The Wanderer (9 page)

I noticed that the country round Algiers was beautiful, rich with gardens and fruit trees, while numerous windmills on the hillsides bore witness to the wealth of the city. We forded a river on whose banks I saw a crowd of women, both black-skinned and brown and wearing only brightly colored cloths wrapped about their loins, who were washing clothes.

The city lay on a slope by the blue, hazy sea, and gleamed dazzling white in the sunshine. It was surrounded by a sturdy wall and a ditch, and at its highest point there rose from an angle in the wall a round keep, which dominated town and harbor. At the eastern gate we joined a great throng; the guards were sorting sheep from goats with blows of their sticks, letting the peasants through and detaining all strangers to examine their baggage. Abu el-Kasim urged us to follow close at his heels, then, drawing the corner of his cloak over his face and murmuring numerous blessings and quotations from the Koran, he attempted to slink past the guards. But they seized him and uncovered his face, and I have never seen a more crestfallen figure than Abu el-Kasim at that moment. He cursed his birth and whined, “Why do you so relentlessly persecute me—me, the poorest of the poor? You’ll soon cause me to lose faith in the mercy of Allah the Almighty.”

The guards laughed and said, “We know you, Abu el-Kasim, and you can’t deceive us. Tell us what you have to declare, or you’ll lose all.”

Abu el-Kasim pointed to Andy and me and Giulia on her donkey, and wept bitterly, saying, “Do you not see, you hard-hearted men, that I bring but four eggs and a nest to hatch them in ?”

But the men ignored his jest and took us to the guardroom. Abu el-Kasim buffeted us on before him, and I turned, smacked his face, and said, “Is this how you treat valuable slaves, fellow?”

Abu el-Kasim raised his hand as if to chastise me but seeing the look on my face he quailed, and mourned, “See how even my slave behaves to me! What can I think but that Allah has cast me out, when he burdens me with such a creature as this?”

The guards handed him over to their chief, to whom Abu el-Kasim mentioned the wares for which he was willing to pay, and these were noted down by the clerk. He then declared, “As truly as I’m a blameless man who never in his life tried to cheat anyone, I bring nothing else on which I should pay duty. For guarantee, and in token of my good will, I make you a present of these three gold pieces, which are my last.”

The men were content with this, and laughingly accepted the money, from which I concluded that the city was less well ordered than it might have been, since its officials allowed themselves to be bribed so openly. But as Abu el-Kasim was on his way out, a piece of costly ambergris the size of his fist slipped from under his arm where it had grown warm, and now filled the whole room with its fragrance.

Abu el-Kasim’s face turned ashen gray, and I could not think how he was able thus to control his features, unless it was that he so lived his part that he had come to believe in it himself. He stammered, “Hassan ben-Ismail, I had indeed forgotten that little piece of ambergris. Also a camel follows, blind of one eye, bearing a basket of grain in which are hidden five jars of good wine. Let the camel through and come and see me tomorrow evening, when we can discuss the matter rationally in all its aspects. In the meantime as a token of my good will you may keep that piece of ambergris, and Allah will reward you on the Last Day.”

The official laughed scornfully but agreed, and even gave back the ambergris, saying that its perfume made the place unbearable. As soon as Abu el-Kasim had come out into the narrow street he climbed nimbly onto Andy’s shoulders and shrieked, “Make way for Abu el-Kasim, the almsgiver, the friend of the poor, now returned from a journey which Allah has blessed!”

Thus was Andy compelled to carry his vociferous burden, and we attracted much attention as we trudged through the streets toward Abu’s hovel, which was near the harbor. From behind latticed windows curious glances followed us, and soon we had a flock of joyously screeching urchins at our heels. Abu el-Kasim threw a copper coin among them from time to time, calling God and all the faithful to witness his liberality.

Abu el-Kasim’s dwelling was a sagging mud hut, and his little shop, bolted and barred, was full of stinking jars. In the yard a feebleminded wretch of a slave kept watch. He had been deaf and dumb from birth, and it was with grunts and flickering fingers that he began to relate what had passed during his master’s absence, repeatedly kissing the hem of Abu’s grimy cloak. I was at a loss to understand how a man like Abu el-Kasim had been able to inspire such devotion in this slave, who had not even a name, a name being useless to one who cannot hear it called. But although he was clumsy and constantly broke things, and cooked miserable meals, Abu el-Kasim treated him kindly. I was surprised at his forbearance, but he said, “He suits me admirably, for he hears nothing of what is said in this house, and can’t mention what he has seen. Moreover he gives me daily occasion to practice patience and self-control, and these qualities are essential in my dangerous vocation.”

When we had entered the miserable den and surveyed its two rooms with their beaten-earth floors and tattered paillasses, Giulia drew aside her veil and mourned, “Have I endured the pangs of seasickness and the burning glare of the sun, only to land in such a place as this—I who have eaten good kukurrush and won the favor of Sinan the Jew? How could he give me to so contemptible a man?”

She could not conceal her disappointment, but vented it in loud lamentation. Abu el-Kasim laid his hand comfortingly upon her shoulder, and the deaf-mute, alarmed at her weeping, fell on his knees before her and pressed his forehead to the ground. But Giulia kicked him with her red slipper, shook off Abu el-Kasim’s hand and screamed, “Sell me in the market to whomsoever you please, but don’t come near me, or I will plunge a dagger into your throat.”

Abu el-Kasim wrung his hands, but his eyes gleamed as he said, “Alas, queen of my heart, how can you treat me so harshly? I fear I made a bad bargain in buying you from Sinan the Jew for the sake of your radiant beauty and the glorious diversity of your eyes. Perhaps the wretched Jew deceived me when he praised your amenable nature and swore that you could foretell the future by tracing characters in the sand.”

Giulia was so astounded that she forgot her wailing and said, “Certainly he taught me to draw lines in the sand and to speak of what I see there; but of fortunetelling and prediction he said not a word!”

Abu el-Kasim answered, “Yes, and for me too you shall draw in the sand and speak of what you see, for you are fairer than the moon and your speech in sweeter than honey, and I see I must disclose to you all my secrets. Follow me, but never breathe a word of what I shall show you.”

From one of his hiding places he took out a key wrapped in a rag and led us to his dark storeroom. Here, having rolled aside barrels and jars, he revealed a narrow door, which he unlocked, and then led us through into a room hung and carpeted with costly rugs and containing a quantity of brass and copper vessels of beautiful workmanship. Next, drawing aside a mat that hung on the wall, he showed us a wrought-iron gate and behind this an alcove with a wide divan in it, and a Koran on its stand. He opened the gate with a special key and kindled a small cone of myrrh, which soon spread its blue smoke through the room. Then he raised the lid of an iron chest and took out lengths of velvet and brocade, silver vessels and a number of heavy gold goblets. I could only suppose that he was seeking to gratify Giulia’s vanity by this display.

And Giulia became indeed somewhat reconciled, and admitted that in time she might feel at home in the place, hardened as she now was by so many privations.

“But you must give me the key of the grille,” she said, “so that I can retire when I please. I permit no one to disturb me while I’m engaged in meditation, or in tending my beauty, or in sleep, and if you fancy you’re ever going to share that bed with me, Abu el-Kasim, you’re greatly mistaken.”

But Abu el-Kasim turned a deaf ear and, spitting on a golden goblet which had lost its luster, began carefully polishing it with a corner of his cloak. At a sign from him the deaf-mute brought drinking water, and into this he dropped aromatic herbs which gave it a refreshing and thirst-quenching taste. When we had drunk he invited us to sit down on the cushions, while he fetched a large copper dish and filled it with fine sand.

“Have compassion on your servant, cruel Delilah,” he said. “Since the day Sinan the Jew told me of your strange gift I’ve been impatient for this moment. Gaze with your wonderful eyes at the sand, stir it with your finger and tell me what you see.”

Incense caressed my nostrils, the drink glowed in my belly, and sitting there cross legged on the low cushion I felt strangely drowsy. Even my little dog had laid its nose between its paws and sighed contentedly in that twilit room. Giulia, too, no doubt felt the prevailing languor, for without argument she bent forward and drew lines abstractedly in the sand. She said, “I see roads, cities, and the boundless sea. I see also three men. One of these is thin and ugly as a monkey. The second is sturdy as a tower, but his head’s no bigger than a pigeon’s egg. The third looks like a goat with little horns—very little horns, but sharp.”

I thought Giulia was saying all this to make fun of us, but gradually her voice altered, she stared seemingly bewitched into the sand, and her finger moved as if she were unaware of the figures she was tracing. Abu el-Kasim swung the bowl of myrrh and said in a low voice, “Delilah, Delilah—Christian Giulia, tell me what you see in the sand!”

Giulia’s smooth brow was now furrowed. She groaned, and a harsh, alien voice spoke through her mouth. “The sand is red as if with blood—I see a seething cauldron, and in it people—warriors, ships, banners. I see a turban fall from a puffy head—I see a harbor—many ships entering the harbor in a roar of cannon.”

“The Deliverer comes from the sea,” said Abu el-Kasim in a low voice. “The Deliverer comes from the sea before the figs have ripened. That is important, Delilah. You see the usurper on his throne, the blasphemer who neglects the commandments of Allah. But you see also the turban falling from his head, and you see the Deliverer coming from the sea before the figs are ripe.”

Giulia stirred the sand intently, and suddenly the alien voice broke out in derision, “Abu el-Kasim in your donkey’s hide! Why do your bleeding feet tread a thousand paths when only one is needful ? You’re but a fish in God’s net, and the more stubbornly you thrust against it, the more hopelessly are you entangled in its meshes. Your life is but a reflection in a pool whose calm surface is quickly shattered by the hand of a child at play. Why are you ever your own dupe, when you gain no peace by it, however feverishly you flee from yourself and change your form?”

Abu el-Kasim was thunderstruck, and cried out, “In the name of Allah the Compassionate! A wicked spirit speaks through this woman, and her eyes must indeed be evil.”

He wrenched the copper dish from Giulia’s grasp, though she clung to it convulsively with both hands. Her eyes shone like jewels in her white face and she did not wake from her trance until Abu el-Kasim shook her and bent her head repeatedly from side to side. Then her glance came alive again and rising abruptly she boxed his ears, saying, “Don’t touch me, you filthy ape! Don’t dare to take advantage of me when I dream like this. It often happens. It used to happen long ago when I looked into a pool or a well. And I like it, for it seems to free me from the curse of my eyes. But that’s no excuse for shameless assault. Let me rest, for I’m very tired. Go away, all of you, and leave me in peace.”

She drove us from the room.

Abu el-Kasim gave us blankets and bade us find sleeping places for the night. Then he went out. The deaf-mute brought clean straw and did his poor best for us. Toward evening he began cooking broth, and cut up a few small pieces of mutton for grilling. Andy, seeing this, shook his head sadly and remarked, “The poor fellow can never have had a square meal in his life. To look at him you’d think he was going to feed a couple of hens and a blind puppy. That may do for skinny old Abu, but not for me.”

He pushed the slave gently aside, built up a good fire, hung the cauldron over it, and flung in all the bits of meat and fat he could find. The unhappy deaf-mute, seeing Andy pile on the fire all the twigs and dried dung that had been so slowly and painfully collected, was appalled; but when Andy began cutting up half a sheep to fill the pot the man grasped his wrist, and his eyes swam in tears.

Just then I heard my dog yelping outside in the yard, and I found him running madly round and round, pursued by two black hens. Rael took refuge between my feet and I saw that his muzzle was bleeding. Greatly incensed—for Rael was a peaceable creature, and never chased fowls—I seized a stake and wrathfully attacked the aggressors. The dog helped me as well as he could, and Andy appeared in the doorway, to encourage us with joyous shouts until at last I was able to catch the birds and wring their necks.

The commotion had brought a crowd of neighbors to the gate, but Andy quickly snatched up the fowls and threw them to the slave for him to pluck. The poor wretch, being now out of his wits, meekly obeyed and his tears fell among the feathers. I pitied him, but felt that he might as well accustom himself to the new circumstances without delay.

When the sun was setting and the melancholy cry of the muezzin reached us from the minaret of the mosque, Abu el-Kasim dipped his fingers into a bowl of water and splashed a few drops over his feet, wrists, and face. He then unrolled a mat and recited the prayers, while I knelt too and pressed my forehead to the ground in time with him. When our prayer was ended Abu el-Kasim sniffed the air and said, “Let us bless the food in the name of Allah, and eat!”

We sat down in a ring on the floor. Here Giulia joined us, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and stretching her slender limbs. But when Andy carried in the great cooking pot, Abu el-Kasim grimaced as if he had bitten into a sour fruit, and said, “I don’t intend to feed all the poor of the quarter, nor are we a platoon of janissaries. Who’s to blame for this terrible mistake? Let it be the last. Were it not that I wish our first evening to be harmonious I could fly into a passion.”