CHAPTER XXXII.

"We are off; the camels are loaded, and the drivers, armed with sticks, are beside them. Madame de Guéran is mounted on her mule, our two friends and myself on horseback, Joseph on his ass, and the remainder of the servants on their more gigantic steeds. Miss Poles, in a most picturesque travelling costume, with a cap on her head, a large green veil, a plaid round her body, a whole heap of useful articles pendant from a belt, her dress hooked up, and her huge feet in yellow boots and gaiters, moves to and fro, here, there, and every-where, gives a piece of her mind to one person, and an order to another, and winds up by setting out at the head of the caravan.

"'Good heavens!' says Delange, 'in that get-up she will scare away all the birds, and they tell me there are some splendid specimens to be seen on the road!'

"Some Arabs appeared to say good-bye to us, and overwhelmed us with their _Kattar-Kherak_ (may God increase your happiness); we reply to their bows and scrapes in our most courtly fashion, and off we go.

"Before leaving Souakim we pass by the Foullah, the suburb favoured by the Nomads. They live in a camp composed of tents made of matting, and held up by poles of acacia-wood. Several of these people came to the side of the road to wish us a pleasant and prosperous journey. We noticed that their bûrnus differed from those worn by the inhabitants of the towns, being of some dark material, instead of white, and consequently not so liable to be soiled. Miss Poles, who was walking close to me, and never lets anything escape her, pointed out to me several very handsome men, of dignified mien, and small, but strongly-marked features.

"After leaving the town we came to a large plain, between the sea and the mountain ranges, interspersed here and there with enormous rocks of blackish hue, which every now and then bar our progress and cause us to make a detour. On the way I amused myself by watching our camels, and I find that they take from seventy to seventy-five paces per minute, and that if you hit them or shout at them, they do not increase the number but the length of their stride. You can see by this that Miss Poles, with her stilts, will have no difficulty in keeping up with us.

"Soon we begin the ascent of the mountain-range, the temperature changes almost at once, and, in spite of the sun, some puffs of fresh air meet us in the face and revive our energies, weakened by the suffocating heat of Souakim.

"The evening closes in and the day's work is over for us, our retinue, and our animals. The baggage is unloaded and carefully stacked with the double object of rendering theft difficult and forming an intrenchment round ourselves. Whilst the camels seek a repast in the neighbouring plain, their masters collect a few branches and, having made a fire with them, proceed to cook their evening meal, consisting of parched durra.

"We are more luxurious, and have made up our minds to feast sumptuously after this first day's march. Our choicest provisions are spread out on the grass, a few bottles of our finest vintage find themselves minus their corks, and we sit down to table—that is to say, we take our seats on saddles, packs, cases, or bales. Never, my dear fellow, was there such a cheerful meal. What the future has in store for us I know not, but, to quote the old proverb, this is so much saved from the enemy.

"We are on a plateau of remarkable fertility. Delange, very strong on botany, is in his element. He calls our attention to some magnificent dragon-trees, superb dracænæ, euphorbiæ, aloes, and gigantic tufts of salvadora. All these plants, crowded together and in full growth and bloom, clothe the verdant plain. The camphor tree, mint, and thyme fill the air with their fragrance, whilst the stars are just beginning to twinkle over our heads, and the moon, half hidden by the neighbouring mountain, sends us her rays of clearest light. It is like a July or August night in France. Nothing is wanting, for even the field-crickets are chirping down below there by the side of a track worn across the plain.

Whilst we thus give ourselves up to the enjoyment of the climate and the scenery, our tents are being pitched and furnished, for, after much wise counsel, we have, in order to protect ourselves from the dampness of the grounds brought with us several sets of frame work called _angareb_, on four legs, and covered with a sort of lattice, made of thongs of bullock's hide; a mat placed on this frame serves as a mattress. You see, my dear fellow, that we have all our little comforts round us, and that we have no reason whatever to hanker after those pretty little boudoirs which it is your wont to frequent.

"We are at Singate, the summer residence of the inhabitants of Souakim, and an encampment of the Bedouins, of the tribe of Bischaris, commonly called Bishareen, situate in a large valley, shut in by the loftiest links in the mountain chain. Singate is considered as being one of the healthiest places in the country. The Governor of Souakim, when he came to say good-bye to us, told us that he would order his own residence to be placed at our disposal, and consequently we have in attendance upon us the commandant of the little Egyptian garrison which protects the district, and the greatest respect is paid to us.

"Our dinner is served under a sammor, an immense specimen of the acacia genus, whose branches extend far out and droop downwards in the shape of a parasol. The Commandant, during the evening, thought fit to present to us two Abyssinian ladies, whom a love of travel had brought to the Soudan. They belong to the upper ten. I was on the point of saying that they were women of the world. Their features are delicate, and approach the European type, their lips thick, without, however, reminding one of those of a negress, their teeth brilliantly white, their noses long and thin, and their complexion a golden yellow. Delange will persist in saying that they have lovely figures, but that impressionable young man was so smitten with the bayaderes that he is always thinking he sees replicas, so to speak, of those wonderful beings, who appear to have been an epoch in his life. I am quite content with giving you their portraits, and so I will complete them. They walk bare-footed, according to the custom of their country, where a Princess here and there alone allows herself such a luxury as red leather slippers, and their black hair shines so in the sun that I asked the Commandant to explain the phenomenon to me. He made no scruple about telling me that in order to obtain this sheen, which is quite the fashion, they put a small piece of butter on their heads, and this, melting quickly, anoints their hair from its roots to their shoulders inclusive.

"The Doctor who, I thought, would be interested in this little detail, did not seem in the least degree affected by it, and, in spite of the melted butter, to which, in his admiration, he shuts both his eyes and his nose, flirts desperately with both the fair strangers, to the great disgust of Miss Beatrice Poles.

* * * * * *

"This morning, when we wanted to start from the Wady Kokreb, near which we had passed the night, it was impossible to find Miss Poles. We shouted, we searched, we sent the interpreters out in all directions, but in vain—no one could give us any tidings of her. A camel driver said that he had been awake nearly all night, and that he had not seen her go into her tent.

"Has she been carried off by some too inflammable Bedouins?

"That would indeed be a misfortune—for them."