DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12664#0233
222
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
of reading the letter, when the scribe handed
it to him for his signature, although it contained
but half a dozen lines ; he fumbled in his pocket
for his seal, and dipped it in the ink ; the impres-
sion did not suit him, and he made another, and
after a delay that seemed to me eternal, employed
in folding it, banded it to me with a most gracious
smile. I am sure I grinned horribly in return, and
almost snatching the letter, just as the last blow
fell, I turned to hasten from the scene. The poor
scourged wretch was silent; he had found relief ia
happy insensibility; I cast one look upon the
senseless body, and saw the feet laid open in
gashes, and the blood streaming down the legs.
At that moment the bars were taken away, and
the mangled feet fell like lead upon the floor. I
bad to work my way through the crowd, and be-
fore I could escape I saw the poor fellow revive,
and by the first natural impulse rise upon his feet,
but fall again as if he had stepped upon red-hot
irons. He crawled upon his hands and knees to
the door of the hall, and here I rejoiced to see that,
miserable, and poor, and degraded as he was, he
yet had friends whose hearts yearned towards
him ; they took him in their arms and carried him
away.
I was sick of Cairo, and in a right humour to bid
farewell to cities, with all their artificial laws, their
crimes and punishments, and all the varied shades
of inhumanity from man to man, and in a few min-
utes I was beyond the gate, and galloping away to
join my companions in the desert. At the tombs
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
of reading the letter, when the scribe handed
it to him for his signature, although it contained
but half a dozen lines ; he fumbled in his pocket
for his seal, and dipped it in the ink ; the impres-
sion did not suit him, and he made another, and
after a delay that seemed to me eternal, employed
in folding it, banded it to me with a most gracious
smile. I am sure I grinned horribly in return, and
almost snatching the letter, just as the last blow
fell, I turned to hasten from the scene. The poor
scourged wretch was silent; he had found relief ia
happy insensibility; I cast one look upon the
senseless body, and saw the feet laid open in
gashes, and the blood streaming down the legs.
At that moment the bars were taken away, and
the mangled feet fell like lead upon the floor. I
bad to work my way through the crowd, and be-
fore I could escape I saw the poor fellow revive,
and by the first natural impulse rise upon his feet,
but fall again as if he had stepped upon red-hot
irons. He crawled upon his hands and knees to
the door of the hall, and here I rejoiced to see that,
miserable, and poor, and degraded as he was, he
yet had friends whose hearts yearned towards
him ; they took him in their arms and carried him
away.
I was sick of Cairo, and in a right humour to bid
farewell to cities, with all their artificial laws, their
crimes and punishments, and all the varied shades
of inhumanity from man to man, and in a few min-
utes I was beyond the gate, and galloping away to
join my companions in the desert. At the tombs