighted him and urged their mounts from an easy trot to a +swift lope. Ali waited until they were within two hundred and fifty +yards, well beyond effective range of smoothbore muskets, before he +turned to Ben Akbar and said quietly, "Kneel." + +Ben Akbar knelt and Ali mounted. At ease in the saddle, he turned to +watch the soldiers sweep nearer. A momentary doubt assailed him as a +close-up inspection of their _dalul_ revealed the full magnificence of +such animals. Ali put the doubt behind him and told Ben Akbar to run. + +At home in a camel saddle as he seldom fitted in elsewhere, Ali did not +waste another backward glance as Ben Akbar flew on. He knew what lay +behind him, and that he could expect no mercy whether his back or his +face was toward the pursuers. Wherever it struck, the blade of a sword +would be equally sharp and bite as deeply. + +After fifteen minutes, and the blade not felt, Ali knew he'd chosen +wisely when he gave his very life into Ben Akbar's keeping. He still did +not look behind him. _Dalul_ such as the soldiers mounted were not +easily outdistanced, but there was a mighty vein of comfort in that very +thought. Ben Akbar would never again be pursued by swifter _dalul_ or +more skilful riders. If he won this race, he'd win all to come. + +An hour and a half afterwards, Ali finally looked around. With less than +a two-hundred-yard lead at the beginning of the race, Ben Akbar had +doubled that distance between himself and the three swiftest pursuers. +The remaining four, in order of their speed, straggled behind the +leaders. Ali slowed Ben Akbar so that his pace exceeded by the scantiest +margin that of the three leaders. + +When a cool wind announced the going of the day and the coming of the +night, the nearest of the seven pursuers was a mere dot in the distance. + + * * * * * + +The bitter autumn wind that snarled in from the Mediterranean had sent a +herd of tough, desert-bred goats to the shelter of some boulders and +made them stand close together for the warmth one found in another. +Riding past on Ben Akbar, Ali gave the shivering herd the barest of +glances and turned his gaze to the horizon. He missed nothing, a highly +practical talent whose development had been markedly accelerated by +necessity. + +Behind lay an incredible journey. Eluding the soldiers, Ali rode on into +the very heart of the Arabian desert. Always he sought the lonelier +places, shepherd's or camel herder's camps and the smallest villages. At +first his experiences had conformed strictly to what any solitary +traveler might expect. As the news spread and Ali's ill fame became part +of the talk at even the most isolated campfires, his fortunes changed +accordingly. + +He seldom met anything except cold hatred and outright hostility. +Normally it was accompanied by dread, not entirely a disadvantage since, +whatever else they thought, trembling natives who recognized Ali feared +to refuse him food and other necessities. He fought when he could not +avoid fighting, but much preferred to run. Ben Akbar had shown his heels +to more soldiers, tribesmen and just plain bandits than Ali could +remember. + +With an almost desperate yearning for anyone at all who'd exchange a +friendly word, eventually Ali turned to his native Syria, where he hoped +to find a friend. He found a hatred more bitterly intense than anything +experienced elsewhere; every Syrian seemed to think that he must bear +part of the shame for a countryman who had defiled the Holy City. Now +Ali was farther north, in the land of the Turks and riding toward the +port of Smyrna. + +Rounding a bend that brought him in sight of the Mediterranean, Ali +halted Ben Akbar and stared in amazement. + +He was on the shoreside wall of a u-shaped rock ledge that extended into +the sea and formed a natural harbor. Some distance out, a great sailing +ship that flew a foreign flag rode at anchor. Though he could not read +it and had no more than a vague notion that it might be read, Ali could +make out her name. She was the _Supply_. + +Halfway between shore and ship, a scow propelled by oarsmen and carrying +a kneeling camel that seemed to be strapped in position, was making +toward the _Supply_. On the shore beneath Ali, a number of other camels +were tethered. One had lain down, and eight Egyptian camel handlers +seemed interested in making it get up again. + +With a fine contempt for Egyptians generally, and Egyptian camel +handlers specifically, Ali had decided to his own satisfaction that +these last fell back on forceful crudity simply because they were too +stupid to master the right ways of handling camels. Ali's curiosity +mounted because, contrary to their usual procedure, these handlers were +gently trying to make the camel get up. + +Then the scow reached the ship, the men who had been on the scow +disappeared on the _Supply_ and took the camel with them, whereupon the +Egyptian handlers abruptly changed tactics. Kicking together a pile of +rubble, someone started a fire. A pail appeared from somewhere and was +put over the fire. A raging Ali leaped from Ben Akbar and toward the +group. + +He had not intended to interfere. If the Egyptians were stupid enough to +abuse their own camel, then let them be deprived of the beast that much +sooner. Ali would not have interfered if the Egyptian handlers had done +almost anything except what they were obviously about to do--make the +camel get up by pouring boiling pitch over its tail. Hearing Ali, the +eight turned as one and greeted him with hostile stares. + +"Swine!" Ali snarled. "Offspring of diseased fleas! Eaters of camel +dung!" + +He emphasized his insults with a blow to the midriff that sent the +nearest Egyptian spinning, and immediately the seven were upon him. Ali +delivered a smart kick to the shin that left one hopping about on one +foot and howling with pain, landed a clenched fist squarely on the jaw +of another, and then a sledge hammer collided with his own head. + +Night came suddenly. Then light shone through the dark curtain, and Ali +looked up at two men who stood before him. One, a native interpreter, +was foppish in garment and manner. The other, arrayed in clothing such +as Ali had never seen, commanded instant respect. Tall, slim, strong and +young, he had the same air of strength and authority that marked Al +Misri. He spoke in a strange tongue to the interpreter, who addressed +Ali. + +"Lieutenant Porter demands to know why you attacked his men." + +Ali gestured toward the kneeling camel. "They would have made it rise by +pouring boiling pitch on its tail." + +The interpreter conveyed this information to Lieutenant Porter, who +whirled at once on the Egyptians. + +"I've told all of you that I will tolerate no cruelty," he began. + +Not understanding a word, nevertheless Ali listened with mingled awe and +admiration as Lieutenant Porter continued to speak. His words, Ali +thought happily, were a lion's roar, and it was better to be whipped +than to endure them because a whip could not remove skin nearly as well. +The eight Egyptians, like eight beaten dogs, slunk away. Lieutenant +Porter addressed the interpreter, who conveyed the message to Ali. + +"Can you make the camel rise?" + +Ali got to his feet, smoothed his burnous and went to the stubborn +camel. He took hold of the tether rope while he stooped to whisper in +its ear, "Rise, my little one. Rise, my beauty. The trail is long and +the day is short." + +The camel rose and began to lick Ali's hand. Ali addressed the +interpreter. "Where are these camels going?" + +"To America," the interpreter assured him. + +"But--" A bewildered Ali looked from the stately ship to the tethered +camels. "Is a land wealthy enough to have such a ship, so poor as to +have no camels?" + +Treating this question with haughty disdain, the interpreter relayed +another message. "Lieutenant Porter wishes to know if you will go to +America with the camels?" + +Ali hesitated, then asked, "Is America a land of Moslems?" + +The interpreter conferred with Lieutenant Porter and turned to Ali. +"There are no Moslems." + +Ali indicated Ben Akbar, silhouetted on top of the ledge. "May my +_dalul_ come, too?" + +"He may," the interpreter assured him. + +Ali said joyously, "Then we will go." + +He didn't know where America was or what he might find on arrival, but +he was sure that he and Ben Akbar, together, could make their own way +anywhere at all. + + + + +7. Another Pilgrimage + + +Beginning at her stern and bearing to the starboard side, Ali set out +to become more intimately acquainted with the ship. Almost every step +brought to light a fresh marvel. As a camel driver who traveled with +caravans, at one time or another he had been in every port that a +caravan can visit, and he was not unfamiliar with ships. But never +before had he seen anything to compare with the _Supply_. + +A hundred and forty-one feet over all, the wooden three-master had a +main and a quarterdeck. An official United States Navy ship, she was +armed with a battery of four twenty-four pounders. One glance revealed +that her crew of forty officers and men believed in and strictly adhered +to the rules of first-class seamanship; the _Supply_ was as spotlessly +clean as she was trim. + +Had she been a conventional ship, Ali would have considered her +impressive enough. As it was, he found her overwhelming. + +Jefferson Davis, United States Secretary of War, was one of several +outstanding Americans who'd long cherished the notion that camels might +very well help solve some of the troublesome problems of transportation +involved in settling America's vast, arid and little-known Southwest. +Finally, granted official permission to subject this theory to a +practical test, the _Supply_ had been rebuilt for the sole purpose of +importing an experimental herd. + +A well-built stable, sixty feet long, twelve feet wide and not quite +seven feet six inches high, extended from just behind the foremast to +just in front of the quarterdeck. On either side were twenty portholes +that could be left open when weather permitted, but each porthole was +equipped with a panel of glass that closed from the inside in cold +weather and wooden shutters that swung from the outside and were to be +used during violent storms or in heavy seas. Midway was a hatch that +offered direct entry to the stable, and that could be lowered for +loading or unloading and raised when the ship was at sea. + +Front and rear, high enough above the main deck so that even the most +turbulent waves would not wash over them, were other hatches fitted with +wind sails--canvas funnels--that admitted air but excluded everything +else. Thus, even when it was necessary to close the portholes, there was +no danger that the camels would suffocate. + +Every stall was fitted with a harness, so arranged that the stall's +occupant might have complete freedom of movement when the _Supply_ was +in smooth sailing, or be strapped firmly in a kneeling position and +unable to move at all, when the ship was in stormy seas. Further to +minimize injuries that might result from being tossed about, bags filled +with hay were secured to every beam and anything else that a camel might +bump. The stable floor was covered with clean, fresh litter. Reflector +lamps would illuminate the stable if it should be necessary to attend +the camels at night. + +A supply of fresh water was contained in two huge tanks, each holding +thirty thousand gallons, and a fire extinguisher was arranged so that it +could draw on either tank or both. A sterile cabinet held an ample +supply of every known remedy for any aliment that might afflict a camel. +The hold of the _Supply_ was filled to the bursting point with a store +of the finest and cleanest hay and grain. No necessity or luxury that a +camel might need--or that somebody fancied a camel might need--had been +omitted. + +There were twenty camels already in the stable and they were making +themselves at home there. Twenty-four, including Ben Akbar, remained to +be brought on board. + +Thirty-seven of the herd were young females, many of which were with +young. Every one of the forty-three beasts that the American buyers had +selected was an outstanding creature, all in their prime and none with +any blemishes or deformities. But even though he must concede that the +Americans knew how to choose camels, Ali was both baffled and dazzled by +their sending of the _Supply_, obviously representing a tremendous +investment, to carry a mere forty-four of even the finest camels all the +way to America. Few of the desert-roving camel breeders of Ali's +acquaintance would consider it worth their while to drive so small a +herd to market, not even if the market was only four miles away. + +Rounding the front of the stable and continuing sternward on the +opposite side of the _Supply_, Ali felt a tense ripple travel up his +spine and reassured himself that his dagger was at hand when he saw +another camel handler approaching. Eight natives in all, seven besides +Ali, had been retained to accompany this herd to America and Ali hadn't +the faintest doubt that each one knew all the details of his story. But +far from any hostile gesture or incident, nobody had even mentioned +Mecca, to say nothing of the punishment sure to attend any who shed +blood in the Holy City. There was a variety of possible explanations for +such forbearance. Maybe the seven were lukewarm Moslems, who simply +didn't care; perhaps, like Ali, they had personal reasons for wanting to +go to some land where Moslems were few; possibly they intended to take +action but were waiting for the right moment. + +When he was near enough to his fellow camel handler, Mimico Teodara, Ali +said decorously, "I greet thee." + +"And I thee," the other replied. + +Ali relaxed. If Mimico knew his story--and beyond doubt he did know--and +if he were a strict Moslem, he would not have spoken to Ali at all. For +a moment they remained side by side and both glanced toward the tethered +camels that remained on shore. Ali, who somehow felt that Mimico might +become his friend, spoke of the riddle that had been puzzling him. + +"It is strange, almost past understanding, that Americans would send +such a ship, at vast expense, to carry only forty-four camels to +America." + +"Strange indeed," his companion agreed. "Even more to be wondered at is +the fact that, the first time they came, they returned with only +thirty-three camels." + +Surprised, Ali asked, "They have been here before?" + +Mimico nodded. "This is their second voyage." + +"Come," the foppish interpreter said, "this is not a time for idling." + +Ali and Mimico walked silently to the lowered hatch through which the +camels were brought on board and took their places in the boat that was +moored against it. The device employed to bring camels from shore to +ship, Ali felt, was another startling example of American ingenuity. +Twenty feet long by seven wide, the boat used as a ferry was fitted with +a hinged door at each end. A wheeled truck, sturdy enough to support the +biggest camel, could be pushed through either door and secured in such a +manner that it neither moved nor unbalanced the ferry. + +Of very shallow draft, the oarsmen had no difficulty in running the +ferry up on any beach. Then the hinged door was lowered and the truck +run out. A camel was led onto the truck, made to kneel and strapped in +place. The truck was pushed back onto the ferry, the door was raised, +and the launching accomplished. Reaching the _Supply_, the door on the +opposite end was lowered and the ferry brought squarely against the +lowered hatch. Then it was necessary only to push the truck and its +helpless passenger onto the deck of the _Supply_ and into the stable. + +Ali, who thought he knew all the methods of moving camels, had to admit +that he'd never even heard of this one. + +Mimico, who had a fine touch with camels, brought the next passenger. It +was a great Bactrian, or two-humped male. As it was led onto the truck, +made to kneel and strapped in place, Ali wondered. Bactrians were +enormous beasts, some weighing a ton or more, and this was an especially +fine specimen. There was no doubting the strength of a two-humped camel, +but caravan trails were usually long ones. Often, what with delivering +one cargo at one point, picking up another for a different destination, +and there getting still another, a year or more might elapse before a +train of camels finally returned to the home from which they had set +out. Such wandering was certain to be attended by conditions that varied +from lush browse and ample water to scant forage and near drought. A +camel's hump changed accordingly, so that often nothing except the very +skilful application of pads made it possible to keep a firm saddle on a +beast with only one hump. Naturally, a beast with two humps could be +twice the trouble. In addition, Ali thought, Bactrians were less hardy. + +Under the skilful direction of Ali and Mimico, all the camels except Ben +Akbar were finally loaded. On the final trip, Mimico leaped out as soon +as the ferry was beached and went to bring Ali's _dalul_. + +Ali waited, saying nothing. The more they were together, the better he +liked Mimico, who handled camels with consummate skill and never used +words when deeds were in order. Ali waited now to find if his judgment +was sound. If Mimico passed what Ben Akbar considered a respectful +distance, the _dalul_ would show his resentment. If Mimico was the camel +man he seemed to be, he would recognize Ben Akbar for what he was and +halt before he was dangerously near. + +Before Ben Akbar lunged, Mimico halted, turned and beckoned. Ali strode +forward to lead his _dalul_ to the ferry. + + * * * * * + +All sails spread to a stiff and favorable wind, the _Supply_ skimmed +along at a fast eight knots an hour. Leaning against an outside wall of +the camel stable, beside the porthole near which Ben Akbar was tethered, +and through which he was thrusting his nose, Ali kept anxious eyes on +the horizon where land should appear. + +Since that day when the _Supply_ had sliced into the Mediterranean and +the haze-shrouded coast of Turkey had slipped always farther behind and +then disappeared, almost three full months had come and gone. By no +means had they passed swiftly. + +One furious storm followed another while the _Supply_ pursued her course +in the Mediterranean. Much of the time it had been necessary to strap +the camels in place, to keep them from being tumbled about as the ship +listed one way or another. It had been impossible to prevent all injury, +but only three of the forty-four camels had died. + +Two of them were Bactrians, the only two-humped camels in the present +cargo. This gave additional support for Ali's theory that they were less +hardy than their Arabian cousins. He did not draw any positive +conclusions because Lieutenant Porter disagreed with him, saying that +species had nothing to do with it and the two Bactrians merely happened +to be less hardy individuals. Ali offered no argument because of an ever +increasing respect for Lieutenant Porter's knowledge and wisdom. + +In part, Ali was influenced by the fact that Porter was the only man on +board besides Ali himself who had succeeded in winning Ben Akbar's +friendship. But more than that was involved. + +As the _Supply_ lay at anchor off the Turkish coast, it was evident that +Lieutenant Porter was not an authority on camels. But in sharp contrast +with some men Ali had known, the American had proven himself both +willing and eager to learn, and he included the eight native camel +drivers among his teachers. But from the first, to Ali's vast +astonishment and then to his boundless delight, Porter did not find it +necessary to base his behavior upon that pursued by haughty sheiks and +amirs who conversed with camel drivers. + +Nobody on the _Supply_ ever forgot that Lieutenant Porter was in +command, but nobody ever had reason to feel that the officer considered +them inferior. Ali nursed a happy conviction that America must be a +wonderful land indeed if many Americans were like the skipper of the +_Supply_. + +A little distance from Ali, Mimico was also leaning against the camel +stable and waiting for the first sight of land. The pair had become +friends during the voyage, but, after so many days at sea, neither Ali +nor Mimico wanted to do anything except look at some land. + +Presently Ali saw it, the sea rolling up on a flat and treeless shore +and the waves falling back. Then it disappeared, a tantalizing vision +that first enticed and then crushed. But it came again and did not +disappear. Ali's eager eyes drank in as much as possible of this first +look at America. + +The shore was flat and treeless, but not by any means was it deserted. A +great crowd of people, everything from officials come to receive the +camels to the curious who wanted only to look, awaited. There was a +wooden pier and a group of buildings that comprised the town of +Indianola, Texas. + +A lighter that had been lingering at the pier was now making toward +them. The ship met the _Supply_ and drew alongside. A camel was brought +from its stall and a harness was strapped about and beneath it. A cable +dangling from the lighter's boom was attached to the harness and the +kicking, frightened camel was transferred from the _Supply_ to the +lighter. + +Lieutenant Porter gestured to Ali and Mimico, ordering, "Go aboard the +lighter and help out." + +The pair entered a small boat that took them to the lighter, where they +received all the camels as they came. With gentle touch and soothing +voices, they calmed the frightened animals and averted what might have +become a catastrophe. + +Busy with the camels, Ali had time for only the briefest of shoreward +glances. His first close-up impression of America was a restricted +one--a small section of the pier which they were approaching. Standing +on it were two horses, hitched to a light wagon. A red-faced, red-haired +man who had come to see the unloading occupied the wagon seat and held +the horses' reins. + +There was no time for a prolonged scrutiny; the camels must be put +ashore as soon as possible. Mimico climbed from the lighter to the pier +and made ready to receive them. Ali strapped the harness about the first +camel to be unloaded. The boom lifted it. + +Then the horses screamed, the red-faced man roared, and a full scale +upheaval was in progress! + + + + +8. Trouble + + +As soon as the horses began to scream and the man to shout, the camels +quieted. It was what they should do, and Ali would have been astonished +if they hadn't. Taken from familiar stalls and immediately thereafter +swung on the boom, they had been roused to the verge of stampede. But +they had not been hurt and saw no indication that they might be hurt +when the new danger threatened. + +The camels had not detected this fresh peril and were not directly aware +of it, but the screams of the horses and shouts of the driver were +evidence enough that it existed. The camels responded as though they +were part of a caravan under attack. Whatever peril lurked, it might +pass them by if they stood quietly. + +The herd again tractable, Ali put a companionable hand on Ben Akbar's +shoulder and turned toward the pier. His eyes widened in astonishment. + +Mimico had received and was holding the tether rope of the single beast +that had been transferred to the pier. It was one of the young females, +and, like all the rest of the herd, it was standing very quietly. But on +the pier and within a wide radius, Mimico and the young camel seemed to +be the only living creatures that were quiet. + +The terrified horses, bereft of all reason, had wrenched control from +their driver. Whirling crazily, they had missed dashing off the pier and +into the water by no more than a wagon wheel's width. Now, with the +red-haired driver still trying with all his strength to stop them, they +were running away at top speed. As Ali watched, a wheel struck a boulder +and the wagon bounded high in the air. + +To one side, a black-bearded man had been indolently sitting on a gaunt +dun mule, with one foot in a stirrup and the other cocked up on the +saddle, while his chin rested on the upraised knee. Suddenly and +obviously to the man's complete surprise--the mule began an insane +bucking. The startled rider dropped his upraised foot, groped for and +couldn't find the stirrup, and missed the dangling reins when he +snatched at them. He leaned forward to wrap both arms about the mule's +neck and clung desperately. + +Two saddled horses whose riders were among the crowd reared and danced +in a mad effort to break their tethers. A horse that had not been +picketed whirled and, tail high over its rump, galloped away. Everybody +on shore except Mimico seemed to be shouting or screaming, or shouting +and screaming. + +A small boat moved up beside the lighter and more men came aboard. Four +were native camel handlers but the fifth was a quiet young American +named, Ali remembered, Gwynne Heap. With a taste for adventure and a +knowledge of Eastern languages and customs derived from previous +residence in the East, Heap had contributed at least as much as anyone +else to the successful purchase and importation of the camel herd. Now +he took competent command. + +"You have no trouble?" he asked quietly. + +"No trouble," Ali told him. + +Gwynne Heap called to Lieutenant Porter, who had remained in the small +boat, "Everything's under control." + +"Keep them coming," Lieutenant Porter called back. "They must be +unloaded." + +Lieutenant Porter and the men who remained with him joined Mimico and +made ready to help receive the camels. Ali began to harness the next +animal scheduled for unloading. + +He became absorbed in what he was doing, adjusting each strap and +fastening each buckle with a fussy attention to detail that was both +unnecessary and so time-consuming that it drew reprimanding glances from +Gwynne Heap. Ali refused either to hurry or to look toward the shore, +but refusing to turn his eyes toward it in no way obliterated the ugly +thing that awaited there. The resentful crowd was still in an uproar. +Ali thought sadly of the joyous welcome his imagination had created for +these camels, so vital to his own country, when they finally reached +America. + +The harnessed camel was finally swung away on the boom, and, still +refusing to glance shoreward, Ali began to help prepare the next in +line. He tried to console himself with the thought that Lieutenant +Porter was still in command and nobody would dare challenge him, but in +his heart he knew that it was not so. If camels were not wanted in +America, they could not be here. Nobody could force their acceptance. + +Then, as always when facing a problem that seemed to have no solution, +Ali stopped thinking about it. He knew from experience that it was not +wise to borrow trouble. The rising sun shone on not just one but many +different paths that led in many different directions. One could always +find the right way if he was properly diligent in the search. + +One by one, the camels were landed until only Ben Akbar was left. Ali +finally glanced shoreward, to discover that Lieutenant Porter and his +men had rigged a picket line, a long rope stretched across the pier, and +they were tethering the camels to it as they were lowered and +unharnessed. Ali saw also that the herd was again becoming restless, but +this time there was no cause for concern. + +The crowd was still in an uproar and such horses as had not already +broken away were trying their best to do so. The camels had definitely +decided that whatever might be bothering everything else would not +disturb them. However, after many weeks at sea, at last they were once +again on firm footing. That was very exciting. + +His companions stood back while Ali alone harnessed Ben Akbar, then took +hold of the boom and rode with him as the great _dalul_ was transferred +from the lighter to the pier. He saw, even as he descended, that the +tethered camels were fast becoming unmanageable. They both smelled and +saw the earth that lay just beyond the pier and they were frantic to +feel it. For all his skill, not even Mimico would be able to maintain +control much longer. + +The spectators--those with horses had wisely left them behind--had come +nearer and were arranged in a rough U at the end of the pier and on +either side. Lieutenant Porter, who looked more worried than he had +during the stormiest part of the voyage, paced nervously back and +forth. Again and again he searched the crowd, as though expecting to +find someone who should be present but was not. + +Keeping a firm grip on Ben Akbar's lead rope, because he knew that big +_dalul_ was as anxious as any of the rest to feel earth under his feet, +Ali turned to study the crowd, too. Except for a group distinguished by +their uniforms, and further marked as soldiers by their arms and precise +formation, he learned nothing except that Americans wear outlandish +clothes. + +Gwynne Heap came onto the pier and Porter asked anxiously, "Will you see +if you can find Wayne? He should have met us." + +"Right," the other assented. + +Gwynne Heap walked to the end of the pier and mingled with the crowd. A +second after he disappeared, Ben Akbar shivered convulsively and Ali +knew what to expect. + +"I know you long to feel the earth, for I have a similar yearning," he +said. "But wait until the time is here and the word is spoken. Do not +break and run as a half-trained baggage camel might. Do not shame me, my +brother." + +Ben Akbar quieted, but the rest of the camels would not be soothed. They +surged forward, and there was no way to know which one broke the picket +line because all were lunging. Tether ropes slipped off either end of +the broken line as the herd ran forward. + +Maintaining a firm grip on Ben Akbar's tether rope and keeping pace with +the _dalul_, Ali ran with them. He was not worried. This was no +reasonless stampede that might be expected to overrun whatever lay in +its path because fear-crazed camels would take no reckoning of +obstacles. These camels were running for the same reason that a young +horse runs when, after a winter spent in a confining stall, it is +finally freed in a green pasture. The people on the pier were in no +danger. + +The spectators, however, thought otherwise. Most of them were thoroughly +familiar with horses and mules, but camels were as alien as dinosaurs. +Obviously, these berserk beasts were bent on destruction. + +A man shouted in fear and the contagion spread. Those directly in the +path of the running herd surged away, crowding those on either side and +compounding the confusion. Some idiot, fortunately he was too excited to +take proper aim, drew and fired a revolver. Then Ali's eyes widened in +horror. + +Through the gap left open when the crowd parted, the soldiers came on +the run. Their arms were ready. Their obvious intention was to avert +catastrophe by shooting the camels before they overran the crowd. Ali +heard Lieutenant Porter's outraged bellow. + +"No! No, you fools!" + +If they heard the command, the soldiers ignored it. Dispersing smartly, +those in front knelt and those behind were preparing to shoot over their +heads when a newcomer appeared. + +Riding a sleek black horse which he handled so skillfully that somehow +it seemed an extension of himself, he came through the same gap the +soldiers had used. Unmistakably a professional soldier, his present +actions proclaimed that he was accustomed to emergencies. He wheeled his +horse in front of the troops and snapped an order. + +Though they had ignored Lieutenant Porter, either because they hadn't +heard him or because Porter wore the Navy uniform, the soldiers gave +this officer instant obedience. Falling back to either side, they formed +a lane that let the running camels through but kept the spectators out. + +Seconds after the run started, Ali and Ben Akbar left the pier and stood +on the soil of America. + +Back on the pier, Lieutenant Porter heaved a mighty sigh of relief. He gave +formal command of the camel herd over to Major Henry Wayne, of the United +States Army. Arriving in the nick of time, Wayne's prompt and vigorous +action averted the massacre of these animals and insured establishment +of the most colorful and most unique method of transportation ever +attempted in the United States--the Camel Corps. + + * * * * * + +At the very rear of the caravan, where he had been posted by Major Wayne +so that he might keep a watchful eye on all the other camels, a puzzled +and apprehensive Ali sat lightly in Ben Akbar's saddle. Watching the +caravan, only forty-one animals in all, imposed no strain. From Yusuf, +the belled leader who swung along as placidly as though the seven +hundred and fifty pounds he bore on his pack saddle had no weight at +all, to Iba, the little female who walked just ahead of Ben Akbar and +had been relieved of all pack-carrying because of anticipated +motherhood, none had any rebellious ideas or any inclination to do +anything except walk along until they came to their destination. + +Ali saw them as one learns to see the very familiar. With no need for +the fussy solicitude and anxious fretting that marked the soldiers +assigned to duty with the camels, he would instantly discern any +departure from the normal and immediately thereafter he would be making +the proper countermove. Not required even to think about the camels, +Ali's thoughts were occupied by more troublesome matters. + +In this America, to which camels had been brought with so much trouble +and at such vast expense, they had been granted a hostile reception and, +with very few exceptions, there had been nothing but hostility since. +Even those who came only to stare--and throngs of the curious appeared +wherever the camels were taken--did not like what they saw. + +It was true that camels just naturally frightened horses and mules, and +thus were responsible for an unrehearsed but extremely lively rodeo +wherever they made an unexpected appearance. In an attempt to avoid such +incidents, a rider preceded the caravan and warned all that camels were +en route. But the rider never succeeded in warning everyone, and some of +those he did advise insisted on staying around with their horses or +mules, to see for themselves whether he spoke the truth. + +Ali managed a flitting grin as he thought of an incident that had +followed the unloading. The excited camels, savoring their first happy +taste of land after such a long time at sea, were permitted to race +about and frolic as they pleased until they tired themselves out and +could again be herded. Then they were taken to a corral built especially +for them. + +The corral was large enough, and as an enclosure for horses or mules it +would have been satisfactory enough. In this land, however, conventional +building materials were both scarce and expensive. Since prickly-pear +cactus was abundant, the builders had used it to construct their fence. +Far from being repelled by such a thorny barrier, the camels happily ate +it! + +Regardless of other considerations, the very fact that they could eat +such fodder was another indication that they were well adapted to this +American Southwest. Ali already knew that, although he might encounter +problems different from any previously experienced, there'd be none +incapable of solution. Nor was there anything horses and mules could do +that camels couldn't do better. A good pack camel was capable of bearing +five or six times as much as the best pack horse or mule, and, day for +day, he'd carry it farther. He would keep on going, at the same steady +pace, past dry water holes or across drought-shriveled areas where lack +of water would drive a horse or mule to madness. Although it was often +necessary to carry hay and grain for other beasts of burden, a camel +would always live off the country. + +These camels would do all anyone expected from them and then surpass +expectations, but Ali sighed dolefully as he thought of what had been and +what was. Even Major Wayne had been unable to counteract a spontaneous +public rejection of these beasts from a far land. Accosted by skeptics +who doubted a camel's ability to pack anything at all, Wayne had bales +of hay packed on a kneeling camel. The enormous load totaled more than +twelve hundred pounds, but, with no hesitation and no visible strain, +the camel rose and walked away with the load when ordered to do so. + +Compared with the pack animals they knew, it was an incredible feat. +But, although they themselves were eyewitnesses, the onlookers seemed to +regard what they had seen as the trick of some circus master. Seeing, +they neither accepted nor approved. + +The real trouble, Ali thought sadly, was nothing that had yet appeared +or would appear on the surface. Although this country was markedly +similar to his own native land, there were fundamental differences that +had nothing to do with topography. They lay in the hearts and traditions +of people who, for past generations, had looked to the horse, the mule +and the ox for help in building up their land. + +With very few exceptions, even the soldiers assigned to the Camel Corps +resented their new duties. For the most part, they were former mule +skinners who had been chosen because of their outstanding ability to +handle mules. Almost to a man, they yearned to be rid of camels and back +with their mules. Only Major Wayne and a very few others had complete +confidence in the proposed Camel Corps. Fortunately, some of these were +so influential that they must be heard. + +Presently, Ali caught his first glimpse of Camp Verde, the military post +where the camels were to be held until a major expedition was organized. +His heart grew lighter and his troubles less. + +Obviously, Camp Verde had been planned by someone who knew camels. +Glancing briefly at a cluster of adobe buildings, Ali centered intent +scrutiny on the khan, or camel corral. Constructed of stone, wood and +timber, it was patterned after the time-tested khans of Ali's native +country. Rectangular, the north wall angled outward. The gate was in +this wall and a house for the chief camel handler stood beside the gate. +Spacious enough for five times as many camels, the corral differed in a +notable respect from most khans Ali had seen. It was sparkling clean. + +A few camels, some with pack and some with riding saddles, stood here +and there about the camp and more were visible in the khan. Evidently +this was the herd Mimico had mentioned, the thirty-three previously +imported. The new arrivals were halted, stripped of their burdens and +herded into the khan. + +With an affectionate parting slap for Ben Akbar, Ali turned to face a +strange camel handler. Arrived with the first camels and presently +serving as interpreter, he already had Mimico and the six other handlers +in tow. + +"You are to come with me," he announced. + +He escorted the newcomers to a building and lined them up before a desk, +behind which sat a bored-looking clerk. The clerk inscribed each man's +name in his records while the interpreter told each about the wages he +would receive. Ali, last in line, presently faced the clerk. + +"You are to be paid twenty dollars a month and receive full rations," +the interpreter said. + +Without looking up, the clerk asked, "Name?" + +"Hadji Ali," Ali answered. + +"What?" the clerk asked. + +"Hadji Ali," Ali repeated. + +The clerk wrote with his goose quill, and, still without looking up, he +flipped the book around for Ali's inspection. Unable to read or write, +but with no intention of admitting that while the interpreter might +overhear, Ali scanned his written name. + +"Right?" the clerk asked. + +Ali nodded approval. Thus did Hadji Ali cease to be. From that moment, +not only as long as he lived but as history would record him after his +death, Ali would be known by the name the clerk had written. + +It was _Hi Jolly_. + + + + +9. Lieutenant Beale + + +Except for the camels, that never seemed to be affected by any +weather, everything at Camp Verde had sought the nearest shade. It was +hot, Ali admitted to himself. The Syrian sun at its fiercest was not +more savage than this blazing sun of Texas. But it was not unendurable. + +Since for the present there was no reason to endure it, Ali and Mimico +sat cross-legged in the shade of the camel khan. Wan and weak, Mimico +was still recovering from some devastating malady that had almost cost +his life. For an interval neither spoke. Then Mimico broke the silence. + +"I came to this thrice-accursed camp while winter was still with us," he +growled. "I have been here since, doing the work of a stable boy and as +a stable boy regarded. All this I endured without complaint--" + +Ali smothered a quick grin. Throughout a very monotonous period of doing +nothing worthwhile, as they waited for somebody to decide what should be +done, no voice had declared more loudly or more frequently than Mimico's +that camels and camel men belonged out on the trails. They should not be +restricted to a rest home for obsolete Pashas--Mimico's personal title +for Camp Verde--who could do nothing except talk because they had grown +too old or too fat to ride. + +Mimico saw the grin and lapsed into a sulky silence. Then he resumed, +amending his narrative to conform with truth. + +"All this I endured with little complaint, for I knew that it was a +passing thing. Sooner or later, there would be work for men, and men +would be needed. Now that the opportunity is here--" + +Mimico's voice trailed off into silence, and he gazed moodily at the +sun-shriveled horizon. Ali's heart went out to his friend. + +Camp Verde had indeed proved dull. Ali would have taken Ben Akbar and +gone elsewhere weeks ago, except that he, too, foresaw a need for both +camels and camel men. Now that time was not only at hand, but it +promised to be the most exciting caravan of Ali's life. + +A full-scale expedition was to be commanded by a Lieutenant Beale, an +officer Ali had not met. The object was to survey a wagon road. +According to rumor, a great deal of the proposed route lay through +wilderness, of which none was well-known and much was unknown. There was +more than a fair chance of encountering Indians, America's own savage +tribesmen! + +Most important and most exciting, the expedition was to provide a major +test for the camels. Twenty-five were to go along, with Ali as a sort of +overseer-teacher. Besides handling the camels, he was to instruct others +in their proper handling. + +Ali could well understand his friend's disappointment. Mimico, who +otherwise would have accompanied the expedition, had been declared +physically unfit by the post surgeon and ordered to remain at Camp +Verde. + +Ali offered such comfort as he could. "It is the will of Allah." + +"Save your pious lectures for fledglings who may be impressed!" Mimico +snapped. "If the will of Allah were truly what men proclaim it to be, +you would have been shriveled by His wrath on a certain night when you +left Mecca in a very great hurry." + +Ali said nothing. Gray November skies had prevailed when he joined the +company on the _Supply_ and had his first meeting with Mimico. This was +June in a new land, and never once had Mimico even intimated that he knew +of the incident in Mecca. Mentioning it now was a breach of etiquette, +but Ali did not forget that Mimico was both sick and heartbroken. + +After a moment, "Forgive me, my friend!" Mimico implored. "I shall not +make my own hurt less painful by inflicting hurt upon you!" + +Ali said, "It is forgotten." + +"I care not what you or anyone else did in Mecca," Mimico went on. "None +of us may truly know what lies beyond this mortal life until we have +taken leave of it and may find out for ourselves. Getting back to +earthly matters, which are the only ones I admit to understanding, I +hear the journey will be long." + +"I have heard the same," Ali declared. "But the longer it is, the +better. I do not like this place." + +Mimico said fervently, "Nor do I! Aside from being wearisome, it has +been most absurd. I wonder at the Amirs who have made it so." + +Ali told himself that that was also true. Major Wayne, in command at +Camp Verde, was a thoroughly competent officer who maintained a smoothly +running organization when left alone. But various officers who ranked +Wayne, of whom few had any real knowledge of camels but all cherished +pet theories, had visited from time to time and insisted on trying +their ideas. + +One had convinced himself--and submitted an official report that he hoped +would convince others--that camels were greatly inferior to horses. He +arrived at such a conclusion by arranging a race, a quarter-mile sprint, +between a racehorse and a riding camel. The horse finished before the +camel was fairly started, it is true, but the officer in question refused +to recognize the sound fact that quarter-mile sprints would not be +especially valuable to the proposed Camel Corps. Nor could he be convinced +that, although a good horse may outdistance a camel in the first half day +of travel, the camel will overtake and pass the horse before night. +Furthermore, the camel will be fresh for the next day's start and will be +going on long after the horse is worn out. + +Another officer had proved conclusively that, due to peculiarities of +the terrain, camels would be worse than useless in the Southwest because +they quickly became sore-footed. This officer derived such an opinion by +requisitioning six camels that hadn't been outside the khan for six +weeks, having them packed and sending them off on a fifty-mile trip. The +camels went lame solely because they had had no trail work to harden +their feet. + +In a similar fashion, it had been demonstrated that the gait of a riding +camel is so stiff and jarring that Americans couldn't possibly get used +to it; that camels are subject to a bewildering variety of ailments; +that they are too vicious to be practical, and that there were a few +dozen other reasons why the whole project couldn't possibly work and the +camels had better be disposed of right now! Throughout, those who had +originally had faith in a camel corps persisted in battling all skeptics +and going ahead. + +At long last, this proper expedition was organized and a true test was +at hand. What happened afterward, Ali told himself, depended in great +measure on Lieutenant Beale. If he was one of those officers whose every +thought is already written in the Manual of Regulations--Ali had seen +for himself that the American Army has a full quota of such--his report +might very well doom future expeditions. If Beale was able to think for +himself, if he was capable of honest analysis and could adapt to new +situations, it was wholly possible that his favorable report would +remove all obstacles and be the making of the Camel Corps. + +Mimico asked wistfully, "What think you of the savage tribesmen, whose +country you are to enter?" + +"I have never met them," Ali answered seriously. "But I have met and +fought the Druse, and I know well the bandits of the caravan routes. +It is difficult to suppose that these savages are more fierce." + +"Difficult indeed," Mimico said. "I am most envious, Ali." + +Ali said, "There will be a chance for you." + +"There is already a chance for you," Mimico pointed out, "and it is +better to have one honey cake in the hand than to yearn for twenty and +have none. It is said that you will enter desert country." + +"I am no stranger to the desert," Ali said. + +Mimico asked, "Have you no fears at all?" + +"Only fools go without fear," said Ali. "To fear the unknown is to be +prepared for it." + +"Some have so much fear that they refuse even to be prepared," Mimico +grunted. He named various other camel drivers who found the existence of +Camp Verde ideal, since they had the finest of care and nothing to do. +Asked to accompany the expedition and honestly informed of its nature +and probable dangers, they had promptly terminated their employment and +requested passage back to their native land. + +When Mimico finished his appraisal of this worthless lot, Ali said +simply, "They are Egyptians." + +"They are cowards," Mimico amended. "I have known many old women with +more courage. When does the leader of this expedition arrive, Ali?" + +"I do not know the day, but it will be soon. I have been asked to be +present at all times, for this man is expected to tarry only long enough +to choose his camels." + +Mimico said, "I wish you luck, Ali." + +"And may fortune attend you," Ali responded. + +Halfway across the camel khan, Ali stood grimly unmoving and silently +awaited that which Allah had ordained. At any rate, none but Allah could +now direct the tide of destiny, for Ali himself had tried. + +A former Navy officer whose title derived from that service, and not now +attached to the military, Lieutenant Beale had arrived late yesterday +afternoon. Ali knew that because he had remained at a respectful distance +and witnessed the arrival. It was what he had expected; camel drivers +do not participate in formal welcomes for caravan masters. + +Beale was accompanied by two companions, men so young that they were +hardly more than boys, and all were greeted by and escorted to the house +of Major Wayne. Ali drew his rations and retired to his own house, a +lean-to behind the camel khan. Two hours ago, while the light of a new +day was only a dim promise in the sky, he had been routed out and told +to make ready. + +Shortly thereafter, he met Lieutenant Beale. Again skipping formality, +which did not bother Ali, the introduction consisted of a good look at +his future chief. Ali liked what he saw. + +Edward Beale looked older than his mid-thirties, but it was a look that +experience alone had imparted. A trained surveyor and veteran of numerous +excursions into the wilderness, Kit Carson was one of his many friends. +Beale's knowledge of dangerous situations resulted from facing danger and +finding his own way out. One of the original few who had conceived the +idea of a Camel Corps and then worked tirelessly for it, Beale was a +demanding taskmaster, with a touch of the martinet. However, Ali had +seen enough men to know Beale as very much of a man. + +The sun was just rising as Ali followed Major Wayne's party to the khan, +so Lieutenant Beale might select the animals he wanted. He rose +considerably in Ali's opinion when his first choice was Old Mohamet, the +wisest and best baggage camel in the herd. Beale followed with Gusuf +and, without a single error selected twenty-four of the best animals in +the herd. Finally, he fixed his eyes on Ben Akbar. + +"That's as fine a _dalul_ as I've seen," he remarked. "We'll take him." + +Ali nodded, not even slightly surprised. Could anyone who chose camels +with such a discerning eye fail to choose Ben Akbar? The expedition +certainly had the right commander. + +Lieutenant Beale looked from Ben Akbar to Sied, an all-white animal +previously chosen and, next to Ben Akbar, the best _dalul_ in the herd. +A soldier came to advise Major Wayne that he was wanted elsewhere and +the commanding officer of Camp Verde left. Lieutenant Beale, his young +companions and Ali were left alone in the khan. + +After studying Sied thoroughly, a time-consuming process if correctly +done, Lieutenant Beale turned to subject Ben Akbar to the same intense +scrutiny. Ali discarded all doubts he might still have concerning Beale. +Anyone could look at a camel, but few had the knack of looking, seeing +and understanding. + +Ali had known cameleers of great experience who would never bother with +such preliminaries. Faced with two apparently equal _dalul_, they would +accept either, after assuring themselves that both were good. But the +best of the camel men never chose lightly. Among them, an elite few were +entirely willing to spend as much time as necessary to study every beast +in a herd, so that they might finally select the one best fitted to +their requirements. + +Finally, Beale gestured toward Ben Akbar and turned to his companions. +"That red Nomanieh dromedary is superb," he said. "I want a closer +look." + +He started toward Ben Akbar, who was standing quietly near the far wall +of the khan. Ali, who had understood none of the conversation but who +knew all too clearly what Beale's gesture indicated, felt his heart +catch in his throat. + +He whirled toward the gate, and eyes already worried became desperate +when there was no evidence of Major Wayne. Ali turned back to Lieutenant +Beale, already a third of the way across the khan, and he shivered in +terrible indecision. A camel driver did not presume to give orders to +his leader! + +The two young men seemed to have forgotten Ali and kept fascinated eyes +on Lieutenant Beale. Ali ran forward. A camel driver did not command his +chief, but neither did he let him go to certain injury and possible +death. + +Running up behind the officer, Ali grasped his arm. Lieutenant Beale +stopped and swung about, but his eyes were questioning rather than +angry, and he arched interrogatory brows. + +"Well, boy?" he asked. + +Ali remained speechless. Though he could have voiced a warning in Syrian +or any of a dozen Arabic dialects, he did not know how to speak in a +tongue Beale might understand. Presently, and happily, he found the +perfect solution in one of the bits of English he had mastered but sadly +misinterpreted. + +The fists of a constantly brawling soldier had hammered out an unbroken +string of victories. As a result, his companions trod with appropriate +wariness and offered proper respect. Obviously, therefore, the name +bestowed on their pugnacious brother-in-arms indicated that which was +better left alone. Ali gestured toward Ben Akbar. + +"Sad Sam," he pronounced. + +"What?" Lieutenant Beale's quizzical frown became an engaging grin. + +"Sad Sam," Ali repeated. + +Lieutenant Beale turned to glance at Ben Akbar. "Sad Sam, eh? He does +look a bit melancholy at that. I'll see if I can make him smile." + +Pulling away from Ali, he resumed walking toward Ben Akbar. Ali waited +in his tracks, unable to think of anything else he might do. Lieutenant +Beale passed Ben Akbar's point of no return, and only Allah could help +now. + +Then, even as Ali drew each quick breath with a dreadful certainty that +it must mark Ben Akbar's quick lunge, the _dalul_ stepped forward. He +thrust his head over Lieutenant Beale's shoulder and waited in shivering +ecstasy for his neck to be scratched. + +Ali caught his breath and the look in his eyes was one of profound +respect. This man was indeed to command. There would be no failure. + +Major Wayne shouted suddenly, "Ned! Watch yourself!" + +Still scratching Ben Akbar's neck, Lieutenant Beale glanced toward the +returning Major. "What's up?" + +"That's a killer dromedary. Didn't anybody warn you?" + +"Somebody tried but I guess I didn't understand." The look Lieutenant +Beale gave Ali meant that one man recognized another. "I won't be so +stupid again," Lieutenant Beale promised. + + + + +10. The Expedition + + +Ali awakened in the dim light of very early morning. For a startled +moment, he reverted to old habit and lay perfectly still, for he was not +at once sure as to what lay about him. Then came comprehension. + +The many nights he had slept in his lean-to shelter behind the camel +khan marked the longest uninterrupted period of his life ever spent in +any one house. He had become accustomed to it and was momentarily +bewildered to awake in unfamiliar surroundings. Then the days at Camp +Verde seemed to fade away and it was as though he had never slept +anywhere except on bare earth, with the sky his only roof. The fact +that he was wrapped in a blanket rather than his burnous was the only +difference between this and the life he had always led. + +Ali preferred the burnous, but his was becoming tattered and a new +burnous seemed to be almost the only article one could not hope to find +in the rich markets of vast America. Putting the garment away against +some vague future when nothing else would serve, Ali had taken the first +step toward becoming an American by accepting American clothes. + +He raised on one elbow and looked toward the corral. All was peaceful +there, so he settled back down. His plan had worked. + +The camels had not had enough trail work to toughen their feet, and the +journey from Camp Verde to the expedition's base camp near San Antonio +had necessarily been a slow one. Arriving with some sore-footed camels, +in spite of a leisurely pace, the horses and mules that were also to be +part of the expedition promptly took the usual violent exception to +these trespassers from a far land. + +In any other circumstances, Ali could have corrected all trouble simply by +going on with his camels. In this instance, it was not only impossible to +go on, but the camels must travel with the rest of the expedition's +livestock for many days and miles and a full-scale rodeo every day and +every mile was not the way to assure success. Since a definite and final +settlement was obviously indispensable, Ali requested and received +Lieutenant Beale's permission to put the camels in the same corral +with the horses and mules. + +The immediate result was pandemonium. Though the camels again refused to +give way to excitement, just because everything about them was hysterical, +and remained serene, the horses and mules did everything except tear the +corral apart. Since no flesh and blood could maintain such a pace, +eventually they had to quiet down because they were too tired to do +anything else. Now, although the camels formed their own group and stood +apart from the rest, all was still peaceful. East and West had finally +met, and, even though neither considered the other socially acceptable, +at least they had become acquainted. What might have been a major +problem was already solved. + +Some distance away from the corral, a herd of more than three hundred +sheep were bedded under the watchful eye of a Mexican herder and his +dog. The sheep were also to go with the expedition, Ali neither knew nor +cared why. There were to be eight big freight wagons, each drawn by six +mules, and two smaller wagons for personal effects and Lieutenant +Beale's engineering equipment. There was a total of fifty-six men, most +of them soldiers who had discarded conventional uniforms in favor of +more practical buckskin garb. There was a miscellany of livestock, to +serve wherever extra animals were needed. + +Some of the soldiers were to help with the camels. Ali knew nothing +about any of them except that they knew nothing about camels. Some, as +usual, resented such duty but, for once, resentment of Ali and his +charges posed no problem. Though relations were on a congenial and +informal basis, nobody had the faintest doubt but that Lieutenant Beale +commanded. + +Foremost among the enthusiastic advocates of the proposed Camel Corps, +Beale had taken a strong liking to Sied, the white _dalul_, and Ali had +already given him a few riding lessons. In addition, whenever he could +spare the time, Beale was sitting at Ali's feet and doing his best to +learn Syrian, so that he might address the camels in a tongue with which +they were already familiar. + +Known as a fair-minded man, Beale also had a reputation for meting out +deserved punishment with anything except kid gloves. Thus there was +small probability that smoldering resentment would be expressed in +hostile action, as had been the case at Camp Verde. One of the camels, +that had somehow escaped from the khan and strayed, died shortly after +she was recovered. Subsequent examination disclosed that she had been +hit on the neck with sufficient force to fracture the bones. Nobody ever +found out who did it. + +Presently, Ali got up and carefully folded his blanket. He laid it +beside the spare clothing and few personal articles that belonged to him +and wrapped all in a square of canvas. Though he hadn't the least +trouble carrying all his worldly goods in one hand, it never even +occurred to Ali that he lacked anything. On those rare occasions when he +gave the matter any thought, the contents of his bundle were wealth +indeed compared with what he'd had on the night he rode Ben Akbar away +from Al Misri's camp. + +Leaving the bundle where it lay, Ali devoted himself to the first solemn +duty of every morning. He walked toward the corral. Seeing him, Ben +Akbar detached himself from the little herd of camels and came to the +fence. Ali dug in his pocket for a lump of sugar, a delicacy that only +the wealthy could enjoy elsewhere but that was available to even the +poorest in America. Ben Akbar licked it from the palm of his hand and +made gusty smacking noises as he chewed. Ali scratched the big _dalul's_ +neck. + +"We are on the way," he murmured. "The camp of idleness lies behind, and +once more the caravan routes are ahead. It is well." + +Only the cook, a sour individual who must necessarily be astir long +before anyone else if breakfast was to be eaten in time for an early +start, had been up before Ali. He greeted the young camel driver with a +grunt, but heaped a plate with food and filled a mug with coffee. Ali +had finished his breakfast when the rest of the camp began to stir. + +Returning to the corral, Ali looked past Ben Akbar to the remaining +camels. A troubled frown creased his brow. + +The horses and mules were none of his responsibility, for which he was +duly thankful. The camels were, and Ali's frown deepened as the problem +he must solve assumed its correct proportions. On the trip from Camp +Verde, the camels had carried little except their bells, harness and a +few gay trappings to add color. In spite of that, and a leisurely pace, +some had come in sore-footed. + +Because Lieutenant Beale was determined to forestall any possible +accusations to the effect that there had been no fair test, every camel +was to carry a full load from this camp on. Though all were in superb +condition in every respect save one, that single lack could be serious +and perhaps disastrous. Since their feet were still soft, sore-footed +camels were not only to be expected but were practically inevitable. +Until such time as they were again trail-hardened, camels that might +otherwise have left a favorable impression on a highly-skeptical public +would make a dismal showing indeed. + +Ali shrugged. There was nothing for it except go on, hope for the best +and trust Lieutenant Beale. + +Entering the corral, Ali saddled and bridled Ben Akbar and tied him to +the top rail. It would help nothing if some soldier who decided he could +handle Ben Akbar as he might a fractious mule were trampled and mauled +for his pains. + +Presently the soldiers came. All had considerable experience in +conventional Army transport and all would have known exactly what to +do if they were about to deal with conventional beasts of burden. As it +was, none had the vaguest notion of the correct procedure with camels, +and their lack of knowledge was expressed in a lack of confidence. They +were awkward and self-conscious, and, at the same time, they were trying +to conceal their uncertainty beneath a mask of indifference. + +"Here we are, pal," the leader informed Ali. "What's next?" + +Ali grinned, understanding nothing but having been previously informed +that his helpers would need instruction. Before anything else, he pointed +to Ben Akbar. As Lieutenant Beale had instructed, he said, "Bad one. Stay +away." + +The soldiers regarded Ben Akbar with respect plus challenging interest. +All had met the bad ones and none had stayed away, but they had been +handling beasts with which they were familiar. This time, at least until +they had a better idea of what they were doing, it might be well to take +this camel driver's advice. They turned expectantly back to him. + +Ali saddled Mohamet, seeming to do so with a few deft motions, but years +of experience and great skill were his invisible helpers. None knew +better than he that a camel must be saddled with absolute perfection. If +anything less, a slipping saddle will be certain a chafe a tender hump. +It was an unwise practice, even if one had no regard for the animal +itself; sore-backed camels cannot carry packs. + +When Ali finished, each soldier selected a saddle and set about to +practice the lesson he had just learned. Busy with a second camel, Ali +pivoted when the air was split with a thunderous, "You ornery, +slab-sided, no good, devil-begotten son of nothing!" + +One of the aspiring cameleers was reeling back with both hands over his +eyes. The camel he had been trying to saddle was standing quietly, +apparently interested in nothing but a dreamy contemplation of the +horizon. The soldier wiped his eyes. + +"The critter spit at me!" he ejaculated. Again, and as though he didn't +quite believe, "The critter _spit_ at me, and got me square in the +eyes!" + +Ali went patiently to the aid of the agitated soldier. If he had known +how, he would have explained that improperly handled camels will not +only spit, but are uncannily accurate. Wilder beasts than these would +bite. + +Two hours later, an anxious Lieutenant Beale entered the corral. "How's +it going?" he queried. + +Ali indicated the few saddled camels that were tied to the rail and the +many unsaddled ones that were presently dodging about the corral and +rather deftly eluding amateur packers. It would be necessary to catch +every one. Since nobody except Ali had yet succeeded in bringing a camel +and a camel saddle together, it followed that Ali would have to saddle +every one after he caught it. + +Lieutenant Beale nodded and left. + + * * * * * + +Back pillowed against a boulder, Ali sprawled in the warm sun and +watched the camels browse. Far more than a pleasant sight, he thought, +it was a vision that could not fail to lift the heart of anyone not too +dull to be inspired. For to see the camels as they were--and where they +were--meant that a great victory was won. + +It was no small victory. + +The camels had arrived at the expedition's base camp on the twenty-first +of June. Departure was scheduled for the next morning. But with camels +already driven wild by inexperienced help and rapidly getting wilder, +they hadn't even succeeded in saddling all of them on that day or for +several days thereafter. + +Not until June the twenty-fifth were they finally under way, and Ali could +not recall a sorrier caravan. The soldiers had acquired just enough skill +so they could put a pack on a camel and have some assurance that it +wouldn't fall off. In accordance with Lieutenant Beale's wish for a +thorough test, the minimum load for any baggage animal was seven hundred +pounds. That was far more than should have been carried by animals whose +exercise in recent months had consisted of shuffling about the khan. + +There were immediate complications. Freight wagons drawn by six mules, +conveyances not noted for speed, whizzed past sore-footed and overloaded +camels and seemed swift in comparison. To the unrestrained hilarity of +those who came to watch--and presently of the country at large when news +sources got hold of the story--the camels functioned in every way except +efficiently. Far from reaching the Colorado River at the California +border, the end of the survey, it became increasingly apparent that +Beale and his camels would be fortunate indeed if they were trapped in +the suburbs of a growing San Antonio. + +Then the outlook changed. + +Though it did not happen overnight, eventually the camels became +trail-hardened. Weary and sore beasts that had plodded into camp hours +after the mule wagons were already there during the first harassed days +began arriving at the next night's camp hours before the wagons were +even sighted. Two camels so ill that they were abandoned on the trail, +rejoined the caravan, apparently as well as ever, a few days +afterwards. + +Baggage camels that staggered under over-heavy loads on the day of +departure, now bore equally-heavy burdens without the least effort. They +proved as indifferent to drenching rains as they had been to blazing +sun. They not only ate but thrived on any forage they found; the +expedition's store of grain never had to feed starving camels. + +Soldiers who hadn't known the first thing of camel transport had +acquired a liberal education. Most had come to like these strange +beasts. Some turncoats had even been heard to declare that camels were +far better than mules in any way anyone might compare the two species. + +Probably the outstanding triumph belonged to Lieutenant Beale. Growing +ever fonder of Sied, Beale had ridden the white _dalul_ at every +opportunity and even Ali admitted that he had become a very skilful +rider. Near Albuquerque, Beale had news that a friend, Colonel Loring, +was in the vicinity. + +Mounting Sied, Lieutenant Beale set out to find his friend. The camel, +whose only nourishment since leaving San Antonio had consisted of +whatever forage the trail offered, not only carried his rider to Colonel +Loring, but when Loring accepted an invitation to visit the expedition's +camp, outdistanced the grain-fed horses of the colonel and his men on +the return trip. + +All was well, Ali thought dreamily, and may Allah have mercy on whoever +was unable to see sublime beauty in the camels as they were and where +they were. For they were still fat and healthy and they were at Fort +Defiance. The pedestrian and least interesting part of the journey was +behind. Fort Defiance was a true frontier post. Unless they turned back, +which was unthinkable, they must go ahead. + +And ahead lay the unknown. + + + + +11. The Wilderness + + +The trail was rough, but Ben Akbar's saddle remained a veritable bed +of feathers as the big _dalul_ continued at the same swift trot he had +started two hours ago. Ali turned in the saddle to look behind him. + +There was nothing there, but neither was there anything ahead except the +same boulder-strewn, scrub-grown, sun-baked land that he saw when he +glanced around. The place had no visible attractions, but it did +furnish reason anew to marvel at the vastness of America. Ali knew some +self-contained nations, complete from Pasha to slaves, that were not as +large as this forbidding corner of America wherein the entire expedition +was presently lost. + +Never jarring his rider, Ben Akbar continued without a noticeable +variation in gait. Ali turned back to face the west. + +The anxiety that clouded his eyes deepened, but it was not for himself +that he worried. As far as he personally was concerned, by far the +happiest days of his life began when the expedition left Zuni, west of +Fort Defiance and the last settlement this side of California, on the +thirty-first of August. That day, a lifelong dream finally came true. + +Illiterate, Ali had developed skills vital to those who may never consult +written records. When necessary to do so, he had only to close his eyes +and see in memory a map of all the caravan routes he'd ever traveled. It +was invariably in proper detail--the shortest route was never omitted and +the longest was never extended beyond correct proportions. Every mile +of every trail was again as it had been when Ali went that way with +the camels. + +For various reasons, some of those journeys had been very exciting. But +this promised far more than any other trail Ali had traveled. + +Wild and dangerous though they had been, and some still were, the camel +trails of Ali's native country were almost as ancient as the land itself. +Caravans had certainly been traversing them since recorded history, and +fable told of camels on the march long before any recording. Thus there +had never been even a faint possibility of doing anything that had not +already been done over and over, or of going anywhere not already visited +by multitudes. + +This route must forever stand apart. Even though people had come this +way, with very few exceptions, they were wild as the wild beasts that +slunk from their path. Certainly there had never been a caravan, and for +that reason alone there must be the challenge of the mysterious and +unknown. In addition, Ali found something else he'd never known before. + +Here were no petty Amirs, with an endless array of petty decrees. +Confining Camp Verde was far behind; there wasn't even a camel khan. +Space was limitless, and freedom was restricted only by a need for +caution. Obviously, when at last one had all the room he needed for +growing and roaming, he would not do a great deal of either if he fell +prey to either the savages or the elements. + +Ali knew that even this parched and barren country was not repulsive to +his eyes. He must consider it forbidding, or at least undesirable, +because of its current threat to the expedition. + +Fighting a sudden powerful notion that he had missed something and had +better turn around again, Ali looked steadfastly ahead. He hadn't missed +anything and knew it, but he would anxiously grasp any straw as he neared +the place where he must turn about and hope faded. + +Largely because, in Ali's eyes, Lieutenant Beale's stature had long since +exceeded that of any other man and was rapidly nearing heroic proportions, +Ali could not blame his leader for the present dilemma. The signs had been +present; any man who had good camels should think seriously as to the +wisdom of bringing horses and mules too into a land where water was +uncertain. + +Ali was unable to blame his leader for anything, and, anyhow, the guide +was directly at fault. After leading the entire expedition astray--as +yet nobody knew how far--the guide offered only a sheepish grin as an +excuse when he finally admitted choosing the wrong landmarks. He'd +risked everyone's life but he'd never know, Ali thought, how close he'd +come to paying for his carelessness with his own life. Ali had been +watching Lieutenant Beale's eyes when the guide confessed his error. The +guide had been looking at the ground. + +Except for the strict rations allotted each man, they had run out of +water shortly afterwards. The camels were in no trouble, but the horses +and mules were already frantic with thirst. Had Ali been in command, he +would have shot the horses and mules and gone on with camels only. But +Ali was not in command, and because Lieutenant Beale wished to find +water for his suffering beasts, Ali could not wish otherwise. Even +though they still had rations, some of the expedition's men were already +apprehensive. + +The sun was almost at that point where Ali must turn Ben Akbar and go +back. His heart grew heavier as it became increasingly evident that he +would have no news of water. Such failure was all the more galling +because he never doubted but that he'd been close to success. + +There was no use in comparing this with his own country, since this +specific problem could never arise there. All the water holes were +known. A thirsty traveler who found one dry, simply went on toward the +next one. If he got there, he drank. If he did not, he died. However, it +was reasonable to suppose that some fundamental rules applied in +America, even as they did throughout the rest of the world. + +Where there was water, there should be green foliage. Of course, he must +not expect to find familiar date palms. There must be some other trees +indigenous to this parched area, and any that received water would be +green, and any color at all in such drab surroundings would glow like a +candle at midnight. + +Reaching the place where he had been ordered to turn around, a reluctant +Ali halted Ben Akbar. For a moment he sat the saddle, searching +everything still ahead and hoping desperately to see a splash of green +that must mark an oasis. He saw only more desert. The last feeble spark +of hope almost flickered out. + +Then, suddenly, it flared. Though Lieutenant Beale had told him when he +must return, he had not said that Ali must come back by the same route. +Some distance to the south was a series of rocky ridges from whose crests +it would surely be possible to see much new country. Ali swung south. + +With a much clearer understanding of the expedition's true purpose, Ali +lauded the wisdom that had prompted it. If some of this Southwest was +bleak and forbidding, some was as fine and rich as anything Ali had ever +seen. Villages and even cities might thrive here and there would still +be ample grazing for flocks and herds. + +Almost without exception, however, the few white men who had dared enter +the region cared for nothing except high adventure and possible riches, +with high adventure accorded a definite priority. Far from taming the +wilderness, they much preferred it untamed. Their opposites, who would +bring settlement and civilization, must first be provided with some +means of access. Though the wild men could live by their rifles and from +their saddlebags, families could not. + +Following the 35th parallel, except wherever circumstance, such as +terrain unsuited for wagons, made it wise to deviate from that line, +the expedition was to lay out a wagon road between Fort Defiance and +the California border. Besides opening new country, the road would +close the final gap in a transcontinental highway. + +Ali, who knew something about roads, had only unstinted admiration for +the course so far. That camels could travel it was not open to question, +for camels were breaking the trail. Lieutenant Beale, however, was +choosing the route so carefully and with such skill that the heaviest +and clumsiest wagons could hereafter follow where the camels led. + +It was an admirable road, and the fact that the entire expedition was +lost at the moment would be of no consequence if it were not for lack +of water. Even that would be no more than a minor annoyance, except +that horses and mules must drink or find it impossible to go on. + +Ali's hopes, that had burned brightly when he turned south to swing +along these ridges, flickered dimly as time passed and no oasis was +sighted. The appointed rendezvous for this evening's camp--at least it +would be a rendezvous if the struggling mule teams were able to come so +far--was only a few miles ahead and night would fall soon. Ali put Ben +Akbar to a fast lope. + +Suddenly he wheeled and rode back. He'd seen something--or thought he +had--for it was so faintly traced that he could not be sure. It was +worth a second look. Returning to the place where something had caught +his eye, Ali halted Ben Akbar, dismounted and knelt to study the ground. + +He had seen something, but it was not to be wondered that he had almost +passed without seeing it. A small, unshod horse, traveling at a fast +trot, had passed this way within the hour and gone directly southeast. +Ali frowned thoughtfully. + +Every one of the expedition's horses was shod and none had so small a +hoof. This animal was either separated from its companions and trying +to find them, or it carried a rider. Wandering horses do not travel +fast and straight. + +Ali rose and remounted Ben Akbar. Since the horse did not belong to +the expedition, obviously it was the property of someone else. The +only human inhabitants of this forsaken waste were Indians. Though +he had seen nothing except the track of one horse, Ali knew the Druse +and the brigands of the caravan routes too well, and had fought them +too often, to shrug it off as meaningless. One Druse going somewhere +in a hurry could either be running from enemies or going to join some +companions bent on raiding. + +Since there was no indication of pursuit, obviously the Indian was not +fleeing. But in Ali's opinion and experience, there was every reason to +believe that any group of brigands anywhere would sack the expedition +if they could. + +So a group of bandits were assembling for the purpose of attacking the +expedition. Or, Ali admitted, they were not assembling. He was certain +only that there was at least one horse in the area and equally certain +that there was water not too far away. The whole thing should properly +be reported to Lieutenant Beale, but Ali remained indecisive. + +If Beale knew what Ali knew, he would most certainly insist on a personal +investigation at the earliest moment. Never doubting that his chief was a +renowned and experienced warrior, Beale was also one to rush in where +anything else feared to tread. Should one with so many distressing problems +already on his mind be further burdened? Finally, and conclusively, the +expedition might do very well without Ali. It couldn't possibly succeed +without Lieutenant Beale. Therefore, who should logically run the risk? +There was only one choice. + +Ben Akbar trotted into camp where the remaining camels were contentedly +feeding on greasewood. Sied was among them. Lieutenant Beale, who had +also scouted for water, must have returned. He proved to be one of the +little group who stood watching the agonized approach of the mules. +Nobody had found water; if they had, they would not appear so downcast. + +Dismounting, Ali removed Ben Akbar's trappings and the big _dalul_ +joined the feeding herd. Ali turned toward the oncoming wagons. + +Heads bent, tongues lolling, the mules swayed in their traces and moved +at a slow crawl. When the wagons finally drew up, the mules remained as +they were when halted and did not so much as glance to one side or the +other, even when stripped of their harnesses. + +His mules unharnessed, but so nearly finished that they retained their +team positions, the first driver went to his wagon and lifted down the +water keg. He turned to Lieutenant Beale and spoke in a husky whisper, +"Nary a drop left. Must of sprung a leak and--" + +The mules came alert with a frantic rush and were upon him in a wild +scramble. Surrounding the driver, their eager grunts and harsh gasping +seemed the voice of madness itself as they fought each other for the +privilege of licking the dry keg's bung hole. Unable to look, the +soldiers turned away. Lieutenant Beale remained the leader. + +"We can't move from here without water," he said quietly. "We'll try +again tomorrow." + +Ali offered, "I'll go again at dawn." + +Beale continued to speak softly. "Any preferred direction?" + +Ali gestured toward the horse track and Lieutenant Beale nodded +permission. "Be back by sundown." + +It was so early that the dim gray light still made for uncertain +observation when Ali halted Ben Akbar and dismounted. He bent very near +the earth, unable to see until he did so. The track was here, he had not +erred. Leading Ben Akbar, he followed, slowly at first, then faster as +the strengthening light permitted. From the crest of one hill, he looked +over the top of another and finally saw what he so desperately wanted to +see. + +It was the topmost branches of a full-leafed tree, and here, in this +place of no color, it was startling as snow on a naked cliff. + +Ali turned his mount and said softly, "Kneel." + +The big _dalul_ knelt. Ali crawled forward. On the summit of the hill +over which the tree top appeared, he crouched in a nest of boulders and +verified his preconceived opinion that he would see more than water when +he finally beheld the oasis. + +Water there was, a limpid pool, shaded by one great tree and a cluster +of small ones, and seeping underground to bring life to a patch of +grass. Sixty-one horses cropped the grass, and sixty-one Indians lazed +about. + +Though he knew where he was and who these men were, Ali felt as he had +when spying on the Druse tribesmen. Even external differences between +burnous-clad Druse and half-naked Indians did not set them so very far +apart. If the Indians were not bent on raiding, there would be women +and children among them. The expedition was the only prize worth the +assembly of so many warriors. At present, they were idling away their +time until a scout reported. + +The scout appeared, as Ali was sure he would, from the direction in +which the expedition was encamped. Ali waited for the scout to reach his +companions. When he did and began his report, Ali returned to Ben Akbar. +He rode first toward the camp, so that he was between the warriors and +the expedition. Then he put Ben Akbar up a hill, but not quite over it. +He wanted only to look down on the path taken by the scout and which, by +all reason, should be the path of the warriors. + +Presently they appeared, as Ali had prayed they would, and, obviously, +the scout had reported well. In no hurry at all, it was clear that the +Indians knew of the distress in camp. The time to take it was now, with +most of the animals unfit, all of the men uncertain, and some so near +the breaking point that a little more stress would break them. When the +Indians were directly beneath him, Ali spoke to his mount. "Ho! Now!" + +Ben Akbar shot over the crest and unhesitatingly did as Ali wished, he +charged the mounted column. The leader, a fiercely painted young warrior +whose thoughts were pleasantly filled with an easy conquest and ample +loot, had time for only one good look before his horse took charge. + +The panic spread like wind-driven fire in dry grass. Ali halted Ben +Akbar and gave himself up to complete enjoyment, for indeed it was +enjoyable. Sixty-one horses, as was customary with horses of America, +took instant leave of their senses when confronted by a _dalul_ of +Syria. For the first time since arriving in America, and the last, this +was one unscheduled rodeo for which a camel would never be held to +accounting. + +Two hours later, bulging water bags tied wherever Ben Akbar's saddle +offered a buckle or knob to tie one, and two more over his shoulders, +Ali rode back into camp. He halted near Lieutenant Beale, who had just +come in on Sied, and grinned amiably as teamsters snatched at his load +and ran to their parched animals. + +When he and Ali were alone, Lieutenant Beale asked, "How did you locate +it, Ali?" + +"First," Ali said, "I saw a green tree." + +"What next?" + +"Then I saw some Indians," Ali reported, "but they all ran away and are +not at the water now. We may go take as much as we need." + + + + +12. The Road + + +When he came to the California bank of the Colorado River, Ali halted +Ben Akbar and surrendered to complete astonishment. Reason told him he +had been this way before, but so drastic were the changes and so little +was as he remembered it, that he challenged reason itself. Ali took a +deep breath and tried vainly to assure himself that this really was +Beale's Crossing where, two years ago and fifty days out of Fort +Defiance, the expedition's work had been successfully completed. + +Ali and Lieutenant Beale, on Ben Akbar and Sied, had reached the river +on the seventeenth of October. They were met by a horde of Indians, all +of whom were so deliriously excited at their first sight of camels that +any English they might have known was submerged in the shock. Two days +later, Ali had proved that camels can swim by swimming Ben Akbar across +the Colorado. The rest of the expedition had followed. Some horses and +mules, which the Indians promptly retrieved and ate, were drowned. All +the camels had crossed safely. + +Ali's dazed mind strove to reconcile that scene of the past and this +one. + +On the opposite bank, where the Indians had grown their corn and melons, +covered wagons with canvas tops that billowed in the little wind that +stirred were lined up as far as the eye could see. Horses, mules and +oxen rested in the traces while awaiting their turn on a ferry that was +presently in mid-river, its cargo a wagon and a six-mule team. Adults +gossiped and children played about the waiting wagons. There was a +barking of dogs, a cackling of fowl, a lowing of cattle, all the noises +that accompany a nation on the march. + +Transfixed, Ali could not move. Then the spell that gripped him was +broken by a shout. + +"Hey you! Move that blasted camel!" + +Glancing toward the ferry, Ali saw the six mules dancing skittishly and +two men trying to quiet them. Ali moved downriver. In some ways, all had +changed and in some, nothing had; camels still panicked livestock. + +Presently, Ali halted and turned back to watch, appalled by this monster +that he had somehow helped to spawn. The road had seemed a good thing, +but all the people who would ever use it, or so Ali thought, were not +half as many as the multitude awaiting the ferry. + +For a while he sat entranced as a wild deer that cannot turn its eyes +from some fascinating thing, then his flight was sudden as the deer's +when the intriguing but unknown object is abruptly recognized as a +dreaded enemy. Wheeling Ben Akbar, Ali rode downriver at top speed. He +did not dare look around, and he did not think of slackening the pace +until even Ben Akbar could no longer maintain it and slowed of his own +accord. Instantly contrite, Ali drew his mount to a halt. + +"I'm sorry, oh brother, that I could let you run so far and fast," he +apologized. "Great fear stole my senses. Perhaps I am becoming craven." + +The panting Ben Akbar nosed his arm and accepted and ate a lump of +sugar. Ali dared look back up the river. He heaved a mighty sigh of +relief. + +Not only had Ben Akbar run far beyond the sight of any wagons, but far +beyond hearing. Here was only the peaceful river, its tule-lined banks +disturbed by nothing except a horde of waterfowl and an occasional +ripple that marked the wake of a great fish hunting smaller ones in the +shallows. + +Ali grinned sheepishly. Certainly there had been no real danger; he had +fled from shadows. Tongues would wag along many caravan routes if it +were known that Hadji Ali had run away from nothing. Just the same, Ali +liked this better. He decided to ride farther down the riverbank before +crossing. + +The farther he went, the lonelier it became and the better he liked it. +Presently, his wild flight seemed more amusing than otherwise, and Ali +chuckled throatily, but he had no thought of going back up the river. He +rounded a bend and saw a dwelling. + +Built of driftwood and roofed with adobe, it was a one-room affair. +Glassless windows had been cut in such a manner as to admit the morning +sun. An adobe fireplace was built against an outside wall and an adobe +chimney rose a little above the flat roof. + +Ali halted Ben Akbar. He was no longer afraid. There had never been +anything about such houses to frighten him. However, if there was any +livestock about, he would avoid argument by circling around. If not, it +was safe to go directly past. + +Then a man came from the house and hailed him, "Come on, stranger! Come +on an' light!" + +Ali rode ahead to meet a wiry, fierce-eyed man whose uncut hair and long +beard were snow-white, but who fought the advancing years as furiously +as he had once battled advancing Indians. Everything about him, from +his buckskins to the way he had built his house, marked him for what he +was. Here was one of the wild men, who had gone where he wished and done +as he pleased, and never fretted about anything if he had a gun in his +hands and a knife at his belt. Grown too old for such a life, he had +chosen to spend the rest of his days here in this isolated spot. + +Ali dismounted and the old man extended his hand. "I'm Hud Perkins an' +you're welcome." + +"I'm Hi Jolly." Ali gave the Americanized version of his name. + +Hud Perkins said, "I looked out an' saw a man comin' on a camel, I +couldn't believe it! Of course, lots of men come, hardly a week passes +but what somebody goes up or down river, but not on camels. Is he tame?" + +"Tamer than he was at one time," Ali answered. "He has been among so +many people that almost anybody can pet him now." + +Hud Perkins said, "Don't know as I'd hold with pettin' him, but such a +critter sure makes a man think. On my way out here, I run across a +passel of 'em." + +Ali's interest quickened. "You did? Where?" + +"On the Heely River," Hud Perkins stated, "an' there wasn't rightly a +passel. There was five, but five such critters look like a passel. Will +yours stay about or do you picket him?" + +"He'll stay." + +"Then take his gear off an' let him fill up. Plenty of grass hereabouts +an' nary a critter to eat it most times." + +Ali removed Ben Akbar's saddle and bridle and the big _dalul_ padded out +to forage. Intrigued by his host's reference to five camels on the Heely +River, Ali straightened to ask for more information and found Hud +Perkins staring at Ben Akbar. + +He turned to Ali. "What's wrong with him?" + +"What do you mean?" + +"Is he good's a horse or mule?" + +"Much better," Ali stated. + +The old man shook a puzzled head. "That don't hardly jibe with those +camels on the Heely. Wasn't nobody payin' them no mind, 'cept some +heathen Papagoes that was fixin' to eat 'em. I was tempted to ketch one +an' see how it rode, but a cowboy said they wasn't worth ketchin'. The +Army fetched 'em from some place in Texas, he said, an' turned 'em loose +on the Heely on account they was more fuss than worth." + +Ali's heart sank at this first news in more than two years of the camels +left behind at Camp Verde, but he told himself that he should have +expected nothing else. He drew some comfort from a quick assurance that +neither Mimico nor Major Wayne could possibly have accompanied any +expedition that would abandon camels. Whoever had loosed those five in +the Arizona desert, where they would certainly find conditions to their +liking, knew nothing of camels and cared less. + +Ali said, "Who left those camels did not know what he was doing." + +"Might be I ought to have caught me one anyway, eh?" + +"You'd have found it worth your while," Ali assured him. + +"Well, I didn't an' I don't know as it would of been doin' me or the +camel any favor if I did. Ridin' anythin' don't set like it used to. +Come on in, Hi. I'll rouse up some rations." + +Ali walked with the old man to his house and sat down on a wooden bench +while Hud Perkins busied himself preparing fish from the river and +vegetables from his garden. He queried, "If I might ask, where ye been?" + +Ali answered, "For the past two years, I've been here in California." + +"_Hmm-ph._ Didn't know they landed any such critters out thisaway." + +"They didn't," Ali informed him. "Lieutenant Beale brought twenty-five +camels with him when he surveyed the wagon road from Fort Defiance." + +"_Wagh!_" Hud Perkins ejaculated. "Then 'tis so!" + +"What's so?" + +"I heard tell of such when I was leavin' Santa Fe to come here," his +host informed him. "Some fool, 'twas said, was goin' from Fort Defiance +to Californy, usin' camels to lay out a road. Not many believed it. Of +them as did, nobody thought the camels would get a pistol shot from Fort +Defiance." + +"It's true," Ali said. "I was with the expedition." + +"Well tie that one!" Hud Perkins marveled. "So camels did come to +Californy! What happened to 'em?" + +Ali had no immediate answer, for after reaching California, nothing +worthwhile had happened. The camels had been shown in various places, +including Los Angeles, and had attracted the usual onlookers and sparked +the usual stampedes. A few months after arriving, Lieutenant Beale took +fourteen of the animals and started back along the surveyed road. + +The rest of the herd, with Ali as keeper, had been sent to and was still +at Fort Tejon, where Army brass amused itself by putting camels through +the usual meaningless paces. Seeing no opportunity for a change, and +with all he could stomach of Fort Tejon, Ali had taken Ben Akbar and +departed. + +Ali answered his host, "They're at Fort Tejon." + +Hud Perkins snorted. "Don't blame you for leavin', got no use for Army +posts myself. You goin' east?" + +"Not all the way," Ali said. "Too far east is no better than too far +west. I think I'll go back along the road. I saw a lot of free country +there." + +Hud Perkins was silent for a long while, then he said quietly, "You saw +it two years ago." + +"But--" Ali was startled. "It isn't all taken?" + +"I don't know," Hud Perkins spoke as a bewildered old man who no longer +knew about anything. "Was a time when I figgered the West'd never settle +an' a man would always find room. But--Anyhow it's two years since I +come out." + +Ali asked gravely, "Have there really been so many others?" + +His host answered moodily, "I've seen a passel of wagon roads opened up. +Whenever there was one, people boiled along it like water pours out of a +busted beaver dam." + +The specter Ali had seen lurking behind the wagons at Beale's Crossing +was again present and again threatened panic. + +"Perhaps," he said doubtfully, "I'd better go somewhere else." + +"If you can still find such a place," Hud Perkins replied. "Still, like +I said, it's two years since I come out. I could be wrong. Why not find +out?" + +"How?" Ali asked. + +"Ride back along the road," Hud Perkins advised him. "See for yourself +if it's what you think it is. It's the one way you'll ever know." + +Ali said, "I'll do it." + +When the leading team of mules swung around the sandy butte, Ali turned +Ben Akbar away from the road. It was somehow different from the numerous +times he'd swung to one side or the other, so that wagons might pass +without the panic that always resulted when livestock met a camel. This +time there would be no turning back. + +Ali and his mount were swallowed up in a pine forest before anyone saw +them. Except for the leading mule team, that spooked when they smelled +Ben Akbar's fresh tracks, nobody in the whole train suspected that a +camel had been here. + +Riding due south, Ali did not look around even once. Again he was +fleeing, but this time he knew why. At one time, the wagon road had +offered everything he wanted. Now it offered nothing. + +The wagons lined up and awaiting their turn on the ferry at Beale's +Crossing had seemed an overwhelming multitude only because there had +been no basis for comparison. After nineteen days on the wagon road, Ali +was able to fit them into their proper niche, one small ripple in a +surging tide. He still did not know how this had come about, although he +could not have believed unless he saw it. Two short years after the +camels had composed the first organized caravan to come this way, +everybody seemed to be following. + +Besides an endless stream of wagons on the road, there were ranches +beside it. The flocks and herds that were sure to come some time seemed +to have grown overnight, as though they were mushrooms. There were +homes, villages, towns, even the cities that, Ali had once thought, +might arise after several generations. + +Swimming Ben Akbar across the Colorado at Hud Perkins' house, Ali +circled to come back on the road well east of Beale's Crossing--and +found more people. Unwilling to believe what became increasingly evident +and hoping to find even one place that was as it had been, he rode east. +Hope died when he found a village in the very heart of the desert where +the expedition had been lost. The village's source of water was the same +water hole from which Ben Akbar had stampeded the Indians. He rode on +only to find a better place for leaving the road, and now he had left +it. + +When he finally halted Ben Akbar and made camp, Ali knew that he had +acted wisely. Once again he was at peace, for, even though the old trail +was closed, nothing was ever lost as long as a new one beckoned. The +next morning, he resumed his southward journey. + +The pine forest was long behind him, the desert all about, when Ben +Akbar mounted a hill from whose summit Ali finally saw the Gila River. +He dismounted, standing a bit in front of the big _dalul_ and holding +the camel's rein lightly as he studied that which he had come so far to +see. + +Here in the desert, the Gila was sluggish, lazy and silt-laden. It had +nothing in common with the clear and sparkling streams that have +inspired poet and artist alike, but it belonged in this hot desert, even +as the others fitted their rugged valleys. Who could not see beauty in +the Gila, could not see. + +For no special reason, Ali glanced at the rein in his hand and a vast +mortification swept over him. While working for the Army, he had never +even thought about certain essential needs because Army pay and rations +provided all he needed. Now he had neither, though food was still no +problem because everybody in this land was happy to share whatever food +he might have. But man could not live by bread alone. + +True, not a great deal more was necessary and Ali attached little +importance to his own threadbare clothing and battered shoes. But his +very soul revolted when he looked at Ben Akbar's worn rein, a sorry +thing, unfitted for even the poorest baggage camel. Ali must somehow +contrive to earn some money. But the peace that had come to him when he +finally turned from the wagon road did not desert him when he remounted. +He had come to the Gila with a plan. He would find and catch the +abandoned camels and hire out as packer--and surely packers were +needed. All would be well. + +Two days later, in a delightful little haven where the Gila periodically +overflowed its banks and ample water brought luxurious growth, Ali found +the camels. He smiled with happiness when he noted Amir, an old friend +from Camp Verde, and two more old acquaintances in a pair of the young +Camp Verde females. The herd numbered seven and not five, as Hud Perkins +had told him, but Ali remembered that the old man had come this way two +years ago. All five camels he'd seen must have been from Camp Verde. Two +had been killed by something or other--Hud had mentioned Indians--and +the four were Amir's daughters and son. + +They watched nervously--and probably would have run if approached by +anyone else. Ali, who knew how to converse with camels, advanced slowly, +talking as he did so. + +Amir himself finally trotted forward to renew old friendship. + + * * * * * + +Riding Ben Akbar and trailed by his string of camels, there were eleven +now, Ali did not look back. The eleven would follow, just as they always +followed him. Nor were they at fault because their sorry rewards had +never equalled their unswerving devotion and loyalty. + +Maybe nothing was really at fault, but the mine owners to whom Ali had +offered his services and that of his camels were either too poor to hire +any packer; or so rich that they might hire what they chose, and they +chose mules. There was no use in going even near the ranches, camels +terrified cattle, too. Finally, reduced to packing water, Ali found that +those whose need was most desperate were almost never able to pay. +Unable to go on because of maximum expense and minimum income, Ali must +now do the best he could for his baggage animals. + +When he came to the meadow on the Gila where he had found the original +seven, he led his herd far into it. Then, still not looking behind, he +whirled Ben Akbar and was off at top speed. Though they would still try +to follow, the baggage camels could not match Ben Akbar's speed for very +long and must soon fall behind. + +There must be another journey along a new trail. Ben Akbar's rein was no +longer even a rein, but a piece of rope found at a water hole. His +saddle was falling apart and Ali must do something, but this time he +would. + +He had heard of much gold in the northern desert. + + + + +13. Reunion + + +The village of Quartzite was never calculated to overwhelm with +metropolitan sweep or impress with architectural grandeur. Completely +surrounded by the Arizona desert, sometimes it was oddly like a captive +village, a prisoner of the desert. But in a very real sense Quartzite +was a true monument, a tribute to the human beings who first had the +courage to trespass in such a forbidding land and then dared build homes +and live there. + +The men gathered at a Quartzite inn varied in various ways, but all bore +the stamp of the desert. Tiny wrinkles etched the eyes of each man, and, +though none were aware of it, even here in the cool and shaded inn, +they squinted. That was something they learned in the desert, where they +faced a blazing sun for hours on end and squinted to shield their eyes, +until the habit became so ingrained that they never forgot to practice +it. The door opened and another man entered. One of those present +greeted him with, "Welcome, stranger!" + +The newcomer grinned. "Thought I'd best have me a look at civilization, +been away so long that the other day I found myself talkin' with a pack +rat. Saw the darndest thing when I walked in." + +"What?" + +"A camel." At once the newcomer was the center of interest. "A big red +camel." + +"Go on!" his friend exclaimed. + +"It's true," the newcomer insisted. "He's right where Boney Wash crosses +Skull Canyon. Layin' down, he is, like he might be sick or hurt. But +he's there." + +The only man present who did not gather around the speaker had been +sitting alone and unnoticed. He rose. An old man with snow-white hair +and beard, there was that about him which spoke of many burdens carried, +and yet he bore the weight of his years with a certain assurance. When +he walked to and opened the door and slipped into the overcast early +spring afternoon, his absence went as unnoticed as his presence had +been. + +Ali closed the door behind him. Safe from prying eyes, he quivered with +excitement. + +The last arrival was a prospector, one of many original optimists who +constantly roamed the desert, engaged in prodigious labors that were +seldom granted the smallest reward and never once doubted that they had +only to keep on and all the desert's dazzling riches would be yielded up +to them. Recently, he'd been working in hills to the north, and his best +way to Quartzite would be down Skull Canyon. + +A red camel, the man had said, lay at the junction of Skull Canyon and +Boney Wash. Ali couldn't remember how many times his own prospecting +trips had taken him up Skull Canyon. He left the village and started to +run, but his legs were no longer capable of running far, so he dropped +back to a walk. The increasingly cooler evening wind, one of various +reasons why Ali had finally turned his back on the desert to live with +generous friends at Quartzite, he scarcely noticed. + +He had gone to live at Quartzite six years ago, three years before the +turn of the century and a few days before his seventieth birthday. Ben +Akbar was old too, but even if he'd been welcome in Quartzite, he +wouldn't have been happy there. Ali's last trip into the desert had been +for the sole purpose of taking Ben Akbar to the most isolated spot he +knew--and no man knew more than Ali about the wildest and most +inaccessible areas--and leaving him there. + +Escorting camels into the desert and turning them loose was nothing new. +Twenty times in years gone by Ali had thus disposed of beasts he was no +longer able to support. Invariably, however, he either went and got them +again or found some new herd for some new venture. Though not one other +person in the entire Southwest shared his conviction that camels would +eventually triumph--Ali's faith never flickered. + +He'd loosed all the camels in the best places he knew. Ben Akbar, +however, was a special case. + +Though camels thrived in the desert and might have multiplied, as far as +anyone knew, only camel ghosts had come to the water holes in recent +years. Finding them gentle and easy to approach, Indians and white men +alike killed them for food, and sometimes merely for killing's sake. +Many had been captured and were with various circuses or zoos. Ben Akbar +was both the last to have been in any active and useful service and the +last American camel not in confinement. + +There were still rumors of desert-roaming camels, but all such were born +in somebody's imagination and there were no reliable reports. Nor had +there been since Ali loosed Ben Akbar, which might mean that Ali had +succeeded in taking him so far away that nobody had yet found him. Or it +might mean that he was no longer to be found; passing years had +probably not spared the camel any more than the master. + +Just before nightfall, the wind lulled and then died down. A bright moon +rode high, lighting the path but softening harsh angles and shadowing +into gentle harmlessness all that was seen as hard and harsh under the +sun's pitiless glare. Presently, every cactus was bedecked in a sparkle +of rare jewels as moonlight glanced from frosty branches. Ali's thoughts +went to a snug cave he knew, plenty big enough for a camel who was no +longer as restless as he once had been. + +Ali walked on, resentful of both his necessarily slow pace and a growing +skepticism that came over him as he drew farther from the town and +deeper into the desert. A red camel, the prospector had said, but there +had been several red camels with the herd and there was still seventy +miles of desert to cross before reaching the place where Ben Akbar was +freed. Though there had been a time when seventy miles would have meant +no more than a pleasant jaunt, could an aging Ben Akbar walk so far? + +Then Ali came to the junction of Skull Canyon and Boney Wash. He +stopped--and instantly he knew! + +At this point, Skull Canyon was about fifty yards from the base of one +rocky wall to the foot of another. Boney Wash had been born when +torrential rains crumbled a rift in the east wall. The flood that had +poured through then had ripped a ragged ditch in the canyon floor. +Above the ditch, the canyon was level, for the most part pebble-strewn, +but here and there was a boulder or copse of cactus. Under the gentle +moonlight, the canyon became gentle. + +All four legs curled beneath him and head cushioned against his flank, +apparently Ben Akbar had been on his way down the canyon and had lain +down to rest when forbidding Boney Wash gaped before him. Ali's eyes +softened, for it seemed no accident that on this night the moon should +glow in such a fashion. The Ben Akbar Ali had last seen had shown the +sunken cheeks, shriveled neck, worn teeth and stiffened joints of the +aging. Under the magic moon, the Ben Akbar he met might have been the +proud young _dalul_ he had rescued from the Druse and who, in turn, had +rescued him. Even the many hairs that were no longer red, but white, +could have been sparkling with frost. + +Ali went a step nearer and crooned, "I greet thee, oh prince among +_dalul_." + +There was a ripple along flanks and ribs, but only after a marked +interval was Ben Akbar able to raise his head. Ali dropped beside him +and eased the proud head into his lap. He stroked it gently. + +"We meet again, oh, brother," he murmured. "It is well." + +He continued to caress Ben Akbar, and, under the soft moon, a thoughtful +expression came over his face. There had been a very long time and a +very long journey since he had boarded the _Supply_. Now he sat in the +desert, comforting the last remaining camel of all that were brought to +America. How could such an auspicious beginning lead to this end? + +The failure could not be charged to the camels. Lieutenant Beale himself +had declared that any one of them was worth any six mules. Then who, or +what, was to blame? Ali considered various explanations that had been +advanced. + +Some declared that the entire experiment was fore-doomed by anonymous +but invincible forces interested in perpetuating large profits derived +from horse and mule trading. Their combined strength overwhelmed the +advocates of camel transport. These reports were partly right, Ali +conceded, but not entirely so. He could not imagine Major Wayne or +Lieutenant Beale yielding to the combined power of anything. Anyhow, it +went without saying that these forces had done all they could to prevent +the importation of camels in the first place. They had not succeeded. + +It was true that neither Major Wayne nor Lieutenant Beale had been +active in the Camel Corps for years, and Jefferson Davis no longer +mattered after the Confederacy he headed lost the War between the +States. But adverse influence alone had never defeated the camels. + +Many contended that the War itself was responsible. Nobody had time for +camels while the battles raged and nobody was interested when peace +came. Another part truth, Ali decided, but by no means a whole truth. To +say that the War between the States doomed camels was as absurd as +declaring it doomed railroads. + +Even the popular refusal to accept camels--that sometimes mounted to +flaring resentment against them--was not to blame for their downfall. +That which has practical worth cannot forever remain unnoticed and +camels had proved themselves superior to any other beast of burden. + +Ali bent his head and crooned softly in Ben Akbar's ear. The big _dalul_ +sighed softly and pressed his chin hard against his friend's knee. Ali +resumed caressing the camel. + +What ill wind, he wondered, had blown the day these camels were finally +aboard and the _Supply_ set sail? They had come and they had proven +themselves, but far from any conquest they had found only oblivion. Why? + +Ali straightened unconsciously as he thought of the day Lieutenant +Beale's expedition had left Fort Defiance and started west. His mind +became a screen upon which appeared a complete review of every single +day that had followed. Ali lived again, as he had before, the whole +exciting caravan into unknown wilderness. + +Then, skipping his two years in California, Ali rode Ben Akbar back to +the Colorado and the massed wagons awaiting ferry transport. There +followed, in complete detail, his return ride over the road. Again he +saw the burgeoning civilization that had overrun a virgin wilderness. +Finally, he knew the right answer, and knowing, must question no more. + +The camels had not yielded to any petty thing, but had bowed to a force +so powerful that nothing could stand against it. All the armies of all +the world could bring human progress to no more than a temporary halt, +and not even the swiftest _dalul_ could hope to keep pace with the +breathtaking march of civilization as America knew it. If the camels had +been imported fifty years sooner, or if America had been satisfied to +wait fifty years longer to develop her wilderness, then indeed would all +Americans know the true worth of camels. + +As the course was run, most Americans would know camels only as +legendary ships of the desert or exotic imports whose proper abode was +the circus or zoo. Those few who did learn about the Camel Corps, might +hear of it as a glaring example of the hare-brained schemes that may be +dreamed up by scatter-brained people. Nevertheless, Ali was suddenly +happy and again knew a complete peace. + +He and Ben Akbar were reunited never to be parted again, and he, at +least, knew the true story of the Camel Corps. Nothing anyone might say +or do could change in the smallest detail what had already been done. +The people who spilled over Lieutenant Beale's wagon road might never +know that the pillars of their churches, the foundations of their +schools, their homes, their very way of life, were anchored on +long-forgotten camel tracks. But they would not be there if camels had +not led the way. + +Given only one real opportunity, the camels had contributed more than +their full share. Ali knew finally that, if he might return over the +years and once more look at camels being taken aboard the _Supply_, and +if he might also look ahead and see all the future, he would again do as +he had done and come to America. + +The journey had not been in vain. What had seemed to be heartbreaking +failure showed its true colors under the correct light. Triumph was +complete. + +Ali stood up. "Rise," he said. + +Slowly, Ben Akbar rose to his feet and the two started along the silvery +path together. + + + + +JIM KJELGAARD + + +was born in New York City. Happily enough, he was still in the +pre-school age when his father decided to move the family to the +Pennsylvania mountains. There young Jim grew up among some of the best +hunting and fishing in the United States. He says: "If I had pursued my +scholastic duties as diligently as I did deer, trout, grouse, squirrels, +etc., I might have had better report cards!" + +Jim Kjelgaard has worked at various jobs--trapper, teamster, guide, +surveyor, factory worker and laborer. When he was in the late twenties +he decided to become a full-time writer. He has succeeded in his wish. +He has published several hundred short stories and articles and quite a +few books for young people. + +His hobbies are hunting, fishing, dogs, and questing for new stories. He +tells us: "Story hunts have led me from the Atlantic to the Pacific and +from the Arctic Circle to Mexico City. Stories, like gold, are where you +find them. You may discover one three thousand miles from home, as in +_Rescue Dog of the High Pass_, or, as in _The Spell of the White +Sturgeon_, right on your own door step." And he adds: "I am married to a +very beautiful girl and have a teen-age daughter. Both of them order me +around in a shameful fashion, but I can still boss the dog! We live in +Phoenix, Arizona." + + * * * * * + +Books by Jim Kjelgaard + + + _Big Red_ + _Rebel Siege_ + _Forest Patrol_ + _Buckskin Brigade_ + _Chip, the Dam Builder_ + _Fire Hunter_ + _Irish Red_ + _Kalak of the Ice_ + _A Nose for Trouble_ + _Snow Dog_ + _The Story of Geronimo_ + _Stormy_ + _Cochise, Chief of Warriors_ + _Trailing Trouble_ + _Wild Trek_ + _The Explorations of Pere Marquette_ + _The Spell of the White Sturgeon_ + _Outlaw Red_ + _The Coming of the Mormons_ + _Cracker Barrel Trouble Shooter_ + _The Lost Wagon_ + _Lion Hound_ + _Trading Jeff and His Dog_ + _Desert Dog_ + _Haunt Fox_ + _The Oklahoma Land Run_ + _Double Challenge_ + _Swamp Cat_ + _Rescue Dog of the High Pass_ + _Hi Jolly!_ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Hi Jolly!, by James Arthur Kjelgaard + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41700 *** |