Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1912-08-01

| g1ralning 70 Keep ms, nalance without
| the use of his hands. Fortunately
they We're not travelling very fast, oth-
| erwise, what with the stabbing pains
| in his side, produced by the unVarylng
! dog-trot, he must have fallen. he
was miserable, yet defiant; tears OF
anger and pain filed his eyes ana
burned down his cheeks in spite OF
the cloth.
And he, poor fool, had always been
longing for an adventure, taste OF
life outside the peaceful harbor where
| in he had sailed his cat-boat! Well,
here he was, in the deep-sea water;
and he read himself so truly that ne
knew the adventure he had longed Tor
had been the cut-and-dried affairs OF
story-tellers, in which only the VII
lains were seriously disconnected,
and everything ended happily. A
dashing hero he was, to be sure!
| Why hadn't he changed his clothes!
Was there ever such an ass? Ryanne
| had told him that there was likely TO
be sport; and yet he had left the ho-
tel as one dressed for the opera. ASS!
And tomorrow the Ludwig would sail
without him.
The wind blew cold against his
chest, and the fact that he could nGi-
Their see, nor use his tongue to moist
en- his bruised lips, added to the dis
comforts Back and forth he swayed
! ard rocked. The pain in his side was
gradually minimized by the torture
bearing upon his ankles, his knees.
| across his shoulders Finally, when
in dull despair he was about TO give
up and slide of. indifferent whether
the camcls following trampled him or
not, halt was called. 1t steadled
him. Some one reached up and I'M
tied the thong that strangled the life
in his hands. Forward again. Ihls
was a tri1e better. He could now
ease himself with his hands. No one
;nterfered with him when he tore on
the bandages over his eyes and
mouth. The camels were now urged
to a swifter pace.
Egyptian night, we'll called, he
thought. He could discern nothing
but phantom-lil1e grey silhouettes that
bobbed UP and down after the fashion
of corks upon water. Before him and
behind him; how many camels made
I'D the caravan he could not tell. he
could hear the faint slip-slip as the
beasts shuf!ed forward in the fine
heavy sand. They were well out into
the desert, but what desert was as
yet q mystery. He had forgotten to
keep the points of the compass in his
mind. And TO pick out his bearings
by any particular star was to him no
more simple than translating Chinese.
Far, far away behind he saw a luml-
nous pallor in the sky, the reflected
l!Chts of Cairo. And only few hours
ago he had complained to the head
waiter because Of the bits Of cork
floating in his glass Of wine. All, for
the dregs OF that bottle now; warmth,
revival, new courage! Curse
the luck! There went one Of his
pumps. He called out The man rid.
ing in front and leading Georges
camel merely gave yank at the rope.
The camel responded with q cough
and a quickened gait.
Presently George became aware OF
a singular fact: that he could see out
Of one eye better than the other;
and that the semi-useless orb shot out
little stars with every beat of his
heart. One of his ears, too, began to
throb and burn. He felt of IL. 1t was
less like an ear than mushroom. 1t
had been e rafting good mix-up, any
how; and he accepted the knowledge
rather proudly that the George Percl'
val Algernon, who but lately had en-
tered the EnglishBar sprucely and
had made his exit in kind of negli-
gible attire, had left behind one char
acter and brought away another New
err again was he going to be shy: the
tame tiger, as it were, had had his
first taste Of blood.
Dawn, dawn; if only the horizon
would brighten up little so that he
could get his bearings. By now they
were at least fifteen or twenty miles
from Cairo; but in what direction?
Hour after hour went by; over this
huge grey roll Of sand, down into that
cup-like valley; soundless save when
the camels protested or his stirrup
clinked against a buckle; all with the
somber aspect Of scene from Dante.
Several black spots, moving in circles
far above, once attracted George; and
he knew them to be kites, which will
follow q caravan into the desert even
as a gull will follow ship out to sea,
Later, a torpid Indifference took pos
session OF him, and the sense Of pain
grew less under the encroachinG
numbness.
And when at last the splendor OF
the dawn upon the desert flashed like
a sword-blade along the sky in the
east, grew and widened, George COM
Ia