CHAPTER I
NABUL AND HIS LITTLE WHITE DONKEY
"HI-YAH! Hi-yah! Who will ride on Nabul's little donkey,--the swiftestdonkey in all the great city of Cairo?" called out a shrill, clearvoice. Through the crowded street there clattered a little white donkeyand on his back was a small boy, laughing merrily and waving a shortstick in one hand.
"Oh, look to thy face! Oh, look to thy heels! Oh, make way for me, goodpeople!" cried the little boy as he guided his donkey skilfully throughthe crowd by taps with his heels.
As the donkey pushed his way along, everybody laughed good-naturedly,and stepped aside.
"'Tis only that imp of mischief, Nabul, and his donkey," they would sayas they made way for the little rider, for everybody knew and likedlittle Nabul Ben Hassan, the youngest donkey boy in Cairo.
Presently the donkey trotted around a corner and nearly upset a littletable of cakes, beside which sat an old man fast asleep. "Plague onthee, dost thou not yet know how to drive a donkey?" grumbled the oldfellow, who woke up just in time to save his cakes.
"Nay, father, 'tis thou who knowst not how to sell cakes, for thouwast fast asleep, while the flies ate the sugar from thy cakes withoutpaying for it," answered Nabul. This made the passers-by laugh, forNabul was a great favourite in the quarter, and the old cake-seller wasnot, for sometimes he tried to cheat them when they came to buy hisround, brown cakes covered all over with honey.
Nabul now hurried on the faster. He was anxious to reach the squarewhere all the donkey boys of the city were to be found at noon, for hehad a great piece of news to tell his chum Abdal, who would be sure tobe there.
Nabul had just come from the big hotel in the main street where, alongwith all the other donkey boys, he liked to trot his little donkey upand down the street in front of the veranda, or terrace, of the hotel,hoping to attract the attention of those strange-speaking people whocame from over the seas to see his country and to ride on the littleEgyptian donkeys.
Indeed, truth to tell, the donkey boys thought the strangers came toEgypt just for that purpose, and out of compliment to the travellers,and with an eye to business, many of the boys named their donkeys afterthe great people of the various countries. There was a "King Edward"and a "Chamberlain" and a "Lord Cromer," to please the English, andanother donkey was named after the French President "Fallieres," whileNabul himself called his "Teddy,"--you all know who that is,--and heusually called him "Teddy Pasha," because Pasha means, in his language,a great man.
Nabul already knew about America, that big country so far away, fordid he not have an uncle who had been a "donkey boy" in "The Streetsof Cairo" at the great Chicago Exposition, and was even now at a placecalled Coney Island? This uncle wrote him letters full of tales ofwonderful doings, and did he not know also two of the oldest donkeyboys now in Cairo who had been to the big Exposition in America?
Little Nabul never tired of listening to the marvellous tales theybrought back with them, and in this way he came to know how to tell theAmericans from the other strangers who visited Cairo, as he watchedthem sitting on the broad terrace of the hotel.
It was the Americans who laughed and joked the most with the littledonkey boys. Often, too, if they happened to be in a very good humour,they would throw them _milliemes_, the smallest of Egyptian coins, andthen such a scramble as went on among the boys down in the street aseach tried to get a coin. This would only make the visitors laugh themore, when they would scatter more coins.
"What a country must be that from whence these strangers come," thoughtNabul to himself, "that one can throw away money like that! How Ishould like to go there! Perhaps we will some day, Teddy Pasha. I won'tgo without thee," he went on, tapping the little donkey gently withhis heels, as he sat proudly on his back. He was turning all this overin his mind to-day as he rode to find his cousin Abdal, who was mostprobably taking his midday rest with the other donkey boys.
When he reached the square it was noon. Here, in the shade of thelocust and mimosa trees which bordered the square, stood dozens ofdonkeys of all sizes and colours,--white and brown and black and graydonkeys,--with bright-coloured saddles and blankets, and on theirbridles and around their necks were strings of little jingling bells.
There are a great many donkeys in Egypt, for almost everybody uses adonkey on which to get about, and for that reason there are so manydonkey boys who make a business of hiring out their clever littleanimals.
Some of the donkeys were fast asleep,--that is, they had their eyestight shut, but one can never tell when a donkey is shamming; otherswere looking very wise out of the corners of their eyes, but it mayhave been that they were only planning how to dodge their work, orwondering if they could rub their saddles off against the tree-trunks,and thus give their young masters a little trouble. No one can possiblyguess what a donkey is thinking about, though it is safe to say thatEgyptian donkeys, like donkeys the world over, are generally up tomischief.
Meanwhile the young owners of the donkeys were stretched out on theground in the shade. Some were playing a game like knuckle-bones;others were eating their lunch of honey cakes and dates, but all werechattering away at the top of their voices like so many magpies.
"Ho, here comes the little one!" they all cried out as Nabul rode up,sliding off his donkey and dropping down beside a boy a little olderthan himself. Meanwhile his little white donkey made at once for thebunch of his fellows and began pushing them about without ceremony, inorder to make room for himself in the shade. This of course ended in agreat braying and biting of ears, and the boys had to jump up and layabout them with their sticks before order was restored.
"Thy Pasha is like one possessed of an evil spirit," said one of theboys as he went back to his game.
"Nay, he is but masterful; see, he obeys one without the stick. Comehere, little dove," called Nabul, who whistled to the little donkey whowriggled his long ears and came as meek as a lamb and stood by the sideof his master.
"Abdal," said Nabul eagerly in a low voice to his companion lying inthe shade, "I have good news for you. As I came by the big hotel I sawMustapha, the dragoman, and he told me that it might be that he wouldwant our donkeys to-morrow. There are two strangers at the hotel whohave taken him for their dragoman. They have come from America in a bigwhite ship to Alexandria, after many days on the ocean, and they are tostay a long time in our country. Mustapha is to be their guide, and ifthey want donkeys to ride Mustapha will see that they hire ours," andhere Nabul paused for breath.
"Of a truth they will want donkeys, does not every one who comes toCairo take a donkey ride through the bazaars and under the trees ofthe broad avenue leading out to the great pyramids?" demanded Abdal,sitting up and becoming as excited as his friend.
"Yes, but these strangers want to do more than that, for Mustapha saysthey may stay in our country for many weeks. One of these strangers isa boy like ourselves, and did you ever hear of a boy walking when hecould ride?" asked Nabul triumphantly.
"But this boy may be different," said Abdal doubtfully; "however, ifMustapha has promised--"
"Well, he has," interrupted Nabul, "so to-morrow we must take care tobe the first to show ourselves before them."
The two boys talked it over awhile longer as they ate their bread anddates and bit of cheese which they each took from a big pocket insidetheir long gowns. Abdal then ran across the square and bought a melonfrom a fruit merchant who sat there on a round, straw mat with hisstock of melons heaped about him. After they had finished this the twocousins mounted and galloped away, each in a different direction.
Nabul and Teddy Pasha did some business that afternoon, carrying a fewpeople up and down the busy streets in the centre of the city, but insuch an absent-minded fashion on Nabul's part that he very nearly letthe Pasha rub a fat old gentleman, who was riding him, off against awall. The streets in the older part of Cairo are very, very narrow andcrooked.
Usually it was quite dark when Nabul came home in the evening, butto-day he was anxious to tell the good news
to his mother and thelittle sisters, so at sundown he and Teddy Pasha turned toward home.
As the little donkey trotted into the narrow street by the river wherehe and Nabul lived, Nabul's two little sisters came running to meetthem. They had been watching for their brother as was their habit everyevening, for often if he and Teddy were not too tired when they gothome, they would be given a little canter to the end of the street andback, and they knew also that there were usually cakes or sweets inNabul's pockets for them.
Nabul was very fond of his little sisters and good to them, better thanlittle Egyptian boys often are to little girls; and as for the twolittle girls, they thought there was nobody in Cairo like their bigbrother.
The little girls were dressed in long blue cotton gowns and each worea black veil wound around her head and hanging down to her waist. Oneof their greatest pleasures was to go out into the crowded city withNabul, for they seldom went far away from their home by themselves.
This evening they hung close to their brother as he led Teddy into hisstable, which was on the ground floor of the house. Nabul laughed ashe caught Zaida peeping into his pocket. "Yes, I have brought theea sweet morsel," he said, taking a little stick out of his pocket,on which were threaded a row of small cakes, "but I have brought yousomething better than sweetmeats, a piece of good fortune--maybe it maymean new dresses--who knows?" and he ran up the stairs laughing, withthe little girls close behind and asking all sorts of questions.
NABUL WITH HIS MOTHER AND SISTERS.]
Thus they tumbled into the big family living-room quite out of breath."Thou makest noise enough for a small army, my children," said theirmother, who was setting out the evening meal. "Thou art home early, myson, but all must be well, for thou art merry."
"He has a secret and will not tell it to us, mother," cried Menah, theeldest sister.
"Now you shall hear it, I waited to tell the mother first," saidNabul as he told his story of the strangers who wanted to engage twodonkeys and their drivers for, as he hoped, many weeks.
"It would seem, indeed, to be the hand of good fortune which is heldout toward thee," said the mother Mizram.
They all sat around on the floor, which was covered with matting, andMizram gave each one a thin, flat sort of pancake made of corn mealwell browned. This was their plate, and on it she heaped up a stewof mutton and big red peppers fried in oil. Children are never toohappy nor too excited to eat, but between each mouthful they talkedtheir prospects over and over again, and were only sorry to think thattheir father was not here, too, to hear the good news. Nabul's father,Mahomet Ben Hassan, was the captain of a dahabeah, an Egyptian sailingboat, which carried merchandise and native passengers up and down theriver Nile. He was away now on a trip and would not be home again fora week or more. An Egyptian household is very industrious, and everyone of a suitable age and state of health is always very much occupied.Soon even the little girls would be taught to embroider, and their workwould be sold to some merchant in the great Bazaar, and he in turnwould sell it to strangers at, of course, a much higher price than thelittle girls would get for their labour.
When the girls had eaten the cakes that Nabul had brought them and somefruit, they sat in the big window that overlooked the river, and Abdalcame in and sat with them until bedtime. Abdal's home was on a farmnear Cairo, but since he had become a donkey boy he lived with friendsjust at the top of the street.
The little girls and their mother slept on a broad cot in the backroom, up against the wall which was hung with matting to keep off thechill, but Nabul just rolled himself up in a woollen coverlid and slepton the hard matted floor, just as soundly, too, as he would have donein a soft bed.
As you may imagine, little Nabul did not oversleep the next morning.He was up with a bound as soon as he heard the call of the old muezzinfrom the little gallery of a near-by mosque, for that meant it wastime for every one to get up and say his morning prayers and beginthe work of the day. All over Cairo are found these Mohammedan placesof worship, and from their towers and minarets, five times a day, themuezzin's call to prayer serves the people for a town clock.
"Thou must put on thy best clothes to-day," said Nabul's mother, as sheopened a low wooden box painted green with red and gold decorations.This was Nabul's own particular trunk, and from it was taken his bestsuit. Instead of the blue cotton gown which Nabul usually wore, heto-day put on a white one that had pretty yellow silk stripes in it,tying it in with a broad red silk sash at his waist. After this hestuck his little turban jauntily on the side of his head so that itslong black tassel hung right down over one eye, but he did not seem tomind this in the least.
"There will not be another donkey boy in Cairo as fine as thee," saidlittle Zaida, clapping her hands, while Menah stuffed in her brother'spocket a piece of sweet bread and some dates wrapped in a handkerchieffor his lunch. Nor did she forget a couple of morsels of sugar forTeddy Pasha.
Nabul now rushed down-stairs to the stable, the Pasha neighing goodmorning to him as he heard his little master come in the door. Nabulbrushed and rubbed the little donkey down until his coat was as fineand glossy as a little donkey's coat could be. Then he dusted offthe gaily coloured blanket and threw it over Teddy Pasha's back, andstrapped on the high padded red saddle, after which, catching thebridle, hung with red tassels and little bells in his hand, he sprangon his back, Teddy looking back at his little master and wiggling hisears as though he quite approved of everything that had been done.
"Now be off, little dove, we are fine enough for the Khedive himself,"said Nabul, waving a good-bye with his stick to the home folks, andriding away to join Abdal, who was just then leading his donkey out ofits stable door near by.
"Art thou ready?" cried Nabul as he came up to his cousin. Abdal noddedand mounted quickly, and away went the two boys laughing and shoutingand calling out pet names to their donkeys as they galloped along.
Soon the boys had left the narrow winding streets of old Cairo behindthem, and were trotting past the beautiful gardens and through the widethoroughfares where are only the fine modern houses and big hotels.Finally they halted in front of the great hotel where the strangerswere staying.
Early as it was, there was a crowd of natives standing on the sidewalkand gathered about the steps leading from the broad terrace to thestreet. All of them were hoping to attract the attention of the guestsof the hotel, some of whom were already eating their breakfasts atlittle tables set about on the terrace.
There were beggars of all sorts asking alms, and street peddlerswith their wares well displayed. Some of these were loaded down withheavy rugs and draperies, others had their arms full of gold andsilver embroideries, or tinsel knickknacks of all kinds. There weresnake-charmers and musicians and jugglers too. It was like a circusor a county fair. There were the dragomans, as the guides are called,in a group all by themselves, looking as if they owned the earth,as they swaggered grandly up and down the pavement dressed in theirhandsome silk clothes. No wonder they felt proud, for they were a big,fine-looking lot of fellows, and most of them spoke many languages. Ourtwo little friends looked at them with admiration, for you must knowit is the ambition of every donkey boy to become a dragoman himselfsome day.
In spite of the haste of our little friends, there were already otherdonkey boys ahead of them. These were gathered about a tall dragomanwho stood leaning against the railings smoking his cigarette and payingnot a bit of attention to them.
"There is Mustapha, the dragoman," whispered Nabul to his friend,pointing to the group; "he too has on his beautiful new clothes."
"Yes, and see how those other fellows stick close to him, like fliesaround a honey jar," answered Abdal.
"Aha! they well know that Mustapha is the most popular dragoman inCairo, and they hope that he will hire their donkeys," answered Nabul.
Our two little friends now slipped off their donkeys and ran up to thebig dragoman, crying, "We are here, oh, Mustapha! send away theseothers."
This made the other boys clamour all
the louder. Meanwhile Mustaphapaid not the slightest attention to any of them, but went on puffingaway at his cigarette, for Egyptians have the bad habit of smoking oneof these nasty little cigarettes at nearly all times.
Mustapha did indeed look gorgeous. He had on a bright green silkgarment and over this a pale yellow silk gown; a rich red sash waswound round his waist many times and around his head was rolled thefolds of a great silken turban of white and gold.
"Thou will want us, oh, Mustapha?" questioned Nabul at last in awhisper, giving Mustapha's sleeve a tug to remind the great man thatthey were still there.
"Who can tell? Allah alone knows the mind of these strangers," answeredthe dragoman, finally. "It may be that they will even want to ride inone of those evil-smelling flying carriages," he continued, throwing ascornful glance at a big automobile that just at that moment came to ahalt beside them, one of the few to be seen in Egypt.
It is true that there are even automobiles in Egypt, and every dragomanand donkey boy is very jealous of them, for they are afraid that ifthere are too many automobiles, people will not ride on their camelsand donkeys.
"Who would not rather ride on a beautiful donkey like mine than in oneof those noisy, smelly things?" said Abdal, patting his little donkey'shead.
"Hush, here come the two strangers," whispered Abdal, as a little boy,followed by a tall gentleman, came out on to the terrace.
But Mustapha's quick eye had seen them, and forgetting his loftymanners he tossed away his cigarette and was smiling and bowing down tothe ground when the little American boy ran up to him, crying: "Hereis our dragoman, isn't he splendid, and look at all the little donkeys!Oh, do let us take a donkey ride right now, Uncle Ben," he went oneagerly, "wouldn't that be lots of fun, so much better than trampingabout as we did yesterday?"
"Well, it's the thing to do when one comes to Egypt, so perhaps we hadbetter try it if you think I can find a donkey high enough to keepmy feet off the ground," said the tall gentleman, looking the littledonkeys over.
All the donkey boys saw that he was talking about them, and pressedeagerly around, waving their sticks wildly, and each calling out thathis was the best and fastest donkey in Cairo, and there was no otherlike him in all the world.
Little Nabul, with his arm over the Pasha's neck, called out as loudlyas any of them, but his heart sank when he saw the little American puthis hand on the bridle of one of the other donkeys standing near him.What chance had he among so many big fellows? And suppose Mustaphaforgot his promise, after all! Mustapha was so busy talking to the tallgentleman that he paid no attention to the boys.
At that moment a big donkey boy pushed Nabul so roughly to one sidethat both he and Teddy Pasha came very near tumbling between the longlegs of a great wobbly camel that was just coming down the street ladenwith big sacks of grain hung across the humps on his back.
"You ought to be ashamed of yourself to hit a little fellow like that,"cried the little American boy, who had seen it all. "You are twice asbig as he."
Meanwhile Nabul had recovered his balance with tears of anger andmortification in his eyes. His pretty suit was splashed with mud, andthe end of the rough, heavy sack that was slung across the camel's backhad badly scratched the Pasha's saddle. With his heart almost burstingwith grief and rage he went at the big boy with Abdal close behind him.If he could only give him a good whack with his stick!
"That's right, go for him," shouted the little American excitedly,rushing down the steps, "I'll help you out!" For a minute it looked asif there would be a general fight, but Mustapha with great dignity gotbetween the boys and talked so sternly in Arabic to the big one that hewas glad enough to slink away to the farther side of the street, gladindeed that he had not got the beating which he deserved.
"Never mind," said the little American to Nabul, "I will ride yourdonkey. I think he is the nicest of them all, anyway."
Nabul did not understand all he said, but he knew what he meant quicklyenough.
"Oh, yes," he cried, "me speak American, too."
"Oh, can you? Then we can talk together and we shall understand eachother very well," cried the little American with great joy.
Nabul was so happy that he could only grin and point to the Pasha."Teddy Pasha, his name, Teddy Pasha," he kept on saying.
"Oh, Uncle Ben, his little donkey is named Teddy; we must have him now,mustn't we?" cried George, as our little American friend was named.
"I don't imagine he can talk very much 'American' as he calls it,"replied Uncle Ben, "but Mustapha has just been telling me that thesetwo boys are good reliable little fellows and advises us to take them."
"I am sure they are," said George, enthusiastically, who had alreadymade friends with the Pasha.
"Well, so long as you have made up your mind to see Egypt on donkeyback, and are going to make your staid old uncle do the same thing, wewill try these two boys and their donkeys to-day, and if they suit uswe will engage them for the whole time we are here," said his uncle.
"Oh, you will be sure to like it, Uncle Ben," said George coaxingly;but he well knew that his uncle would do anything to please him, evento riding on a jolting donkey over the rough streets of Cairo.