When I had made him swallow a quart of rum he opened his eyes, looked
at the two of us with surprise, then, closing them again, murmured
almost unintelligibly a phrase, the sense of which we did not get
until some days later: "Can it be that I have reached the end of my mission?"
"What mission is he talking about?" I said.
"Let him recover himself completely," responded Morhange. "You had
better open some preserved food. With fellows of this build you don't
have to observe the precautions prescribed for drowned Europeans."
It was indeed a species of giant, whose life we had just saved. His
face, although very thin, was regular, almost beautiful. He had a
clear skin and little beard. His hair, already white, showed him to be
a man of sixty years.
When I placed a tin of corned-beef before him a light of voracious joy
came into his eyes. The tin contained an allowance for four persons.
It was empty in a flash.
"Behold," said Morhange, "a robust appetite. Now we can put our
questions without scruple."
Already the Targa had placed over his forehead and face the blue veil
prescribed by the ritual. He must have been completely famished not to
have performed this indispensable formality sooner. There was nothing
visible now but the eyes, watching us with a light that grew steadily
more sombre.
"French officers," he murmured at last.
And he took Morhange's hand, and having placed it against his breast,
carried it to his lips.
Suddenly an expression of anxiety passed over his face.
"And my mehari?" he asked.
I explained that our guide was then employed in trying to save his
beast. He in turn told us how it had stumbled, and fallen into the
current, and he himself, in trying to save it, had been knocked over.
His forehead had struck a rock. He had cried out. After that he
remembered nothing more.
"What is your name?" I asked.
"Eg-Anteouen."
"What tribe do you belong to?"
"The tribe of Kel-Tahat."
"The Kel-Tahats are the serfs of the tribe of Kel-Rhelâ, the great
nobles of Hoggar?"
"Yes," he answered, casting a side glance in my direction. It seemed
that such precise questions on the affairs of Ahygar were not to his
liking.
"The Kel-Tahats, if I am not mistaken, are established on the
southwest flank of Atakor.[5] What were you doing, so far from your
home territory when we saved your life?"
[Footnote 5: Another name, in the Temahaq language, for Ahaggar. (Note
by M. Leroux.)] "I was going, by way of Tit, to In-Salah," he said.
"What were you going to do at In-Salah?"