Through the Desert. Henryk Sienkiewicz

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СКАЧАТЬ course,” he said, stroking her hair, “you shall ride on camels, but with us, or on the way to us, when we send Chamis to fetch you.”

      “And can we not make any excursions by ourselves, not even tiny little ones?” asked the girl.

      And with her forefinger she demonstrated exactly the size of the little excursions. The fathers at last gave in, on condition that they would be led on donkeys and not on camels, and that they were not to go out to the ruins, where they might easily fall into a hole, but on the roads to the neighboring fields and the gardens on the outskirts of the town. The Dragomans and Cooks servants were always to accompany the children.

      Then the two gentlemen left, but they did not go far away—only to Hawaret-el-Makta—so that ten hours later they were able to return to Medinet for the night. This they did for several successive days, until they had inspected the work in the vicinity. Then, as they were obliged to inspect work in places somewhat farther away, Chamis came riding up at night, and early in the morning took Stasch and Nell along with him to the little town where their fathers wanted to show them something of interest. The children spent most of the day with their fathers, and toward sunset returned to their tents in Medinet. But some days Chamis did not come, and then Nell, notwithstanding she had the company of Stasch and Saba, in whom she always discovered new talents, would watch lovingly for the messenger. In this manner the time passed until the feast of the Three Holy Kings, on which day the two engineers returned to Medinet.

      Two days later they went away again, after having announced that they would now be gone a longer time, and would probably travel as far as Beni Suef, and from there to El-Fasher, to the canal which stretches along the Nile far southward. Therefore the children were greatly surprised when Chamis appeared at Medinet on the third day about eleven o’clock. Stasch, who had gone to the pasture to watch the camels, saw him first. Chamis talked with Idris and told Stasch that he was there only on his and Nell’s account, and that he was coming to the tents to tell them where their two fathers had ordered them to go. The boy immediately ran with this great piece of news to Nell, whom he found playing with Saba before the tent.

      “Have you heard the news yet? Chamis is here!” he cried out from afar.

      Nell immediately began to hop, holding both feet together, as little girls do when skipping.

      “We are going away! We are going away!”

      “Yes, we are going away, and quite far away.”

      “And where to?” asked she, brushing aside the hair from her forehead.

      “I don’t know. Chamis said he would come here directly and tell us.”

      “Then how do you know that we are going far away?”

      “Because I heard Idris say that he and Gebhr would depart at once with the camels. That means that we are going by train and that the camels will be sent there in advance to where our fathers are, and from there we shall make various excursions.”

      Nell had hopped about so long that her loose front hair covered not only her eyes, but her whole face, and her feet rebounded as quickly as though made of rubber.

      A quarter of an hour later Chamis came and bowed before them:

      “Khauagé (young man),” said he to Stasch, “we leave in three hours by the next train.”

      “For what place?”

      “To El-Gharak el-Sultani, and from there, together with the two gentlemen, on camels to Wadi Rayan.”

      Stasch’s heart beat with joy, but at the same time he was surprised at Chamis’ words. He knew that Wadi Rayan was a large, round, sandy ledge of rocks which rises in the Libyan Desert to the south and southwest of Medinet, and that Mr. Tarkowski and Mr. Rawlison had said when they left that they were going in a diametrically opposite direction—toward the Nile.

      “What has happened?” asked Stasch. “So my father and Mr. Rawlison are not in Beni Suef, but in El-Gharak?”

      “That is so,” answered Chamis.

      “But they have given orders to have their letters sent to El-Fasher.”

      “In this letter the elder effendi tells why they are in El-Gharak.” And he searched his clothes a while for the letter, and then called out:

      “Oh, Nabi! (prophet) I have left the letter in the packet with the camel-drivers. I will run and get it before Idris and Gebhr depart.”

      He ran to the camel-drivers, and meanwhile the children and Dinah began to prepare for the journey. As a longer excursion lay before them, Dinah packed up some underlinen and warmer clothes for Nell. Stasch also thought of his things, and took special pains not to forget the rifle and the cartridges, as he hoped to come across wolves and hyenas on the sand-dunes of Wadi Rayan.

      Chamis did not return until an hour later, so bathed in perspiration and so out of breath that he could hardly speak a word.

      “I did not reach the camel-drivers in time,” he finally said. “I tried to overtake them, but without success. But that is of no consequence, for we shall find the letter and also the two effendis in El-Gharak. Is Dinah going with us?”

      “What?”

      “Perhaps it would be better for her to stay behind. Neither of the effendis has said anything about her.”

      “Still they planned the journey, arranging for Dinah always to accompany the little girl, and therefore she will go with us on this trip.”

      Chamis bowed, placed his hand on his heart, and said:

      “Sir, let us hurry or else we shall miss the katr (train).”

      The baggage was ready, and they arrived at the station in time. It was not over thirty kilometers from Medinet to Gharak, but the train on the little branch line which connects these towns goes so slowly and stops so often that if Stasch had been alone he doubtless would have preferred traveling by camel to going by train, for he calculated that Idris and Gebhr, who had departed two hours earlier, would reach Gharak before him. But this would have been too long a journey for Nell; so her young protector, having been cautioned by both fathers, was very careful not to fatigue the girl. Besides, time passed so rapidly that they hardly knew that they had arrived at Gharak.

      The little station, from which Englishmen usually made excursions to Wadi Rayan, was quite deserted. They saw only several veiled women with baskets of oranges, two strange Bedouins, camel-drivers, and Idris and Gebhr with seven camels, one of which was laden with luggage. On the other hand, there was not a trace of Mr. Tarkowski or Mr. Rawlison; but Idris explained their absence as follows:

      “Both gentlemen have ridden toward the desert to set up the tent they brought from Estah, and have instructed us to follow them.”

      “And how can we find them among the mountains?” said Stasch.

      “They have sent guides to meet us.”

      At these words he pointed to the Bedouins, the elder of whom bowed down before them, rubbed his finger in his one remaining eye, and said:

      “Our camels are not so fat as yours, but they are just as agile. We shall be there in an hour.”

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