"Mack Reynolds - North Africa 01 - Blackman's Burden" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reynolds Mack)

"Oh, no. There are few Roumas remaining in all the land now," the
smith said easily. "Those that are left serve us in positions our people as
yet cannot hold, in construction of the dams, in the bringing of trees to the
desert, but soon even they will be unneeded."

"Our people?" Moussa-ag-Amastan rumbled ungraciously. "You are
smiths. The smiths have no people. You are neither Kel Rela, Tegehe
Mellet, Taitoq, nor even Teda, Chaamba, or Ouled Tidrarin."

One of the smiths said easily, "In the great construction camps, in the
new towns, with their many ways to work and become rich, the tribes are
breaking up. Tuareg works next to Teda and a Moor next to a former
Haratin serf." He added, as though unthinkingly, even as he displayed an
aluminum pan to a wide-eyed Tuareg matron, "Indeed, even the clans
break up and often Tuareg marries Arab or Sudanese or Rifs down from
the north … or even we Enaden."

The clansmen were suddenly silent, in shocked surprise.

"That cannot be true!" the elderly chief snapped.

Omar ben Crawf looked at him mildly. "Why should my follower lie?"

"I do not know, but we will talk of it later, away from the women and
children who should not hear such abominations." The chief switched
subjects. "But you have no flocks with you. How are we to pay for these
things, these services?"

"With money."

The old man's face, what little could be seen through his teguelmoust,
darkened. "We have little money in the Ahaggar."

The one named Omar nodded. "But we are short of meat and will buy
several goats and perhaps a lamb, a chicken, eggs. Then, too, as you have
noted, we have left our women at home. We will need the services of cooks,
someone to bring water. We will hire servants."

The other said gruffly, "There are some Bela who will serve you."

The smith seemed taken aback. "Verily, El Hassan has stated that the
product of the labor of the slave is accursed."

"El Hassan! Who is El Hassan and why should the work of a slave be
accursed?"

One of the tribesmen said, "I have heard of this El Hassan. Rumors of
his teachings spread through the land. He is to lead us all, Tuareg, Arab
and Sudanese, until we are all as rich as Roumas."