Page:Ossendowski - The Fire of Desert Folk.djvu/25

Rh breakwater to enclose a suitable anchorage for their ships, and already the wall of immense rocks and great blocks of cement was protruding far into the sea. At short intervals carloads of material were run out to the end of the new construction and were dumped into the water, making the dull, thundering reports that carried out to us on the deck of the Balear. Yet over and above this other sounds, distant rumblings and roarings, were distinctly heard. Unable to catch any indication for the reason of them, I turned to the officer to ask what they might be.

"It is the booming of cannon and the bursting of shells behind that naked range of mountains," he explained. "Abd el-Krim, who has raised the war against us in the Rif, has succeeded in stirring up our eternal enemies, the Berber tribes of Gwelaia and Kebdana, whose lands lie near Melilla; and now we are compelled to subdue them to maintain free communication with the central portions of our colony."

Meantime we slipped into port. The first object that attracted our attention was an unkempt-looking tramp, smothered under a deck cargo of baled hay that ran half-way up the masts and, for some reason, gave her a bad list to port. Her crew were frantically throwing overboard this cargo that seemed to be threatening her. In the eastern sector of the port lay several men-o'-war and two big transports unloading artillery, small-arms ammunition and endless cases of provisions for the soldiers. After fulfilling certain customs formalities, our Balear crawled close to the shore and grappled Africa with four strong cables.