24 THE SECRET OF SAHARA: KUFARA 



du":ifuliy reported the minutest of our doings. The Head 

 of the PoHce, the stalwart Mabruk, was also not averse 

 to Latin gold, so he placed his brother to watch us as 

 horse-boy and, lest that were not sufficient, he sent us 

 a mysterious servant whose head appeared suddenly at 

 the glassless window whenever Hassanein Bey and I were 

 studying the Koran or writing notes. We were never 

 able to relax our vigilance for a second. We used to hold 

 long Arabic conversations on how pleasant we found life 

 in Jedabia, how v*^e must certainly stay there a fortnight 

 before returning to Benghazi. We knew that every word 

 would be overheard and repeated. 



Bazaar rumour spoilt our first plan, which was exceed- 

 ingly simple. We meant to persuade an ekhwan to 

 accompany us to see some neighbouring village, where 

 there would be a suppositional marriage or other festa, 

 and from there drift on. We had not reckoned with the 

 fanaticism of the Moslem. Tales of a wealthy Christian 

 woman about to travel into the interior spread like a 

 bush-fire. Mustapha came to me with lurid tales of 

 throats cut almost within sight of the suq. Sayed Rida 

 b'mself explained that no Christian life was safe beyond 

 the boundaries of Cyrenaica, and that anyone* supposed 

 to have money was a marked prey for the lawless bands 

 who swept out of the desert, seized their prey and dis- 

 appeared into the limitless sands as ants upon an Enghsh 

 lawn. We learnt many things that day. We discovered 

 that Mannismann, the German, had been killed by his 

 own Arab guard a few hours outside the to^\Ti because 

 he had twelve thousand pounds in gold upon him. We 

 heard that the Tebu tribes of the group of oases erro- 

 neously known as Kufra (really Kufara) have not 

 entirely submitted to the Senussi rule and, consequently, 

 still attack any caravans travelling beyond Taiserbo. 

 "But I don't understand," I said. "Taiserbo is part of 



