In travelling either with Pharos or in search of him it was necessary to
accustom oneself to rapid movement. I was in London on June 7th, and had
found him in Naples three days later; had reached Cairo in his company
on the 18th of the same month, and was four hundred and fifty miles up
the Nile by the 27th. I had explored the mysteries of the great Temple
of Ammon as no other Englishman, I feel convinced, had ever done; had
been taken seriously ill, recovered, returned to Cairo, travelled thence
to rejoin the yacht at Port Said; had crossed in her to Constantinople,
journeyed by the Orient Express to Vienna, and on the morning of July
15th stood at the entrance to the Teyn Kirche in the wonderful old
Bohemian city of Prague.
From this itinerary it will be seen that the grass was not allowed to
grow under our feet. Indeed, we had scarcely arrived in any one place
before our remorseless leader hurried us away again. His anxiety to
return to Europe was as great as it had been to reach Egypt. On land the
trains could not travel fast enough; on board the yacht his one cry was,
"Push on, push on!" What this meant to a man like myself, who had lately
come so perilously near death, I must leave you to imagine. Indeed,
looking back upon it now, I wonder that I emerged from it alive. Looked
at from another light, I believe I could not have done so but for
Pharos. Callous as he had been to my sufferings hitherto, he could
scarcely do enough for me now. His first inquiry in the morning was as
to how I felt, and his last injunction at night was to the effect that
if I felt any return of fever I was to communicate with him immediately.
From this show of consideration on his part it would probably be argued
that I should at least have felt some gratitude toward himself. The
contrary, however, was the case. Ever since he had announced the death
of the Arab to me my fear and dislike of him had been intensified rather
than diminished. I was afraid of him very much in the same way as a man
is afraid of a loathsome snake, and yet with that fear there was a
peculiar fascination which I was powerless to resist.
We had reached Constantinople early on Thursday morning and had left for
Vienna at four o'clock in the afternoon. In the latter place we had
remained only a few hours, had caught the next available train, and
reached Prague the following morning. What our next move would be I had
not the least idea, nor did Pharos enlighten me upon the subject. Times
out of number I made up my mind that I would speak to him about it and
let him see that I was tired of so much travelling, and desired to
return to England forthwith. But I could not leave Valerie, and whenever
I began to broach the subject my courage deserted me, and it did not
require much self-persuasion to make me put the matter off for a more
convenient opportunity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account