The Pacha of Many Tales | Page 9

as if it were the passing by of shadows.
We met with no accident, notwithstanding the prophecies of the
Maribout; and, after a fatiguing march of seven nights, arrived safely at
Nakhel, where we replenished our exhausted water-skins. Those whom
I knew joked with me, when we met at the wells, at the false prophecies
of my enemy. We had now three days of severe fatigue to encounter
before we arrived at the castle of Akaba, and we recommenced our
painful journey.

It was on the morning of the second day, about an hour after we had
pitched out tents, that the fatal prophecy of the Maribout, and the
judgment of Allah upon me, for the lie which I had called on him to
witness, was fulfilled.
A dark cloud appeared upon the horizon; it gradually increased,
changing to a bright yellow; then rose and rose until it had covered
one-half of the firmament, when it suddenly burst upon us in a
hurricane which carried every thing before it, cutting off mountains of
sand at the base, and hurling them upon our devoted heads. The
splendid tent of the Emir which first submitted to the blast, passed
close to me, flying along with the velocity of the herie, while every
other was either levelled to the ground or carried up into the air, and
whirled about in mad gyration.
Moving pillars of sand passed over us, overthrowing and suffocating
man and beast; the camels thrust their muzzles into the ground, and,
profiting by their instinct, we did the same, awaiting our fate in silence
and trepidation. But the simoom had not yet poured upon us all its
horrors: in a few minutes nothing was to be distinguished, all was
darkness, horrible darkness, rendered more horrible by the ravings of
dying men, the screams of women, and the mad career of horses and
other animals, which breaking their cords, trod down thousands in their
endeavours to escape from the overwhelming fury of the desert storm.
I had laid myself down by one of my camels, and thrusting my head
under his side, awaited my death with all the horror of one who felt that
the wrath of heaven was justly poured upon him. For an hour I
remained in that position, and surely there can be no pains in hell
greater than those which I suffered during that space of time. The
burning sand forced itself into my garments, the pores of my skin were
closed, I hardly ventured to breathe the hot blast which was offered as
the only means of protracted existence. At last I fetched my respiration
with greater freedom, and no more heard the howling of the blast.
Gradually I lifted up my head, but my eyes had lost their power, I could
distinguish nothing but a yellow glare. I imagined that I was blind, and
what chance could there be for a man who was blind in the desert of El

Tyh? Again I laid my head down, thought of my wife and children, and
abandoning myself to despair, I wept bitterly.
The tears that I shed had a resuscitating effect upon my frame. I felt
revived, and again lifted up my head--I could see! I prostrated myself in
humble thanksgiving to Allah, and then rose upon my feet. Yes, I could
see; but what a sight was presented to my eyes! I could have closed
them for ever with thankfulness. The sky was again serene, and the
boundless prospect uninterrupted as before; but the thousands who
accompanied me, the splendid gathering of men and beasts, where were
they? Where was the Emir Hadjy and his guards? where the mamelukes,
the agas, the janissaries, and the holy sheiks? the sacred camel, the
singers, and musicians? the varieties of nations and tribes who had
joined the caravan? All perished!! Mountains of sand marked the spots
where they had been entombed, with no other monuments save here
and there part of the body of a man or beast not yet covered by the
desert wave. All, all were gone, save one; and that one, that guilty one,
was myself, who had been permitted to exist, that he might behold the
awful mischief which had been created by his presumption and his
crime.
For some minutes I contemplated the scene, careless and despairing; for
I imagined that I had only been permitted to outlive the whole, that my
death might be even more terrible. But my wife and children rushed to
my memory, and I resolved for their sakes to save, if possible, a life
which had no other ties to bind it to this earth. I tore off a piece of my
turban, and cleansing the sand out of my bleeding nostrils, walked over
the field of death.
Between the