diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3718-0.txt | 1088 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3718-0.zip | bin | 0 -> 24473 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3718-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 25662 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3718-h/3718-h.htm | 1225 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/grgwk10.txt | 1119 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/grgwk10.zip | bin | 0 -> 23657 bytes |
9 files changed, 3448 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3718-0.txt b/3718-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..813ef4e --- /dev/null +++ b/3718-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1088 @@ +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: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE WALKER AT SUEZ*** + + +Transcribed from the 1864 Chapman and Hall “Tales of All Countries” +edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + + GEORGE WALKER AT SUEZ. + + +OF 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“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. + +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. + +“I am very sorry,” said I, “but I don’t exactly follow the French +language when it is spoken.” + +“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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +“Yes,” said I, with some little attempt at a high demeanour,—“of the firm +of Grimes, Walker, and Judkins, Friday Street, London.” + +“A most respectable house, I am sure,” said he. “I am afraid there has +been a little mistake here.” + +“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. + +“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.” + +I took off my hat and bowed. It was the first time I had ever been +addressed civilly by any English consular authority. + +“And they have made me get out of bed to come down here and explain all +this to you.” + +“All what?” said I. + +“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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE WALKER AT SUEZ*** + + +******* This file should be named 3718-0.txt or 3718-0.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. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive +specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this +eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook +for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, +performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given +away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks +not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the +trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. + +START: FULL LICENSE + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full +Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at +www.gutenberg.org/license. + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or +destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your +possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a +Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound +by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the +person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph +1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this +agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the +Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection +of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual +works in the collection are in the public domain in the United +States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the +United States and you are located in the United States, we do not +claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, +displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as +all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope +that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting +free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm +works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the +Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily +comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when +you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are +in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, +check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this +agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, +distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any +other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no +representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any +country outside the United States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other +immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear +prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work +on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, +performed, viewed, copied or distributed: + + 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. + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is +derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not +contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the +copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in +the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are +redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply +either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or +obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any +additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms +will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works +posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the +beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including +any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access +to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format +other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official +version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site +(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense +to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means +of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain +Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the +full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +provided that + +* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed + to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has + agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid + within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are + legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty + payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in + Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation." + +* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all + copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue + all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm + works. + +* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + +* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than +are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing +from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The +Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project +Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may +contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate +or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or +other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or +cannot be read by your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium +with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you +with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in +lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person +or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second +opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If +the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing +without further opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO +OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of +damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement +violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the +agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or +limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or +unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the +remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in +accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the +production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, +including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of +the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this +or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any +Defect you cause. + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of +computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It +exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations +from people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future +generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see +Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at +www.gutenberg.org + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by +U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the +mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its +volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous +locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt +Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to +date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and +official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND +DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular +state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To +donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project +Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be +freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and +distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of +volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in +the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search +facility: www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/3718-0.zip b/3718-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b9540f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/3718-0.zip diff --git a/3718-h.zip b/3718-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1372674 --- /dev/null +++ b/3718-h.zip 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. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive +specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this +eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook +for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, +performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given +away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks +not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the +trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. + +START: FULL LICENSE + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full +Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at +www.gutenberg.org/license. + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or +destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your +possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a +Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound +by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the +person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph +1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this +agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the +Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection +of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual +works in the collection are in the public domain in the United +States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the +United States and you are located in the United States, we do not +claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, +displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as +all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope +that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting +free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm +works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the +Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily +comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when +you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are +in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, +check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this +agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, +distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any +other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no +representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any +country outside the United States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other +immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear +prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work +on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, +performed, viewed, copied or distributed: + + 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. + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is +derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not +contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the +copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in +the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are +redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply +either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or +obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any +additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms +will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works +posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the +beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including +any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access +to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format +other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official +version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site +(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense +to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means +of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain +Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the +full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +provided that + +* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed + to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has + agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid + within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are + legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty + payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in + Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation." + +* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all + copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue + all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm + works. + +* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + +* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than +are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing +from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The +Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project +Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may +contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate +or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or +other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or +cannot be read by your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium +with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you +with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in +lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person +or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second +opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If +the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing +without further opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO +OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of +damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement +violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the +agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or +limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or +unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the +remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in +accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the +production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, +including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of +the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this +or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any +Defect you cause. + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of +computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It +exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations +from people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future +generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see +Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at +www.gutenberg.org + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by +U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the +mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its +volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous +locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt +Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to +date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and +official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND +DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular +state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To +donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project +Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be +freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and +distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of +volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in +the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search +facility: www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +</pre></body> +</html> diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0cb212a --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #3718 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3718) diff --git a/old/grgwk10.txt b/old/grgwk10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f0f80fc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/grgwk10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1119 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext George Walker At Suez, by Anthony Trollope +#24 in our series by Anthony Trollope + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. The words +are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they +need about what they can legally do with the texts. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These Etexts Are Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below, including for donations. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 + + + +Title: George Walker At Suez + +Author: Anthony Trollope + +Release Date: February, 2003 [Etext #3718] +[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule] +[The actual date this file first posted = 08/07/01] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Project Gutenberg Etext George Walker At Suez, by Anthony Trollope +*******This file should be named grgwk10.txt or grgwk10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, grgwk11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, grgwk10a.txt + +This etext was produced by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk, +from the 1864 Chapman and Hall "Tales of all Countries" edition. + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any +of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our books one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to send us error messages even years after +the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our sites at: +http://gutenberg.net +http://promo.net/pg + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement +can surf to them as follows, and just download by date; this is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 +or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release fifty new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 3000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 4,000 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of July 12, 2001 contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, +Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, +Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North +Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, +Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, +Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in about 45 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising +will begin in the additional states. Please feel +free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork +to legally request donations in all 50 states. If +your state is not listed and you would like to know +if we have added it since the list you have, just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in +states where we are not yet registered, we know +of no prohibition against accepting donations +from donors in these states who approach us with +an offer to donate. + + +International donations are accepted, +but we don't know ANYTHING about how +to make them tax-deductible, or +even if they CAN be made deductible, +and don't have the staff to handle it +even if there are ways. + +All donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541, +and has been approved as a 501(c)(3) organization by the US Internal +Revenue Service (IRS). Donations are tax-deductible to the maximum +extent permitted by law. As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising will begin in the +additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if +it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +*** + + +Example command-line FTP session: + +ftp ftp.ibiblio.org +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext02, etc. +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] +GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books] + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this etext, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the etext, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.07/27/01*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk, +from the 1864 Chapman and Hall "Tales of all Countries" edition. + + + + + +GEORGE WALKER AT SUEZ + +by Anthony Trollope + + + + +Of 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +"I am very sorry," said I, "but I don't exactly follow the French +language when it is spoken." + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +"Yes," said I, with some little attempt at a high demeanour, -"of +the firm of Grimes, Walker, and Judkins, Friday Street, London." + +"A most respectable house, I am sure," said he. "I am afraid there +has been a little mistake here." + +"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. + +"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." + +I took off my hat and bowed. It was the first time I had ever been +addressed civilly by any English consular authority. + +"And they have made me get out of bed to come down here and explain +all this to you." + +"All what?" said I. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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 pounds, I would see all that my namesake had seen. It +did cost me the best part of 20 pounds; and as for the pleasuring, I +cannot say much for it. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext George Walker At Suez, by Anthony Trollope + diff --git a/old/grgwk10.zip b/old/grgwk10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d0848ab --- /dev/null +++ b/old/grgwk10.zip |