On account of that, Ikenoukhen, amenokol of the Adzjer Tuareg, fearing French
reprisals, wanted to deliver Ceghéir-ben-Cheikh to them. When the
whole Sahara turned against him, he found asylum with Antinea.
Ceghéir-ben-Cheikh will never forget it, for he is brave and observes
the law of the Prophet. To thank her, he led to Antinea, who was then
twenty years old, three French officers of the first troops of
occupation in Tunis. They are the ones who are numbered, in the red
marble hall, 1, 2, and 3.' "'And Ceghéir-ben-Cheikh has always fulfilled his duties
successfully?' "'Ceghéir-ben-Cheikh is well trained, and he knows the vast Sahara as
I know my little room at the top of the mountain. At first, he made
mistakes. That is how, on his first trips, he brought back old Le
Mesge and marabout Spardek.' "'What did Antinea say when she saw them?' "'Antinea? She laughed so hard that she spared them.
Ceghéir-ben-Cheikh was vexed to see her laugh so. Since then, he has
never made a mistake.' "'He has never made a mistake?' "'No. I have cared for the hands and feet of all that he has brought here. All were young and handsome. But I think that your comrade, whom
they brought to me the other day, after you were here, is the
handsomest of all.' "'Why,' I asked, turning the conversation, 'why, since she spared them
their lives, did she not free the pastor and M. Le Mesge?' "'She has found them useful, it seems,' said the old woman. 'And then, whoever once enters here, can never leave. Otherwise, the French would soon be here and, when they saw the hall of red marble, they would
massacre everybody. Besides, of all those whom Ceghéir-ben-Cheikh has
brought here, no one, save one, has wished to escape after seeing
Antinea.' "'She keeps them a long time?' "'That depends upon them and the pleasure that she takes in them. Two months, three months, on the average. It depends. A big Belgian
officer, formed like a colossus, didn't last a week. On the other
hand, everyone here remembers little Douglas Kaine, an English
officer: she kept him almost a year.' "'And then?' "'And then, he died,' said the old woman as if astonished at my question.
"'Of what did he die?' "She used the same phrase as M. Le Mesge: "'Like all the others: of love.
"'Of love,' she continued. "They all die of love when they see that
their time is ended, and that Ceghéir-ben-Cheikh has gone to find
others. Several have died quietly with tears in their great eyes. They
neither ate nor slept any more. A French naval officer went mad. All
night, he sang a sad song of his native country, a song which echoed
through the whole mountain. Another, a Spaniard, was as if maddened:
he tried to bite. It was necessary to kill him. Many have died of
kif, a kif that is more violent than opium. When they no longer
have Antinea, they smoke, smoke. Most have died that way ... the
happiest. Little Kaine died differently.' "'How did little Kaine die?' "'In a way that pained us all very much. I told you that he stayed longer among us than anyone else. We had become used to him. In
Antinea's room, on a little Kairouan table, painted in blue and gold,
there is a gong with a long silver hammer with an ebony handle, very
heavy. Aguida told me about it. When Antinea gave little Kaine his
dismissal, smiling as she always does, he stopped in front of her,
mute, very pale. She struck the gong for someone to take him away. A
Targa slave came. But little Kaine had leapt for the hammer, and the
Targa lay on the ground with his skull smashed. Antinea smiled all the
time. They led little Kaine to his room. The same night, eluding
guards, he jumped out of his window at a height of two hundred feet.
The workmen in the embalming room told me that they had the greatest
difficulty with his body. But they succeeded very well. You have only
to go see for yourself. He occupies niche number 26 in the red marble
hall.' "The old woman drowned her emotion in her glass.