Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz
Category: Nonfiction
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might easily fallinto some hole, but over roads of adjacent fields and towards thegardens beyond the city. The dragoman, together with other Cookservants, was always to accompany the children.
After this both gentlemen departed, but they left for a place near by,Hanaret el-Matka, so that after ten hours they returned to pass thenight in Medinet. This was repeated the succeeding few days until theyhad inspected all the nearest work. Afterwards, when their employmentrequired their presence at more distant places, Chamis arrived in thenight time, and early in the following morning took Stas and Nell tothose little cities, in which their parents wanted to show themsomething of interest. The children spent the greater part of the daywith their parents and before sunset returned to the camp at Medinet.There were, however, days on which Chamis did not come, and then Nell,notwithstanding the society of Stas, and Saba in whom she continuallydiscovered some new traits, looked with longing for a messenger. Inthis manner the time passed until Twelfth Night, on the day of whichfestival both engineers returned to Medinet.
Two days later they went away again, announcing that they left thistime for a longer period and in all probability would reach as far asBenisueif, and from there to El-Fachn, where a canal of the same namebegins, going far south alongside of the Nile.
Great, therefore, was the astonishment of the children, when on thethird day at eleven o'clock in the morning Chamis appeared in Medinet.Stas met him first as he went to the pasturage to look at the camels.Chamis conversed with Idris, and only told Stas that he came for himand Nell and that he would come immediately to the camp to inform themwhere they, at the request of the older gentlemen, were to go. Stas ranat once with the good news to Nell, whom he found playing with Sababefore the tent.
"Do you know--Chamis is here!" he cried from a distance.
And Nell began at once to hop, holding both feet together, as littlegirls do when skipping the rope.
"We shall go! We shall go!"
"Yes. We shall go, and far."
"Where?" she asked, brushing aside with her little hands a tuft of hairwhich fell over her eyes.
"I don't know. Chamis said that in a moment he would come here and tellus."
"How do you know it is far?"
"Because I heard Idris say that he and Gebhr would start at once withthe camels. That means that we shall go by rail and shall find thecamels at the place where our parents will be, and from there we shallmake some kind of an excursion."
The tuft of hair, owing to the continual hops, covered again not onlyNell's eyes but her whole face, her feet bounding as if they were madeof India rubber.
A quarter of an hour later, Chamis came and bowed to both.
"Khanage (young master)," he said, "we leave after three hours by thefirst train."
"Where are we going?"
"To Gharak el-Sultani, and from there with the older gentlemen oncamel-back to Wadi Rayan."
Stas' heart beat with joy, but at the same time Chamis' words surprisedhim. He knew that Wadi Rayan was a great valley among sandy hillsrising on the Libyan Desert on the south and southwest of Medinet,while on the other hand Pan Tarkowski and Mr. Rawlinson announced ontheir departure that they were going in a directly opposite direction,towards the Nile.
"What has happened?" asked Stas. "Then my father and Mr. Rawlinson arenot in Benisueif but in El-Gharak?"
"It happened thus," replied Chamis.
"But they ordered us to write to them at El-Fachn."
"In a letter the senior effendi explains why they are in El-Gharak."
And for a while he searched on his person for the letter, after whichhe exclaimed:
"Oh, Nabi! (prophet) I left the letter in a pouch with the camels. Iwill run at once before Idris and Gebhr depart."
And he ran towards the camels. In the meantime the children, withDinah, began to prepare for the journey. As it looked as if theexcursion would be a long one, Dinah packed several dresses, somelinen, and warmer clothing for Nell. Stas thought of himself, andespecially did not forget about the short rifle and cartridges, hopingthat among the sand dunes of Wadi Rayan he might encounter wolves andhyenas.
Chamis did not return until an hour later; he was covered withperspiration and so fatigued that for a while he could not catch hisbreath.
"I did not find the camels," he said. "I chased after them, but invain. But that does not matter as we shall find the letter and theeffendis themselves in El-Gharak. Is Dinah to go with you?"
"Why not?"
"Perhaps it would be better if she remained. The older gentlemen saidnothing about her."
"But they announced on leaving that Dinah was always to accompany thelittle lady. So she shall ride now."
Chamis bowed, placing his hand on his heart and said:
"Let us hasten, sir, for otherwise the katr (train) will set off."
The baggage was ready, so they were at the station on time. Thedistance between Medinet and Gharak is not more than nineteen miles,but the trains on the branch line which connects those localities moveslowly and the stops were uncommonly frequent. If Stas had been alonehe undoubtedly would have preferred to ride camel-back as he calculatedthat Idris and Gebhr, having started two hours before the train, wouldbe earlier in El-Gharak. But for Nell such a ride would be too long;and the little guardian, who took very much to heart the warnings ofboth parents, did not want to expose the little girl to fatigue. Afterall the time passed for both so quickly that they scarcely noticed whenthey stopped in Gharak.
The little station, from which Englishmen usually make excursions toWadi Rayan, was almost entirely deserted. They found only a few veiledwomen, with baskets of mandarin oranges, two unknown Bedouin cameldrivers, together with Idris and Gebhr, with seven camels, one of whichwas heavily packed. Of Pan Tarkowski and Mr. Rawlinson there was notrace.
But Idris in this manner explained their absence.
"The older gentlemen went into the desert to pitch the tents which theybrought with them from Etsah, and ordered us to follow them."
"And how shall we find them among the sand-hills?" asked Stas.
"They sent guides who will lead us to them."
Saying this he pointed to the Bedouins. The older of them bowed, rubbedwith his finger the one eye which he possessed, and said:
"Our camels are not so fat but are not less speedy than yours. After anhour we shall be there."
Stas was glad that he would pass the night on the desert, but Nell felta certain disappointment, for she had been certain that she would meether papa in Gharak.
In the meantime the station-master, a sleepy Egyptian with a red fezand dark spectacles, approached them, and, not having anything else todo, began to stare at the European children.
"These are the children of those Englishmen who rode this morning withrifles to the desert," said Idris, placing Nell on the saddle.
Stas, handing his short rifle to Chamis, sat beside her, for the saddlewas wide and had the shape of a palanquin without a roof. Dinah satbehind Chamis, the others took separate camels, and the party started.
If the station-master had stared at them longer he might perhaps havewondered that those Englishmen, of whom Idris spoke, rode directly tothe ruins on the south, while this party at once directed its movementstowards Talei, in a different direction. But the station-master beforethat time had returned home as no other train arrived that day atGharak.
The hour was five in the afternoon. The weather was splendid. The sunhad already passed on that side of the Nile and declined over thedesert, sinking into the golden and purple twilight glowing on thewestern side of the sky. The atmosphere was so permeated with theroseate luster that the eyes blinked from its superfluity. The fieldsassumed a lily tint, while the distant sand-hills, strongly relievedagainst the background of the twilight, had a hue of pure amethyst. Theworld lost the traits of reality and appeared to be one play ofsupernal lights.
While they rode over a verdant and cultivated region, the guide, aBedouin, conducted the caravan with a moderate pace. But with the
moment that the hard sand creaked under the feet of the camels,everything changed.
"Yalla! Yalla!" suddenly yelled wild voices.
And simultaneously could be heard the swish of whips and the camels,having changed from an ambling pace into a full gallop, began to speedlike the whirlwind, throwing up with their feet the sand and gravel ofthe desert.
"Yalla! Yalla!"
The ambling pace of a camel jolts more, while the gallop with whichthis animal seldom runs, swings more; so the children enjoyed this madride. But it is known that even in a swing, too much rapid movementcauses dizziness. Accordingly, after a certain time, when the speed didnot cease, Nell began to get dizzy and her eyes grew dim.
"Stas, why are we flying so?" she exclaimed, turning to her companion.
"I think that they allowed them to get into too much of a gallop andnow cannot check