DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11448#0205
CHAP. XXIV.J
NOCTURNAL VISITOR.
171
were glaring upon mine. Instinctively I levelled my pistol at
his fiendish countenance ; but, just as my ringer trembled on the
trigger. I saw the boat was in the line, and, crowded as she was,
though distant, the shot must have taken effect upon some
sailor. So I scared the brute with a shout, and when I ran to
the door, he had disappeared behind the rocks. The blood of
the slaughtered ram was still steaming from the sands, and I
supposed had attracted my unexpected visitor. This time I fast-
ened the door of the tent, and slept as soundly as if I were not
in the midst of a menagerie let loose. And here I may allude
to the fact, that it requires some practice to find a lullaby in the
serenades of jackals, hyaenas, or even of wild dogs ; to lie trust-
fully on sands that harbor scorpions, stinging beetles, and horned
asps ; and to be soothed with the murmurs of a stream, in which
the crocodile wanders and the water-serpent wriggles.
There ! flames forth the sun-shine of the tropics, flashing over
the roseate granite cliffs, and the dew-diamonded palms, and the
silvery river; the very desert smiles beneath that magical
morning power; and all who have survived the night come forth
rejoicing, from hovel and from palace, as if life were indeed a
blessing, as well as a probation. The indefatigable Mahmoud
had already unloaded the boat, preparatory to the ascejit of the
cataract; and by his provident arrangement a file of camels is
moving down the narrow pathway, to transport the cargo to
Philce, across the desert. Now the tent disappears, and leaves
as little trace as the palaces that once occupied its site. Trunks,
boxes, hen-coops, frying-pans, powder-magazines, and tables, are
piled upon the kneeling camels. They growl a little to express
those savage but servile feelings that pass for meekness and
resignation in the eyes of the world, owing to their hypocritically
resigned expression of countenance. Now, the black driver
gives an angry shriek at them, which means, " Get up, you
brute ;" and there they go, majestically towering along, as if
they were doing it all for show; while cocks are crowing on the
top of them from the hen-coops, and Abdallah is grinning his
teeth out, as he bestrides my saddle, surmounting a pile of ket-
tles and coffee-pots.
The Rais of the Cataract, and the other river authorities, did
NOCTURNAL VISITOR.
171
were glaring upon mine. Instinctively I levelled my pistol at
his fiendish countenance ; but, just as my ringer trembled on the
trigger. I saw the boat was in the line, and, crowded as she was,
though distant, the shot must have taken effect upon some
sailor. So I scared the brute with a shout, and when I ran to
the door, he had disappeared behind the rocks. The blood of
the slaughtered ram was still steaming from the sands, and I
supposed had attracted my unexpected visitor. This time I fast-
ened the door of the tent, and slept as soundly as if I were not
in the midst of a menagerie let loose. And here I may allude
to the fact, that it requires some practice to find a lullaby in the
serenades of jackals, hyaenas, or even of wild dogs ; to lie trust-
fully on sands that harbor scorpions, stinging beetles, and horned
asps ; and to be soothed with the murmurs of a stream, in which
the crocodile wanders and the water-serpent wriggles.
There ! flames forth the sun-shine of the tropics, flashing over
the roseate granite cliffs, and the dew-diamonded palms, and the
silvery river; the very desert smiles beneath that magical
morning power; and all who have survived the night come forth
rejoicing, from hovel and from palace, as if life were indeed a
blessing, as well as a probation. The indefatigable Mahmoud
had already unloaded the boat, preparatory to the ascejit of the
cataract; and by his provident arrangement a file of camels is
moving down the narrow pathway, to transport the cargo to
Philce, across the desert. Now the tent disappears, and leaves
as little trace as the palaces that once occupied its site. Trunks,
boxes, hen-coops, frying-pans, powder-magazines, and tables, are
piled upon the kneeling camels. They growl a little to express
those savage but servile feelings that pass for meekness and
resignation in the eyes of the world, owing to their hypocritically
resigned expression of countenance. Now, the black driver
gives an angry shriek at them, which means, " Get up, you
brute ;" and there they go, majestically towering along, as if
they were doing it all for show; while cocks are crowing on the
top of them from the hen-coops, and Abdallah is grinning his
teeth out, as he bestrides my saddle, surmounting a pile of ket-
tles and coffee-pots.
The Rais of the Cataract, and the other river authorities, did