PRINCESS AND SUITE.
ALEXANDRIA was soon reached. In those days there was no Suez Canal, so
the passengers had to disembark, and bid farewell to the "Alligator"
and its commander, ere pursuing their journey across the desert, to the
port where another vessel awaited them.
Captain Gump stood on the deck of his ship, whilst heaps of luggage
were disgorged from the hold, and piled up ready to be carried on
shore. It was a scene of confusion and bustle, intermingled with
good-byes and kindly words, interchanged between those who would now be
separated, some passengers remaining in Egypt, some going on to India.
The captain, of course, came in for his share of good-byes, which he
received and returned in his own blunt way. But when Mrs. Evendale
approached him, the captain walked a few steps aside from the throng,
and said to the lady in a low tone, "I spoke of returning that book,
but—if you don't mind—I'd rather keep it."
"Keep it as a remembrance from me," said the lady.
"I'm not likely to forget you, the only one for twenty years and more
who cared for my soul; and when you're at your prayers, Mrs. Evendale,
maybe you'll sometimes remember me." The captain held out his broad,
sunburnt hand, which the missionary lady grasped kindly.
"May we meet—in heaven," she softly said.
"I'm hardly likely to find my way there," muttered Gump; "but if I do,
'twill be mainly owing to you. God bless you!" The captain abruptly
turned away.
The two were never to see each other again upon earth, but often did
the captain, as he studied his book, think of her who had given it to
him. It had not been given in vain.
What delightful disclosures will there be in another world, of the
results of good done in secret, seeds that have grown up unknown to the
sower! If it be not presumption to add a verse to a lay of one of our
sweetest Christian singers, one may supplement its delightful chain
of contrasts between present sorrow and future bliss by such hopeful
thoughts as the following:—
Joyful surprises,
Flowers after frost,
Greetings and welcomings
Where prayer seemed lost.
Those we have sorrowed o'er
Shining above,
Swelling the harmony,
Sharing the love!
We will not dwell on the land part of the journey, which was, at that
season, almost unbearable from the heat. The passengers from England,
and others from Alexandria, then embarked in the "Napoli," an Italian
steamer, commanded by Captain Cenci, an Italian, and partly manned by
Arab Lascars.
Before the vessel was unmoored, Miss Petty came up to Robin in a state
of rapturous excitement.
"We shall have a delightful voyage down the Red Sea," she cried, "if
only we can escape being fried alive on the way. Only imagine! We have
a real princess on board; she and her suite had two whole omnibuses to
themselves (which caused our terrible jamming in the third), and now
they take up all the best cabins."
"Hardly the thing to make our voyage more delightful, Miss Petty,"
laughed Robin. "I confess that I was not delighted to find that Bolton
was to share with Harold and myself a hole in which we have hardly room
to turn round. And that in such grilling weather."
"Mrs. Evendale is squeezed into our cabin," said Miss Petty, fanning
herself vigorously as she spoke; "but of course every one must make
room for a real princess. Her name is—let me think—Principessa Lucrezia
di—di—Pelipatti—or something like that, it is almost too long a name to
remember. She's very charming—of course."
"How do you know? Have you already made her acquaintance?" asked Robin.
"Not yet—not yet; but of course during the voyage we shall meet often,"
said Miss Petty, who had already built a tall castle of cards or
cobwebs on the strength of her coming intimacy with a real princess.
"Oh! What splendid jewels she wears! How her diamonds flash in the sun!
Principessa Lucrezia, has, I believe, more rings than fingers, and
such a necklace—of course all pure gold! They say that the Princess is
amazingly rich."
It was no small disappointment to Miss Petty to find, after they
started on the voyage, that the Principessa di Peliperiti did not
condescend to dine with the other passengers, but was served apart from
the rest. The obsequious captain, proud of his freight, gave the best
of everything to the grand lady and her companions, leaving the other
passengers to fare very badly indeed. Some of the English travellers
ventured to express a wish that the Princess had chosen any other ship
than that in which they were sailing, or that they themselves had
embarked in some other vessel.
"I don't think much of our sleek captain," observed Bolton to Harold
in the evening; "he's rather like a fawning courtier than a seaman.
I doubt whether he knows how to handle his ship or manage his
ruffian-like crew."
"I felt more confidence in our bluff old Gump," remarked Harold.
"As for the elderly Princess, she's cracked, simply cracked," said
Bolton. "She's an exaggerated Miss Petty,—Princess Pettier let us call
her, for I can never remember her name. I hear that she is as full of
fancies as a sieve is of holes. She has had a training establishment
for cats and a hospital for dogs; I'm not sure whether rats had not
their turn,—for nothing pleases Her Highness for long. The Princess's
present fancy is to be a great traveller. She has been to London,
Paris, Vienna, Cairo, and I know not how many cities besides. They say
that she wished to go to Mecca, but there were difficulties in the
way, such as the probability of having her throat cut. The Princess is
about to 'do' India, and be lionised in Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta;
then, if the travelling mania be not superseded by one for educating
elephants or taming snakes, she will probably pass on to China or
Japan."
"Time and money wasted in a chase after shadows," thought Harold, but
he did not utter the remark aloud, and turned the conversation.
"We shall have a breezy night," he observed, clapping his hand to his
broad-brimmed hat to prevent its being carried away by the wind.
"More breezy than pleasant," remarked Bolton, "except that anything is
better than the horrible heat. What fierce gusts are coming in from the
west!"
"One has an impression, right or wrong, that the steamer has no
ballast, or nothing heavier than bladder-balls," said Robin, who had
just joined the two. "The vessel seems to dance along whither it will,
as lively as Lammikin herself, and as little obedient to orders as she
is to her guardian's."
"Of course, we shall all sleep on deck," said Harold.
"Certainly the men will," replied his brother. "Better to be buffeted
by the wind than be baked alive below and then eaten up by cockroaches."
Almost all the male passengers kept the deck; but the Princess,
her companions, Miss Petty, and her charge stayed below. Once poor
Lammikin, making her escape from semi-suffocation, rushed up on deck,
bareheaded and barefooted, to get a breath of air; but finding a good
deal more air than she liked, and being afraid of being blown over into
the sea, she dived down again into the cabin. There was not much sleep
on board the "Napoli" that night.
The morning dawned, and daylight disclosed the startling fact that the
vessel, instead of steaming down the Red Sea, had been driven by the
west wind right across it. A wide, desolate-looking expanse of sandy
shore was ahead, dotted here and there with a few stunted palms.
"Where are we?" asked Harold of the captain.
The poor Italian was as ignorant as his questioner. He only knew—every
one knew—that the ship must be nearing the western coast of Arabia.
"What is to be done?" demanded Harold.
The captain shrugged his shoulders, and hurried off to question the
pilot whom he had taken on board.
The pilot, when questioned, showed that he did not know anything of the
eastern shore, though he might have safely guided the vessel down the
Red Sea had she not been driven so far out of her course by the gale.
"Should we not sound the depth?" suggested Harold. "We may run on some
unseen shoal."
The suggestion was adopted; the line was thrown out to measure the
depth of the water. The result was unsatisfactory; the vessel was
getting into a shallow part of the sea. The captain muttered a prayer
to the Virgin and saints to get him out of his trouble, and then gave
orders to let off steam.
"Perhaps we could get a pilot from Arabia," said Bolton. "There seems
to be a little creek into which a boat could go, and, luckily, the wind
has lulled."
The fiery globe of the sun had now risen above the sandy waste, bathing
it in golden light. Some Arabs were seen on the beach, evidently
watching the movements of the vessel, which was about to be anchored
only a few hundred yards from the shore. Cenci gave command to some of
his sailors to man a boat, and bring, if possible, a pilot who knew the
coast. Accordingly, three Lascars, who spoke Arabic, got into the boat
which was quickly lowered from the vessel. The boat soon accomplished
its little voyage, and was drawn up on the beach. For some time every
eye on the deck of the "Napoli" watched with eager interest what
appeared like a conference between the Lascars and their countrymen on
shore. The meeting seemed to be friendly, but apparently no pilot was
at hand; and it was necessary to seek one inland. In Oriental lands,
patience is a necessary virtue, and gradually those who were in the
"Napoli" made up their minds to wait quietly at anchor until the pilot
should come at last.
The day was Sunday, and Harold held a service on deck for the English
passengers under an awning. Two Italians attended, perhaps from
curiosity, perhaps from some higher motive. During the singing of the
concluding hymn, the attention of Miss Petty was entirely distracted
by the approach of the Principessa di Peliperiti herself; but, as
soon as the music ended, the great lady walked away. There was some
appropriateness in Bolton's description of her as Princess Pettier, for
there was certainly similarity in height, restless manner, and gaudy
dressing (as there was also in weakness of character), between the
Italian and the English traveller.
Mrs. Evendale found no opportunity of conversing with the Princess
herself during that long, wearisome day, but had some talk with two
of her suite. After dinner, Mrs. Evendale went up to Harold with the
question, "Do you happen to have any of your Italian gospels left?"
"One—only one; the rest were disposed of at Malta," was the reply.
"There is an Italian lady here who is seeking for light," said the
widow. "I should be so thankful if you would enable me to place in her
hands the lamp of truth."
"That lady never loses an opportunity of serving the Master," thought
Harold, as he went to bring the book. "What a golden harvest she will
one day reap in joy after her night of weeping!"
It appeared to be very difficult to find a pilot, for hour after hour
passed, and the boat, with but one man to watch her, lay idle still,
drawn up on the shore. A little before sunset the Princess summoned the
captain to her presence, and said in Italian:
"I am tired of this monotonous rocking up and down; there is nothing
so wearisome as waiting. You have another and a larger boat hanging up
there. I've a fancy to land, if but for an hour. I want to be able to
say that I have been in Arabia."
There seemed to be no particular objection to gratifying the wish; and,
even had there been one, to Captain Cenci the will of the Principessa
di Peliperiti was law. The little expedition was safely accomplished,
and the high-born traveller entered into her note-book the fact that
she had visited Arabia, with a description of its scenery, and the
appearance of the dwellers in the land.
The night passed, and still there came no pilot. The captain declared
that should a favourable wind blow from the east, he would start
without a pilot, and signal to the three Lascars on shore to return at
once. But there was now an absolute calm.
Miss Petty was extremely anxious to do what the Princess had done, and
the Hartley brothers and Bolton greatly desired to land in Arabia. The
captain gave a courteous consent, and Mrs. Evendale was persuaded to
make one of the party.
"They must return quickly," said the Princess; "for if an east wind
spring up, or a pilot arrive, we must be off without a minute's delay.
We have lingered too long already off this wretchedly barren coast."
Captain Cenci bent over the bulwarks, and, addressing himself to
Harold, the leader of the party, said, "If I hoist a white signal from
the yard, you must all instantly return."
"All right," was the reply. "We will take care not to wander far off."
"It is such fun to get on shore again!" said Shelah. And scrambling out
of the boat before she could do so without wetting her feet, Lammikin
had the satisfaction of leaving one of her shoes in the water. As it
was more awkward to limp with one shoe on than to run without any, the
little Irish girl soon flung its companion into the sea!