IBN FARIG, RENEGADO.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8100, 27 August 1904, Page 2

IBN FARIG, RENEGADO.

(By COMMANDER E. HAMILTON 'CURNEY, R.N., in the "Pail Mall '■-■ Gazette.") • " Salaam !" The Englishman removed the cigaar fropi between his lips, and, turning i his heaidj made answer, " Salaam, Aleikbum," and then, his stock of Arabic being thereby exhausted, awaited developments. Th© tall Riffian tribesman moved round the .< corner of the rocky bluff under which the Englishman was seated, and^ -dropping the butt of his long Tebuan gun to the ground, clasped the barrel with both hands, and stood gazing down into the stranger's eyes. In !f:ont of them stretched the Straits of Gibraltar, and sheer and stark 'at their beuqks rose the tremendous precipices of Je- £&' Mysa, known to the English as Apes' ,'B__l. The Englishman had come over in a steam , launch from Gibraltar with a few friends, ahd they 'had been picnicking oa | the shore; after lunch the remainder of | the party had started fishing, and having Ino taste for this _orm of sport, he had ! seated" himself under the bluff, contented _f>. snioke and dream, and gaae on the wonderful view spread out before him. | -v, The tribesman, dropped into the fcquat- [ ting "position adopted by the calfless Oriental, and sat on his heels facing the Eng- , lisjtunan, the long gun still Ijeld erect between his knees. He, flung back the hood of the ragged brown " jellab " which ho wore, letting it drop upon his shoulders, andi stared with b»ld t unwinking blaok eyes.' -Swift as thought -he shot out a question : " Habla v. Espanol?" (dost speak Spanish?) The Englishman made at gesture of^a-aant. "Bueno!" "How came you of theVßiff to speak the tongue of the Giaour?" demanded the latter. "I am nob of the Riff, Senor, but of Sain Lucar de Barra_ned», in Andalusia. — Jorge Perico, at your service." "Then what are you doing masquerading as a Riffian?" was the next very natural question. .-"-Tlhe' man laid down his gun at his side aiiid -stretched out his hajad. "A cigar, Senor, .por amor de Dios ! It is a year and more since I smoked Christian tobacco." The Englishman handed him a cigar and watched him with much curiosity while he lighted it— a «man in the prime of life, well over the medium height, but evidently of extraordinary activity and strength ; a bushy black beard conceak-d the lower part of a strikingly handsome face, keen and bold as an eagle's. "How came you here?" asked the Englishman. , "Senor, a woman sent me hither." " Them there was mischief toward?" "It was just that, Senor — mischief. I shall tell you how it was. Sho waa from Puerto S<uita Maria., where her-, faiiher owned a vineyard, and she told me? that she loved me,, and I believed her." £ .''■ THE MAX LATJGHED CYNICALLY. * < Wl-en one is young, one likes to believe such a thing ; and all went well with me, fdr r 'l had a felucca trading in the Straits here, and bringing wine from Santa Maria and bullocks from Tangier for ' les Inglese® ' on- '-El Cuerpo' (Spanish name for Rock) yonder, and .sometimes just a little smuggling venture in the good tobacco. Ah! but that paid. After my last venture, Senor, we were to have been married. 'I made, a good haul that time. Carraniba! and the Jew paid in good silver dollars, and 'who so happy as I when I anchored the| felucca and took the 'pesos' in a 'bag up-to. her father's house. ."I was not expected, that I knew, but Thought the welcome that I should receive would be all the warmer. My alpargatas (straw sandals) made no noise as I walked up ; to ihe house, and gazed in at the win^ dewL She was there, Senor, oh, yes, sh& was there," the man laughed bitterly, and jjtruck his left hand violently on the ground, " and she wag pitting on the knees of. a. man, and both her arms were round his neck. I stood quite still while she kissed .him; ay, kissed him as though she would never stop. Her back was towards rae, but presently, as the raised her head, the man looked toward.*, tho window, and his eyes met mine. What should you have $one, Senor, under the circumstances?" " Quifi-i' sabe?" (who knows), answered' the Englishman. The man's eyes blazed. "I said nothing for at time, but watched him as the blood ebbed away from his face and left him white ; then the woman spoke, ' What hast thou,- darling?' The man pushed her frota his knees and pointed, then she saw — f me. "I stepped in at the open door. Ah, I can tell you they imagised themselves quite safe, atad dropped thaf heavy bag of ' pesos' on. the floor with a crash. r:r*7 . - . . _„TH_- WOMAN' SWATJiD FROM SIDE TO SIDE apd caught at the back of a chair and murmured, babbling, 'There is a mistake, Jorge.' I answered nothing to her, but .called to the man; ah, I knaw him, and he was richer, far richer, than I. ' Come outside,' I said, and I loosened the navaja de Sevilla which I carried in its sheath., here and now,' he made answer. What matters it to you where you are kilied?' I replied. And I killed him there, 6iV' ; the : garden path, Senor; it is true he !g*v"eme a shrewd scratch."- The man bared bis muscular left forearm, exhibiting a purple scar from elbow to- wrist. " And then. people came running, for the woman scream-ed-#nd screamed. I was sent to Ceuta yonder," jerking his head over his shoulder, *" #nd v there I abode until a year ago, ia i hell, Senor. And then one day I took to •fcbgr- mountains, and the bullets of the prisjjohiiuard did not touch me." X'*And now?" asked the Englishman. "I am Ibn Farig of the Ouled Boaziz, a follower of the Prophet. La Galib illah Allah O! (there is no conqueror but God)," he concluded, with a. sardonic laugh. "I ani.f murderer, "and if I go back there is the Gu&rd-a Civile and the garotte for me, aij-d' if I stay I -am Ibn Farig, the renegade .^f.tfte .Ouled Boaziz, and any day may be called to fight my own countrymen, for there is. not much peace in the Riff or the Anghera, Senor, as perhaps] you know." Englishroan nodded. "What is it you Vaiifc?" he asked. " Money, Senor, then perhaps. some day I can get away." "I '.will take you now." Ibn Farig laughed "bitterly. " That canbot be. I have stolen "4<>wn liere on the chance of a word with a c6Untryma__, bub there are those at hand who would' put a bullet through me if they thought I meant tb escape." The Englishman stood 1 up. "Here are forty dollars, all, I have on me ; I will put it about among the boatmen at Gib. when I get back con:berning you that you wish to escape, and j'&aye money to pay. Is that well?" Into 'the man's eyes came my .. -. --^METHIKG S"CSP_C_OT_SX.Y RESEMBLING A ■.;• . ' ■ * TEAR. ""-Amtybur name, Senor?" "Matters not." "M&y "you go' with God, Senor; as I live will not find me ungrateful." l 'Two years later the Englishman st/ood in the street in Rabat on the. Moroccan coast, awaiting the time -when the greai clumsy barge-like boat would take him out over . i fs& ; -bar -to the waiting,, northward-bound steamer.- Suddenly he was conscious of a gj^eafc stir, as men hustled on one side to make way for someone pr something. Down _the. narrow packed street a man was com- : -i_3ig on horseback at a floundering gallop. >As_ he came abreast of the Englishman be rifl-ang Ifimself from his(' horse, and demanded ''hoarsely if he was in time for the steamer to Tangier ; he was, then Allah be praised. The man was caked with sweat andi dust, "and his bare legs were chafed raw with riding, be was drunk and blind with fatigue, ahd' hardly able to staaid. His horse, a ■^fendid barb stallion, was in no better Sa**?, »ntf stood with quivering legs,' heav"ii^'Lflianks, and blood-red dilated nostrils, foundered for good #nd all. From his sides the blood dripped, where the- .cruel A.ab galled him. The man steadied himself against a door, and looked at the Englishman. 'Slowly came a- dawn of recognition into has eyes. "It is the Sehor of . Jebel Musa." ; C -*_£_. ENGLISHMAN HAD THB FACTJLTY OF BEMEMBKBIXG FACES. "And thou art Ibn Farig, of the Ouled

Boaziz. Come hither," lie. continued; "you are in no case to talk." He dragged him into tie shop, and gave him half a pint of stron" brandy and water, and then led him, \ still staggering with fatigue, to the boat. The instant he reached her Ibn Farig lay , down at full length and went to sleep, neither did- he. wake till the steamer reach: , ed Tangier some hours after. In the verandah of tiie hotel the next day sat the Englishman, and up the hill across the so^ or market place, a tall Arab swung through j the crowd at a band- gallop. He hitched up his bridle to the ring in the wall, and j came forward in all his bravery of clean, new, white clothing, the scarlet edge and blue tassel 0-kJiis tarbooh showing smartly beneath and awve his voluminous turban. "At last I have found you, oh, mv benefactor. Will it suit you to ride awhile with me till I tell you my story, for Igo to Fez?" The Englishman swung himself on to his, horse, and 1 they paced gravely out of the town .side by side. "H«re, Senor, are the forty dollars. Nay, I will take no refusal ; did I not swear to repay thee?" "How did yott get j away?" "Gomez, from Gibraltar, came and lay a day and night 'off the coast, and | T managed to 6wim off to the felucca, and then I came here to Morocco and took service under the Kaid. He is a great man, the Kaid, and I was proud to do his bidding, and for two years up and down the country I fought for him and for the Sul- ! tan. Then came A TQIE WHEN - THE SCXTAST LAT SICK and the army was a day and a half's journey from Dar-«i-Baida. Came to me the ! Kaid and said, ' Ibn Farig, wilt thou do me a service, which I trust not to any Moor in the army?' — for he knew, look you. that I was a renegado, and I swore to .do his bidding. ■ Then said the Kaid to me, 'The Sultan is dead,'" . The Englishman turned in his saddle. "Ay, Senor, it is the truth, but none hit. the Bashador Inglese and you know H a-s yet. 'The Sultan is dend,' said the Kaid, J andf the Bashador Inglese must know o? it at once. .Canst reach Dur-el-Baida in the day?' It was a day and a half's journey as we reckon such in Morocco, but I answered, 'I can but try.' All that afternoon I rode, and the next dav, at four in the afternoon, I galloped into Dur-el-Baida. And the Consul Inglese says to me, ' The steamer leaves Rabat in the morning. Canst reach there in time?' And I say, 'If it be the will of Allah. I can but try.' And at six o'clock once more 1 paltoped out from the town, and with me was Gasiculli, the Maltese, to show me the way. Ay, but thoss were fino hordes we rode ; but they will i^ever do another days work. All night we rode, and, S.noT, »'no man who has not tried it knows how bad is that country— deep sand and hard rock. And we came in sight of "Rabat, and Gasiculli's horse rolled ov-sr dead ; but he called ' out to me to go on. And now I have finished my mission, and I must go to Fez. But the Bashador Inglese knows that the Sultan is d-ead, and no other soul in Tangier. It is well done." "And the .woman? asked the Englishman. "She is married to a man richer than he whom I saw, _o she is content." " And thou ?" " Senor, I have my horse and my weapons, likewise my freedom. When I am tired of fighting I may go back ; it is all forgotten now. For the present the whizz of the bullet, the crash of the charge ridden home, is the music for which I live. But I lead you afar; here is- the Jew's River. Senor, farewell, and may you remain with God." He drove the stirrups ,into the horse's flanks and vanished, a. dim, white figure in the gathering dusk.