The two prisoners could thus, on both sides, keep open their communications with their fellow-countrymen, only the game was not quite even. Thanks to the interpreters, the Europeans were kept fully informed of all that passed between the Bedouin chief and his men; but the latter had not the faintest idea of the conversation between the Frenchman and his friends.
"I congratulate you once more," exclaimed M. de Morin; "these rascals are checkmated for the nonce. Ah! if I had only been able to do ditto last night! Do you know how I fell into their clutches? They are accustomed to the gloom of the desert, and can see in the dark, the blackguards, whereas I had to grope my way. Moreover, they converted their camels into ramparts. They are double-barrelled animals are those camels, with feet wherewith to move, and a back and belly to serve as a fortification. It was in vain that I fired my revolver, seeing that I only hit the outer wall. When I had expended all but one round of my ammunition, they threw themselves upon me and made me a prisoner. And, ápropos of that, have you any idea what has become of Joseph?"
"We have rescued him," said M. Périères. "He is here with us. Show yourself, Joseph."
The head of Mohammed Abd-el-Q-azal appeared timidly a few inches in front of the rest of the line.
"Holloa! there you are, my friend!" said M. de Morin. "I am right glad to see you again, though you have been a source of average misfortune to me and are an arrant coward into the bargain. But, since you are there, it is only right that you should wait on me once more. Ask M. Périères for a cigar and bring it to me."
When he heard this order Joseph trembled in every limb. However, if he were somewhat wanting in combatant qualifications, it is only just to say that as a servant he was beyond reproach. He had, also, such a lively sense of his duties that, to carry them out, he was capable, once in a way, of heroism. Consequently, in spite of his shaking limbs and trembling body, he was seen to cross the open space which separated him from M. de Morin, hand him a cigar, take a match from the box supplied by M. Périères, light it, and present it with all respect to his master.
The Bedouins, like all semi-savage races, are regular children. The veriest trifle serves to amuse them, and they have a variableness of mood which is truly surprising. Enraged as they had been but a moment ago, they became quite good-tempered when they saw Joseph. To menace succeeded gaiety, and hearty laughter to dire threats.
Mohammed, it must be confessed, was at this moment a sight to see. His staring eyes were almost starting out of his head from fear; the very hairs of his whiskers appeared to stand on end; his nose, empurpled by the sun, produced a most picturesque effect, full of vivid contrast, in the centre of a face blanched with fright; the fat shoulders of the lazy Parisian stuck out of his tattered shirt, and his inordinately prominent stomach protruded over the waistband of his trousers, whose fastenings, alas! had for the most part disappeared during the night. To complete the picture, in his anxiety to protect his bald head from all danger of sunstroke, he had knotted his handkerchief at the four corners, and had made a sort of Chinese skull-cap out of it.
"See," cried M. de Morin to his companions, "how all this amuses the
Bedouins. If we could only take advantage of it!"
"I was thinking of that," replied M. Périères. "What do you propose?"