CHAPTER V
AN EGYPTIAN FARM
THE little folks and the donkeys as well were wild to get on shoreagain and stretch their legs a bit, for they had not left the boatfor several days. As soon as they could get away from the boat theyscampered off past the big hotels where many tourists were sitting onthe verandas and in the gardens sipping cool drinks just as they did atCairo.
Everywhere George and his uncle were followed around by people whowanted to sell them relics which they said they had found in theancient ruins,--coins and scarabs and pottery, and all sorts of oddthings. Mustapha waved them all away. "Their antiquities are onlymake-believes," he said, with contempt. "There are people who makethese imitations, and these fellows make a business by selling them totravellers as real curiosities. Sometimes there were real treasuresthat could be picked up at a bargain, but not so many as in the olddays," said Mustapha.
Sun-up next morning found our little party riding out on anotherexcursion. Mizram had packed many good things to eat in a big palm-leafbasket covered over with green leaves to keep the things cool, and thiswas slung across Teddy Pasha's broad back. Our friends were to have apicnic among some riverside ruins.
Soon they were riding between two rows of stone figures; an avenue ofSphinxes, like the great Sphinx at the Pyramids, only much smaller, andin a few minutes more all dismounted at the entrance to a great temple.
Such a rabble surrounded them! Beggars clamouring for backsheesh,people wanting to guide them through the ruins, and vendors of relics.Mustapha and the boys had to use their sticks freely to make the crowdstand back.
Two donkey boys promised to look after the donkeys, so afterthreatening them with all sorts of dire punishments if any harm shouldcome to their animals, Nabul and his cousin ran after their littleAmerican friend.
For several hours Mustapha led his little band in and out among thegreat columns and across the broad courts of ancient temples. Thereseemed to be thousands of these columns, some standing in long rows,others lying broken on the ground. How the children stared at thepictures painted on the walls by the old Egyptians, the colours asfresh as if they had just been painted. Mustapha showed them how thesepictures made a regular story-book, if one only knew how to read them.Here were a lot of pictures that told all about the doings of one ofthe Pharaohs,--how he went to war and the battles he fought. Therewere other pictures showing how he went hunting, and the various kindsof animals and birds he had brought back with him from the chase.
The children thought it was most amusing to read a story-book likethat, and went about trying to make up stories for themselves out ofthe pictures.
They stopped to watch a number of men hard at work among the ruinslifting a fallen stone column. More than three hundred Egyptians wereworking to set up the fallen columns and clear away the rubbish, andthey worked in much the same way as did the ancient Egyptians who builtthe same temples. There were many young boys, too, helping to pull onthe long ropes by which the columns were raised.
"Come, let us hunt and perhaps we can find some relics for ourselves,"said Nabul. "One of the donkey boys last year found a little statue."
"I would like to find a mummy," exclaimed George, as the boys went towork prodding in the sand with their sticks.
"Mummies are too heavy to carry away," said Abdal, wisely shaking hishead.
"I should like to find a doll," whispered Menah to her sister as theytoo turned over the sand in their little fingers, thinking of her owncurious little dolls at home fashioned after the same manner as thosefrequently found among the ruins. "You remember the great travellerwho went with our father in the dahabeah to some old city? How he hadmany men to dig in the sand for him, and how they found many wonderfulthings there? Well, he said that often the dolls and toys that wereput in a little girl's tomb would be made of gold and silver," repliedMenah. "I should like a doll of real gold to play with."
Pretty soon the children tired of their search and stretched themselvesout in the shade of an enormous stone column to rest.
Our party made many excursions to see many other old ruins, and one dayMustapha took them to see some funny camel races. It was the queerestthing in the world to see the long-legged camels come swinging along,covering yards and yards of ground at each step, each camel ridden byan Arab in flowing white dress and head covering. After this there wasa race among the donkey boys. Nabul and Abdal were wild to join inthis, but found it was against the rules for outsiders to enter.
"They are jealous, they know we could beat these up-country donkeys,"Nabul consoled himself with saying, but he hurrahed with everybody elseall the same when a lively little gray donkey, ridden by a small boy ina green dress, reached the goal first and got the prize.
One morning early found the _Isis_ again sailing up the rivertoward Assouan and the Great Cataract, which was to be their laststopping-place.
When George and Uncle Ben arrived at Assouan it was market-day, and thesquare by the riverside was filled with all sorts of queer people andthings.
For centuries lower Egypt had been periodically flooded and then driedout again, and the poor native farmers and fellaheen had sufferedgreatly, many, many thousands even dying of starvation. All the greatvolume of water in the river Nile became at certain seasons a meretrickling rivulet.
In late years a plan whereby all lower Egypt was to be properlywatered and drained has made even the poorest of the labourers of thecountryside happy and prosperous. This great benefit was brought aboutby the building of a great dam just above Assouan, and as the water waslet through little by little in the dry season, and properly stored upwhen it flowed in abundance, it proved to be just the treatment thatwas needed to make an otherwise suffering people quite contented withtheir lot.
"I want to see the great Assouan dam," said George one morning as heand Uncle Ben were just finishing their breakfast. George was a mostinquiring little fellow, and he had heard some men talking of thisgreat work at the hotel, and he wanted to see for himself what itreally was.
George had become so expert with donkeys, that Uncle Ben called him_his_ little donkey boy. Soon all was ready and Mustapha headed thelittle procession that made its way quickly along through clouds ofdust and began struggling over a stony desert road.
Little Menah was riding behind George and Mustapha had been graciousenough to let Zaida sit behind him. The reason of this was that thedonkey boys on the quay, who were a lot of wild young fellows from thedesert, had come to blows among themselves as to which of their numbershould go with our party to supply the two extra donkeys required,whereupon Mustapha said he wouldn't have any of them, that they were aset of black heathens anyway,--for some were little negro boys from theSoudan,--so he borrowed a donkey from a friend of his for himself, anddivided up the party in this way.
Mustapha was so big and fat and his donkey so small that poor littleZaida had scarcely any room to sit comfortably. George could hear Menahshaking with laughter at her sister's efforts to keep from slipping offat every bounce the donkey gave.
Meanwhile Mustapha, quite unconscious that they were amused at him, wasgravely telling them that the high wall of bricks which followed theirroad was the old-time boundary to Egypt and was built to keep back thehordes of barbarians from the south, but now Egypt was a much greatercountry and went far beyond this wall.
Soon they came into a little village on the bank of the river whichspread out here like a lake. The children laughed when they dismountedand looked at each other. They were so covered with dust that the brownlittle Egyptians looked white. They shouted and clapped their handswith glee when Mustapha told them to get into a big boat painted withthe brightest colours. Six tall black Soudanese, dressed in white, withred fezes, pulled at the oars, keeping time to a queer sort of chant.The children were so busy watching the rowers that, before they knewit, they were gliding past a tiny temple that seemed to be rising outof the water.
"This is the ancient temple of Philae, one of the most beautiful inEgypt," said Mustapha. "It
is on an island, but since the great dam ofAssouan was built the island itself is covered by water, and if thedam is raised still higher, as they talk of doing, the little templewill be entirely covered with water, or perhaps destroyed, which wouldbe a pity."
On arriving at the great dam they got into another boat which took themover the First Cataract, or waterfall, on the Nile. Not over the worstpart of it by any means, but quite "scary" enough for the little girls.Shortly after they were again back at Assouan.
George would have liked to have kept on up the river to the cityof Khartoum, where there is a great school or college erected as amemorial to General Gordon, who opened up and first introduced outsidecivilization into these parts, but their plans would not permit ofspending the extra time. To-day this magnificent school is filled withintelligent, hard-working Egyptian boys who, when they leave collegeand go out among their fellows, do much to benefit and lift them fromthe ignorance and superstition which formerly existed.
So the _Isis_ was headed for home, and the good dahabeah raced along,borne by the strong current of the river, as if it knew it was on itsway home. The happy days passed quickly and our little friends had manyadventures of which there is not time to tell you.
As they came to the wide fertile country above Cairo, and nearedAbdal's home, the children were on a sharp lookout, and Abdal waswondering who would come down to the river to meet them. When the_Isis_ did run her sharp prow into the bulrushes at the littlelanding-place for the farm of Abdal's father, where Mustapha proposedto stop, not only were all of Mustapha's friends there, but most ofthe villagers besides, and they all gave the visitors the heartiest ofwelcomes. There was Abdal's father and mother and the baby, and hislittle brother, who kissed him on both cheeks, and each in turn tookthe hand of each visitor, kissing his own hand at the same time, apretty little custom among these people.
After the actual landing Uncle Ben and George mounted the donkeys,and followed by the others on foot, all talking and in the highestspirits, they rode for some distance through great fields of cotton andrice until they came to a little village nestled away in the midst ofpalm-trees.
Here they stopped at Abdal's father's house, which was the biggest inthe village, for Ali-Hijaz was the chief man of the little village andhad many "fellaheen," or labourers, working in his cotton, rice, andcane fields.
Ali-Hijaz's house, like all the houses in the village, was built of mudbricks, which had first been baked by the sun; it was thatched withpalm-leaves, and the trunks of palm-trees strengthened the walls andformed the rafters. Their host invited them into a large room, wherethey all seated themselves on mats spread on the hard earthen floor.While Ali-Hijaz offered Mr. Winthrop a long-stemmed pipe to smoke,Abdal and Nabul ran to the little Arab cafe of the village and sooncame back bringing a big metal tray on which were a number of smallcups and tiny tin pots of coffee. This was put in the middle of thefloor and each person was served with a cup and one of the little potsof coffee. Menah and Zaida amused themselves playing with the baby,while their two mothers gossiped together, and George made friends withAbdal's little brother Amad, whom he thought looked very cunning in hiswhite cotton gown and little turban stuck on his clean-shaven head.
"Just think, Uncle Ben," laughed George, "he can barely walk and yet hegoes to the village school at _five_ o'clock in the morning and staystill sundown, only coming home for dinner in the middle of the day.Whew! but that's hard work!"
"And then, all he learns is to recite the Koran--the MohammedanBible--at the top of his voice," replied Mr. Winthrop.
"A LAZY-LOOKING OLD CAMEL WAS SLOWLY TURNING A GREATCREAKING WOODEN WHEEL."]
"That little mite!" said George with a mock groan. "Well, I am glad Igo to school in America."
But Amad seemed to grow fat in spite of it, and was at the head of theprocession when the children trooped out to see the village. All thehouses looked alike, with only one big wooden door and no windows,just little slits in the walls for air and light. Within most of thesehouses there was no furniture of any kind, save some rugs, mats, andcooking utensils, and a few boxes made of the wood of the palm-tree, inwhich to keep the family clothes. Abdal's father had two European bedsin his house which he had brought from Cairo, but the villagers had nouse for such new-fangled things. As they walked along all the littlevillage children ran out to talk to Abdal and followed them until, asNabul said, the procession looked like a kite with a long tail. Therewere almost as many dogs as children, and George fought rather shyof the fierce-looking mongrel curs that barked at their heels.
Abdal took them into the fields where there was a "sakiyeh," orwater-wheel, by which the fields are watered. A lazy-looking old camelwas slowly turning a great creaking wooden wheel, and this turnedanother wheel on the rim of which were fastened a lot of earthen jars.These jars were filled with water as the wheel went down into a sortof well, and as it came up the water from the jars was emptied into aditch which carried it over the fields in every direction.
Here for the first time George saw a camel ploughing, and such a funnyplough it was! Just a log of wood with a pointed iron tip at one endand an upright pole at the other, by which the ploughman could guide it.
When they got back to the home at sunset they found Ali-Hijaz hadpersuaded Mr. Winthrop to stay a day or two, as there was some goodbird shooting in his rice fields, a sport of which Uncle Ben was veryfond. This pleased the children, and that evening they had lots offun playing one of their games called "Playing Pasha." They electeda "Pasha," and the choice fell on George, whom they put in a kind oflitter made of palm branches. Four of their number carried this ontheir shoulders while the rest ran beside carrying lighted wisps ofstraw and hay for make-believe torches. One of the boys meanwhile beata drum, and another played a small flute; and thus they marched aroundthe village until the torches were all burned out and their motherscalled them to bed.
The two guests were made comfortable in one of the beds, which wereonly kept for grand occasions like this, and early the next morning Mr.Winthrop and his host, with Mustapha, were off to shoot rice birds.
"We will go and see the wild pigeons," said Abdal, as the boys wonderedhow they should amuse themselves. "I know where there are many of themroosting in the trees."
"Good," answered Nabul, clapping his hands, and the boys started offacross the fields. The Egyptian folk are very fond of the wild pigeonsof the country, and like to catch them and keep them for pets.
At the same time many of the Egyptian boys, too, are so cruel as tohunt these gentle birds, killing them with stones which they throw withunerring aim.
"Hist! they roost here," whispered Abdal as they came to a clump of lowtrees. Just then a number of pigeons flew out of the trees; at the sametime, to the great surprise of the boys, one apparently was injured,and fell to the ground, and Nabul ran to pick it up. Some one hadevidently injured its leg or wing. Just then two wild, savage-lookingyoung boys came dashing up to Nabul crying, "Thou hast killed one ofour tame pigeons, our father shall beat thee," trying at the same timeto snatch the bird away from Nabul.
"'Tis not true," returned Nabul angrily, "dost thou think I am such adullard as not to know a wild pigeon from a tame one?"
"And I know these birds well, I have often been here, they always roostin these trees," exclaimed Abdal. "I know thee, and I know that thypigeons are far from here."
The Egyptians in the country usually tame many of these pigeons, andbuild them little houses to live in on the side of their own, andsometimes one will see a big mud tower in the village where hundreds ofthese pigeons live and build their nests.
In the midst of the dispute a tall man with an ugly, scowling facestrode up with a stick, so, thinking things were getting too hot forthem, our little friends turned and fled toward the village, Nabul,however, triumphantly holding on to the pigeon.
The other hunting party had brought back a big bag of birds and werewell pleased with the day's work.
The next day they were to take leave of their kind ho
sts and go back tothe _Isis_. When George awakened in the early morning, such a wailingmet his ears he could only imagine that some one must be dead. Throwingon his clothes he rushed down the short flight of steps that led fromhis room to the big room on the ground floor and from there into theyard. There he saw Nabul lying face downward on the ground beside thestable door, with his sisters sitting beside him rocking themselvesbackwards and forwards and wailing piteously, while Abdal and the olderpeople rushed wildly about all talking at once.
"What is the matter? Nabul, are you hurt?" cried George, rushing up tothe little group.
"Teddy Pasha is gone, some thief has stolen him," they all cried in onebreath.
It was only too true, the little donkey had mysteriously disappearedin the night. Nabul had got up early to get the Pasha ready for theirreturn to the boat. He had found the little donkey gone, as well as hisbridle and saddle; Nabul had been looking for him ever since and hadjust come back broken-hearted.
"Oh, Nabul, we are sure to find him! Come and we will all look," criedGeorge, nearly ready to cry himself,--he had grown really attached tohis little steed.
Poor little Nabul lifted up a wobegone face and slowly rose to hisfeet. His donkey was like a brother to him, and he felt he would neversee him again.
No one thought of going back to the boat until the little donkey wasfound, and the whole village turned out to search for him.
Suddenly Nabul struck his forehead with his hand. "I know now! Thosetwo ruffian boys we saw yesterday! 'Tis they who have stolen mydonkey. The wretches! This is their revenge! We will go to their houseand demand news of the Pasha," cried the distracted little boy.
"Follow, I know the way," said Abdal. The boys hurried through thefields and rice swamps until they came to a tumbled-down group of mudhuts. No one was in sight save an ugly-looking brute of a dog and alittle girl, who peered at the strangers from behind a corner of a wall.
Nabul boldly went up and shook the heavy wooden door of the house andcalled loudly, but it was tightly fastened and no one answered. He thengave the whistle he always used to call Teddy Pasha, but only the dogbegan to bark.
George was for battering in the door, but the boys said it was no use."Teddy is not here, or he would have answered me," sighed Nabul, as heturned away sorrowfully, "but they have stolen him, I am sure."
"They would not dare keep him here so near our village," replied Abdal."They have doubtless put him in some hiding-place far off. That istheir sister," he continued, pointing to the little girl behind thewall. "Where art thy brothers?" he demanded, but she only laughed andmade a face at them.
"She knows something," said George, making a face in return at thechild. But there was nothing for them to do but walk away and keep onwith their search.
At sundown the boys returned home and poor Nabul sat on the ground withhis head buried in his arms, refusing to be consoled. He had eatennothing all day, and when his mother brought him a nice dish of curdsshe had made herself, he only shook his head.
It was a miserable household and nobody slept much that night. Georgeand Abdal refused to go to bed at all and sat beside Nabul in the bigroom. Just as George was dozing away at daybreak he was roused up by aterrible bray just outside the door, answered by one from Bobs in thestable.
Like a flash Nabul, who had heard it too, tore open the house door andnearly tumbled over Teddy Pasha, who calmly walked into the middle ofthe room and stood there as much as to say, "Here I am, at last."
Little Nabul gave a shriek of joy and threw his arms about the littledonkey's neck and cried and laughed in the same breath. Abdal calledout the good news, and in another moment everybody was petting TeddyPasha and making as much to-do over him as if he were a long-lostmember of the family. As for the little American, he was as happy ascould be to see the little companion of his wanderings once more.
But the poor little donkey, wasn't he a sight, all covered with mud! Hehad evidently been taken away and hidden in the rice swamps; his prettybridle and saddle were gone, and only a dirty and knotted piece ofrope was around his neck. An ugly cut on one of his feet showed wherehe had been hobbled; his captors had evidently done everything to keephim secure, but in spite of it he had broken away by some means orother, and had come straight back to his master.
After leaving Abdal's family, and just as our party were going on boardthe dahabeah, Nabul picked up an odd greenish pebble. "What a funnylooking stone!" he said. "It looks just like a beetle."
"That is what the learned ones call a scarab,--don't you know there aremany of these in the big museum at Cairo?" cried Abdal, as the childrenbent over the tiny stone.
"Oh! maybe it is old," exclaimed George eagerly, "and worth lots andlots of money."
Just at that moment a party of learned looking men, Europeans, cameup the bank from their dahabeah which had tied up just below the_Isis_. At their head was a Frenchman, an inspector of the Egyptianpublic monuments. With his party he was going some miles inland to passjudgment upon some newly discovered ruins of which he had recentlyheard.
"Let us go and ask the great Frenchman, he surely can tell us," and sosaying, Nabul ran back to where Mr. Winthrop and the Frenchman werealready talking together.
"Please, monsieur, is this old?" said Nabul, in his queer French,holding up the little pebble carved in the form of the sacred beetle ofthe Egyptians.
"Eh!" said the great man, taking the beetle in his hand. "Is it old,indeed!" he exclaimed in great excitement. "It is a sacred scarab. Mostrare! There are only two others like it in the world. Where did youfind it, _mon petit_?"
Nabul pointed out the spot where he had found the stone.
"_Voila!_ and to think that I have already passed over that spot anddid not know one of the most ancient and most wonderful scarabs knownto the world was lying there!" and the great man paced up and down,running his hands through his hair.
"_Mon petit_," the Frenchman said at last, stopping in front of Nabul,"you know the great museum at Cairo? Well, if you will take this littlestone to the gentleman who is in charge there, he will be very glad tohave it, and the authorities of the museum will reward you handsomely;it is worth more than money to them. I will give you a letter, whichyou must also give to this gentleman," and so saying the Frenchman tooka pencil out of his pocket, and, tearing a leaf out of a small blankbook, quickly wrote a few words and gave it to Nabul. "I will write himmyself at once," he continued, "but I beg of you to guard the scarabmost carefully. I rely on you to see that he does not lose it," saidthe Frenchman, turning earnestly to Mr. Winthrop. "It does not seemfair to take it from him unless I at once took it myself to Cairo, andit is impossible for me to leave here now."
Mr. Winthrop and all of them promised, for they were all now interestedin the wonderful stone, and Nabul proudly and carefully hid it insidehis embroidered vest.
There was a happy little party on the dahabeah when she set sail again,and many were the farewells to the kind people of the little village,who all came to see them off.
And wasn't Teddy Pasha a spoiled and pampered little donkey! He waspetted and fed and rubbed down by everybody on board until he not onlylooked as fine and sleek as ever, but also got so fat and lazy thatMustapha doubted if he would ever be willing to do any more work.
At last the _Isis_ floated up to her moorings at Cairo, and everybodyfelt that they were home again. The first thing George did was to buythe finest donkey saddle and bridle he could find in Cairo and give toTeddy Pasha, who thereupon got vainer than ever. George and his littleEgyptian friends took many more rides together before he and Uncle Benwent back to America. They all went together when Nabul carried thewonderful scarab and the Frenchman's letter to the great man in the bigmuseum, who talked very wisely about it. He thanked Nabul and told himhe had done his country a service, and used a lot of long words thatthe children could not understand. But one day, not long afterward, aman in a fine uniform came riding in great style up to Nabul's houseand gave little Nabul a sealed packet from the authorities of
the bigmuseum, and in it was a handsome sum of money for the little donkey boywho found the wonderful scarab.
It was enough indeed to set him up as a dragoman when he was older,but this would not be, Nabul promised himself, until he had first madea visit to see his little friend, George, in that wonderful countryover the sea.
And thus it happened that the Little American Cousin really did bringthe good fortune to little Nabul, the youngest donkey boy in the bigcity of Cairo.
THE END.