Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1891-11-13
AN EGYPTIAN INCIDENT

Ppm going to put an end to this Egyptian
| plague" Agrowled Colonel Macpherson
eve come here every winter sail up thu
same old river, look at the same old pyra
mids-no modern additions or improve
ments-see the same abominable ole
images that have worn the same grotesqut
aspect for fifty centuries, and broil on thu
same uncomfortable decks, and all because
that boy of mine wants to become know
as an Psychologist. To the duce witt
beetles and sacred cattle. Pm tired of il
aIl.'
Out of breath with the eXertion neces
sary to this long sentence, Colonel Tavisl
MACPHERSON leans back in his comfortable
armchair and closes his eyes for nap
The cause of his trouble is not very appar
ent, and as he sits there under the avn
ing, with his half pay running Oh at the
horse guards with the rents of his deel
forests and sheep farms in the Highlands
faithfully collected and accounted for by
the factor, and with his membership fees
paid up to date at the Carlton and United
Service clubs. one could imagine that ever
Egypt would appear something other than
house of bondage. The cofonel's daha
beeh. with her big three cornered sal
trimmed to the breeze that ruffles the wa
ters of the Nile and bears her onward te
Assouam and the Great Cataract, is as
quiet and restful albeit picturesque an OBJ
ject as one would care to see, as on this
December evening of 1870 she creeps VI
the river, the lookout man on the bow
watching that the channel is followed, anG
the steersman, impressive as a mummy
4 ~.
Forward on the deck, face down or curleG
up in all sorts of odd positions, lie the
crew, molly collection of Arabs, M
bans and Osmanlis. There is nothing
stirring. The mark of the desert is on al
around. Even the sun, now nearly on q
level with the Nubian mountains away on
the horizon, looks tired and dusty. The
intense quiet bothers the colonel; so he
yawns and growls once more. He is a
widower with two children-the older a
lad of eighteen. who has already made
something of reputation as student OF
Egyptian remains, having been enamored
of the land since the evil day when the
colonel first proposed to winter on the
Nile The second is gentle lad of ten
years, well liked by everybody. He gives
his vote for Egypt every winter, because
eeoAAo
now after relics, and have promised to re-
port when the dahabeeh ties up for the
night at Assouam before Wrapping her way
through the cataract.
The colonel's eyes follow movement in
the tangled group of figures on the deck.
Two men RISE shouting at each other the
while The colonel and the dragoman,
who has just poked his head out of his
room on the deck, look on lazily Sud
denly one of the disputants makes rush
at the other-the CLEAN of steel is seen
and the crew close round the men. A
quick stroke, a shout, anger changed to
agony and Nubian lies on the deck with
the dagger of Aboo, powerful Arab. in
his breast.
All this so quickly that the colonel is
still growing that there is nothing stirring
to be seen in Egypt, when he reaches the
group, and, STOPPING over the wounded
man, draws the dagger out 1t has left an
ugly wound, but not dangerous, and as the
wounded man is taken in charge by his
comrades the colonel turns to the drago
man for an explanation.
With many profuse apologies the drago-
man tells how the two men were sleeping
side by side when the Nubian ipadvertent-
Iy put his foot against the Arabs face.
That was all. and the dragoman smiled
and bowed.
The colonel, an old disciplinarian, looked
black as night. In effective English he or
dered the dragoman, after he had discov-
cred that the matter was not reckoned
important enough for Egyptian law to rec
ognize, to anchor the dahabeeh and send a
boat ashore with the culprit and his bag
gage To the dragoman's question as to
how Aboo was to get back to Cairo the
colonel thundered that he might walk.
The dragoman bowed and smiled-it was a
habit he had learned from French friend
in Cairo-and translated the coloneFs re
mark to Aboo, adding to them such little
pleasantries as he thought of. He could
walk. His shoes-this with smile and q
bow directed to Aboo's bare feet-his shoes
might wear out but So Aboo, having
obtained his dagger and an old ring-his
only article of baggage-goes ashore NUT
tering revenge, which the dragoman inter.
prets to the colonel with a smile and g
bow The dahabeeh glides on, and in an
hour is moored at Assouam. The wander
ing relic hunters return and all aboard re.
tire, for is not the cataract to be trayersed
at shutdown tomorrow?
Before sunrise Colonel Macpherson was
awakened by the shout of the young gen
tlemaus body servant, who cried excitedly:
wake, master We can't find Master
Bob. Here is a bit of paper that lay on
his bed"
While the colonel rubbed his eyes and
looked at the scrap of Arabic the man pro
duced a commotion occurred outside, and
the dragomap rushed in with Aboo's dag
ger in his hand. 1t had been taken from
the breast of the Nubian stabbed to the
heart during the night. The boat that had
been lowed astern of the dahabeeh after
Aboo's trip ashore was gone. There was
no doubt, explained the dragoman with
his customary smile, that the Arab had
lain ashore until the lights went out, swan
aboard, knitted his enemy and left again in
the boat. At this the colonel, still holding
the paper in his hand, turns pale and
tremblingly gives It to Jack, who knows
| Arabic. Dragoman and creW crowd around
while he slowly reads, "Aboo might have
| killed the English dog tonight, but to steal
| the pride of his tent was better revenge"
| They searched for the fugitives with
| shrinking hearts after time, but never a
! trace of the boy, dead or living, did they
| find. Almost mad with grief, but not until
| the hot weather threatened his life, Colonel
| Macpherson returned to Cairo and laid the
| terrible affair personally before the khe-
| dive. But it was all in vain. Year after
| year be haunted the Nile, promising back
sheesh to an unlimited extent for the resto-
ration of his ooy. but the Arabs shook
| their heads. Aboo had disappeared with
out leaving any trace. To the father WIG
searched for his lost boy there was no lack
of interest now in Egypt.
Forward by the right; march!'
| Clear and loud comes the command, and
| the ugly, i'll conditioned steeds Of tbs
| camel corps moved forward with unaainly
step The wells of Aboo Klea are within
| sight, and Sir Herbert Stewart, who
| nlarofed nine days ago with 1900 picked
men across the desert to reach the Nile
and thence to press on to Khartoum, feels
| that his mission will be successful and thai
Gordon will be speedily relieved.
| So does Captain Jack Mac Pherson of the
| Egyptian army, attached for the present
| to the camelry, as he sails along on one Of
| the ships of the desert.
| This is an unseawortby ship, and as il
losses more than usual ne calculates
ugh, you brute. if there is an Arab at this
| wells will trade camels" With this he
] looks forward to the rocky defile by which
the route lies and sees .futte:ing above q