Part 36 (2/2)
That fear was alith hi producing ling throng, he never got up again--he was traed fro; and he was a sht for his corner in a frenzy like a wild beast, kicking with his fetters, thrusting with his elbows, diving under this bigat their clothes, using his nails, his fists, and even striking at heads with the chain which dangled fro about his neck
He reached the corner in the end, streaht he would spend in holding it against all coasped ”O God, if I were to fall!” and he shouted aloud to his neighbour--for in that cla less than a shout was audible--”Is it you, Ibrahim?” and a like shout answered him, ”Yes, Effendi”
Trench felt soreat tall Arab of the Hadendoas, and Trench, a friendshi+p born of their co up There were no prison rations at Omdurman; each captive was dependent upon his own money or the charity of his friends outside To Trench froht secretly into the prison by a native who had co periods during which no help came to him, and he lived upon the charity of the Greeks who had sworn conversion to the Mahdist faith, or starved with such patience as he could There were times, too, when Ibrahim had no friend to send him his meal into the prison And thus each ainst the wall at night
”Yes, Effendi, I a with his hand in the black darkness, he steadied Trench against the wall
A fight of evenin an extreme corner of the prison, and so closely packed were the prisoners that with each advance of one combatant and retreat of the other, the whole jostled croayed in a sort of rhythhting to keep their feet, fighting even with their teeth, and above the din and noise of their hard breathing, the clank of their chains, and their i cry for mercy, or an inhuman shriek, stifled as soon as uttered, which showed that afeet Missiles, too, were flung across the prison, even to the foul earth gathered from the floor, and since none knew froainst heads in the effort to avoid thes happened in the blackest darkness
For two hours Trench stood in that black prison ringing with noise, rank with heat, and there were eight hours to follow before the door would be opened and he could stumble into the clean air and fall asleep in the zareeba He stood upon tiptoe that he ht lift his head above his fellows, but even so he could barely breathe, and the air he breathed was ue ollen in hisIt seeination of God could devise no worse hell than the House of Stone on an August night in Oht, but only fire
”If I were to fall!” he cried, and as he spoke his hell was made perfect, for the door was opened Idris es Saier appeared in the opening
”Make roo the prisoners to drive therass blazed in the darkness and fell upon the bodies of the prisoners The captives were so crowded they could not avoid the missiles; in places, even, they could not lift their hands to dislodge them from their shoulders or their heads
”Make rooaolers enforced his command, the lashes fell upon all within reach, and a little space was cleared within the door Into that space a ain
Trench was standing close to the door; in the diliure, and bent with suffering
”He will fall,” he said, ”he will fall to-night God! if I were to!” and suddenly the croayed against him, and the curses rose louder and shriller than before
The new prisoner was the cause He clung to the door with his face against the panels, through the chinks of which actual air e, jostled hiht take his place He was driven as a wedge is driven by a hammer, between this prisoner and that, until at last he was flung against Colonel Trench
The ordinary instincts of kindness could not live in the nightmare of that prison house In the daytiether by their bond of a common misery; the faithful as often as not helped the infidel But to fight for life during the hours of darkness without pity or cessation was the one creed and practice of the House of Stone Colonel Trench was like the rest The need to live, if only long enough to drink one drop of water in theand draw one clean mouthful of fresh air, was ht he had
”Back!” he cried violently, ”back, or I strike!”--and, as he wrestled to lift his arht strike the better, he heard the lish
”Don't fall,” cried Trench, and he caught his fellow-captive by the arm
”Ibrahim, help! God, if he were to fall!” and while the croayed again and the shrill cries and curses rose again, deafening the ears, piercing the brain, Trench supported his coain after so ue And the sound of it civilised him like the friendshi+p of a woman
He could not hear as said; the din was too loud But he caught, as it were, shadows of words which had once been familiar to him, which had been spoken to him, which he had spoken to others--as a matter of course In the House of Stone they sounded rass, cool skies, and lirey quiet pictures before his mind For a moment he was insensible to his parched throat, to the stench of that prison house, to the oppressive blackness But he felt the ain he cried to Ibrahim:--
”If he were to fall!”
Ibrahiht and wrestled until those about the:--
”Shaitan! They are mad!”
They cleared a space in that corner and, setting the Englishround, they stood in front of hiround Trench heard every now and then in a lull of the noise the babble of English