In Desert and Wilderness. Henryk Sienkiewicz

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      "Then would appear the English armies which no one has ever overcome."

      "And why did England permit the Mahdi to occupy so much territory?"

      "How do you know that she has permitted it?" replied Mr. Rawlinson.

       "England is never in a hurry because she is eternal."

      Further conversation was interrupted by a negro servant, who announced that Fatma Smain had arrived and begged for an audience.

      Women in the East are occupied exclusively with household affairs and seldom leave the harems. Only the poorer ones go to the market or work in the fields, as the wives of the fellahs, the Egyptian peasants, do; but these at such times veil their faces. Though in the Sudân, from which region Fatma came, this custom was not observed, and though she had come to Mr. Rawlinson's office previously, nevertheless, her arrival, particularly at such a late hour and at a private house, evoked surprise.

      "We shall learn something new about Smain," said Pan Tarkowski.

      "Yes," answered Mr. Rawlinson, giving at the same time a signal to the servant to usher Fatma in.

      Accordingly, after a while there entered a tall, young Sudânese woman with countenance entirely unveiled, complexion very dark, and eyes beautiful but wild, and a trifle ominous. Entering, she at once prostrated herself, and when Mr. Rawlinson ordered her to rise, she raised herself but remained on her knees.

      "Sidi," she said, "May Allah bless thee, thy posterity, thy home, and thy flocks!"

      "What do you want?" asked the engineer.

      "Mercy, help, and succor in misfortune, oh, sir! I am imprisoned in

       Port Said and destruction hangs over me and my children."

      "You say that you are imprisoned, and yet you could come here, and in the night-time at that."

      "I have been escorted by the police who day and night watch my house, and I know that they have an order to cut off our heads soon!"

      "Speak like a rational woman," answered Mr. Rawlinson, shrugging his shoulders. "You are not in the Sudân, but in Egypt where no one is executed without a trial. So you may be certain that not a hair will fall from your head or the heads of your children."

      But she began to implore him to intercede for her yet once more with the Government, to procure permission for her to go to Smain.

      "Englishmen as great as you are, sir," she said, "can do everything. The Government in Cairo thinks that Smain is a traitor, but that is false. There visited me yesterday Arabian merchants, who arrived from Suâkin, and before that they bought gums and ivory in the Sudân, and they informed me that Smain is lying sick at El-Fasher and is calling for me and the children to bless them—"

      "All this is your fabrication, Fatma," interrupted Mr. Rawlinson.

      But she began to swear by Allah that she spoke the truth, and afterwards said that if Smain got well, he undoubtedly would ransom all the Christian captives; and if he should die, she, as a relative of the leader of the dervishes, could obtain access to him easily and would secure whatever she wished. Let them only allow her to leave, for her heart will leap out of her bosom from longing for her husband. In what had she, ill-fated woman, offended the Government or the Khedive? Was it her fault or could she be held accountable because she was the relative of the dervish, Mohammed Ahmed?

      Fatma did not dare in the presence of the "English people" to call her relative "the Mahdi," as that meant the Redeemer of the world. She knew that the Egyptian Government regarded him as a rebel and an imposter. But continually striking her forehead and invoking heaven to witness her innocence and unhappy plight, she began to weep and at the same time wail mournfully as women in the East do after losing husbands or sons. Afterwards she again flung herself with face on the ground, or rather on the carpet with which the inlaid floor was covered, and waited in silence.

      Nell, who towards the close of the dinner felt a little sleepy, became thoroughly aroused and, having an upright little heart, seized her father's hand, and kissing it again and again, began to beg for Fatma.

      "Let papa help her! Do please, papa!"

      Fatma, evidently understanding English, exclaimed amidst her sobs, not removing her face from the carpet:

      "May Allah bless thee, bird of paradise, with the joys of Omayya, oh, star without a blemish!"

      However implacable Stas in his soul was towards the Mahdists, he was moved by Fatma's entreaties and grief. Besides, Nell interceded for her and he in the end always wanted that which Nell wished. So after a while he spoke out, as if to himself but so that all could hear him:

      "If I were the Government, I would allow Fatma to go."

      "But as you are not the Government," Pan Tarkowski said to him, "you would do better not to interfere in that which does not concern you."

      Mr. Rawlinson also had a compassionate soul and was sensible of Fatma's situation, but certain statements which she made struck him as being downright falsehoods. Having almost daily relations with the custom-house at Ismailia, he well knew that no new cargoes of gums or ivory were being transported lately through the Canal. The trade in those wares had ceased almost entirely. Arabian traders, moreover, could not return from the city of El-Fasher which lay in the Sudân, as the Mahdists, as a rule, barred all traders from their territories, and those whom they captured were despoiled and kept in captivity. And it was almost a certainty that the statement about Smain's sickness was a falsehood.

      But as Nell's little eyes were still looking at her papa appealingly, he, not desiring to sadden the little girl, after a while said to Fatma:

      "Fatma, I already have written at your request to the Government, but without result. And now listen. To-morrow, with this mehendis (engineer) whom you see here, I leave for Medinet el-Fayûm; on the way we shall stop one day in Cairo, for the Khedive desires to confer with us about the canals leading from Bahr Yûsuf and give us a commission as to the same. During the conference I shall take care to present your case and try to secure for you his favor. But I can do nothing more, nor shall I promise more."

      Fatma rose and, extending both hands in sign of gratitude, exclaimed:

      "And so I am safe."

      "No, Fatma," answered Mr. Rawlinson, "do not speak of safety for I already told you that death threatens neither you nor your children. But that the Khedive will consent to your departure I do not guarantee, for Smain is not sick but is a traitor, who, having taken money from the Government, does not at all think of ransoming the captives from Mohammed Ahmed."

      "Smain is innocent, sir, and lies in El-Fasher," reiterated Fatma, "but if even he broke his faith with the Government, I swear before you, my benefactor, that if I am allowed to depart I will entreat Mohammed Ahmed until I secure the deliverance of your captives."

      "Very well. I promise you once more that I will intercede for you with the Khedive."

      Fatma began to prostrate herself.

      "Thank you, Sidi! You are not only powerful, but just. And now I entreat that you permit me to serve you as a slave."

      "In Egypt no one can be a slave," answered Mr. Rawlinson with a СКАЧАТЬ