Smaïn; and Saftis Summer Day | Page 4

which guards dead Okba's tomb. A tiny earthen house,
with a flat terrace ending in the jagged bank of the Oued Biskra, was
crouched here in the shade. From it emerged a pleasant scent of coffee.
Suddenly Safti's bare legs began to "give." I felt it would be cruel to
push on farther. We entered the house, seated ourselves luxuriously
upon a baked divan of mud, set our slippers on a reed mat, rolled our
cigarettes, and commanded our coffee. When a Kabyle boy with a
rosebud stuck under his turban had brought it languidly, I said to Safti:
"And now, Safti, tell me how you pass your little holiday."
Safti smiled gently in his beard. He was glad to have this moment of
repose.
"Each day is like its brother, Sidi," he responded, gazing out through
the low doorway to the shimmering Sahara.
"Then tell me how you pass a summer day."
The coffee nerved him to this stubborn exertion, and he spoke.
"Sahah Sidi."
"Merci."
We sipped.
"A day in summer, Sidi, when the great heats begin in June? Well, at
five in the morning I get up----'
"And light the fire," I murmured mechanically.

The one eye stared in blank amazement.
"Proceed, Safti. You get up at five. That is very early."
"The sun rises at a quarter to five."
"To call you. Well?"
"I eat three fresh figs, and sometimes four. I then mount upon my mule,
and I ride very quietly into Biskra to take coffee with my friends."
"That is half-an-hour's exercise?"
"About half-an-hour. After taking coffee with my friends we play at
dominoes. It is forbidden for the Arabs to play at cards in Biskra. I
remain in the café at the corner--"
"I know--by the Garden of the Gazelles!" "--till eleven o'clock, at
which time I again mount upon my mule, and return quietly to my
home. When I reach there I eat with my wife and children sour milk,
bread, and dates from my palm-trees which I have kept from the
autumn. At twelve we all go to bed together in a black room."
"A black room?"
"We fear the flies."
"I see."
"Till four in the afternoon I, my wife, and my children sleep in the
black room. At that hour I rise once more, and go quietly to the Café
Maure in old Biskra, near my house. I play cards there for five coffees
till seven o'clock. At seven the mosquitoes arrive, and prevent us from
playing any more."
"How intrusive! Always at seven?"
"Always at seven. I then walk very quietly with my friends to the end
of the oasis."

"To the Tombuctou road?"
"Yes, Sidi; to get the air. We come back by the same road quietly, and I
go to my house, and eat a cold kous-kous with my wife and children.
After this I return to the café and play ronda till one o'clock."
"One o'clock at night?"
"Yes. At one o'clock I go with my friends very quietly to bathe in the
stream beneath the wall near the mosque. We stay in the water for,
perhaps, an hour, and when we come out we drink lagmi."
"What's lagmi?"
"Palm wine. Then at three o'clock I go to my home, mount upon the
roof quietly with my wife and children, and sleep till dawn."
"And you do this for five months?"
"For five months, Sidi."
"And--and your wife, Safti?"
I felt that I was very indiscreet; but Safti is good-natured, and has
bought quite a number of palm-trees out of his savings when with me.
"My wife, Sidi?"
"What does she do all the time?"
"She remains quietly in my house."
"She never goes out?"
"Never, except upon the roof to take a little air."
"Doesn't she get rather bor----"
The one eye began to look remarkably vague.

"And you find five months of this life a sufficient rest in the course of
the year?"
Safti smiled at me with resignation.
"I cannot take more, Sidi; I am not a rich Englishman."
"Well, Safti, you must make the best of your fate. It is the will of Allah
that you should toil."
"Shal-làh! I will take another coffee, Sidi."
"Larbi!"
I called the Kabyle boy.

End of Project Gutenberg's Smaïn; and Safti's Summer Day, by Robert
Hichens
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