Atlantida

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.