Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 10, 2025
Then we'll charge them! And no quarter!" Again, silence from the Legion. The fire from the dunes slackened. These tactics seemed to have disconcerted the Beni Harb. They had expected a wild, only half-organized rush up the sands, easily to be wiped out by a volley or two from the terribly accurate, long-barreled rifles.
We are taking him back to Mecca. All his people of the Beni Harb lie dead far toward the great waters, on the edge of the desert of the sea. The Great Pearl Star we also have. That too returneth to the Haram. Allah isélmak!" The naib prostrated himself, with joyful cries, and touched lips and forehead with quivering fingers. All others who heard the news, did likewise.
They now had their direction, also their distance, with extreme precision; a simple process of triangulation, in which the glow of the beach-fire had its share, gave them the necessary data. Undaunted, they approached the camp of the Beni Harb; though every moment they expected to be challenged, to hear the crack of an alarm-rifle or a cry to Allah, followed by a deadly blast of slugs.
During the next night, a column of Spanish troops from Rio de Oro rushed their camp, killed sixty or seventy of the brown demons, and rescued me. Since then I have lusted revenge on the Beni Harb!" "No wonder," put in the chief, once more looking at the beach, where now the war-party was plainly visible to the naked eye in some detail.
It is inhabited by the Owf tribe. The whole road from Kolleya to this place is dangerous on account of the robberies of these Bedouins; and the caravan never passes without losing some of its loads or camels. In the time of the Wahabys it was completely secure; the Sheikhs of the Harb, and the whole tribe being made responsible for all depredations committed in their territory.
Together, crawling on their bellies like dusty puff-adders of the Sahara itself, the three companions in arms American, French, Arab slid out of the shallow trench, and in the gloom were lost to sight of the beleaguered Flying Legion. Their mission of death, death to the Beni Harb or to themselves, had begun. In utter silence, moving only a foot at a time, the trio of man-hunters advanced.
At length his voice sounded along the trench. "Men of the Flying Legion," said he, "this situation is grave. We can't escape on foot, north or south. We are without provisions or water. The nearest white settlement is Rio de Oro, about a hundred miles to southward; and even if we could reach that, harassed by the Beni Harb, we might all be executed there, as pirates.
They twice repulsed the Wahaby chief Saoud, who had subdued all the other Arab tribes except the Beni Sobh, of the Harb race, in the northern parts of the Hedjaz. The Beni Yam made a kind of treaty with the Wahabys, and were allowed to perform the pilgrimage annually.
The Bedouins of this coast are active fishermen, and bring hither from the more distant ports their salted fish; a quantity of which may always be found in the market, where it is bought up by the Arab ships' crews, who consume a great part of it, and carry the rest to Egypt or Djidda. The inhabitants of Rabegh are of the above-mentioned Harb tribes of Aamer and Zebeyd, principally the latter.
The district of Medina is occupied by the Harb Bedouins, a larger and more powerful tribe than the Koreysh, who also recognize the Sherif, but their allegiance is precarious; while to the east and south of Mecca the Ateybeh and Assir, more powerful still, are wholly independent.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking