W pustyni i w puszczy. English Read online

  Produced by Daniel Fromont

  [Transcriber's note: Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916), _In Desert andWilderness_ (1910), 1917 edition. The original title is: W pustynii w puszczy. There was also a French edition: Le gouffre noir.]

  IN DESERT

  AND WILDERNESS

  BY

  HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ

  AUTHOR OF "WITH FIRE AND SWORD," "QUO VADIS," "WHIRLPOOLS," ETC.

  _TRANSLATED FROM THE POLISH BY_

  MAX A. DREZMAL

  BOSTON

  LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY

  1917

  _Copyright_, 1912,

  BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.

  _All rights reserved_

  Printers

  S. J. PARKBILL & Co., BOSTON, U.S.A.

  PART FIRST

  IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

  I

  "Do you know, Nell," said Stas Tarkowski to his friend, a littleEnglish girl, "that yesterday the police came and arrested the wife ofSmain, the overseer, and her three children,--that Fatma who severaltimes called at the office to see your father and mine."

  And little Nell, resembling a beautiful picture, raised her greenisheyes to Stas and asked with mingled surprise and fright:

  "Did they take her to prison?"

  "No, but they will not let her go to the Sudan and an official hasarrived who will see that she does not move a step out of Port Said."

  "Why?"

  Stas, who was fourteen years old and who loved his eight-year-oldcompanion very much, but looked upon her as a mere child, said with aconceited air:

  "When you reach my age, you will know everything which happens, notonly along the Canal from Port Said to Suez, but in all Egypt. Have youever heard of the Mahdi?"

  "I heard that he is ugly and naughty."

  The boy smiled compassionately.

  "I do not know whether he is ugly. The Sudanese claim that he ishandsome. But the word 'naughty' about a man who has murdered so manypeople, could be used only by a little girl, eight years old, indresses--oh--reaching the knees."

  "Papa told me so and papa knows best."

  "He told you so because otherwise you would not understand. He wouldnot express himself to me in that way. The Mahdi is worse than a wholeshoal of crocodiles. Do you understand? That is a nice expression forme. 'Naughty!' They talk that way to babes."

  But, observing the little girl's clouded face, he became silent andafterwards said:

  "Nell, you know I did not want to cause you any unpleasantness. Thetime will come when you will be fourteen. I certainly promise you that."

  "Aha!" she replied with a worried look, "but if before that time theMahdi should dash into Port Said and eat me."

  "The Mahdi is not a cannibal, so he does not eat people. He only killsthem. He will not dash into Port Said, but even if he did and wanted tomurder you, he would first have to do with me."

  This declaration with the sniff with which Stas inhaled the air throughhis nose, did not bode any good for the Mahdi and considerably quietedNell as to her own person.

  "I know," she answered, "you would not let him harm me. But why do theynot allow Fatma to leave Port Said?"

  "Because Fatma is a cousin of the Mahdi. Her husband, Smain, made anoffer to the Egyptian Government at Cairo to go to the Sudan, where theMahdi is staying, and secure the liberty of all Europeans who havefallen into his hands."

  "Then Smain is a good man?"

  "Wait! Your papa and my papa, who knew Smain thoroughly, did not haveany confidence in him and warned Nubar Pasha not to trust him. But theGovernment agreed to send Smain and Smain remained over half a yearwith the Mahdi. The prisoners not only did not return, but news hascome from Khartum that the Mahdists are treating them more and morecruelly, and that Smain, having taken money from the Government, hasbecome a traitor. He joined the Mahdi's army and has been appointed anemir. The people say that in that terrible battle in which GeneralHicks fell, Smain commanded the Mahdi's artillery and that he probablytaught the Mahdists how to handle the cannon, which before that timethey, as savage people, could not do. But now Smain is anxious to gethis wife and children out of Egypt. So when Fatma, who evidently knewin advance what Smain was going to do, wanted secretly to leave PortSaid, the Government arrested her with the children."

  "But what good are Fatma and her children to the Government?"

  "The Government will say to the Mahdi,--'Give us the prisoners and wewill surrender Fatma'--"

  For the time the conversation was interrupted because the attention ofStas was attracted by birds flying from the direction of Echtum omFarag towards Lake Menzaleh. They flew quite low and in the clearatmosphere could be plainly seen some pelicans with curved napes,slowly moving immense wings. Stas at once began to imitate theirflight. So with head upraised, he ran a score of paces along the dyke,waving his outstretched arms.

  "Look!" suddenly exclaimed Nell. "Flamingoes are also flying."

  Stas stood still in a moment, as actually behind the pelicans, butsomewhat higher, could be seen, suspended in the sky, two great red andpurple flowers, as it were.

  "Flamingoes! flamingoes! Before night they return to their haunts onthe little islands," the boy said. "Oh, if I only had a rifle!"

  "Why should you want to shoot at them?"

  "Girls don't understand such things. But let us go farther; we may seemore of them."

  Saying this he took the girl's hand and together they strolled towardsthe first wharf beyond Port Said. Dinah, a negress and at one timenurse of little Nell, closely followed them. They walked on theembankment which separated the waters of Lake Menzaleh from the Canal,through which at that time a big English steamer, in charge of a pilot,floated. The night was approaching. The sun still stood quite high butwas rolling in the direction of the lake. The salty waters of thelatter began to glitter with gold and throb with the reflection ofpeacock feathers. On the Arabian bank as far as the eye could reach,stretched a tawny, sandy desert--dull, portentous, lifeless. Betweenthe glassy, as if half-dead, heaven and the immense, wrinkled sandsthere was not a trace of a living being. While on the Canal lifeseethed, boats bustled about, the whistles of steamers resounded, andabove Menzaleh flocks of mews and wild ducks scintillated in thesunlight, yonder, on the Arabian bank, it appeared as if it were theregion of death. Only in proportion as the sun, descending, becameruddier and ruddier did the sands begin to assume that lily hue whichthe heath in Polish forests has in autumn.

  The children, walking towards the wharf, saw a few more flamingoes,which pleased their eyes. After this Dinah announced that Nell mustreturn home. In Egypt, after days which even in winter are oftenscorching, very cold nights follow, and as Nell's health demanded greatcare, her father, Mr. Rawlinson, would not allow her to be near thewater after sunset. They, therefore, returned to the city, on theoutskirts of which, near the Canal, stood Mr. Rawlinson's villa, and bythe time the sun plunged into the sea they were in the house. Soon, theengineer Tarkowski, Stas' father, who was invited to dinner arrived,and the whole company, together with a French lady, Nell's teacher,Madame Olivier, sat at the table.

  Mr. Rawlinson, one of the directors of the Suez Canal Company, andLadislaus Tarkowski, senior engineer of the same company, lived formany years upon terms of the closest intimacy. Both were widowers, butPani Tarkowski, by birth a French lady, died at the time Stas came intothe world, while Nell's mother died of consumption in Helwan when thegirl was three years old. Both widowers lived in neighboring houses inPort Said, and owing to their duties met daily. A common misfortunedrew them still closer to each other and strengthened the ties offriendship previously formed. Mr. Rawlinson loved Stas as his own son,while Pan Tarkowski would have jumped into fire and water for
littleNell. After finishing their daily work the most agreeable recreationfor them was to talk about the children, their education and future.During such conversations it frequently happened that Mr. Rawlinsonwould praise the ability, energy, and bravery of Stas and Pan Tarkowskiwould grow enthusiastic over the sweetness and angelic countenance ofNell. And the one and the other spoke the truth. Stas was a trifleconceited and a trifle boastful, but diligent in his lessons, and theteachers in the English school in Port Said, which he attended,credited him with uncommon abilities. As to courage andresourcefulness, he inherited them from his father, for Pan Tarkowskipossessed these qualities in an eminent degree and in a large measureowed to them his present position.

  In the year 1863 he fought for eleven months without cessation.Afterwards, wounded, taken into captivity, and condemned to Siberia, heescaped from