And The Proprietor Was Right, For Had We
Not Done So, The Treacle Would Have Run Off Through The Whole House.
But After This We Fared Royally.
Squirrel soup and prairie chickens
regaled us.
One of our new friends had laden his pockets with
champagne and brandy; the other with glasses and a corkscrew; and as
the bottle went round, I began to feel something of the spirit of
Mark Tapley in my soul.
But our visit to Cairo had been made rather with reference to its
present warlike character than with any eye to the natural beauties
of the place. A large force of men had been collected there, and
also a fleet of gun-boats. We had come there fortified with letters
to generals and commodores, and were prepared to go through a large
amount of military inspection. But the bird had flown before our
arrival; or rather the body and wings of the bird, leaving behind
only a draggled tail and a few of its feathers. There were only a
thousand soldiers at Cairo when we were there - that is, a thousand
stationed in the Cairo sheds. Two regiments passed through the
place during the time, getting out of one steamer on to another, or
passing from the railway into boats. One of these regiments passed
before me down the slope of the river bank, and the men as a body
seemed to be healthy. Very many were drunk, and all were mud-
clogged up to their shoulders and very caps.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 178 of 531
Words from 47443 to 47696
of 142339
