Treasure Hunt Tales: The Star of the South & Captain Antifer. Жюль Верн

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      At a sign from Antifer, neither Juhel nor Tregomain took the slightest notice of them. The three continued their conversation as if nothing could distract their attention.

      Ben Omar came forward in the obsequious attitude which was customary with him.

      They seemed to be unconscious of his presence.

      “At last, sir—” he ventured to say, in the most amiable tone he could manage.

      Captain Antifer turned his head, looked at him, and positively did not seem to recognize him.

      “Sir—it is I—it is I—” the notary repeated, as he bowed.

      “Who—you?”

      And this as much as to say, “Whatever can this escape from a mummy-box want with me?”

      “But—it is I—Ben Omar—notary of Alexandria—do you not recollect?”

      “Do we know this gentleman?” asked Antifer, winking at his companions, as he shifted the pebble from his right cheek to his left.

      “I think I do,” said Tregomain, taking pity on the notary’s embarrassment. “It is Mr. Ben Omar, we once had the pleasure of meeting.”

      “So it is—so it is—” replied Antifer, as if he had a distant recollection of him, a very distant recollection. “I remember, Ben Omar—Ben Omar!”

      “That is it.”

      “Ah! Well, what are you doing here?”

      “What am I doing here? But I have been waiting for you, Mr. Antifer.”

      “Waiting for me?”

      “Certainly. Have you forgotten? The appointment for us to meet at Suez?”

      “Appointment?—and what for?” asked Antifer, in such a tone of surprise that the notary was completely taken aback.

      “What for? Why, the will of Kamylk Pasha—the millions he left you—the island—”

      “You meant to say my island, I believe!”

      “Yes, your island. I see you are beginning to remember—and as the will imposed on me the obligation of—”

      “I understand, Mr. Ben Omar. Good morning—good morning!”

      And without another word, he shrugged his shoulders as an intimation for Juhel and the bargeman to follow him.

      But as they were going away from the station the notary stopped them.

      “Where are you going to stay at Suez?” he asked.

      “In some hotel, I suppose,” replied Antifer.

      “Will the hotel suit you where my clerk and I have put up?”

      “Either that one or another: it does not matter! For the forty-eight hours we have to stay here—”

      “Forty-eight hours?” asked Ben Omar, in a tone of evident uneasiness. “Have you not reached the end of your voyage?”

      “Not the least in the world!” replied Antifer. “We have got another sea passage—”

      “A sea passage!” exclaimed the notary, turning as pale as if a ship’s deck were oscillating beneath his feet.

      “A sea passage, which, if you please, we will take on board the Oxus, which runs to Bombay—”

      “Bombay!”

      “And which starts from Suez the day after to-morrow. I advise you to take your passage in her, as your company is forced upon us—”

      “Where then is this island?” asked the notary, with a gesture of despair.

      “It is where it is, Mr. Ben Omar.”

      And thereupon Antifer, followed by Juhel and Tregomain, walked into the nearest hotel, where their luggage—which was not extensive—was soon brought to them.

      A minute afterwards, Ben Omar had rejoined Nazim, and an observer could not fail to have noticed that the so-called clerk gave him anything but a respectful welcome. Ah! If it had not been for that one per cent on those millions, and for the fear with which Saouk inspired him, how gladly he would have been quit of this legatee, and this will, and this island, in search of which he was to be trotted over land and sea.

      Antifer was told that Suez was formerly called Soueys by the Arabs and Cleopatris by the Egyptians, but his only reply was, “As far as I am concerned, it makes no difference.”

      It hardly occurred to this impatient personage to visit a few mosques—old buildings without anything special about them—two or three places, the most curious of which is the grain market, or to look at the house facing the sea where General Bonaparte lodged. But Juhel thought that the two days could not be better spent than in exploring this town of fifteen thousand inhabitants, the irregular wall of which is so miserably kept up. He and Tregomain spent their time in wandering about the streets and lanes, and exploring the roadstead, where five hundred ships can find good anchorage in from eight СКАЧАТЬ