Part 19 (1/2)

Hep! Hep! Horay!

Hep! Hep! Horay!

Hep! Hep! Horay!

All right! Thank you!

This effort represented their sum total of English, and they were very proud of it, and we liked it, too--that is, the first million times.

After that, the charm of novelty was largely dissipated.

Many people visit a.s.souan because of the kiln-dried atmosphere, which is supposed to have a discouraging effect on rheumatism and other ailments that flourish in a damp climate. a.s.souan is as dry as Pittsburg on Sunday. It is surrounded by desert and the sun always seems to be working overtime. The traveller who does much rambling out of doors gradually a.s.sumes the brown and papery complexion of a royal mummy, his lips become parched and flaky, and he feels like a grocery store herring, which, it is believed, is about the driest thing on record.

We did love a.s.souan. Coming back from a camel ride, with a choppy sea on, gazing through the heat waves at the tufted palms and the s.h.i.+mmering white walls, we would know that there was ice only a mile ahead of us, and then our love for a.s.souan would become too deep for words.

Burton Holmes, the eminent lecturer and travelogue specialist, was lying up at a.s.souan, having a tiresome argument with the germ that invented malaria. He had come up the Nile in a deep draught boat and had succeeded in finding many sand bars that other voyagers had overlooked. Just below a.s.souan the boat wedged itself into the mud and could not be floated until thirty natives, summoned from the surrounding country, had waded underneath and ”boosted” all afternoon.

When it came time to pay the men the captain of the boat said to Mr.

Holmes: ”What do you think? They demand eight s.h.i.+llings.”

”It is an outrage,” said Mr. Holmes. ”Eight s.h.i.+llings is two dollars.

Even in America I can get union labour for two dollars a day. There are thirty of them. Couldn't we compromise for a lump sum of fifty dollars?”

”You do not understand,” said the captain. ”We are asked to pay eight s.h.i.+llings for the whole crowd. I think that six would be enough.”

Whereupon Mr. Holmes gave them ten s.h.i.+llings, or 8 1-3 cents each, and as he sailed away the grateful a.s.semblage gave three rousing cheers for Mr. Rockefeller.

When we left a.s.souan we scooted by rail direct to Cairo, to rest up and recover from our recuperation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Important! Rus.h.!.+ Egyptian news!]