Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
The man-of-war orders now uttered find no place in any known code, and
in a moment the Bull Pup becomes a scene of unwonted excitement. The
jib, mainsail, and gaff topsail are hauled up to their very tautest;
finally, the cable is slipped, and then old Sandy for the first time
looks around. The boys fail to suppress a loud guffaw, and forthwith
dodge the flying tiller. The old man in the excitement had forgotten an
important factor in the navigation of sailing-craft,--namely, wind. It
was a dead calm, and had been all day, and there, almost within reach,
was a fortune,--hard and fast on the outer reef.
C.F. HOLDER.
* * * * *
ROUGHING IT IN PALESTINE.
Mohammed can do less than Mammon to-day for the infidel's ease and
comfort in Palestine. The unholy little yellow god works his modern
miracles even in the Holy Land. You have but to speak the word, and show
your purse or letter of credit, in Beirut or Jaffa, and, as suddenly as
if you had rubbed Aladdin's lamp, a retinue will be at your door to do
your bidding. First a dragoman, with great baggy trousers of silk, a
little gold-embroidered jacket over a colored vest, a girdle whose most
ample folds form an arsenal of no mean proportions, and over the swarthy
face, reposing among the black, glossy curls of a well-poised head, the
red Turkish fez; or, if Ali has an ambition to be thought possessed of
much piety of the orthodox Islamic type, the fez gives way to a turban,
white, or green if he be a pilgrim from Mecca. Behind this important
personage, as much a feature of the East as the Sphinx or the Pyramids,
stand at a respectful distance, making profound salutations, a
cook,--probably a Greek or Italian,--three muleteers, and a donkey-boy.
Behind them still are two horses,--alas! not blooded Arabs madly
champing their bits,--one for yourself and the other for Ali. Three
mules bear patiently on their backs, always more or less raw, the canvas
and poles of the two tents. In the rear is a small donkey, covered all
over with culinary utensils, nibbling fat cactus-leaves with undisguised
satisfaction. For a daily expenditure scarcely greater than is necessary
to keep soul and body together at a fashionable New York hotel on the
American plan, you become the commander of this company, within certain
limits around which there are lines as definite and as impassable as if
drawn by an Irish servant of some years' experience in the United
States. You must not travel more than thirty miles a day; you must not
change the route agreed upon, unless roads become impassable; and there
are other, minor regulations, to which you are expected to submit, and,
if you do, your progress through the land, if not triumphant, will be at
least comfortable. You will find every day at noon, spread under some
wide-armed tree, a cold lunch that even a somewhat difficult taste would
consider fairly appetizing; and at nightfall you dismount before the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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