“You’d better get a nap,” said the professor to Perry, when
Quinward’s figure had disappeared along the sun-lit road. “We’ll be
going soon.”
The boy shook himself into reality.
“What time do we start?” he asked.
“At ten-thirty,” was the reply, “so that you can get a bite of
breakfast and forty winks, at least.”
The scientist had little sympathy with what he considered the lad’s
foolishness in staying up all night with Quinward, but he knew that
nothing would be gained by saying so, and, besides, he realized that
this persistence on the lad’s part was a sign of character. To Perry,
the whole night had been too wonderful even to talk about, and he
tumbled into a sleep so profound that when his uncle wakened him,
an hour and a half later, it took the lad a minute or two to decide
whether he was in old Egypt or in the new.
Rubbing his eyes, and yawning, for he was still fearfully tired, as
much from the reaction as the fatigue, he walked over to the window,
to look out over the Pyramids. There, immediately in front of the
hotel, was a caravan of fourteen camels, and among the drivers,
directing operations, was Arnold Wyr.
“Oh!” cried Perry, “is that our caravan?” His uncle nodded.
“Say!” ejaculated Perry, and splashed cold water on his face, “we’re
really off!”
“Just waiting for you,” the leader of the expedition responded. “I
gave you the chance to sleep right to the very last minute.”
The rest of Perry’s dressing operations resembled a motion picture
film run at full speed, and in little more than a minute he was in
full kit and a-tiptoe with eagerness to be away. He took the stairs
two at a stride, far too excited to wait for the elevator, much
to the amusement of the residents of the hotel, enervated by the
Egyptian climate.
“Oh, Mr. Wyr,” he cried, as he dashed out, “which is my camel?”
The Englishman turned to the head camel driver.
“Which is the wickedest, Michawi?” he said in English, for the boy’s
benefit, and then translated into Arabic.
Michawi smiled, showing his strong white teeth, and said, in his
broken English:
“The camel with a hurt on his neck, he is a bad one. He fights.”
He pointed to one of the camels which had a small wound on the side
of his neck.
Perry would not have backed down for the world, but he had not
bargained for this.
“All right, I’m game,” he answered.
His uncle laughed.
“Never mind, Perry,” he said, “that happens to be Mr. Wyr’s own
beast. We’ll give you something easier for a beginning. This is yours
here.”
“Do I get on him now?”
“I only hope you won’t be more anxious to get off than you are to get
on,” was the answer. “Yes, you can mount now, if you’re ready.”
“I’m ready,” the boy responded, and, as directed, clambered into the
saddle, putting his feet on the cross-bar, and awaited the word to
proceed. Michawi gave a shout, and the boy felt the great hump sway
beneath him, giving him a queer feeling of insecurity.
“Look out as he gets up!” warned his uncle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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