AMONAMMEDA VENDETIA

Lake County Press, Issue 1063, 7 May 1903, Page 6

AMONAMMEDA VENDETIA

A short time after the war between Franco and Morocco, (tie rider of the latter country, the Sultan Abd-er-Rahman, sent an army to punish the inhabitants of the Kif, who had burned a French vessel. Among the vaii< us sheiks who wen; ordered to denounce the culprits was one named Sid Mnhommed Abd-el-Djebar. alreudy advanced in years, who, being jealous of a ceitain Arusi, a bold and handsome youth, placed him, though innocent, in the hands of the general, who sent him to be incarcerated at l'<z. But he only remained about a year in piUon. After his release he went to 'Pangicrs, remained there some time, and then suddenly disappeared, and for a while no one knew what had become of him. But shortly after his disappearance there were rumours all over the province oi'Garb of a band of lobbers and assassins which infested the country between liab.it and Laracee. Caravans were attacked, merchants robbed, raids maltreated the sultan's soldiers poniarded; no one dared any more to cross that part of the country, and thefsw who had escaped alive from the hands of the bandit came back to the town stupelied with terror. Thiugs remained iu this Btate for some time, and no one had been able to discover who was the chief of the band, when a merchant from the kif, attacked one night by moonlight, recognized among the robbers the young Arusi, and brought the news to Taugicrs, whence it nprcad all over the province. Arusi waj the chief. Many otheis recognized him. lie appeared in the duars and villages, by day as well as by night, dressed as a soldier, as a caid, as a Jew, as a Christian, as a woman, as a ulema, killing, robbing vanishing, pursued from every quarter but never taken, always under a new digui.ie, capricious, tierce, and indefatigable; aud lie never went very far from the neighbourhood of the citadel of El Mamora, a fact which no one could understand. The reason was this: the caid of ilie citadel 101 Mamoia was no other than the old sheik, SidMohammed Abd-el-Djebar, who had placed Arusi in the hands of the sultan's general. At that very time SidMohammed hud just given his daughter in marriage, a girl of marvelous beauty, named Rahmaua, to the son of the Pasha of Sale, who was called Sid-Ali. The nuptial feasts were celebrated with great pomp in the presence of all the rich young men of the province, who came on horseback, armed, and dressed in their best, to the ciladel of l£l Mamora; and Sid-Ali whs to conduct his bride to Sale, to his father's house. They bad to pass through a narrow defile formed by two chains of wooded hills and downs. First went an escort of thirty horsemen; behind these, Kahmana on a mule between her husband and her brother; behind her. her father, the caid, and a crowd uf relations and friends. They entered the defile. The night was serene, the bridegroom held Itahmana by the hand, the old caid smoothed his beard; all was cheerful and unsuspecting. Suddenly there burst upon the stillnesß of the ni&ht a formidable voice, which cried: " Arusi salutes thee, O Sheik Sid-Moham-med Abd-el L»jebar!" At the name moment, from the top of the hill thirty muskets Hashed and thirty shots rang out. Horses, soldiers, friend*, and relations fell dead or took to flight; and before the caid and Sid-Ali, who were untouched, could recover from their bewilderment, a man, a fury, a demon. Arusi himself, had seized Rahmaua, placed her before bim ou his horse, and Hed with the speed of the wind toward the forests of Mamora. The caid and Sid-Ali. both resolute men. instead of giving way to a vain despair, took a solemn oath never to rest until they had been fearfully They demanded and obtained soldieis tiom the sultan, and began to uivo chase to Arusi, who hail taken refuge wilh 11irs baud in the great, foi est of Mamoia. It wai a most fatiguing warfare, carried on by coups de main, ambuscades, nucturnal assaults, feints, and ferocious combats, and lasted for more than a year, driving lit tie by little the band of marauders into the centre of the forest. The circle grew closer and closer. M*piy of Arusi's men were aheady dead with hunger, many had lied and many had been killed in righting. The caid and Sitl-Ali, as their vengeance seemed to draw near, became moie ferocious in their pursuit; they rested neither night nor day; they breathed only for revenge. But of Arusi and Kahmana they could learn nothing. Some said they were dead, some that the bandit had iirst killed the woman and then himself. The caid aud Sid Ali began todespair; because the further they advanced into the forest, the thicker the trees, higher and more intricate became the bushes, the vines, the brambles, and the juoipers. so that the horses and dogs could no longer force a passage through them. At last one day, whon the two were almost discouraged, an Arab came and said he had seen Arusi hidden in the icodn on the river bank at the extremity of the woods. The caid hastily called his men together, and dividing them into two companies, ncnt one to the right and the other to the left towaid the river. After same time the caid was the hint to see, rising from the midst of the reeds, a phantom, a man of tail stature and terrible aspect—Arusi. Everybody rushed towards that point. They searched and searched in vain; Arusi was not there. " He has crossed the river !" shouted the caid. They threw themselves into the stream, ana gained the opposite bank. There they fouud some footprints, and followed them, but after a while they failed. Suddenly the horseman broke into a gallop along the river bank. At tho same moment the attention of the caid was drawn to three of his dogs, which had stopped, searching near a clump of reeds. Sid-Ali was the lirst to run to the spot, and he found near the weeds a large ditch, at the bottom of which were some holes. Jumping into the ditch he introduced his musket into one of tho holes,felt it pushed back,and lired; then calling tho caid and the soldiers they searched here and there, and found a large round apcitme in the steep bank just abovo tho water. Arusi must have entered by that opening. " Dig !" shouted the caid. The soldiers ran for picks and shovels to a neighbouring villago. and digging, presently came upon a sort of arch in the earth, and under it a cave At the bottom of the cave was Arusi, erect, motionless, pale as death. They seized him ; he made no resistance. They dragged him out, ; the musket ball had deprived him of his left eye. He was bound, carried to a lent, laid on the ground, and as a first taste of vengeance Sid-Ali cut off all his toes, and threw them in his face, This done, six soldiers were set to guard him, and Sid-Ali aud the caid withdrew to another tent, there to airange what torture they should inflict before cutting off his head. The discussion was prolonged, for each one tried to propose some more painful torture, and nothing seemed honibln enough The evening came, and nothing was decided. Tho decision was put off until tho next morning, and they separated. An hour afterwani the caid and Ali were asleep, each in his tent. The night was very dark; there was not a breath of wind, not a leaf was moving; nothing was heard but the murmur ef the river and the breathing of the sleeping men. Suddenly a formidable voice broke the silence of the night: •' Arusi salutes thee, () Sheik Sid-Mahom-med Abd-el-Djebar!" The old caid sprang I" hs feel, and heard the rapid beat of a I < rso's feet departing. Ho called his soloing, v. !.<> caruc in haste, and shouted, " My lnji>c! my horse!" They sought his'horse, the most superb animal in the whole of (iarb; it was gone. They ran to the tent of Sid-Ali. He was stretched on the ground, dead, with a poniard stuck in his left eye. The caid burst into tears; the soldiers went off on tho track of the fugitive. They naw him for an instant like a shadow, then lost him: saw him again; but he sped like the lightning, and vanished, not to be sern again. Nevertheless, they continued to follow ail night, until they reached a thick wood, where they halted to await the dawn. When daylight appeared they saw afar oil the caid's horse approaching, tired out and nil bloody, filling the air with lamentable neighings. Thinking that Arusi must bo. in the woods, they loosed the dogs, and advanced sword in hand, fn a few minutes they discovered a dilapidated house half-hidden among the trees. The dogs .-topped there. The soldiers came to the door, and levelling their muskets, let them fall with tt cry of uwuitcLueul. VYiMnn the

four ruined walls l»y the corpse of Arum, and beside it ;i lovely woman, sple • 'i»lh dressed, wild her hair loose oa her Bhbulders, was binding up liih bleeding feet, nobbing, laughing, and murmuring words of despair and love. It was Kahmana. They took her to her father's house, where she remained three days without speaking a word, and then disappeared. They search* d for her during several days, but in vaiu. Finally she was disco voted in the ruined hut which was the see no of her lover's death, With an old spado in her hands she was endeavouring to remove the sod from his grave. With incessant giief she kept uttering the name of tfte dead chief, '* A nisi! Artibi!" The men did not disturb her, but allowed her to stay. "Allah.' they said, " has called her reason back to Himself, and she is a saint."—Kdmondo de Amicis's " Morocco."