Ohmed Mahomed took measures in the first place to conciliate, if possible, the opposite party, and some half-bloods of the tribe among our Kafilah went for the purpose of effecting a treaty, but were unsuccessful, and on their return, they were followed by a cloud of the enemy, who now seemed to cover the whole further side of the valley. All this time I had kept out of sight at the express desire of Ohmed Mahomed; Zaido, Allee, and myself being left with the stores, every other member of the Kafilah, after the prayers had ended, having joined the Hy Soumaulee, were now sitting together in a large semicircle on a level spot that occurred upon the slope of the hill. I was anxiously watching the progress of events; for being some hundreds of yards from the men of the Kafilah I expected for a certainty being cut off by some rush of the whooping Bedouins, who, fast advancing, I could now see with my glass, from the inglorious position assigned to me; their bright spear-heads glistening in the sun, over the tops of the low jungle through which they were passing. At length they approached far too near to be pleasant to the feelings of Ohmed Mahomed, who had depended upon the mere rumour of my firearms deterring them from making an attack upon the Kafilah. At first it was not his policy for me to be seen, for fear the parade might be deemed by the suspicious and jealous natives as a kind of threat, and thus interfere with the pacific arrangements he contemplated, and was most willing to see effected, but finding that they had advanced within three or four hundred yards without any symptom of the usual halt, preliminary to overtures of peace, Ohmed Mahomed sprang to his feet, and brandished his spear in defiance, leaping and yelling to deter their nearer approach. His efforts were answered only by similar cries, and seeing this, he turned suddenly round, and called out for me, Zaido, and Allee to come immediately, and join them. I understood him and his position in a moment, so pointing to my pistols, I bade Allee bring them along with him, and taking a gun in each hand, with head uncovered, ran quickly up, and, as if inoculated with the same savage ferocity as my companions, yelled in a manner that delighted, and astonished even them. Adam Burrah, with a loud shout of welcome, came running to meet me, and seizing hold of my wrist, dragged me into the front rank with him, where, squatting down on his heels like the rest, he pulled me down by his side. Ohmed Mahomed now came and placed himself on my other side, told me that I must only fire when he placed his hand on my arm, and adding the word “kill” in Arabic, pointed with his spear to a tall young man who, with unparalleled boldness, had advanced to less than one hundred yards of us, and stood making some inquiries from one of the women of our Kafilah, unheeding the loud cries of “cutta, cutta” (go away, go away,) that my friends were shouting with all their might to drive him off. Excited by his insolent bearing, Adam Burrah at last started up from my side, and having called “cutta” several times without the young man deigning to take the least notice, he rushed towards him. On perceiving this, the man instantly dropped on to his heels, so that only his head and his poised spear could be seen above his shield, and coolly awaited the attack, but Adam, seeing his foe thus prepared, dropt to the ground himself in the same manner behind his shield, at the distance of about twenty yards, and both began sparring with their spears. Garahmee, Moosa, and others, called to Adam Burrah to come back, and Ohmed Mahomed, willing to avoid bloodshed, sprang after him, suddenly snatched away his spear, and thus disarmed, he was obliged, but very reluctantly, to return to my side.
Considering that this was to be the commencement of the fray, I had taken up my gun, and the man observing this, and the determined front our little band sustained, thought it best to imitate Adam Burrah, and slowly walked back to his now retiring countrymen, who had immediately, on seeing me and the bright glaring barrel of my long fowling-piece, with one consent turned, and began a slow retreat, in a long straggling line to their original position on the opposite height, where, squatting down, they assumed, like ourselves, an attitude of defence, as if influenced by a desire to oppose our passage through their country rather than to make a gratuitous attack, which was certainly their first intention, before being acted upon by the wholesome fear of “the villanous saltpetre.” Garahmee now appeared to have assumed the character of commander-in-chief of our forces, walking backwards and forwards between the two extremities of the little semicircle we formed. In one hand, he held a small twig, which he waved about most energetically, as he recited some long speech of a very fiercely-sounding character. Occasionally, he tapped upon the head any of the party who, tired of the sitting position, attempted to rest himself by standing up. This part of their tactics, I observed, was particularly insisted upon, and was done, I was told, with a view of preventing the enemy from obtaining a correct knowledge of the numbers of their opponents. Garahmee was a recognised authority, for in his directions a marshal with his baton would not have been more implicitly obeyed by his army, than was this half-naked savage with his little stick by his wild companions.
We did not stir from our position whilst the sun was up, but kept sitting in a very uncomfortable posture for me, some time even after it had set, when Ohmed Mahomed, touching my elbow, intimated I could go to my hut, for pointing to the men opposed to us, with a significant laugh, he said, “they are very good friends.” Zaido and Allee accompanied me to my hut, but the rest of the Kafilah remained in the same squatting position until after nine o’clock, by which time a peace had been made, and sworn to upon the Koran, between us and the Bedouins, a safe conduct being given to the Kafilah through their country, which extended to the Bahr assal, by a regular official-like document, drawn up in Arabic.
The present required by the chief was exceedingly moderate; three pieces of blue Surat cotton cloth to distribute among the tribe, being all that was asked for. At my request, one bag of rice was subsequently divided among some of the principal people, as an extraordinary present on the occasion of an Engreez coming into their country. All being settled most satisfactorily to myself, and to every one else, I got my rice supper, and slept the remainder of the night as soundly on the hard irregular surface of the rocky ground as if reposing on the softest couch. It is the excitement occasioned by scenes similar to the one I have endeavoured to describe, which gives a zest to desert life, besides the consciousness of having escaped a great peril attaches a value to existence itself of which we have had no previous idea, for, like health, it is sometimes held of little moment until we are on the eve of losing it for ever.
CHAPTER VII.
Leave Daddahue.—Journey through the Rah Issah to Bulhatoo, distance seven miles, general direction, W. S. W. and S.—Halt for the night.—Journey from Bulhatoo to Dafarrè, distance four miles, general direction, west by north.—Halt for the night.—Journey from Dafarrè to Aleek’shatan, distance five miles, general direction, south.—Journey from Aleek’shatan to Alephanta, distance, seven miles, general direction, west and south west.
April 2d.—Ohmed Mahomed had no wish to keep the Kafilah in a neighbourhood so populous. His store of tobacco would have been considerably diminished by such a stay, so he determined to push on this morning for the halting-place on the shores of the Goobat ul Khhrab, which we were to approach to-day, and take our last leave of the sea. Six camels of the Bursane Bedouins also joined our Kafilah, and during the march, the two or three good-tempered natives to whom they belonged, were laughed at, and laughed themselves at the effect a few weapons of the Jinn produced upon their tribe the night before.
The camels being loaded, we ascended the opposite side of the valley of Daddahue, and continued along the ridge in a parallel direction with the valley for nearly two hours, the road being over the same loose volcanic kind of stones as those of the preceding day’s march. I still persisted in walking with Ohmed Mahomed and the Hy Soumaulee, for my mule was so wretchedly slow, that I was much more fatigued sitting on the saddle than if I had walked all the way.
The road began now to descend into a deep ravine, four or five hundred feet below the level of the plain over which we had been marching. I sat on the edge of the more than perpendicular precipice which actually overhung the road beneath, whilst the opposite height, but a few feet higher, was not seventy yards distant. This pass was called the Rah Issah by the Dankalli, from its having been the spot, and one very well adapted for the purpose, where a rescue was effected by the Debenee tribe of a large herd of cattle, and many flocks that had been driven off their lands in a foray made by the Issah Soumaulee, a people who occupy the whole country that forms the southern border of the Bay of Tajourah, and extends inland without any well-defined division, as far as the plains of Error, the residence of the Wahama Dankalli. From the situation I had chosen, I had a good view of the camels as they wound along the several traverses of the rugged path to the narrow watercourse beneath, and many serious falls and considerable detentions occurred during the perilous descent; full two hours having elapsed before Ohmed Mahomed, myself, and the escort followed, for until the time that the Kafilah was safe below, I could see that an attack was apprehended from the Bursane people, even after all the ceremonial of the last night’s treaty.