Part 10 (1/2)
”Good,” said the old man, ”we shall be there; _slama_.”
”_Slama_,” said Abdullah, and they parted.
Abdullah went back to his camels. He found Ali asleep between the black racer and the dun leader. He kicked him gently, as though he were a dog, and Ali sat up smiling and pleased to be kicked, when he saw his master.
”We take two women with us,” said Abdullah.
”Allah help us,” said Ali.
”He has already,” said Abdullah; ”I have sixteen ounces in my girdle.”
”It seems, then,” said Ali, grinning, ”that not only Allah has helped you, but you have helped yourself.”
”Peace,” said Abdullah, ”you know nothing of commerce.”
”I know, however,” said Ali, ”that the Englishwoman whom we carried two years ago, and who made us stop two days at the wells of Okba, because her dog was ailing, gave me a bad piece of silver that I could not spend in Biskra. 'T was she of the prominent teeth and the big feet. I used to see her feet when she mounted her camel, and I used to see her teeth when I saw nothing else.”
”Peace,” said Abdullah. ”Allah who made us made also the English.”
”Perhaps,” said Ali, ”but one cannot help wondering why He did it.”
”If we carry these two women,” said Abdullah, ”we must leave the cargo of two beasts behind. Leave four bales of hides; I took them conditioned upon no better freight offering; and put the women on the two lame camels. In this way we profit most, since we sacrifice least merchandise. The porters will be here at sunrise to help you load. See that they are careful. You remember what happened last time, when our cargoes kept s.h.i.+fting. All seems well to-night, except you have loaded that red camel yonder too high on the right side. How can a camel rest if, when he kneels, his load does not touch the ground? He must support the weight himself.”
”I intended to alter that in the morning,” said Ali.
”The morning may never dawn,” said Abdullah, ”and meanwhile you rob the beast of one night's rest. Attend to it at once. The speed of a caravan is the speed of its slowest camel.”
”Who should know that better than I?” exclaimed Ali. ”Have I not crossed the desert nine times with you? Oh, master, bear with me, I am growing old.”
”What is your age?” asked Abdullah.
”One-and-thirty,” replied Ali.
”My friend,” said Abdullah, ”you are good for another voyage; and know this, when you fail me, I quit the desert, and turn householder, with a wife or two, and children, if Allah wills it. I myself am six-and-twenty. I have earned a rest. _Slama_.” And he turned on his heel to go, but he turned again.
”Ali,” he said, ”who lives in the first house beyond the mosque, on the left--the house with the green lattices?”
”I do not know, my master,” replied Ali, ”but I shall tell you in the morning.”
”Good,” said Abdullah; ”and there is a damsel who sits behind the lattice, and always wears a flower in her hair, a red flower, a flower like this,” and he put his hand into the folds of his burnoose and brought out a faded, crumpled, red oleander. ”Who is she?”
”Tomorrow,” said Ali.
”Good,” said Abdullah, and he went away.
”_Slama_” said Ali, and then he added, to himself, ”There goes a masterful man, and a just one, but love has caught him.”
And he hurriedly eased the red camel of her load.
II