56 THE SECRET OF SAHARA: KUFARA 



of thyme stole up from the cold sand. Farraj (both the 

 black Sudanese were called Farraj ) began intoning verses 

 of the Koran — a melodious sound in the starlit night. 

 Then, surprised by his own song, he suddenly sprang to 

 his feet and chanted loudly, triumphantly, the muazzin's 

 call to prayer, "Allahu Akhbar, Allahu Akhbar. Ash 

 hadu ilia Illaha illallah wa ash hadu inna Mohammedan 

 rasul Allah!" The Shehada rolled splendid, intolerant, 

 from his lips and his voice rose higher on the cry, 

 "Haya alia sala! Haya alia fellah!" till we all took 

 up the chorus of "Allahu Akhbar, Allahu Akhbar!" 



As I undressed in the "harem" portion of the tent, 

 which had enormously impressed our retinue, I pondered 

 on the character of these men with whom we were to 

 hve in familiar intercourse for months. Apart fron: 

 their fierce fanaticism, which made it a duty for them 

 to kill the infidel and the Nasrani as we kill dangerous 

 and pestilential vermin, they had the simplicity of 

 children. I felt that our blacks would steal all our food 

 one day if they happened to be hungry and defend us 

 most gallantly the next. They are utterly unable to 

 provide for the morrow. Their trust in Allah is of the 

 bhnd kind that does not try to help itself, yet the Koran 

 says, "Allah works with him who works." Again and 

 again we told them about the scarcity of food. We 

 showed them the pathetic limit of our provisions. They 

 said, "The caravan will come to-morrow! Inshallah!" 



Knowing the dilatory habits of the East, I had very 

 little faith in the arrival of that caravan for at least a 

 week, but we agreed to their persistent request to camp 

 for two days at the wadi to give it a chance of joining 

 us. If it did not arrive on the evening of the 11th, 

 bringing with it all our provisions, we should have to 

 send back the two blacks, and continue post-haste to 

 Aujela with Yusuf and Mohammed. With that intent 



