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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. 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