I walked slowly backwards and forwards
on the quay, listening to a hum of voices that came to me from a
distance. There was clearly something stirring in the town, and I
felt certain that all the movement and all those distant voices were
connected in some way with my expedition to the Well of Moses. At
last there came a lad upon the walk dressed in Frank costume, and I
asked him what was in the wind. He was a clerk attached to an
English warehouse, and he told me that there had been an arrival
from Cairo.
He knew no more than that, but he had heard that the omnibuses had
just come in. Could it be possible that Mahmoud al Ackbar had heard
of another old acquaintance, and had gone to welcome him also?
At first my ideas on the subject were altogether pleasant. I by no
means wished to monopolise the delights of all those cushions, nor
would it be to me a cause of sorrow that there should be some one to
share with me the conversational powers of that interpreter. Should
another guest be found, he might also be an Englishman, and I might
thus form an acquaintance which would be desirable. Thinking of
these things, I walked the quay for some minutes in a happy state of
mind; but by degrees I became impatient, and by degrees also
disturbed in my spirit. I observed that one of the Arab boatmen
walked round from the vessel to the front of the hotel, and that on
his return he looked at me--as I thought, not with courteous eyes.
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