Baraka

“ Off went Baraka with a party of men, stopping hours, of course, and firing volleys of ammunition away. He did not return again until the evening, when the palace-drums announced that the hongo had been settled for one barsati, one lugoi, and six yards merikani. Baraka approached me triumphantly, saying how well he had managed the business. M'yonga did not wish to see me, because he did not know the coast language. He was immensely pleased with the present I had given him, and said he was much and very unjustly abused by the Arabs, who never came this way, saying he was a bad man. ”

“ Baraka in the meanwhile got wind of the matter through K'yengo, who, misunderstanding the true facts of the case, said it was a charm to deprive Baraka of his life. A court of inquiry having been convened, with all the parties concerned in attendance, K'yengo's mistake was discovered, and Bombay was lectured for his folly, as he had a thousand times before abjured his belief in such magical follies; moreover, to punish him for the future, I took Baraka, whenever I could, with me to visit the king, which, little as it may appear to others, was of the greatest consequence to the hostile parties. ”

“ Rulogi is instructed to keep watch of you and, I have no doubt, to carry out his master's threat at the appointed time if any steps you take prevent Baraka himself from performing it. Rulogi would be absolutely reckless of any consequences to himself—a Malay running amuck against you. Consider, too, that if by any chance news of this has reached the Soesoehoenan today, and Baraka hears that the sultan has been killing one or two of his children, or a wife, as an indication of what further will happen if Baraka cannot recover the emerald, he may not even await the time he himself appointed. ”

“ The conversion of Baraka K͟hān, of which mention has been made above, and the close intercourse with Egypt that [240] subsequently sprang up, contributed considerably to the progress of Islam, and his example seems to have been gradually followed by those of the aristocracy and leaders of the Golden Horde that were of Mongol descent. But many tribes of the Golden Horde appear to have resented the introduction of Islam into their midst, and when the conversion of Baraka K͟hān was openly proclaimed, they sent to offer the crown, of which they considered him now unworthy, to his rival Hūlāgū. ”

“ And after that I was only afraid for you because of Baraka. I set Farren to watch and guard you; and when I found that Baraka was determined to have your rooms broken into, I came to you in your rooms to beg you to send him back the emerald. But I could do nothing with you.
"I knew Baraka could not be held off long; I thought if he was allowed to break into your rooms, as he was determined, I might save you from personal danger. I knew he was to attempt it that evening ”

“ Miss Regan was thanking Baraka for having completed his mission."
"Now I do not understand," said Hereford, frowning.
"She was telling Baraka to pack up and go back to Java carrying her acknowledgment to the Soesoehoenan that she had received the emerald."
"She said she had it?" Hereford demanded in amazement.
"No; not in words. But it was very plain that she wanted Baraka to believe she had it."
"But she has not got it," Hereford declared, with certainty.
"No; and Baraka knew she didn't have it and told her so. These Orientals, I guess, know something about lying themselves. ”

“ I would not give way that night; but next day, after fearful battling, the present of friendship was paid by Baraka's giving first a dubuani, then one sahari, then one barsati, then one kisutu, and then eight yards of merikani—all of which were contested in the most sickening manner—when Baraka, fairly done up, was relieved by Makaka's saying, "That will do for friendship; if you had given the deole quietly, all this trouble would have been saved; for I am not a bad man, as you will see." My men then had their first dinner here, after which the hongo had to be paid. ”

“ That is why, my friendt, I said the acgomplice in Baraka's suite could not know much. He could be trusted to carry in a suitcase; he could be trusted to set a fire so that the room of Baraka would be left empty and someone else could get in; but he could not be trusted to know that the liddle monkey had failed! ”

“ He is in such state that he will stop at nothing now. He is at every instant a menace to you in person himself and also through his agents. Night before last, when the emerald was taken, at least there was no attempt made upon Baraka's life ”

“ Hereford; but only when she thought no one was looking. You must understand there was a good deal of disturbance just then. The firemen were still there, and the Javanese rooms were open and people passing through. Baraka and Hafara and the rest were having their burns dressed by a doctor. I heard Baraka talking in an unusually loud tone and I made my way into the room where he was to see what was going on. Miss Regan had just arrived and Baraka seemed to have been addressing her, but I didn't get that part of it. ”

“ Why is this? Have the women another religion than the men? It is very strange!'
Logotheti laughed, for he had really never noticed the rather singular fact which had struck the born Asiatic at once.
'But this woman's dressing is very difficult to learn,' Baraka went on, leaning back upon the rail with both elbows, and sticking out her little white shoes close together. 'Without the girl Maggy whom you have found for me—but her real name is Gula, and she is a good Musulman—without her, Allah knows what I should do! I could not put on these things for myself; alone, I cannot take them off. ”

“ We thankfully accepted his invitation to visit the mission station, which is called Baraka, and is situated on a hill about 21⁄2 miles along the coast from Libreville. As we mounted the hill through the rows of neat bamboo huts belonging to the negroes, the chapel doors opened after service. We were introduced to some of the congregation and had a dozen black hands to shake. What a contrast between these clean and decently clothed people and the blacks that we had seen in the seaports, the only kind of native we had met up to now! Even the faces are not the same. ”

“ I then made Baraka place all my kit in the middle of the boma, which was a very strong one, keeping out only such beads as I wished him to use for the men's rations daily, and ordered him to select a few men who would return with me to Kaze; when I said, if I could not get all the men I wanted, I would try and induce some one, who would not fear, to go on to Usui; failing which, I would even walk back to Zanzibar for men, as nothing in the world would ever induce me to give up the journey. ”

“ The two were Baraka and her interpreter and servant, whom Logotheti had called a Turk, and who was really a Turkish subject and a Mohammedan, though as to race, he was a half-bred Greek and Dalmatian. Now Dalmatians are generally honest, truthful, and trustworthy, {192} and the low-class Greek of Constantinople is usually extremely sharp, if he is nothing more definitely reprehensible; and Baraka's man was a cross between the two, as I have said, and had been brought up as a Musulman in a rich Turkish family, and recommended to Baraka by the Persian merchant in whose house she had lived. ”

“ I have seen men and women dancing together, both Russians in Samarkand and other people in France. It is disgusting. I would rather go unveiled among my own people!'
'Which may Allah forbid!' answered Logotheti devoutly. 'But, as you say, where there are Englishmen, Allah does nothing; the women go without veils, and the boys and girls dance together.'
'I have done worse,' said Baraka, 'for I have dressed as a man, and if a woman did that among my people she would be stoned to death and not buried. My people will never know what I have done since I got away from them alive. ”

“ The view from the veranda of the mission house at Baraka is a scene of magic beauty. The joyous lavishness of colour excludes from the mind the thought of the deadly serpent and the relentless fever-fiend that stealthily glide within the shadows. The long hillside sloping to the beach is half covered with mangoes and palms, oleander and orange-trees, and the graceful plumes of the bamboo that wave to and fro and tumble in the breeze like children at play. ”

“ Will Gula know how to fasten the fine dresses at the back, do you think?'
'You shall have a woman who does, and who can talk {385} with Gula, and the two will fasten the fine dresses for you.' Logotheti spoke with becoming gravity.
'Yes,' Baraka answered. 'Spend money for me, that I may be good to see. Also, I wish to have many servants. My father has a hundred, perhaps a thousand, but now I have only two, Gula and Spiro. The man I seek will think I am poor, and that will be a shame. ”

“ Are we such chickens that we cannot speak about matters like men? out with it at once."
Then Baraka said, "I have just heard from Makaka, that a man who arrived from Usui only a few minutes ago has said Suwarora is so angry with the Arabs that he has detained one caravan of theirs in his country, and, separating the whole of their men, has placed each of them in different bomas, with orders to his village officers that, in case the Watuta came into his country, without further ceremony they were to be all put to death." ”

“ Not a person in his whole army takes any intoxicating drink whatever; and great ʻUlamā, consisting of commentators, traditionists, jurists, and disputants, are in his society. He has a great number of religious books, and most of his receptions and debates are with ʻUlamā. In his place of audience debates on ecclesiastical law constantly take place; and, in his faith, as a Musalman, he is exceedingly strict and orthodox.”26 Baraka K͟hān entered into a close alliance with the Mamlūk Sultan of Egypt, Rukn al-Dīn Baybars. ”

“ On Barakah the song fell like a voice from heaven. She beheld great light. Her grief, her terrors, became natural shadows. There was one God for Christian and for Muslim. Beyond the striving and the hatred waited peace and love.
The professional muezzin on the ground behind her was rocking with enjoyment, gasping, sobbing: “Enough, O Tâhir! Of thy kindness, stop! Wouldst kill me quite? I faint, expire! It is too much of rapture! See me die! Praise be to Allah for the faith of El Islâm. Praise to the benign Creator who has vouchsafed a voice to creatures for His glory!” ”

“ A few minutes before two o'clock cording to the account given the police—flames were discovered by Hafara, the secretary of the Javanese envoy, in the room now occupied by Baraka. This room is that adjoining the one from which the great Java emerald disappeared so mysteriously the night before. Hafara, crying an alarm to the other Javanese rushed in and awoke his superior, who had gone to bed only a short time before, and the two, with the assistance of the other Javanese, endeavored to put out the fire. ”

“ But Barakat says:— Barakat and Risk now fight. Every time Barakat lifts his hand to strike his father, his hand is kept back; when suddenly Shiha, who is with Risk as 'Amarie (misleading woman) , knows her brother, and says: Cursed be the Sheikh who brought you up; this is your father. Risk says: What is the trouble; do you want to become a bad woman, عشاقه‎, as your mother? ”

“ We are in Chicago, where, surrounded by a strong and reasonably efficient force of police, assassination is not easily carried out."
She came nearer impulsively.
"I hope you are not counting upon that in your refusal to return the emerald?"
He smiled again quietly.
"No; for the circumstances of the case, Miss Regan, make it quite impossible for me to return the emerald."
"Mr. Hereford," she said earnestly and eagerly, "you do not know these men. I myself have just seen Baraka. Rulogi, one of the most devoted of his servants, has gone from him. ”

“ Barakah did at last think fit to make a protest. One night and early morning she sat up for Yûsuf, and her reproaches met with a success which startled her. He wept aloud and flung himself upon the floor. His face was ghastly. When questioned, he confessed that he had sinned most foully, having that night consumed so much abomination that on his way home he had been struck down by God with awful sickness and had nearly died. He swore that none but devils lived in Paris, and implored her to transport him back to Egypt. ”

“ And Barakah, whose worship of her paragon ex [Pg 238] tended to the son of Ghandûr as his shadow, became the confidante of all their thoughts and projects.
The report which the headmaster made to Yûsuf Bey after Muhammad’s first few weeks at school was satisfactory.
“The boy, thy son,” remarked the reverend man, “is highly gifted and extremely diligent. In sh ́Allah, he will live to be a light to El Islâm, a glory to this land of Masr, and a worthy slave of the Most High. ”

“ Then came Shaikh Barakât el Fraikh with a large train. He is ruler over all the Jebel ’Ajloon, and has been residing lately on the summit of a p. 57high hill rising before us to the east, where there is a weli or tomb of a Moslem saint, the Nebi Hhood, who works miraculous cures. Barakât is in delicate health, and has twenty wives. His metropolis, when he condescends to live in a house, is at a village called Cuf’r Enji; but his district comprises fifteen inhabited villages, with above three hundred in ruins,—so it is said. ”

“ Barakát wrote a reply, in the name of the Emeer Fadl, promising compliance. Having a slave who much resembled him, and who was nearly of the same age, he bound him on the back of a camel, and, with him and the Emeer Fadl and his tribe, went to meet Gessár and his party, and the Teydemeh Arabs. Fadl presented the slave, as Barakát, to Gessár ”