Children of Gebelaawi (59 page)

beaten.' Hassan asked:

- Do you hear?

He pricked up his ears and heard fai nt music.

- Get ready! The procession is comi ng.

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The sou nds drew nearer and clearer. Then they heard the

pipes and the drums and 'Ohs' and 'Ahs' and there were

cheers and shouts. Then by the light of its torches, the

procession appeared and they saw Omnibus surrounded by a

ring of dancers juggling with sticks. Hassan asked:

- Shall I whistle to Bu llrush?

- When the front of the procession reaches the garlic stall.

The procession came closer and the dancing and juggling

grew wilder. One dancer in a frenzy began leaping in the air

and rushing round in circles in front of the procession at

fantastic speed, spinning his stick like a fan round his upheld

arm. After each circle he moved forward a step till he passed

the garlic stall. The procession followed him very slowly, till its

head reached the stall. At that moment Hassan whistled three

times, and Bullrush and his men swept down from Tam ma'in

Alley on the tai l end of the procession, brandishing their

cudgels and breaking its ranks. There were howls of rage and

confusion. Hassan whistled three more times and Saadiq and

his men fell on the middle oflhe procession from el-Samakein

before it had recovered from the first attack. At once, Qaasim

and his men rushed out as one man from under the gateway

and attacked the front of the procession.

Omnibus and his men recovered from the shock, raised

their cudgels and joined battle. It was a bitter fight and many

peaceable people fled and took refuge in the alleyways. The

cudgels fell still more savagely and blood spurted from heads

and faces. The lanterns were smashed and the flowers were

scattered and trampled underfoot. Screams went up from

windows round about and the cafes locked their doors. Omnibus hit out cruelly and deftly, and his stick flew about like a mad thing, now here, now there. The violence i ncreased, and the

men were fi lled with hatred black as night.

Suddenly Omnibus found himself face to face with Saadiq.

With a scream of 'Bastard! ' , he aimed a blow at him which met

the counter-blow of Saadiq, who quaked and staggered. Om-

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nibus raised his cudgel and brought it down a second time.

Saadiq took it on his cudgel, which he gripped with both

hands, but the power of the blow forced him to his knees.

Omnibus was about to land the third and fatal blow when he

saw Hassan bearing down on him like a wild beast to save his

friend, and he turned towards him in fury, yelling: 'You too,

son of Zakaria, son of a bitch ! ' and aimed a terrible blow at

him, which would have killed him if he had not dodged it with

a sideways leap. As he jumped he jabbed Omnibus in the neck

with the end of his stick. The blow prevented Omnibus for a

few moments from hitti ng again. Hassan recovered h is balance and struck Omnibus on the forehead with terrible force.

The blood spurted, and in a moment the cudgel had slipped

from his hand. He staggered back a few steps and fell motionless on his back. A man shouted above the noise of the cudgels:

'Om nibus is dead.' Bullrush caught him on the nose with his

cudgel and he retreated and fell over a prostrate body. Qaasim 's

men grew still bolder and their blows fiercer, while Omnibus's

men flagged, frightened to see how many had fallen. They

withdrew and then fled.

Qaasim's men gathered round him, panting. Some of them

were bleeding, others were carrying the wounded. By the light

from the cafe windows they looked at the bodies lying on the

ground. Some were dead, others just unconscious. Hamroosh

stood over Omnibus and shouted:

- Your body can rest in peace, Shaabaan.

Qaasim drew him to his side and said:

- The day of victory is near, the day when the other

strongmen will meet their fate, and we' ll become the masters

of the Alley and sharers i n our Trust and loyal children to

Gebelaawi.

When they came back to the Jebel, the women greeted them

with whoops ofjoy, and news of the victory flew round. Qaasim

went to his hut, and Badria said to him:

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Qaasim

- You are covered with dust and blood; you must wash

before you go to sleep.

When he lay down after his wash he moaned with pain. She

brought him some food and waited for him to sit up and eat,

but he was in a state between sleeping and waking. He felt relief

that was almost happiness but tinged with anxious feelings

close to grief. Badria said:

- Eat your food !

He looked up at her with heavy, dreamy eyes.

- Soon you ' ll see my victory, Qamar.

He realized at once that his tongue had slipped and he saw

her face fall. He sat up in bed and said wi th a mixture of

affection and embarrassment:

- Your food is so tasty.

But she frowned and did not respond. He took a mouthful

of the hummus and said:

- It's my turn to invite you to eat.

She turned her face away, muttering:

- She was old and she wasn 't beautiful.

He slumped as if broken and reproached her sadly:

- Don ' t speak ill of her! A woman like her deserves to be

remembered with mercy.

She looked back at him hopefully but saw terrible sadness i n

his face and she turned away agai n and took refuge in silence.

8 7 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The losers of the battle slunk back, bowed by shame. They

kept as far away as they cou ld from the lights of Omnibus'

home, which sparkled with rejoicing and merry-making. Each

man went to grou nd in his own home. The black news spread

like fire, accompanied by howls on all sides, and the wedding

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feast was snuffed out as if heaped over with earth. There were

wails of grief for Omnibus and for those of his men who had

been killed. The calamity had also i nvolved some Rifaaite and

Gebelite men, who had been in the procession.

Who was the culprit? Qaasim, the shepherd - Qaasim, who

would have had to stay a pauper all his life but for Qamar! One

man said he had fol lowed Qaasim's party back to their hideout. People wondered whether they would remain in their stronghold on the Jebel till they had destroyed all the men of

the Alley. Those who were asleep woke up and wen t out into

the road or the courtyards. One Gebelite shouted angrily:

- Kill all the Desert Rats !

But Bruiser silenced him.

- They've done nothing wrong; their strongman and many

of their men have been ki lied.

- Set Muqattam on fire !

- Bri ng Qaasim's body for the dogs to eat!

- I'll drink his blood or divorce my wife.

- The rat! The vermi n ! The coward !

- l-Ie thinks the Jebel will protect him.

- Nothing but his tomb will protect him.

- He used to accept a millieme from me and kiss the

ground.

- He used to pretend to be so nice and friendly to us; now

he betrays us and kills our men.

Next day the whole Alley turned out for a mass funeral. The

day after that the strongmen held a meeting in the house of

Trustee Rifaat, who was beside himselfwith anger and resentment. He said with bitter sarcasm:

- We'd better barricade ourselves into the Alley, so as to be

safe from death.

Guzzler was more upset than any of them, but he wanted to

play things down to lessen his responsibility. He said:

- It was only a fight between one strongman and some men

from his sector.

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Qaasim

Bruiser protested:

- One man in our sector was killed and three wounded.

Pilgrim Grim added:

- And one of our men was killed.

Rlfaat said craftily to Guzzler:

- It's a blow to your reputation, Strongman of the Alley.

His face puckered up with rage:

- A shepherd ! God! You must be joki ng!

The Trustee was not going to be put off.

- A shepherd, maybe; but he's become a menace. We

didn't take his ravings seriously for a while and turned a blind

eye, in honor of his wife, but his wickedness knows no limits.

He pretended to be humble till he was powerfu l and cou ld

destroy a strongman and his friends. Now he's in his stronghold on the jebel and his ambition will stop at nothing.

They exchanged angry glances. The Trustee went on:

- He's luring peop le out. It's disastrous - a disaster for the

whole Alley. We needn't pretend not to know that. He promises the Trust to the people. The Trust won't be enough even for his friends, but nobody will believe that. The beggars won't

believe it - and what a lot of them there are in this alley of

beggars! l-Ie promises to put an end to strongmen, and the

cowards are deligh ted - and what a lot of them there are in

this alley of cowards! You always find people here on the

winning side, so we'll be lost if we don 't move.

Guzzler bellowed:

- He's surrounded by rats. I t'll be easy to kill them.

Pilgrim Grim asked:

- But they have their stronghold on the Jebel, don't they?

Bruiser said:

- We must sLUdy the jebel till we find a way to them.

Rlfaat urged them on:

- Do that! As I said, we're lost if we don't move.

Guzzler grew still angrier and said to the Trustee meaningfully:

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Children of Gebelaawi

- You remember how I planned to kill him while his wife

was alive, and her ladyship objected?

The Trustee avoided the eyes that were fixed on him and

said almost apologetically:

- It's no use dwelling on our mistakes. (Then, after a brief

silence:) These bonds of kinship have been respected in our

Alley for a very long time.

There was unusual uproar outside, seeming to i ndicate

some fresh disaster. They were in a tense state of nerves, and

the Trustee called the gatekeeper and asked him what was

going on. The man reported:

- They say the shepherd has joined Qaasim, taking all the

Alley's flock with him.

Guzzler jumped up, shouting:

- The dog - Alley of dogs - damn him !

The Trustee asked:

- What sector does the shepherd come from?

The gatekeeper answered:

- The Desert Rats. He's called 'Crookstaff.

8 8 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

- Welcome, Crookstaff!

Qaasi m embraced him and the shepherd said enthusiastically:

- I was never against you; my heart was always with you. If

I hadn 't been afraid I'd have been one of the first to join you.

As soon as I heard of the death of Omnibus, damn him, I

hurried to you bringing your enemies' sheep.

Qaasim glanced at the flock in the space between the huts.

The women had collected round them and there was a tumult

of joy. He laughed.

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Qaasim

- It's fair game after all the property of ours that they've

stolen in the Alley.

That day more people than ever rallied to Qaasim. Their

determi nation grew stronger and their hopes higher. However, Qaasim was awakened very early next morning by a strange commotion. He left his hut at once and saw his men

hurryi ng towards him in confusion. Saadiq said:

- The Alley has come out to get its revenge, and they're

gathering at the foot of the path.

Trinket said:

- I was the first to go off to work and I saw them when I was

a few steps from the desert. I hurried back and some of them

chased me and caught me in the back with a stone. I called

Saadiq and Hassan, and a lot of our people came to the top of

the path , realized the danger and threw stones at the attackers

till they backed off.

Qaasi m looked towards the top of the path and saw Hassan

and others standing there with stones in their hands. He said:

- We can hold them off there with ten men.

Hamroosh said:

- If they come up now i t'll be suicide; let them come if they

want!

The men and women gathered rou nd Qaasi m, leaving the

huts empty. The men brough t their cudgels, and the women

baskets of stones that had been prepared for such a day. The

first rays of the sun shone from a clear sky. Qaasim said:

- Is there another path to the town?

Saadiq said gloomi ly:

- There's a path further south, two hours' walk along the

Jebel.

Bullrush said:

- I don 't think we have enough water for more than two

days.

There were murmurs of anxiety, especially among the

women. Qaasi m said:

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Children of Gebelaawi

- They've come for revenge, not for a siege. If they besiege

us we'll rely on the other path to break through the blockade.

He was thi nking hard, but only calm showed in his face, at

which they were all gazing. If they were besieged they would

have the greatest difficulty i n fetching water by the southern