Part 10

"There were no difficulties to be encountered. The tax-collectors of the Government must have envied me the simplicity of my task. There were no troublesome forms to be filled up; there were no irritating requests to call again. I had merely to extend my hand, and the coins were counted into it without demur. Nor had I to keep books. To prevent mistakes, I put the Camorra moneys aside in a separate bag. For the rest, there was perfect reliance on my honour.

"In due course a letter was slipped into my hands, running thus--

"'_Dear Companion,--It is for to-night, in the cellar of the house by which thou watchest. Thou shalt be initiated, and then shalt be informed of all. Nothing further._

"'THY COMPANION.'

"It was a great occasion for me, and I prepared myself to do full justice to it.

"'_Voyons!_' I said to myself. 'I will make my toilet; and while I am making my toilet, I will compose my speech. _Grande tenue_, I take it, will be _en regle_. Even if I am wrong, I shall have paid my companions a compliment by thinking so, and it will also be a compliment to be able to address them in a few well-chosen words.'

"So, as I had no dress-clothes with me, I hired a suit, wearing also a flowing cape to cover it, in case it should seem ostentatious; and I collected my thoughts and polished my phrases, that I might deliver a suitable harangue, on the principles of whatever revolution might be contemplated.

"Alas! it was a waste of energy, as you shall see. Listen to me, I beg of you, while I describe my first and last appearance at a formal committee meeting of the Camorra.

"The place was a long, low room, below the level of the street, reached from the _cafe_ by a winding staircase; stone oil-lamps, swinging from the ceiling, lighted it dimly, clouds of tobacco smoke thickened the atmosphere; bottles of red wine and tumblers were set out on a long table on which no cloth was laid.

"There were from twenty-five to thirty companions present--companions of all kinds and all social grades; companions who had all the appearance of prosperous professional men--doctors, lawyers, and magistrates--some of these, like myself, were in evening dress, with white gloves; companions who looked like working men; companions who looked like wandering Neapolitan mandolinists. It seemed strange that _camaraderie_ should prevail among them; yet so it was. They sat round the table together clinking glasses, while I was placed on a high stool near the door awaiting the ceremony of my initiation. It was a very simple ceremony. The president of the assemblage rose and addressed me.

"'It is the rule,' he said, 'to require a new companion to prove himself by fighting a duel with some existing member of----'

"'I shall be most pleased,' I interposed. 'If you yourself, Signor President, will do me the great honour of encountering me, I will endeavour----'

"'In certain cases,' the president continued, 'the rule is waived. It is waived in your case, because you have already proved yourself.'

"'On two occasions, Signor President,' I reminded him.'

"'Precisely--on two occasions. Consequently the third proof is not required.'

"'You are quite sure, Signor President? I ask no favour. Rather than that any irregularity should be committed----'

"'There will be no irregularity. It will only be necessary for you to swear the oath. Repeat it after me.'

"He recited the formula, a short and simple one. I swore to be faithful to the Camorra, to keep its secrets, to obey its orders, to betray no companions to the police. And that was all.

"'Now drink,' said the president. And a tumbler of red wine was handed to me, and I duly drained it to the dregs, after first walking round the table and clinking glasses with every member.

"'And now,' the president continued, 'we reach the business of the evening.'

"I listened eagerly. At last, it seemed, the mystery was to be solved, and I was to learn the secret of the Camorra--in what sacred cause it gathered in its revenues, and by what subtle means it proposed to employ them for the overthrow of principalities and powers. The truth burst upon me like a thunderbolt.

"'Giovanni, bring me the books!' called the president to a subordinate. And two great ledgers, such as you see in merchants' offices, were laid before him.

"'And the cash!' he added; and a number of small bags full of coins were also brought.

"In a few minutes he was immersed in calculations, while a loud buzz of talk went on around him. Then he looked up, and banging upon the table, called for silence. When he spoke, you could have heard a pin drop.

"'The week has been a fortunate one,' he said, and cheers broke out. 'In addition to the ordinary tribute collected on the quays, at the hotels, and in the _cafes_, some heavy fees have been received from farmers whose cattle the companions have promised not to poison, and from citizens at whose houses the companions have undertaken that there shall be no burglaries. The _barattolo_----'

"'_Viva il barattolo!_' shouted the companions gleefully.

"'The _barattolo_ for the week amounts to the sum of 20,000 lire (loud cheers). When the necessary deductions have been made for working expenses, and for the remuneration of the office-bearers of the society, there remain 730 lire for each companion.'

"Not a word, you perceive, about the political purposes of the society, concerning which I had been promised information. I rose from my stool to point out the omission.

"'_Voyons_, companions----' I began, but the president signed to me to be silent and continued--

"'Let me proceed to the distribution of the funds. Giovanni, take this bag first to the companion, Jean Antoine Stromboli Kosnapulski.'

"My turn had come, and I was free to speak. They cheered me as I rose, imagining, no doubt, that I wished to return thanks for the honour done to me. But this was not my purpose. My suspicions were awakened, and I concentrated those suspicions in the form of searching questions.

"'This bag of money is for me,' I began.

"'Naturally,' replied the president.

"'To do what I like with?'

"'Absolutely.'

"'And for each companion present there is a similar bag for him also, to do what he likes with?'

"'Assuredly. We are all brothers here.'

"'And the great revenues of this great society are collected for no other purpose than to be thus divided weekly among the favoured few?'

"'Precisely. For what other purpose should we trouble to collect them?'

"'Then I have a word to say.'

"For now the truth was out, and my suspicions were confirmed, and indignation had followed in their train.

"The companions stared at me--puzzled by my vehemence; but I quickly made them understand. The burning sentences flowed like red-hot lava from my lips. The speech which I delivered was not the speech which I had prepared. It was an infinitely greater speech.

"'Yes, I have a word to say to you; and that word is this. You have deceived, deluded, fooled me, you have inveigled me by your fair words into a companionship of which I find myself at once ashamed.'

"A murmur was arising, but I quelled it.

"'Silence! I have not finished. I have but begun. By your nods and your winks and your mysterious words you led me to believe that in joining you I was joining the mightiest revolutionary society that the world had ever seen. Heaven knows that I shrink from no revolutionary enterprise. Heaven knows that I am willing to adopt strong measures to raise the money which such enterprises need. And I thought that you were raising money for such a purpose, and that I was helping you to raise it. But what do I find? I find that you plunder--plunder the poor and weak and helpless--not for a cause, but for yourselves. I thought to be taking part with you in a high political conspiracy, and I find myself--I, _moi qui vous parle_, find myself--sitting and drinking in a den of thieves.'

"There was a further murmur; but this, too, I quelled.

"'Silence! I have nearly done. It remains for me to shake the dust from off my feet. It remains for me to say that I resign my membership, that I repudiate you, that I sever my connection with you, that I denounce you----'

"But I got no further. It was the word 'denounce,' unfortunately chosen, with its suggestion of betrayal to the police, that spurred the companions to action. Their numbers gave them courage; their knives flashed; as a single man they leapt at me.

"It was no time for argument. I hurled my stool at the nearest of them, and so secured a start. On the winding stair one of them clutched at the skirt of my cape; I threw my arms back, so that it came off in his hands. Then, in my evening dress and opera-hat, I gained the streets and ran, some twenty Neapolitan ruffians, with their knives drawn, pursuing.

"But I was fleet of foot, and they pursued in vain; and when I had reached the railway-station, and jumped into the carriage of a departing train--which seemed, in the circumstances, the safest place of refuge--I found that my bag of coins was safely in my pocket.

"'_Voyons!_' I said to myself, as I examined it. 'If I could return each of these coins to its rightful owner! But that is obviously impossible; there is no alternative but to retain them as a memento of a remarkable experience that is hardly likely to occur again.'"

THE VISIT TO THE HOLY MAN.

It was at the time when the name of the Senussi--the mysterious Holy Man who frightened the Foreign Office from an oasis of the Libyan Desert--was in the papers.

"The Senussi!" exclaimed Stromboli. "When I tell you that I--_moi qui vous parle_--have spoken with the Senussi; when I tell you that I--_moi qui vous parle_--have inflicted an indignity upon the Senussi; nay, more, when I tell you that the Senussi and I exchanged indignities! Are you at leisure? Then let me tell you."

I consented to listen; and Stromboli began--

"You all talk of the Holy Man with bated breath, as if he was Beelzebub; but I, for my part, always spoke of him openly and fearlessly. And it happened one day, some fifteen years ago, that I was imparting information about him to some old friends of mine, who were Irish members of your House of Commons.

"'He's a holy man and a strong man,' I was saying, 'and he gets holier and stronger every day, and he knows how to bide his time. One day, when he's holy enough and strong enough, he'll get up in the middle of the night and preach the Holy War. And then beware! His followers will come out of the desert like a swarm of locusts and eat up the country.'

"Having made this speech, I proceeded to withdraw with dignity; but one of the gentlemen followed me down the stairs, and spoke to me in an Irish accent--

"'Oirish whisky, Mr. Stromboli,' he said, 'is better f'r y'r health than the Scotch that ye've been drinking, an' I happen to know a little place round the corner...'

"I accepted the invitation as cordially as it was given, never guessing that it was the prelude to a political proposal; but the refreshment was no sooner set before us than my companion broke the ice.

"'I was listenin' just now with very much interest to y'r conversation, Mr. Stromboli. Ye were spaking of a sartain holy friend of yours.'

"'Hardly a personal friend,' I corrected.

"'Ah, well! ye said he was a holy man, and a powerful man, and ye seemed to know a good deal about his ways. So it occurred to me, between ourselves, to make a little proposal to ye.'

"It seemed to me, at this stage of the proceedings, that I had better ask my friend his name.

"'Me name?' he replied. 'Well, of course, that's what I should have begun by telling ye. Me name's Biggar. Maybe ye've heard of me. I'm a member of the Irish Nationalist Party.'

"I bowed; while Mr. Biggar took off his spectacles, wiped them, put them on again, and peered at me with his penetrating little eyes. Then he called for further glasses of whisky, and proceeded--

"'Well, now ye know me name an' me position in life, and we'll proceed to business. What I was about to ask ye was whether ye think it loikely that this holy friend of yours could be persuaded to take up the cause of Home Rule for Oireland.'

"I pointed out the obvious difficulty--that the Holy Man was a Mohammedan, and that the Irish people were not; but Mr. Biggar was not disconcerted.

"'I've thought of that, sorr,' he replied. 'I was thinking of that over the first glass of whisky; and the way out of the difficulty is now clear to me. All that ye have to do is to put it to the Holy Man in this way--that the down-trodden Oirish people are prevented from becoming Mohammedans because they have not yet obtained Home Rule.'

"I congratulated Mr. Biggar on the ingenuity of his argument, and he advanced it a step further.

"'I'm thinkin', Mr. Stromboli, that the party to which I hold the confidential position of treasurer might perhaps make it worth y'r while to pay a visit to Mr. Senussi.'

"'_The_ Senussi,' I corrected,

"'Ah! So they say The Senussi, just as we say The O'Donoghue. It's a further bond of union between us. And as I was saying, I'm thinking it might be made worth y'r while to go and see him, and present him with me compliments--the compliments of Mr. Joseph Gillis Biggar--and suggest to him that he should create a divarsion in the direction of Egypt, at the time when the Oirish members are moving the adjournment of the House of Commons. Will ye tell me now what ye think of the proposal?'

"I looked him in the face to make sure that he was sober and in earnest. I saw that he was both, and raised no objection when he called for a third glass of whisky.

"'_Voyons_! Mr. Biggar,' I said. 'This is a very dangerous mission on which you propose to send me. Are you aware that the oasis in which the Senussi lives is surrounded by Arabs who have absolutely no other work to do except to murder all strangers who approach it without satisfactory credentials?'

"But Mr. Biggar was not confounded by the question.

"'That's what I was thinkin' of over the second glass of whisky, Mr. Stromboli,' he replied; 'and I have already thought out a plan for you.'

"'Unfold it, Mr. Biggar,' I said. And he unfolded it.

"'It's like this, Mr. Stromboli. In addition to bein' an Oirish member, I'm in business, as ye may have heard, as a provision merchant.'

"'Proceed, sir,' I said; and he proceeded.

"'There's one of me customers that's a Mohammedan. He's an Arab who throws raw potatoes into the air and catches them on the bridge of his nose and breaks them, in circuses in the North of Oireland; but he doesn't pay up very easily, and I've threatened to County Court him for his bill. Now I'm thinking that it w'dn't take a great deal of persuasion to induce that performing Mohammedan to give ye the sort of letter of introduction that ye require.'

"And Mr. Biggar called for a fourth glass of whisky; while I pointed out a further difficulty--that a Mohammedan who wrote from Ireland might perhaps fail to inspire the Senussi with confidence.

"'I was thinkin' of that over the third glass, and it's no difficulty at all, at all,' said Mr. Biggar. 'The man w'dn't date his letter from the circus, and he w'dn't mention that he made his livin' by catchin' praties on the bridge of his nose; he'd date it from just where ye like, and he'd say just what ye please in it. Now, Mr. Stromboli, are ye satisfied? Take a minute or two to think it over.'

"I reflected for a minute or two with folded arms. Then, having made up my mind, I gripped Mr. Biggar by the hand.

"'Mr. Biggar, you are a man of genius,' I exclaimed. 'Jean Antoine Stromboli Kosnapulski says it. There now remains no difficulty but one--the payment of my travelling expenses in advance.'

"His expression changed, as I have heard that it always did when money had to be disbursed; and his tone, for the instant, was almost unfriendly. At any rate it was peremptory.

"'Now, mind me,' he began. 'Ye'll go thurred class, and ye'll take some packets of sandwiches so that ye needn't be always dining in the hotels, and ye'll----'

"But I overawed him.

"'Mr. Biggar,' I said. 'Pray observe that you are not speaking to one of your Irish members. You are speaking to Jean Antoine Stromboli Kosnapulski.'

"'I ask y'r pardon, sorr; I ask y'r pardon,' said Mr. Biggar.

"It is granted," I replied with dignity. 'The brusqueness of your manner is no doubt necessary with Irish members, when they are at once indigent and exigent; but your heart is in the right place. And now, with your permission, we will discuss the details of our project.'

"'While I have been drinkin' me fourth glass,' rejoined Mr. Biggar, 'it has occurred to me that that will be the more profitable course. General principles are best agreed upon over the convivial bowl; but it would be an error of judgment to settle the practical minutiae while under its influence, the more especially as the good people here are now engaged in turning out the lights.'

"So we bade each other an affectionate farewell, postponing the adjustment of the details, which were duly arranged at other interviews conducted in the day.

"I need not dwell upon them. Suffice it to say that my travelling expenses and my letter of introduction were both forthcoming in due season, the latter being written at my dictation, and checked and corrected, for the prevention of treachery, by an eminent Oriental scholar. As for my remuneration--

"'We'll pay ye by results,' said Mr. Biggar; 'and ye'll find that ye'll be treated very handsomely on the day when Ould Oireland gets Home Rule.'

"And his parting speech was--

"'Me bhoy, ye're one of the broightest jewels in the crown that Ould Oireland's foightin' for, and I'm only sorry we can't be after givin' ye a public dinner by way of a send-off. But there's the danger that the Holy Man would come to hear of it, and shoot at ye from behind a hedge in the desert, just for all the world as if ye were a landlord. So ye'd best go about the business stealthily. And now good luck to ye.'

"So we shook hands on the platform at Charing Cross, and I set forth alone upon my perilous adventure.

"My starting-point was Cairo. There I was to hire camels and guides, and buy presents to propitiate hostile chiefs; and there began my pilgrimage across the wide and burning wastes of the Libyan Desert.

"You will not ask me for particulars of that desert journey. One journey through the desert is very like another--blazing days and chilly nights; a parching thirst that no drink really quells; the sandstorm blown along by a wind like a blast from an oven; the welcome rest beneath the date palms at the wells; the glorious sunsets that seem to set the heavens aflame; but no real incident unless you miss the wells and die of thirst, or marauding Arabs find you out and fall on you, and slay you, or drive you away to be sold in some slave-market in the heart of the dark continent.

"And I--_moi qui vous parle_--I braved those terrors, protected only by my Arabic letter, written at my dictation by the degenerate Mohammedan who broke raw potatoes on the bridge of his nose in the circus in the North of Ireland.

"Again and again my guides tried to persuade me to turn back, their terror increasing with every step that took us nearer to our destination.

"'To draw near to Jarabub is forbidden,' they said; 'Senussi-el-Mahdi will slay us, and our blood will be on our master's head.'

"I retorted with emphasis and even with temper.

"'Are you not under my protection, and have I not paid you in advance? Go to, then, and lead on. Otherwise, your blood will truly be upon your master's head, here and now. For I will slay you, and leave you for the crows to pick your bones."

"'It is fated,' they said, and moved on sulkily.

"But presently I saw that they were whispering together; and I guessed what they were planning--to murder me in the night-time and steal away. Against this danger also, therefore, I took precaution.

"'_Voyons!_' I said. 'You have the souls of slaves, and like slaves shall you be treated. This night, and every night, shall you sleep bound, so that you may not run away.'

"But, to my amazement, my proposal did not make them angry.

"'So be it,' they said. 'For then will Senussi-el-Mahdi know that we are indeed our master's slaves, and that it is our master alone who is accountable and worthy to be put to death.'

"So I tied them up--none the less securely because they had professed themselves willing to be tied--and, so to say, drove my guides before me towards the Oasis of Jarabub.

"Once or twice parties of Arabs, springing, as it seemed, out of the yellow sand, came upon me in the early morning, and bade me turn back to the place that I had come from.

"'It is the will of Senussi-el-Mahdi,' they explained, 'and he cares but little whether we send thee back or slay thee where thou standest. Turn back, therefore, dog of a Christian, lest a worse thing befall thee.'

"No doubt they would have killed me without parley, if they had not seen that I was armed and could retaliate. But I had my rifle in my hands and two revolvers in my belt, so that they listened to me, or, rather, to my guide Abdullah, who interpreted.'

"'Nay, but we come as friends,' Abdullah said, 'and our master bears a letter for Senussi-el-Mahdi from a true son of the Prophet in a distant land.'

"'Son of a dog, thou liest!' said the savage and discourteous Arab.

"There was nothing for it, therefore, but to show him the letter and let him read it. He still seemed only half convinced, but that sufficed.

"'It is strange,' he said, 'but Senussi-el-Mahdi, who knows all things, will decide, when he has put thee to the question. It may be that he will make thee welcome, and it may be that he will slit thy throat; but I must not slit it for him until I know his will. In the meantime hast thou not perchance some gift for me?'

"I unpacked a burnous from my baggage and handed it to him with a courteous inclination.

"He took it from me with as little ceremony as though it had been a contraband article detected at a custom-house; but he made a sign to his men, and they melted away as suddenly as they had come in sight.

"We hurried on, starting each morning before dawn, so as to travel quickly while the air was cool, until one day, when the dawn broke, suddenly almost as a flash of lightning, the gleaming walls of a city showed themselves in front of us.

"'It is Jarabub,' said my guides with a single voice, throwing themselves upon the ground to say their prayers.

"I told them to make haste with their devotions and come on; and in half an hour or so we had reached our goal, and were seeking admission at the city gates.

"Do you ask me to describe the city? Well, I should say that, from a distance, it looked not unlike a group of disused limekilns, and that the resemblance did not entirely disappear when one got close to it. But I had no time just then to observe it closely. The walls and the windows were crowded with black men dressed in white, and bawling questions in a language that I did not understand.

"It was my luck that there was a man in the crowd who knew the English language; for then I knew what line to take.

"'_Voyons!_' I said to myself. 'A black man who knows English knows also Englishmen, and is accustomed to be ordered, and not asked to do what is required.'

"And to him I said, in the tones of one accustomed to command--

"'Hi, you, there! What's your name, and where do you come from?'

"The effect was instantaneous, as, indeed, I had expected. Old memories and associations triumphed, and he spoke to me as a black soldier servant to his officer--

"'Kroo boy, sah, from West Coast, sah. Name Bottled Bass, sah. Hope you quite well, sah. Get you plenty chop one time, sah.'