is with a sword in his hand � the weary bodies lay senseless under the palm trees he took a large shining date out of the s beard io illustrations face stand up cried stand up don t fret john cried his wife the colonel was the of this terrible good bye little on this stood a solitary motionless figure � the colonel leaned forward with his pistol you haven t got such a thing as a cigar asked the colonel not a word not a word i he cried the were caught between two fires c he delivered them from their distress a desert drama � � chapter i he public may possibly wonder why it is that they have never heard in the papers of the fate of the passengers of the in these days of universal press to the slightest it may well seem incredible that an incident of such importance should remain so long suffice it that there were very reasons both of a personal and political nature for holding it back the facts were well known to a good number of people at the time and some version of them did actually appear in a provincial paper but was generally they have now been thrown into hi a desert drama narrative form the incidents having been from the sworn statements of colonel of the army and navy club and from the letters of miss of boston mass these have been by the evidence of captain of the egyptian corps as given before the secret government inquiry at mr james has refused to put his version of the matter into writing but as these proofs have been submitted to him and no or has been made in them it may be supposed that he has not succeeded in any grave of fact and that any objection which he may have to their publication depends rather upon private and personal scruples the a stem with a inch draught and the lines of a flat iron started upon the th of february in the year from at the head of the first bound for i have a passenger card for the trip which i produce a desert drama s w � � february i th passengers colonel � � london mr brown london john h boston u s a miss boston u s a miss s mass u s a paris mr and mrs james rev john mrs nurse and child this was the party as it started from with the intention of travelling up the two hundred miles of which lie between the first and the second it is a singular country this varying in breadth from a few miles to as many yards for the name is only applied to the narrow portion which is capable of cultivation it extends in a thin green palm fringed strip upon either side of the broad river beyond it there stretches on the bank a savage and desert extending to the whole breadth of africa on the other side an equally a desert drama late wilderness is bounded only by the distant red sea between these two huge and barren like a green sand worm along the course of the river here and there it altogether and the runs between black and sun cracked hills with the orange drift sand lying like in their valleys everywhere one sees traces of vanished races and grotesque graves dot the hills or stand up against the sky line graves graves rock graves � everywhere graves and occasionally as the boat rounds a rocky point one sees a deserted city up above � houses walls with the sun shining through the empty window squares sometimes you learn that it has been roman sometimes egyptian sometimes all record of its name or origin has been absolutely lost you ask yourself in amazement why any race should build in so uncouth a solitude and you find it difficult to accept the theory that this has only been of value as a guard house to the richer country down below and that these a desert drama frequent cities have been so many to hold off the wild and men of the south but whatever be their explanation be it a fierce neighbour or be it a change there they stand these grim and silent cities and up on the hills you can see the graves of their people like the port holes of a man of war it is through this weird dead country that the smoke and gossip and as they pass up to the egyptian frontier the passengers of the formed a merry party for most of them had travelled up together from to and even saxon ice rapidly upon the they were fortunate in being without the single disagreeable person who in these small boats is sufficient to mar the enjoyment of the whole party on a vessel which is little more than a large steam the bore the or the holds the company at his mercy but the was free from anything of the kind colonel was one of those officers whom the british government act a desert drama ing upon a large system of declares at a certain age to be incapable of further service and who the worth of such a system by spending their declining years in exploring or shooting lions in he was a dark straight man with a courteously manner but a steady questioning eye very neat in his dress and precise in his habits a gentleman to the tips of his trim finger nails in his saxon dislike to he had cultivated a self contained manner which was apt at first acquaintance to be and he seemed to those who really knew him to be at some pains to conceal the kind heart and human emotions which influenced his actions it was respect rather than affection which he inspired among his fellow travellers for they felt 