OCR Text |
Show 24 PRINCESS MARY'S GIFT BOOK business of his own. BIMBASHI JOYCE And just at that very time, Riiiiliaslii Hilary .once. seconded from the Royal Mallow Fusiliers. and temporarily attached to the Ninth Soudanese. made his first appearance in Cairo. Napoleon had said. and Hilary Joyce had noted, that great reputations are only to be made in the ICast. Here he was in the East with four tin cases of baggage. a \Vilkiiison sword. a llond‘s slug-throwing pistol. and a copy of "Greens Introduction to the Study of Arabic." \Vith such a start. and the blood of youth running hot in his veins. everything seemed easy. Ile was a little frightened of the general; he had heard stories of his sternness to young otIiccrs, but with tact and suavity he hoped for the best. So. leaving his effects at " Shepherd‘s Hotel." he reported himself at headquarters. It was not the general. but the head of the Intelligence Department who received him. the chief being still absent upon that business which had called him. Hilary .once found himself in the presence of a short, thick-set ofiiccr. with a gentle voice and a placid expression which covered a remarkably acute and energetic spirit. \Vith that quiet smile and guileless manner he had undercut and outwitted the most cunning of Orientals. He stood, a cigarette between his fingers, looking at the newcomer. "I heard that you had come. Sorry the chief isn‘t here to see you. Gone up to the frontier, you know." "My regiment is at \Vady Halfa. I supposcfsir, that I should report myself there at once ? " "‘ No; I was to give you your orders." He led the way to a map upon the wall. and pointed with the end of his cigarette. " You see this place. It's the Oasis of Kiirkur-a little quiet, I am afraid, but excellent air. You are to get out there as quick as possible. You‘ll find a company of the Ninth, and half a squadron of cavalry. You will be in command." Hilary Joyce looked at the name, printed at the intersection of two there is a great deal of disaffeetion about, and that the Khalifa is likely to try and keep in touch with his adherents. Then, again, Senoussi lives up that way "-he waved his cigarette to the westward- "the Khalifa might send a messenger to him along that route. Anyhow, your duty is to arrest every one coming along, and get some account of him before you let him go. You don't talk Arabic, I suppose?" "I am learning, sir." " Well, well, you'll have time enough to study there. And you'll have a native otlicer, Ali something or other, who speaks English, and can interpret for you. \Vell, good-bye-I‘ll tell the chief that you reported yourself. Get on to your post now as quickly as you can." Railway to Baliani, the post-boat to Assouan, and then two days on a camel in the Libyan desert, with an Ababdch guide, and three baggage-camels to tie one down to their own exasperating pace. However, even two and a half miles an hour mount up in time, and at last, on the third evening, from the blackened slag-heap of a hill which is called the Jebel Kurkur, Hilary Joyce looked down upon a distant clump of palms, and thought that this cool patch of green in the midst of the merciless blacks and yellows was the fairest colour effect that he had ever seen. An hour later he had ridden into the little camp, the guard had turned out to salute him, his native subordinate had greeted him in excellent English, and he had fairly entered into his own. It was not an exhilarating place for a lengthy residence. There was one large, bowl-shaped, grassy depression sloping down to the three pits of brown and brackish water. There, also, was the grove of palm trees beautiful to look upon, but exasperating in view of the fact that Nature has provided her black lines without another dot upon the map for several inches around least shady trees on the very spot where shade is needed most. A single wide-spread it. acacia did something to restore the balance. "A village, sir?" " l\o, a well. Not very good water, I'm afraid, but you soon get accustomed to natron. It's an important post, as being at the junction ot two caravan routes. All routes are closed now, of course, but still you never know who wig/[l come along them." " \\ ell. between you and me, there‘s really nothinrr to raid. are there to intercept messengers. They must call at the wells. Here Hilary Joyce slumbered in the heat, and in the cool he inspected his square- shouldered, spindle-shanked Soudanese, with their cheery black faces and their funny little pork-pie forage caps. Joyce " "e are there, I presume, to prevent raiding ? " You was a martinet at drill, and the blacks Of loved being drilled, so the Biinbashi was course you have only just come out, but you probably understand soon popular among them. But one day already enough about the conditions of this country to know that was exactly like another. The weather, \ 25 ‘\ i/iww Mimvl |