"NEWS! NEWS!"
On the other side of the dining-room door Doctor Morris, a
thoughtful-looking man of goodly presence, and the better looking for a
calm ignorance of his being handsome, was seated opposite to his thin,
yellow-skinned, and rather withered, nervous-looking old college friend,
both partaking slowly of the good things the doctor's domestic had
prepared for them, as if it came perfectly natural to them to follow out
the proverbial words of the old Greek philosopher who bade his pupils,
"Live not to eat, but eat to live."
As Sam had truthfully said, they had been talking very learnedly about
their investigations in the particular branches of science which they
had followed up since their old school and college days when they had
begun their friendship, in company with another companion, missing now;
and the doctor had said, with a far-off look in his large dark eyes--
"No, Fred, old chap, I don't want to settle down here yet, because I
know how it will be. Once I regularly begin, the practice will
completely swallow me, as it did the dear old dad. People came from far
and wide to be treated by him, and he had hardly an hour to call his
own. Of course I shall be glad to do the same, for it's a duty to one's
fellow-creatures; but I want to leave it all to old Stanley for another
two or three years while I travel and see more of the world. I should
like to go with some army if I could."
"Yes," said his guest, "I see; as a volunteer surgeon."
"Exactly; the experience and confidence I should gain would be so great.
After that, here is my place, and I could relieve Stanley till he
retires, which he says he shall do as soon as I like to take the old
practice fully in hand."
"Hah! Yes, Bob," said the visitor. "There's nothing like travel--
seeing foreign countries, with some special pursuit to follow. I'm like
a fish out of water now, with all this trouble in Egypt. Oh, hang the
Khalifa, or Mahdi, or whatever they call him!"
"That's what a good many people would like to do," said the doctor
drily.
"Like to? I should like to do it myself," cried Landon, with his yellow
face flushing. "The wretch, the impostor, the cruel, heartless brute!
Poor Harry Frere! as handsome, manly, true-hearted a gentleman as ever
breathed."
"Hah, yes!" said the doctor, sighing. "Don't talk about it, old fellow.
It makes me miserable every night as it is."
"Miserable? Yes, for if ever friend was like a brother poor old Harry
was. He had only one fault in him, and that was his blind faith and
belief in poor Gordon."
"Fault?"
"No, no, not fault. You know what I mean; but it is so pitiful to think
of. Only the other day we gave him that dinner on his appointment to
his regiment in the Egyptian army, and he is off to Cairo. Then the
next thing is that he goes on the expedition to join Gordon up the
country."
"And the next news," said the doctor sadly, "is that he and all with him
have been massacred, fighting in poor Gordon's defence."
"Horrible! Horrible!" said Landon passionately. "So bright, so brave a
lad, with, in the ordinary course, a good manly career of fifty years
before him."
"Think there is any possibility of his having escaped after all?" said
the doctor, after a pause.
"Not a bit, poor lad. I was red-hot to go up the country somehow or
other last year when I was about to investigate those buried tombs of
the Ra Sa dynasty. I wanted to give up the search for those mummies and
the stores of old incised inscriptions."
"Yes, and you applied for permission," said the doctor.
"Like an idiot," said Landon angrily, "instead of keeping my own counsel
and going without saying a word. I might have found poor old Hal a
prisoner, or a slave, or something. But what did the authorities say?"
"That they were quite convinced that there were no survivors of the last
expedition, and that they must debar your proceeding up the country."
"Debar!" cried Landon, with a peculiar laugh. "Splendid word for it.
Bar, indeed! Yes, and they politely bundled me out of the country just
when I was on the scent of some of the most wonderful discoveries ever
made, connected with the ancient Egyptian civilisation."
"You must wait a few years, and when the country is settled try again."
"I was willing to give up further researches then, but they wouldn't let
me go in search of poor Harry."
"Their belief was that the attempt would be fatal."
"But they did not know; I was the best judge of that. See what a
knowledge I have of the people and their language. I believe I could
have gone anywhere."
"That was young Frank's belief."
"Yes, but that was different. The boy did not know what he was talking
about. He'd have been murdered before he had gone fifty miles up the
country."
"It was very brave and true of him, though."
"Of course," said Landon, "and I should have risked taking him with me
if I could have obtained permission. But perhaps it was better that he
should stick to his chemistry."
"Yes," said the doctor, with a sigh, "and that you should have been sent
home."
"Nonsense! I say it was a disgraceful thing that a scientist like
myself should be so treated."
"But the result is that Harry's brother is safe at home, Fred, and that
I have not lost another companion."
The doctor stretched out his hand to his rather excitable friend, who
grasped it directly.
"That's very good of you, Bob, old fellow. Thank you; but I felt it
bitterly not being allowed to go in search of poor Harry."
"Yes, but so did Frank."
"Of course, poor boy. He would. Ah, well, I tried my best. I feel it,
though, and I am very miserable doing my work in the museum instead of
in Egypt amongst the sand. I suppose the upper country will become
settled again."
"Sure to," said the doctor, "and in the meantime why don't you go and
try Nineveh or Babylon?"
"No; I can't take up an entirely fresh rut. I must give years upon
years yet to the sand-buried cities and tombs of Egypt. Ah! what an
endless mine of wonders it is."
"Yes, I suppose so."
"With everything so preserved by the drifting sand."
"But the ruins of the Tigris and Euphrates must be equally interesting."
"They can't be."
"But look here: you can't go to Egypt now, and you could to Nineveh.
Have a trip there, and I'll go with you."
"You will, Bob?" cried Landon excitedly.
"I will, Fred, on my word."
"Then we will, Bob," said the professor enthusiastically. "We'll start
and--No, we won't. Egypt is my motto, and much as I should like to have
you for a companion, no, sir, no. As the old woman said, `Wild horses
sha'n't drag me from my original plans and unfinished work.' I must get
back to the sand. I'd give anything to be there digging."
"Humph!" ejaculated the doctor. "After all, it is a nasty, ghoulish
business: moleing in the old tombs and unrolling mummies."
"It may seem so to you, but to me it is intensely interesting. Besides,
much as you condemn it, this is the only way to find out the history--
the manners and customs of the people two and three thousand years ago."
"The bell!" exclaimed the doctor. "I hope no poor creature wants me
to-night."
"So do I," said Landon, "for my own sake as well as for his or hers. I
wanted a long chat with you as soon as this tiresome dinner is at an
end."
"Hark," said the doctor. "Some one has come in. Yes, I'm wanted, and--
Hullo, Frank, my dear boy, how are you?" he cried, as a youthful-looking
young man, who appeared flushed and excited, threw open the door without
waiting to be announced, and strode in, to nod to first one and then the
other.
"Why, there is something the matter!" said the doctor quickly. "You
want to see me?"
"To see you? Yes, of course," said the young man shaking hands
hurriedly. "No, no, not professionally. I hurried on to Old Bones, but
the servant said he had come to dine with you, so I jumped into a cab
and made the fellow canter here."
"Then you have come for a snack with us. Wish I'd known, and we'd have
waited. Sit down, my lad. Why didn't you come sooner?"
"Dinner?" cried the young man, ignoring the chair, and beginning to
stride up and down the room, swinging his arms excitedly; "don't talk to
me about dinner!"
"Very well, little man," said the professor, smiling; "but don't jump
quite out of your skin."
The newcomer turned upon the speaker sharply, and stopping short stood
pointing at him.
"Hark at that fellow, doctor," he cried. "That's Old Bones all over.
He's as cool as one of his dry mummies. Why, my news is enough to make
any fellow with a heart jump out of his skin!"
"Sit still, Bob," said the professor quietly; "the boy has made a
discovery."
"Yes, a discovery," cried the newcomer--"a discovery!" and he brought
his hand down so heavily upon the dining table that the glasses jumped.
"That's it," said the professor; "metaphorically speaking, he has been
pouring sulphuric acid upon the carbonate of lime of his composition,
and all this effervescence is the consequence. He'll be better soon.
Now, Frank, boy, what is the discovery--something that will set the
Thames on fire?"
"Have you got a good appointment as chemist, Frank?" said the doctor.
"Discovery--appointment!" cried the young man, with his voice breaking
from the emotion he felt. "Something a thousand times better than
either of those. It's the news of news, I tell you--Hal!"
His two hearers sprang to their feet and rushed at him excitedly, each
seizing a hand.
"What about him?" cried the doctor.
"Not dead?" shouted the professor.
"No--no--no!" cried the young man wildly, and then his voice thoroughly
broke, becoming almost inaudible as he tried to declare his news.
"I can't bear it," he panted; "I can't bear it. Morris--Landon--don't
take any notice of me--I've kept all this in for days, and now--now--Oh,
tell me--is it true, or am I going mad?"
The young man sank heavily into the chair to which his friends helped
him, and then he lay back quivering, with his hands covering his face,
while the doctor made a sign to his companion and went hurriedly into
his consulting-room, where he turned up the gas and then opened a
cabinet, from which he took down a stoppered bottle and a graduated
glass, into which he carefully measured a small portion, half filled the
glass from a table filter, and then hurried back into the dining-room.
"Drink this, Frank, my boy," he said.
"No, no; let me be. I shall soon come round."
"Drink this, my lad," said the doctor sternly; "it is for your good."
The young man caught the glass from his friend's hand, tossed down the
contents, shuddered, and then drew a deep breath, pulling himself
together directly.
"I'm better now," he said. "It has all been such a shock, and I've been
travelling night and day."
"Where from?" said the doctor, so as to give the young fellow time for
the medicine to produce its effect.
"Berlin," was the reply.
"Berlin? That accounts for it. I was wondering why you had not been
here. I thought you were in Paris about some mineral business."
"I was there, but I heard some news about--about poor Hal."
"Indeed?" said the professor, growing excited now.
"Yes, it was from a gentleman who had escaped out of Khartoum."
"Go on, my lad; go on," said Morris.
"Yes, yes, I can go on now," said the young man calmly. "Don't think
any more about what I said."
"No, no, of course not, Frank, my lad," said the doctor; "but pray speak
out. Landon and I are suffering pain."
"Of course, and I've travelled night and day as I told you, so as to
bring you the news myself. This German gentleman has been a prisoner
ever since Khartoum was taken by the Mahdi, and only managed to get out
of the place in disguise six months ago."
"Yes, yes," said the doctor excitedly, and the professor took up a
carafe and made it rattle against a glass as he hurriedly poured out
some water and drank it with avidity.
"He knew poor old Hal well by sight, and spoke to him twice, and heard
who he was. He was alive, and seemed to be well the last time this
gentleman saw him; but he was a miserable slave in irons without the
slightest prospect of getting away."
"Hah!" exclaimed the doctor, dropping into a chair and beginning to wipe
his forehead.
"Oh!" groaned the professor, sinking back in his chair, but only to
become excited directly after, as he turned upon the bearer of the news.
"But he's alive, Frank, boy! he's alive!" he cried, in a peculiarly
altered voice.
"Yes, thank Heaven!" said Frank Frere softly; "he is alive."
No one spoke for a few moments. Then the professor began again
excitedly--
"Look here," he cried, "both of you; that German sausage is a fool!"
The others turned on him with wondering eyes as if they doubted his
sanity, a notion quite pardonable from his manner of speaking and the
wild look he had given himself by thrusting both his hands through his
rather long, shaggy black hair, and making it stand up on end.
"Well," he said sharply, "what are you two staring at?"
"Well, Fred," said the doctor smiling, "I suppose it was at you."
"And pray why were you staring in that peculiar way at me? Here, you
answer--you, Frank."
"I was staring on account of the sausage," said the young man, sinking
back in his chair and laughing aloud.
"Here, Bob," said the professor excitedly, "what have you been giving
this fellow--ether? It's too strong for him. Got on his nerves."
"Nonsense," said the doctor, joining softly in their young friend's
mirth. "What makes you think that?"
"Why, you heard. He doesn't know what he's talking about--staring on
account of the sausage!"
"Well, that's why I was looking at you so hard."
The professor stared now in turn, passed one hand across his forehead,
stared again, and then said gravely--
"I say, you two, has this glorious news sent you both out of your
minds?"
"No," cried both heartily. "It only sounded so comical and so different
from your ordinary way," continued the younger man, "when you called my
German friend a sausage."
The professor's face was so full of perplexity that in the reaction
after the pain of the sudden good news, his friends began to laugh
again, making the clever scientist turn his eyes inquiringly upon the
doctor.
"Well, it's a fact," said the latter. "You did."
"What!" cried the professor indignantly. "That I didn't! I said that
German gentleman was a fool."
"No, no, no," cried Frank, half hysterically. "You said sausage."
"Frank, you don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes, I do," cried the young man. "Sausage, sausage, sausage."
The professor drew lines horizontally across his forehead from his
eyebrows to the roots of his hair, and shook his head slowly and
piteously at the speaker.
"Well, really, Fred, old fellow," said the doctor, "I must take Frank's
part. You certainly did say sausage. I suppose it was suggested by the
common association of the two words, German sausage."
"Humph!" ejaculated the professor slowly; "suppose then I must. German
silver--German band--German tinder--German sausage. But I meant to say
German gentleman, upon my word."
"Nobody doubts you," said Frank; "but why did you call him a fool?"
"Oh! for saying that Harry couldn't escape. Do you both mean to tell me
that an Englishman, and such an Englishman as our Harry Frere, couldn't
do what a German has done?"
"I don't," said the doctor, bringing his fist down upon the table.
"Come, Franky, lad, what have you to say to that?"
"Hah!" sighed the young man sadly, "it is easily accounted for. My
German friend managed to gain the confidence of the Khalifa from his
knowledge of Arabic, and was freed from the chains he first wore. Poor
Harry was wearing heavy irons up to the day when my new friend left."
"Oh!" groaned the professor, "that's bad, that's bad. Frank, boy, I beg
your German friend's pardon. He isn't a--"
"Sausage!" put in the doctor quickly.
"A fool," said the professor, shaking his fist playfully at his old
school-fellow. "Well, I feel ten years younger than I did half an hour
ago, and this settles it at once."
"Settles what?" said the doctor.
"Settles what!" cried the professor, in a tone full of mock disgust.
"Hark at him, Frank! Settles this, sir," he continued, flashing his
fierce eyes upon the doctor, clenching his fist menacingly, and shaking
his shaggy hair. "I'm off back to Egypt as soon as ever I can get a
berth in a steamer, and then I'm going right up the country with tools
in every pocket on purpose to file off those chains."
"Bravo! bravo!" shouted the other two.
"An Englishman in chains," continued the professor, gesticulating like
an orator, though as a rule he was one of the quietest of men, "and of
all Englishmen in the world, our Harry, the merriest school-fellow, the
heartiest undergrad, and the truest friend!"
"And brother," said Frank softly.
"Yes," cried the professor excitedly, "and brother, that man ever had.
The brother we three have mourned as dead for years, but who lives--as a
slave."
"Britons never shall be slaves," cried the doctor solemnly.
"Never!" said Frank through his teeth, and with a look of stern
determination in his eyes which meant more than words could have
expressed.
"Never!" cried the professor, bringing his fist down with such a crash
that this time a large goblet leaped off the table, was smashed upon the
floor, and the next moment the door was thrown open and Sam, the
doctor's butler, as he called himself, looking white with anxiety,
rushed into the room, to stand staring wildly from one to the other.
This quelled the professor's excitement at once, and he dropped back in
his chair and began mopping his face.
"What's the matter, Samuel?" said the doctor sternly.
"That's what I've come to see, sir," cried the man piteously. "I did
stop in the hall, sir, in aggynies, waiting to know. First in comes Mr
Frank when I opens the door to him and hits me in the chest hard, just
like a patient as has got rid of the strait w. Into the dining-room he
bangs, before I could announce him, and without a bit o' pollergy, slams
the door after him. Then master goes into his consulting-room in a
hurry and comes back with a something to exhibit, looking as he always
do when there's anything serious on; and ever since it's been getting
worse and worse, and you never rung for me, sir. Fancy my feelings,
sir! First s'posing as it was fits with Mr Frank, sir; then it seemed
to be you, sir; and then the professor went on, having it worse than
either of you, sir, till it got to the smashing of my glass, and I
couldn't bear it no longer."
"No, no, of course you couldn't, Sam," cried Frank; "and you must know
at once. It's news, Sam--glorious news--the best of news. My brother
is alive after all!"
"What!" cried the man. "Mr Harry, sir?"
"Yes, alive, Sam--alive!"
"What, him as was dead, sir?"
"Yes, alive, I tell you."
"What, him as was killed out in the Soudan--our Mr Harry, sir, as we
give the dinner to in this very room, when he made that speech as I
stood and heared to the very end?"
"Yes, Sam; yes, yes!" cried Frank, as excited now as the man, who now
dashed at him and seized him by the hand and shook it with all his
might.
"Then--then--then," he cried. "Oh, Mr Frank--oh, Mr Frank--oh, Mr
Frank!"
Dropping the young man's hand, he seized the professor's and shook at
that for a few moments, before rushing at his master's, to pump that
wildly up and down before dashing to the door, flinging it open, and
yelling--
"Here! hi! cook! Mary! everyone! He isn't dead after all. Hooray!
hooray! hoo--"
From a tremendous emphasis and sonorous roar over the first hurrah, Sam
made a rapid diminuendo to the first syllable of the last, which trailed
off and would have died away but for Frank, who, touched by the man's
show of devotion, finished it heartily, and led off with another cheer,
in which the others joined, the shouts having an accompaniment in the
pattering of feet upon the floor-cloth of the hall.
Sam's fit of exaltation was over, and he stood shamefaced and troubled,
wiping his damp hands upon the white napkin.
"I beg your pardon, sir," he said humbly. "You see, I knowed Mr Harry
so well. He was always such a gentleman to me, and it was such an upset
when he died that--that now he's come to life again, sir, it seemed like
making a man forget himself, sir, and--"
"Show that he felt a genuine attachment to our very dear friend,
Samuel," said the doctor quietly. "Thank you. My friends thank you
too, for we know it was all perfectly sincere."
"Hah!" said the professor, as the door closed. "I always liked your
Sam, though as a bit of a linguist I must say that sometimes his use of
the Queen's English does rather jar upon my feelings."
"But his heart's in the right place," said Frank warmly.
"And a good heart too. But as we were saying when he burst into the
room, Britons never shall be slaves, and I'm going back to Egypt after
all to file off those chains."
"That's right," said the doctor warmly, "and just what I knew you would
say. You are a man, Fred, who has found out things that have puzzled a
good many--"
"Better ones," said the professor modestly. "Well, I have."
"And you've made out many an Egyptian hieroglyphic in your time."
"Yes, and I hope to find out more," said the professor.
"And will," cried Frank.
"But," said the doctor, "you are forbidden to go up the country--by the
English and Egyptian authorities; and the Soudan is in the power of a
savage and cruel impostor, who vows death to the white. How are you
going up there to use those files?"
"Hah!" said the professor gravely; "whenever I have a difficult problem
to solve I always put on my old red fez and have a thorough good think,
and then the way seems to come."
"Yes," said the doctor, while Frank listened eagerly to what was said,
"but--"
"Yes, but--" said the professor, taking him up sharply. "We've got our
news, thank Heaven! and that's enough for to-night."
"And you can't put on your old red fez," said Frank, "because--"
"Exactly," said the professor; "because it is at my rooms in Fountain
Court."