I had become so
depressed in spirits that I did not dare to object to this
arrangement.
My friend could not complain much, even to me, feeling
that these miseries had been produced by his own obstinacy. "It is
a new phase of life," he said. That at any rate was true. If
nothing more be necessary for pleasurable excitement than a new
phase of life, I would recommend all who require pleasurable
excitement to go to Cairo. They will certainly find a new phase of
life. But do not let them remain too long, or they may find
something beyond a new phase of life. Within a week of that time my
friend was taking quinine, looking hollow about the eyes, and
whispering to me of fever and ague. To say that there was nothing
eatable or drinkable in that hotel, would be to tell that which will
be understood without telling. My friend, however, was a cautious
man, carrying with him comfortable tin pots, hermetically sealed,
from Fortnum & Mason's; and on the second day of our sojourn we were
invited by two officers to join their dinner at a Cairo eating-
house. We plowed our way gallantly through the mud to a little
shanty, at the door of which we were peremptorily commanded by the
landlord to scrub ourselves, before we entered, with the stump of an
old broom. This we did, producing on our nether persons the
appearance of bread which has been carefully spread with treacle by
an economic housekeeper.
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