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diff --git a/3718-h/3718-h.htm b/3718-h/3718-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..53ab73f --- /dev/null +++ b/3718-h/3718-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1225 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>George Walker at Suez, by Anthony Trollope</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + .GutSmall { font-size: 0.7em; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + p.gutindent { margin-left: 2em; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 100%; border-top: 1px solid;} + div.gapmediumline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + div.gapmediumdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg eBook, George Walker at Suez, by Anthony Trollope + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: George Walker at Suez + + +Author: Anthony Trollope + + + +Release Date: January 16, 2015 [eBook #3718] +[This file was first posted on August 7, 2001] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE WALKER AT SUEZ*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1864 Chapman and Hall “Tales of All +Countries” edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1>GEORGE WALKER AT SUEZ.</h1> +<p><span class="smcap">Of</span> all the spots on the +world’s surface that I, George Walker, of Friday Street, +London, have ever visited, Suez in Egypt, at the head of the Red +Sea, is by far the vilest, the most unpleasant, and the least +interesting. There are no women there, no water, and no +vegetation. It is surrounded, and indeed often filled, by a +world of sand. A scorching sun is always overhead; and one +is domiciled in a huge cavernous hotel, which seems to have been +made purposely destitute of all the comforts of civilised +life. Nevertheless, in looking back upon the week of my +life which I spent there I always enjoy a certain sort of +triumph;—or rather, upon one day of that week, which lends +a sort of halo not only to my sojourn at Suez, but to the whole +period of my residence in Egypt.</p> +<p>I am free to confess that I am not a great man, and that, at +any rate in the earlier part of my career, I had a hankering +after the homage which is paid to greatness. I would fain +have been a popular orator, feeding myself on the incense +tendered to me by thousands; or failing that, a man born to +power, whom those around him were compelled to respect, and +perhaps to fear. I am not ashamed to acknowledge this, and +I believe that most of my neighbours in Friday Street would own +as much were they as candid and open-hearted as myself.</p> +<p>It is now some time since I was recommended to pass the first +four months of the year in Cairo because I had a +sore-throat. The doctor may have been right, but I shall +never divest myself of the idea that my partners wished to be rid +of me while they made certain changes in the management of the +firm. They would not otherwise have shown such interest +every time I blew my nose or relieved my huskiness by a slight +cough;—they would not have been so intimate with that +surgeon from St. Bartholomew’s who dined with them twice at +the Albion; nor would they have gone to work directly that my +back was turned, and have done those very things which they could +not have done had I remained at home. Be that as it may, I +was frightened and went to Cairo, and while there I made a trip +to Suez for a week.</p> +<p>I was not happy at Cairo, for I knew nobody there, and the +people at the hotel were, as I thought, uncivil. It seemed +to me as though I were allowed to go in and out merely by +sufferance; and yet I paid my bill regularly every week. +The house was full of company, but the company was made up of +parties of twos and threes, and they all seemed to have their own +friends. I did make attempts to overcome that terrible +British exclusiveness, that noli me tangere with which an +Englishman arms himself; and in which he thinks it necessary to +envelop his wife; but it was in vain, and I found myself sitting +down to breakfast and dinner, day after day, as much alone as I +should do if I called for a chop at a separate table in the +Cathedral Coffee-house. And yet at breakfast and dinner I +made one of an assemblage of thirty or forty people. That I +thought dull.</p> +<p>But as I stood one morning on the steps before the hotel, +bethinking myself that my throat was as well as ever I remembered +it to be, I was suddenly slapped on the back. Never in my +life did I feel a more pleasant sensation, or turn round with +more unaffected delight to return a friend’s +greeting. It was as though a cup of water had been handed +to me in the desert. I knew that a cargo of passengers for +Australia had reached Cairo that morning, and were to be passed +on to Suez as soon as the railway would take them, and did not +therefore expect that the greeting had come from any sojourner in +Egypt. I should perhaps have explained that the even tenor +of our life at the hotel was disturbed some four times a month by +a flight through Cairo of a flock of travellers, who like locusts +eat up all that there was eatable at the Inn for the day. +They sat down at the same tables with us, never mixing with us, +having their separate interests and hopes, and being often, as I +thought, somewhat loud and almost selfish in the expression of +them. These flocks consisted of passengers passing and +repassing by the overland route to and from India and Australia; +and had I nothing else to tell, I should delight to describe all +that I watched of their habits and manners—the outward +bound being so different in their traits from their brethren on +their return. But I have to tell of my own triumph at Suez, +and must therefore hasten on to say that on turning round quickly +with my outstretched hand, I found it clasped by John +Robinson.</p> +<p>“Well, Robinson, is this you?” +“Holloa, Walker, what are you doing here?” That +of course was the style of greeting. Elsewhere I should not +have cared much to meet John Robinson, for he was a man who had +never done well in the world. He had been in business and +connected with a fairly good house in Sise Lane, but he had +married early, and things had not exactly gone well with +him. I don’t think the house broke, but he did; and +so he was driven to take himself and five children off to +Australia. Elsewhere I should not have cared to come across +him, but I was positively glad to be slapped on the back by +anybody on that landing-place in front of Shepheard’s Hotel +at Cairo.</p> +<p>I soon learned that Robinson with his wife and children, and +indeed with all the rest of the Australian cargo, were to be +passed on to Suez that afternoon, and after a while I agreed to +accompany their party. I had made up my mind, on coming out +from England, that I would see all the wonders of Egypt, and +hitherto I had seen nothing. I did ride on one day some +fifteen miles on a donkey to see the petrified forest; but the +guide, who called himself a dragoman, took me wrong or cheated me +in some way. We rode half the day over a stony, sandy +plain, seeing nothing, with a terrible wind that filled my mouth +with grit, and at last the dragoman got off. +“Dere,” said he, picking up a small bit of stone, +“Dis is de forest made of stone. Carry that +home.” Then we turned round and rode back to +Cairo. My chief observation as to the country was +this—that whichever way we went, the wind blew into our +teeth. The day’s work cost me five-and-twenty +shillings, and since that I had not as yet made any other +expedition. I was therefore glad of an opportunity of going +to Suez, and of making the journey in company with an +acquaintance.</p> +<p>At that time the railway was open, as far as I remember, +nearly half the way from Cairo to Suez. It did not run four +or five times a day, as railways do in other countries, but four +or five times a month. In fact, it only carried passengers +on the arrival of these flocks passing between England and her +Eastern possessions. There were trains passing backwards +and forwards constantly, as I perceived in walking to and from +the station; but, as I learned, they carried nothing but the +labourers working on the line, and the water sent into the Desert +for their use. It struck me forcibly at the time that I +should not have liked to have money in that investment.</p> +<p>Well; I went with Robinson to Suez. The journey, like +everything else in Egypt, was sandy, hot, and unpleasant. +The railway carriages were pretty fair, and we had room enough; +but even in them the dust was a great nuisance. We +travelled about ten miles an hour, and stopped about an hour at +every ten miles. This was tedious, but we had cigars with +us and a trifle of brandy and water; and in this manner the +railway journey wore itself away. In the middle of the +night, however, we were moved from the railway carriages into +omnibuses, as they were called, and then I was not +comfortable. These omnibuses were wooden boxes, placed each +upon a pair of wheels, and supposed to be capable of carrying six +passengers. I was thrust into one with Robinson, his wife +and five children, and immediately began to repent of my +good-nature in accompanying them. To each vehicle were +attached four horses or mules, and I must acknowledge that as on +the railway they went as slow as possible, so now in these +conveyances, dragged through the sand, they went as fast as the +beasts could be made to gallop. I remember the Fox Tally-ho +coach on the Birmingham road when Boyce drove it, but as regards +pace the Fox Tally-ho was nothing to these machines in +Egypt. On the first going off I was jolted right on to Mrs. +R. and her infant; and for a long time that lady thought that the +child had been squeezed out of its proper shape; but at last we +arrived at Suez, and the baby seemed to me to be all right when +it was handed down into the boat at Suez.</p> +<p>The Robinsons were allowed time to breakfast at that cavernous +hotel—which looked to me like a scheme to save the expense +of the passengers’ meal on board the ship—and then +they were off. I shook hands with him heartily as I parted +with him at the quay, and wished him well through all his +troubles. A man who takes a wife and five young children +out into a colony, and that with his pockets but indifferently +lined, certainly has his troubles before him. So he has at +home, no doubt; but, judging for myself, I should always prefer +sticking to the old ship as long as there is a bag of biscuits in +the locker. Poor Robinson! I have never heard a word +of him or his since that day, and sincerely trust that the baby +was none the worse for the little accident in the box.</p> +<p>And now I had the prospect of a week before me at Suez, and +the Robinsons had not been gone half an hour before I began to +feel that I should have been better off even at Cairo. I +secured a bedroom at the hotel—I might have secured sixty +bedrooms had I wanted them—and then went out and stood at +the front door, or gate. It is a large house, built round a +quadrangle, looking with one front towards the head of the Red +Sea, and with the other into and on a sandy, dead-looking, open +square. There I stood for ten minutes, and finding that it +was too hot to go forth, returned to the long cavernous room in +which we had breakfasted. In that long cavernous room I was +destined to eat all my meals for the next six days. Now at +Cairo I could, at any rate, see my fellow-creatures at their +food. So I lit a cigar, and began to wonder whether I could +survive the week. It was now clear to me that I had done a +very rash thing in coming to Suez with the Robinsons.</p> +<p>Somebody about the place had asked me my name, and I had told +it plainly—George Walker. I never was ashamed of my +name yet, and never had cause to be. I believe at this day +it will go as far in Friday Street as any other. A man may +be popular, or he may not. That depends mostly on +circumstances which are in themselves trifling. But the +value of his name depends on the way in which he is known at his +bank. I have never dealt in tea spoons or gravy spoons, but +my name will go as far as another name. “George +Walker,” I answered, therefore, in a tone of some little +authority, to the man who asked me, and who sat inside the gate +of the hotel in an old dressing-gown and slippers.</p> +<p>That was a melancholy day with me, and twenty times before +dinner did I wish myself back at Cairo. I had been +travelling all night, and therefore hoped that I might get +through some little time in sleeping, but the mosquitoes attacked +me the moment I laid myself down. In other places +mosquitoes torment you only at night, but at Suez they buzz +around you, without ceasing, at all hours. A scorching sun +was blazing overhead, and absolutely forbade me to leave the +house. I stood for a while in the verandah, looking down at +the few small vessels which were moored to the quay, but there +was no life in them; not a sail was set, not a boatman or a +sailor was to be seen, and the very water looked as though it +were hot. I could fancy the glare of the sun was cracking +the paint on the gunwales of the boats. I was the only +visitor in the house, and during all the long hours of the +morning it seemed as though the servants had deserted it.</p> +<p>I dined at four; not that I chose that hour, but because no +choice was given to me. At the hotels in Egypt one has to +dine at an hour fixed by the landlord, and no entreaties will +suffice to obtain a meal at any other. So at four I dined, +and after dinner was again reduced to despair.</p> +<p>I was sitting in the cavernous chamber almost mad at the +prospect of the week before me, when I heard a noise as of +various feet in the passage leading from the quadrangle. +Was it possible that other human beings were coming into the +hotel—Christian human beings at whom I could look, whose +voices I could hear, whose words I could understand, and with +whom I might possibly associate? I did not move, however, +for I was still hot, and I knew that my chances might be better +if I did not show myself over eager for companionship at the +first moment. The door, however, was soon opened, and I saw +that at least in one respect I was destined to be +disappointed. The strangers who were entering the room were +not Christians—if I might judge by the nature of the +garments in which they were clothed.</p> +<p>The door had been opened by the man in an old dressing-gown +and slippers, whom I had seen sitting inside the gate. He +was the Arab porter of the hotel, and as he marshalled the new +visitors into the room, I heard him pronounce some sound similar +to my own name, and perceived that he pointed me out to the most +prominent person of those who then entered the apartment. +This was a stout, portly man, dressed from head to foot in +Eastern costume of the brightest colours. He wore, not only +the red fez cap which everybody wears—even I had accustomed +myself to a fez cap—but a turban round it, of which the +voluminous folds were snowy white. His face was fat, but +not the less grave, and the lower part of it was enveloped in a +magnificent beard, which projected round it on all sides, and +touched his breast as he walked. It was a grand grizzled +beard, and I acknowledged at a moment that it added a singular +dignity to the appearance of the stranger. His flowing robe +was of bright colours, and the under garment which fitted close +round his breast, and then descended, becoming beneath his sash a +pair of the loosest pantaloons—I might, perhaps, better +describe them as bags—was a rich tawny silk. These +loose pantaloons were tied close round his legs, above the ankle, +and over a pair of scrupulously white stockings, and on his feet +he wore a pair of yellow slippers. It was manifest to me at +a glance that the Arab gentleman was got up in his best raiment, +and that no expense had been spared on his suit.</p> +<p>And here I cannot but make a remark on the personal bearing of +these Arabs. Whether they be Arabs or Turks, or Copts, it +is always the same. They are a mean, false, cowardly race, +I believe. They will bear blows, and respect the man who +gives them. Fear goes further with them than love, and +between man and man they understand nothing of forbearance. +He who does not exact from them all that he can exact is simply a +fool in their estimation, to the extent of that which he +loses. In all this, they are immeasurably inferior to us +who have had Christian teaching. But in one thing they beat +us. They always know how to maintain their personal +dignity.</p> +<p>Look at my friend and partner Judkins, as he stands with his +hands in his trousers pockets at the door of our house in Friday +Street. What can be meaner than his appearance? He is +a stumpy, short, podgy man; but then so also was my Arab friend +at Suez. Judkins is always dressed from head to foot in a +decent black cloth suit; his coat is ever a dress coat, and is +neither old nor shabby. On his head he carries a shining +new silk hat, such as fashion in our metropolis demands. +Judkins is rather a dandy than otherwise, piquing himself +somewhat on his apparel. And yet how mean is his +appearance, as compared with the appearance of that +Arab;—how mean also is his gait, how ignoble his +step! Judkins could buy that Arab out four times over, and +hardly feel the loss; and yet were they to enter a room together, +Judkins would know and acknowledge by his look that he was the +inferior personage. Not the less, should a personal quarrel +arise between them, would Judkins punch the Arab’s head; +ay, and reduce him to utter ignominy at his feet.</p> +<p>Judkins would break his heart in despair rather than not +return a blow; whereas the Arab would put up with any indignity +of that sort. Nevertheless Judkins is altogether deficient +in personal dignity. I often thought, as the hours hung in +Egypt, whether it might not be practicable to introduce an +oriental costume in Friday Street.</p> +<p>At this moment, as the Arab gentleman entered the cavernous +coffee-room, I felt that I was greatly the inferior +personage. He was followed by four or five others, dressed +somewhat as himself; though by no means in such magnificent +colours, and by one gentleman in a coat and trousers. The +gentleman in the coat and trousers came last, and I could see +that he was one of the least of the number. As for myself, +I felt almost overawed by the dignity of the stout party in the +turban, and seeing that he came directly across the room to the +place where I was seated, I got upon my legs and made him some +sign of Christian obeisance.</p> +<p>I am a little man, and not podgy, as is Judkins, and I flatter +myself that I showed more deportment, at any rate, than he would +have exhibited.</p> +<p>I made, as I have said, some Christian obeisance. I +bobbed my head, that is, rubbing my hands together the while, and +expressed an opinion that it was a fine day. But if I was +civil, as I hope I was, the Arab was much more so. He +advanced till he was about six paces from me, then placed his +right hand open upon his silken breast,—and inclining +forward with his whole body, made to me a bow which Judkins never +could accomplish. The turban and the flowing robe might be +possible in Friday Street, but of what avail would be the outer +garments and mere symbols, if the inner sentiment of personal +dignity were wanting? I have often since tried it when +alone, but I could never accomplish anything like that bow. +The Arab with the flowing robe bowed, and the other Arabs all +bowed also; and after that the Christian gentleman with the coat +and trousers made a leg. I made a leg also, rubbing my +hands again, and added to my former remarks that it was rather +hot.</p> +<p>“Dat berry true,” said the porter in the dirty +dressing-gown, who stood by. I could see at a glance that +the manner of that porter towards me was greatly altered, and I +began to feel comforted in my wretchedness. Perhaps a +Christian from Friday Street, with plenty of money in his +pockets, would stand in higher esteem at Suez than at +Cairo. If so, that alone would go far to atone for the +apparent wretchedness of the place. At Cairo I had not +received that attention which had certainly been due to me as the +second partner in the flourishing Manchester house of Grimes, +Walker, and Judkins.</p> +<p>But now, as my friend with the beard again bowed to me, I felt +that this deficiency was to be made up. It was clear, +however, that this new acquaintance, though I liked the manner of +it, would be attended with considerable inconvenience, for the +Arab gentleman commenced an address to me in French. It has +always been to me a source of sorrow that my parents did not +teach me the French language, and this deficiency on my part has +given rise to an incredible amount of supercilious overbearing +pretension on the part of Judkins—who after all can hardly +do more than translate a correspondent’s letter. I do +not believe that he could have understood that Arab’s +oration, but at any rate I did not. He went on to the end, +however, speaking for some three or four minutes, and then again +he bowed. If I could only have learned that bow, I might +still have been greater than Judkins with all his French.</p> +<p>“I am very sorry,” said I, “but I +don’t exactly follow the French language when it is +spoken.”</p> +<p>“Ah! no French!” said the Arab in very broken +English, “dat is one sorrow.” How is it that +these fellows learn all languages under the sun? I +afterwards found that this man could talk Italian, and Turkish, +and Armenian fluently, and say a few words in German, as he could +also in English. I could not ask for my dinner in any other +language than English, if it were to save me from +starvation. Then he called to the Christian gentleman in +the pantaloons, and, as far as I could understand, made over to +him the duty of interpreting between us. There seemed, +however, to be one difficulty in the way of this being carried on +with efficiency. The Christian gentleman could not speak +English himself. He knew of it perhaps something more than +did the Arab, but by no means enough to enable us to have a +fluent conversation.</p> +<p>And had the interpreter—who turned out to be an Italian +from Trieste, attached to the Austrian Consulate at +Alexandria—had the interpreter spoken English with the +greatest ease, I should have had considerable difficulty in +understanding and digesting in all its bearings, the proposition +made to me. But before I proceed to the proposition, I must +describe a ceremony which took place previous to its +discussion. I had hardly observed, when first the +procession entered the room, that one of my friend’s +followers—my friend’s name, as I learned afterwards, +was Mahmoud al Ackbar, and I will therefore call him +Mahmoud—that one of Mahmoud’s followers bore in his +arms a bundle of long sticks, and that another carried an iron +pot and a tray. Such was the case, and these two followers +came forward to perform their services, while I, having been +literally pressed down on to the sofa by Mahmoud, watched them in +their progress. Mahmoud also sat down, and not a word was +spoken while the ceremony went on. The man with the sticks +first placed on the ground two little pans—one at my feet, +and then one at the feet of his master. After that he +loosed an ornamented bag which he carried round his neck, and +producing from it tobacco, proceeded to fill two pipes. +This he did with the utmost gravity, and apparently with very +peculiar care. The pipes had been already fixed at one end +of the stick, and to the other end the man had fastened two large +yellow balls. These, as I afterwards perceived, were +mouth-pieces made of amber. Then he lit the pipes, drawing +up the difficult smoke by long painful suckings at the +mouthpiece, and then, when the work had become apparently easy, +he handed one pipe to me, and the other to his master. The +bowls he had first placed in the little pans on the ground.</p> +<p>During all this time no word was spoken, and I was left +altogether in the dark as to the cause which had produced this +extraordinary courtesy. There was a stationary +sofa—they called it there a divan—which was fixed +into the corner of the room, and on one side of the angle sat +Mahmoud al Ackbar, with his feet tucked under him, while I sat on +the other. The remainder of the party stood around, and I +felt so little master of the occasion, that I did not know +whether it would become me to bid them be seated. I was not +master of the entertainment. They were not my pipes. +Nor was it my coffee, which I saw one of the followers preparing +in a distant part of the room. And, indeed, I was much +confused as to the management of the stick and amber mouth-piece +with which I had been presented. With a cigar I am as much +at home as any man in the City. I can nibble off the end of +it, and smoke it to the last ash, when I am three parts +asleep. But I had never before been invited to regale +myself with such an instrument as this. What was I to do +with that huge yellow ball? So I watched my new friend +closely.</p> +<p>It had manifestly been a part of his urbanity not to commence +till I had done so, but seeing my difficulty he at last raised +the ball to his mouth and sucked at it. I looked at him and +envied the gravity of his countenance, and the dignity of his +demeanour. I sucked also, but I made a sputtering noise, +and must confess that I did not enjoy it. The smoke curled +gracefully from his mouth and nostrils as he sat there in mute +composure. I was mute as regarded speech, but I coughed as +the smoke came from me in convulsive puffs. And then the +attendant brought us coffee in little tin cups—black +coffee, without sugar and full of grit, of which the berries had +been only bruised, not ground. I took the cup and swallowed +the mixture, for I could not refuse, but I wish that I might have +asked for some milk and sugar. Nevertheless there was +something very pleasing in the whole ceremony, and at last I +began to find myself more at home with my pipe.</p> +<p>When Mahmoud had exhausted his tobacco, and perceived that I +also had ceased to puff forth smoke, he spoke in Italian to the +interpreter, and the interpreter forthwith proceeded to explain +to me the purport of this visit. This was done with much +difficulty, for the interpreter’s stock of English was very +scanty—but after awhile I understood, or thought I +understood, as follows:—At some previous period of my +existence I had done some deed which had given infinite +satisfaction to Mahmoud al Ackbar. Whether, however, I had +done it myself, or whether my father had done it, was not quite +clear to me. My father, then some time deceased, had been a +wharfinger at Liverpool, and it was quite possible that Mahmoud +might have found himself at that port. Mahmoud had heard of +my arrival in Egypt, and had been given to understand that I was +coming to Suez—to carry myself away in the ship, as the +interpreter phrased it. This I could not understand, but I +let it pass. Having heard these agreeable tidings—and +Mahmoud, sitting in the corner, bowed low to me as this was +said—he had prepared for my acceptance a slight refection +for the morrow, hoping that I would not carry myself away in the +ship till this had been eaten. On this subject I soon made +him quite at ease, and he then proceeded to explain that as there +was a point of interest at Suez, Mahmoud was anxious that I +should partake of the refection somewhat in the guise of a +picnic, at the Well of Moses, over in Asia, on the other side of +the head of the Red Sea. Mahmoud would provide a boat to +take across the party in the morning, and camels on which we +would return after sunset. Or else we would go and return +on camels, or go on camels and return in the boat. Indeed +any arrangement would be made that I preferred. If I was +afraid of the heat, and disliked the open boat, I could be +carried round in a litter. The provisions had already been +sent over to the Well of Moses in the anticipation that I would +not refuse this little request.</p> +<p>I did not refuse it. Nothing could have been more +agreeable to me than this plan of seeing something of the sights +and wonders of this land,—and of this seeing them in good +company. I had not heard of the Well of Moses before, but +now that I learned that it was in Asia,—in another quarter +of the globe, to be reached by a transit of the Red Sea, to be +returned from by a journey on camels’ backs,—I burned +with anxiety to visit its waters. What a story would this +be for Judkins! This was, no doubt, the point at which the +Israelites had passed. Of those waters had they +drunk. I almost felt that I had already found one of +Pharaoh’s chariot wheels. I readily gave my assent, +and then, with much ceremony and many low salaams, Mahmoud and +his attendant left me. “I am very glad that I came to +Suez,” said I to myself.</p> +<p>I did not sleep much that night, for the mosquitoes of Suez +are very persevering; but I was saved from the agonising despair +which these animals so frequently produce, by my agreeable +thoughts as to Mahmoud al Ackbar. I will put it to any of +my readers who have travelled, whether it is not a painful thing +to find one’s-self regarded among strangers without any +kindness or ceremonious courtesy. I had on this account +been wretched at Cairo, but all this was to be made up to me at +Suez. Nothing could be more pleasant than the whole conduct +of Mahmoud al Ackbar, and I determined to take full advantage of +it, not caring overmuch what might be the nature of those +previous favours to which he had alluded. That was his +look-out, and if he was satisfied, why should not I be so +also?</p> +<p>On the following morning I was dressed at six, and, looking +out of my bed-room, I saw the boat in which we were to be wafted +into Asia being brought up to the quay close under my +window. It had been arranged that we should start early, so +as to avoid the mid-day sun, breakfast in the boat,—Mahmoud +in this way engaged to provide me with two refections,—take +our rest at noon in a pavilion which had been built close upon +the well of the patriarch, and then eat our dinner, and return +riding upon camels in the cool of the evening. Nothing +could sound more pleasant than such a plan; and knowing as I did +that the hampers of provisions had already been sent over, I did +not doubt that the table arrangements would be excellent. +Even now, standing at my window, I could see a basket laden with +long-necked bottles going into the boat, and became aware that we +should not depend altogether for our morning repast on that +gritty coffee which my friend Mahmoud’s followers +prepared.</p> +<p>I had promised to be ready at six, and having carefully +completed my toilet, and put a clean collar and comb into my +pocket ready for dinner, I descended to the great gateway and +walked slowly round to the quay. As I passed out, the +porter greeted me with a low obeisance, and walking on, I felt +that I stepped the ground with a sort of dignity of which I had +before been ignorant. It is not, as a rule, the man who +gives grace and honour to the position, but the position which +confers the grace and honour upon the man. I have often +envied the solemn gravity and grand demeanour of the Lord +Chancellor, as I have seen him on the bench; but I almost think +that even Judkins would look grave and dignified under such a +wig. Mahmoud al Ackbar had called upon me and done me +honour, and I felt myself personally capable of sustaining before +the people of Suez the honour which he had done me.</p> +<p>As I walked forth with a proud step from beneath the portal, I +perceived, looking down from the square along the street, that +there was already some commotion in the town. I saw the +flowing robes of many Arabs, with their backs turned towards me, +and I thought that I observed the identical gown and turban of my +friend Mahmoud on the back and head of a stout short man, who was +hurrying round a corner in the distance. I felt sure that +it was Mahmoud. Some of his servants had failed in their +preparations, I said to myself, as I made my way round to the +water’s edge. This was only another testimony how +anxious he was to do me honour.</p> +<p>I stood for a while on the edge of the quay looking into the +boat, and admiring the comfortable cushions which were +luxuriously arranged around the seats. The men who were at +work did not know me, and I was unnoticed, but I should soon take +my place upon the softest of those cushions. I walked +slowly backwards and forwards on the quay, listening to a hum of +voices that came to me from a distance. There was clearly +something stirring in the town, and I felt certain that all the +movement and all those distant voices were connected in some way +with my expedition to the Well of Moses. At last there came +a lad upon the walk dressed in Frank costume, and I asked him +what was in the wind. He was a clerk attached to an English +warehouse, and he told me that there had been an arrival from +Cairo.</p> +<p>He knew no more than that, but he had heard that the omnibuses +had just come in. Could it be possible that Mahmoud al +Ackbar had heard of another old acquaintance, and had gone to +welcome him also?</p> +<p>At first my ideas on the subject were altogether +pleasant. I by no means wished to monopolise the delights +of all those cushions, nor would it be to me a cause of sorrow +that there should be some one to share with me the conversational +powers of that interpreter. Should another guest be found, +he might also be an Englishman, and I might thus form an +acquaintance which would be desirable. Thinking of these +things, I walked the quay for some minutes in a happy state of +mind; but by degrees I became impatient, and by degrees also +disturbed in my spirit. I observed that one of the Arab +boatmen walked round from the vessel to the front of the hotel, +and that on his return he looked at me—as I thought, not +with courteous eyes. Then also I saw, or rather heard, some +one in the verandah of the hotel above me, and was conscious that +I was being viewed from thence. I walked and walked, and +nobody came to me, and I perceived by my watch that it was seven +o’clock. The noise, too, had come nearer and nearer, +and I was now aware that wheels had been drawn up before the +front door of the hotel, and that many voices were speaking +there. It might be that Mahmoud should wait for some other +friend, but why did he not send some one to inform me? And +then, as I made a sudden turn at the end of the quay, I caught +sight of the retreating legs of the Austrian interpreter, and I +became aware that he had been sent down, and had gone away, +afraid to speak to me. “What can I do?” said I +to myself, “I can but keep my ground.” I owned +that I feared to go round to the front of the hotel. So I +still walked slowly up and down the length of the quay, and began +to whistle to show that I was not uneasy. The Arab sailors +looked at me uncomfortably, and from time to time some one peered +at me round the corner. It was now fully half-past seven, +and the sun was becoming hot in the heavens. Why did we not +hasten to place ourselves beneath the awning in that boat.</p> +<p>I had just made up my mind that I would go round to the front +and penetrate this mystery, when, on turning, I saw approaching +to me a man dressed at any rate like an English gentleman. +As he came near to me, he raised his hat, and accosted me in our +own language. “Mr. George Walker, I believe?” +said he.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said I, with some little attempt at a high +demeanour,—“of the firm of Grimes, Walker, and +Judkins, Friday Street, London.”</p> +<p>“A most respectable house, I am sure,” said +he. “I am afraid there has been a little mistake +here.”</p> +<p>“No mistake as to the respectability of that +house,” said I. I felt that I was again alone in the +world, and that it was necessary that I should support +myself. Mahmoud al Ackbar had separated himself from me for +ever. Of that I had no longer a doubt.</p> +<p>“Oh, none at all,” said he. “But about +this little expedition over the water;” and he pointed +contemptuously to the boat. “There has been a mistake +about that, Mr. Walker; I happen to be the English Vice-Consul +here.”</p> +<p>I took off my hat and bowed. It was the first time I had +ever been addressed civilly by any English consular +authority.</p> +<p>“And they have made me get out of bed to come down here +and explain all this to you.”</p> +<p>“All what?” said I.</p> +<p>“You are a man of the world, I know, and I’ll just +tell it you plainly. My old friend, Mahmoud al Ackbar, has +mistaken you for Sir George Walker, the new Lieutenant-Governor +of Pegu. Sir George Walker is here now; he has come this +morning; and Mahmoud is ashamed to face you after what has +occurred. If you won’t object to withdraw with me +into the hotel, I’ll explain it all.”</p> +<p>I felt as though a thunderbolt had fallen; and I must say, +that even up to this day I think that the Consul might have been +a little less abrupt. “We can get in here,” +said he, evidently in a hurry, and pointing to a small door which +opened out from one corner of the house to the quay. What +could I do but follow him? I did follow him, and in a few +words learned the remainder of the story. When he had once +withdrawn me from the public walk he seemed but little anxious +about the rest, and soon left me again alone. The facts, as +far as I could learn them, were simply these.</p> +<p>Sir George Walker, who was now going out to Pegu as Governor, +had been in India before, commanding an army there. I had +never heard of him before, and had made no attempt to pass myself +off as his relative. Nobody could have been more innocent +than I was—or have received worse usage. I have as +much right to the name as he has. Well; when he was in +India before, he had taken the city of Begum after a terrible +siege—Begum, I think the Consul called it; and Mahmoud had +been there, having been, it seems, a great man at Begum, and Sir +George had spared him and his money; and in this way the whole +thing had come to pass. There was no further explanation +than that. The rest of it was all transparent. +Mahmoud, having heard my name from the porter, had hurried down +to invite me to his party. So far so good. But why +had he been afraid to face me in the morning? And, seeing +that the fault had all been his, why had he not asked me to join +the expedition? Sir George and I may, after all, be +cousins. But, coward as he was, he had been afraid of +me. When they found that I was on the quay, they had been +afraid of me, not knowing how to get rid of me. I wish that +I had kept the quay all day, and stared them down one by one as +they entered the boat. But I was down in the mouth, and +when the Consul left me, I crept wearily back to my bedroom.</p> +<p>And the Consul did leave me almost immediately. A faint +hope had, at one time, come upon me that he would have asked me +to breakfast. Had he done so, I should have felt it as a +full compensation for all that I had suffered. I am not an +exacting man, but I own that I like civility. In Friday +Street I can command it, and in Friday Street for the rest of my +life will I remain. From this Consul I received no +civility. As soon as he had got me out of the way and +spoken the few words which he had to say, he again raised his hat +and left me. I also again raised mine, and then crept up to +my bed-room.</p> +<p>From my window, standing a little behind the white curtain, I +could see the whole embarkation. There was Mahmoud al +Ackbar, looking indeed a little hot, but still going through his +work with all that excellence of deportment which had graced him +on the preceding evening. Had his foot slipped, and had he +fallen backwards into that shallow water, my spirit would, I +confess, have been relieved. But, on the contrary, +everything went well with him. There was the real Sir +George, my namesake and perhaps my cousin, as fresh as paint, +cool from the bath which he had been taking while I had been +walking on that terrace. How is it that these governors and +commanders-in-chief go through such a deal of work without +fagging? It was not yet two hours since he was jolting +about in that omnibus-box, and there he had been all night. +I could not have gone off to the Well of Moses immediately on my +arrival. It’s the dignity of the position that does +it. I have long known that the head of a firm must never +count on a mere clerk to get through as much work as he could do +himself. It’s the interest in the matter that +supports the man.</p> +<p>They went, and Sir George, as I was well assured, had never +heard a word about me. Had he done so, is it probable that +he would have requested my attendance?</p> +<p>But Mahmoud and his followers no doubt kept their own counsel +as to that little mistake. There they went, and the gentle +rippling breeze filled their sail pleasantly, as the boat moved +away into the bay. I felt no spite against any of them but +Mahmoud. Why had he avoided me with such cowardice? I +could still see them when the morning tchibouk was handed to Sir +George; and, though I wished him no harm, I did envy him as he +lay there reclining luxuriously upon the cushions.</p> +<p>A more wretched day than that I never spent in my life. +As I went in and out, the porter at the gate absolutely scoffed +at me. Once I made up my mind to complain within the +house. But what could I have said of the dirty Arab? +They would have told me that it was his religion, or a national +observance, or meant for a courtesy. What can a man do, in +a strange country, when he is told that a native spits in his +face by way of civility? I bore it, I bore it—like a +man; and sighed for the comforts of Friday Street.</p> +<p>As to one matter, I made up my mind on that day, and I fully +carried out my purpose on the next: I would go across to the Well +of Moses in a boat. I would visit the coasts of Asia. +And I would ride back into Africa on a camel. Though I did +it alone, I would have my day’s pleasuring. I had +money in my pocket, and, though it might cost me £20, I +would see all that my namesake had seen. It did cost me the +best part of £20; and as for the pleasuring, I cannot say +much for it.</p> +<p>I went to bed early that night, having concluded my bargain +for the morrow with a rapacious Arab who spoke English. I +went to bed early in order to escape the returning party, and was +again on the quay at six the next morning. On this +occasion, I stepped boldly into the boat the very moment that I +came along the shore. There is nothing in the world like +paying for what you use. I saw myself to the bottle of +brandy and the cold meat, and acknowledged that a cigar out of my +own case would suit me better than that long stick. The +long stick might do very well for a Governor of Pegu, but would +be highly inconvenient in Friday Street.</p> +<p>Well, I am not going to give an account of my day’s +journey here, though perhaps I may do so some day. I did go +to the Well of Moses—if a small dirty pool of salt water, +lying high above the sands, can be called a well; I did eat my +dinner in the miserable ruined cottage which they graced by the +name of a pavilion; and, alas for my poor bones! I did ride home +upon a camel. If Sir George did so early, and started for +Pegu the next morning—and I was informed such was the +fact—he must have been made of iron. I laid in bed +the whole day suffering greviously; but I was told that on such a +journey I should have slakened my throat with oranges, and not +with brandy.</p> +<p>I survived those four terrible days which remained to me at +Suez, and after another month was once again in Friday +Street. I suffered greatly on the occasion; but it is some +consolation to me to reflect that I smoked a pipe of peace with +Mahmoud al Ackbar; that I saw the hero of Begum while journeying +out to new triumphs at Pegu; that I sailed into Asia in my own +yacht—hired for the occasion; and that I rode back into +Africa on a camel. Nor can Judkins, with all his +ill-nature, rob me of these remembrances.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE WALKER AT SUEZ***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 3718-h.htm or 3718-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/7/1/3718 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. 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