HOW EGYPT WAS RUINED FOR EVARNE
At length the dahabeah drew up by the wharf of Luxor. From the beginning
of the cruise the arrival at this world-famed spot had been eagerly
anticipated, and on the very first morning the travellers gaily mounted
donkeys and set forth on the short journey to the ruined Temples of
Karnak. The spirited animals that they rode--so very different from the
poor little European drudges that go by the same name--covered the
ground with celerity, the dusky donkey-boys running hard behind, keeping
up with difficulty, yet shouting and flourishing their sticks, to urge
on any of the fiery mounts that showed signs of a failing lack of
ambition to be foremost in the race.
On arriving at Karnak, loud was the expression of amazement at the
extent of country over which was spread the ruins of this vast
collection of temples, with their halls, their courts, their huge
entrances, their obelisks, columns and statues.
"I believe really it would be quite possible that one should lose one's
self hopelessly amid all these ruins," declared little Justine, her pale
face still flushed from the fun of the amusing gallop.
The only dismal countenance in the party was that of Hassan, their
dragoman. This gorgeous and most self-satisfied personage was always
rather inclined to sulk when expeditions were in progress. He then
looked upon his lot as that of a much injured individual. Morris knew
Egypt well, and his interesting talks on the topic had made the old
history and religion intensely attractive to Evarne before and during
the voyage. He now very rightly considered himself a far more
interesting cicerone than the verbosely ignorant Arab. He therefore
restricted Hassan to the mere business details, while he himself
undertook the task of conducting his guests, of enlightening their
ignorance and training their taste.
As time passed and the day grew in heat, luncheon became the next item
on the programme, and at this point Hassan, coming into a portion of his
kingdom again, brightened perceptibly. He carefully spread out the
dainty meal in the shadow cast by a great wall, whereon sculptured
pictorial records of the war-triumphs of a Pharaoh dead for thousands of
years still preserved his royal memory green to posterity. Then, seating
the company, the dragoman waited upon them with satisfied importance.
After all had recruited their strength for the afternoon's further
exploration, Morris suggested that they should mount the sandy slope and
stone steps that led to the summit of the pylon--the great gate that
formed the entrance to the whole of the ruins. The view thus obtained
was wonderful, he assured them; the sun was not too hot to defy the
shelter provided by veils and parasols, while any cool breezes that
might chance to be wandering around would be more easily found at a
height. Thus encouraged, everyone started with such energy up the long,
severe slope, that within a very few minutes a halt had to be called,
while all stood and panted breathlessly.
"More haste, less speed," declared Morris. "Now, Mrs. Belmont, you and I
will play tortoise to their hare, and we will just see who gets to the
top first." And, proffering his arm as a support to Lucinda, he
encouraged her to persevere.
Tony, who had been sitting cross-legged on the sand, sprang to his feet,
and with a sweeping bow offered Evarne a similar attention. She accepted
it with a smile, and in due course the summit was attained.
Certainly it was worth the trouble. In the background, against
the vividly blue sweep of lofty skies, appeared the sharp and
clearly-defined outline of the arid, rose-tinted hills, concealed amid
whose rocky recesses lay the tombs of the Pharaohs of bygone days. In
the mid-distance the wide Nile--here dignified and placid, untroubled by
dams, reservoirs or cataracts--flowed calmly and gently, cool even to
behold.
Between the water and the temple the eye roved over pastures, carefully
cultivated, often of a most vivid emerald, broken by clusters of lofty,
feathery palm-trees. In the fields and on the pale dusty roads were
Arabs, their many-hued garments adding to the rich brightness of the
scene, yet without rendering it at all _voyante_. Over all was the
glamour of a dancing haze of golden sunlight.
Near to the pylon, the Old and the New appeared in close conjunction. To
the left lay a temple, ruinous yet still massive, and another pylon, far
older than the Christian religion, but still almost uninjured by its
vast weight of years. Nearer still stretched a wide avenue bordered on
either hand by rows of huge ram-headed sphinxes.
To the right of these great works of times long past, lay a tiny
poverty-stricken Arab village. It stood in the midst of a thin grove of
palms, and was then encircled by an irregular wall of mud bricks. The
small houses, also of dried mud, had, for the most part, been erected by
their provident builders around the trunks of palm-trees, which helped
support the huts, and gave some degree of shelter from the fiery rays of
the broiling summer sun. The flat roofs were covered with piles of
sugar-cane, amid which played naked brown babies and small ragged
children. The terrifying half-savage dogs that defended the village and
all its belongings during the hours of night, now basked peacefully in
the mid-day warmth, or strolled around the top of the encircling wall.
The summit of the pylon itself, though fairly wide, was rough and steep.
Its height was great, and the extensive view accentuated the feeling of
loftiness. But Evarne's few years of "softness" and luxury had not
sufficed to entirely undo the effects of her early training. The
sensation of height had small effect upon her well-trained nerves, and
when she wished to gaze particularly into one special little courtyard
within the village, she walked boldly to the farther end and edge of the
pylon.
As the party had neared the top their ears had been greeted by the sound
of numerous voices uplifted in unison; on gaining this point of vantage
the source of these cries could be seen.
Evidently death had visited the village that day, for the courtyard of
one of the largest of the small houses was filled with women wailing and
lamenting, while little knots of females were approaching with all speed
from the entire countryside. Clad in their shapeless and voluminous
black robes, with trailing ends leaving clouds of dust in their wake,
their heads veiled, their faces hidden in the yashmak, they formed a
strange, weird spectacle as they advanced, all uttering concerted cries
of mourning that grew louder as they neared the village in which the
dead man lay. The European witnesses of this phase of native life were
convinced that only the departure to another world of one of the male
half of humanity would have sufficed to create such a stir in the
surrounding district.
A band of mourners reached their goal. Their arrival was the signal for
the already assembled women of the village to wax yet more demonstrative
in their display of anguish. The long shuddering moans, the shrill
piercing cries, grew louder and more insistent, while dozens of lean
brown arms were raised in despairing appeal to heaven, then descended
with force upon head or face, and others of the mourners tore
frantically at the garments over their breasts.
"It's just as it is drawn on the ancient monuments, the very same; they
haven't changed a bit in all these thousands of years," cried Evarne.
She was far more thrilled by this illustration of the realism of
Egyptian art and of this justification for that romantic term--The
Unchanging East--than moved to sorrow by the conventional mourning of
the many wailers.
Evidently the news had spread widely. From all directions black figures
bore down upon the village, sometimes in groups of six or eight,
sometimes in bodies of thirty or more. Each one on her arrival passed
into the low hut wherein the corpse lay, then came out after a minute or
so to add her quota to the increasing lamentation for the dead. This
business of mourning was clearly still the prerogative of the female
sex. No men took any share in it--indeed, the only two existing in the
whole place, as far as could be seen, were squatting calmly in a
neighbouring yard, unconcernedly holding and milking a buffalo.
Evarne looked round for Morris. He stood just at the top of the slope,
Lucinda still clinging to his arm.
"Come along to where I am, Morris," the girl called out to him. "You can
see everything much better from here."
He made a movement as if to follow her suggestion, but Lucinda said
something in a low voice, whereupon he replied--
"Mrs. Belmont feels too giddy either to walk or to be left alone; but
don't you bother about us, my dear. We can really witness all the fun of
the fair quite nicely."
"That chap may have died of fever or smallpox, or goodness knows what,"
remarked Tony's voice by her ear. "With all these women trotting in to
have a last stare at the old boy--why, it's enough to infect the
neighbourhood, isn't it?"
To Evarne the Jealous the health of the whole countryside was as nothing
at that moment compared to the fact that when she had directly called
upon her lover to join her, Lucinda should have had the assurance to
promptly whisper a suggestion that he should remain where he was, and
that the wish of her rival should have sufficed to keep Morris from her
side.
She turned to Tony.
"Take my smelling-salts over to Mrs. Belmont," she said, opening her
hand-bag and producing the little crystal bottle with its jewelled
stopper. "Stay by her and look after her if she feels bad, won't you, so
that Mr. Kenyon may come here where it is easier to see?"
But a different remedy for overcoming the lady's attack of nausea had
already been prescribed. Supported by Morris's arm she had commenced to
descend from the height.
Evarne instinctively uttered a little exclamation.
"Let 'em go," suggested Tony. "We don't want to go down yet, do we, Miss
Stornway?"
Evarne glanced around at the remainder of her companions. Tom and
Justine were seated close together on a stone by her side, apparently as
rooted to the spot as ever Theseus and Pitheous could have been; the
others were grouped near at hand, all staring downwards with the keenest
interest.
Evarne was obliged to agree. Nature had been very neglectful in not
imbuing her with the art of scheming and contriving events to suit her
own purposes. True, she had now a daily object-lesson in the manoeuvres
of the adept Lucinda, and without being conscious thereof, her education
in this direction was in progress. However, she was still in the very
early stages, and could devise no method on the spur of the moment for
preventing this hateful division of the party.
She shook her head and pursed up her mouth discontentedly.
"It's very evident that no one else wishes to descend yet awhile," she
acknowledged. "Just ask Mr. Kenyon, then, where we shall find him when
we do return to earth."
Tony left her side, and as rapidly came back.
"It's arranged that we are to have tea at four o'clock on the same spot
where we lunched. Kenyon says let's meet there at that hour, and all
wander about anywhere we choose for the rest of the afternoon. If
there's anything particular we want to see again, Hassan knows the way
about. That's all right, isn't it?"
She nodded, but dared not trust herself to speak.
"Aren't we tired of this diversion?" cried Guiseppe, joining them a
couple of minutes later, his bright spirit having no inclination to
dwell long on aught connected with death.
"The others are not, but that is no reason why you should remain," she
answered rather eagerly. "Anyone who does not want another hour at least
up here is to go with Mr. Kenyon. Hurry up!"
She experienced a certain malicious delight in the idea that she had
thus counteracted Lucinda's trick, but her self-congratulation was but
short-lived. Guiseppe promptly returned to her side.
"Kenyon says Mrs. Belmont's head is too bad to stand my noisy chatter,"
he explained. "Noisy chatter, d'you hear, Tony, old boy? My noisy
chatter, forsooth! That to me, the most timid, retiring violet of the
whole lot of you," and he set to work to prove his words by causing the
very echoes to ring with his clear musical laughter.
Evarne clenched her hands, and a ferment of emotions tore her breast. Of
course she had known all along that Morris was perfectly capable of
procuring _solitude à deux_ in the face of any difficulties if such were
his wish. Now this proved it! It was his will, not his ingenuity, that
had failed, when subduing Tony's attentions to herself had been the
problem.