Without Pause Or Remission Of Pace I Continued To Press Forward,
But After A While I Found To My Confusion That The Slight Track
Which Had Hitherto Guided Me Now Failed Altogether.
I began to
fear that I must have been all along following the course of some
wandering Bedouins, and I felt that if this were the case, my fate
was a little uncertain.
I had no compass with me, but I determined upon the eastern point
of the horizon as accurately as I could by reference to the sun,
and so laid down for myself a way over the pathless sands.
But now my poor dromedary, by whose life and strength I held my
own, began to show signs of distress: a thick, clammy, and
glutinous kind of foam gathered about her lips, and piteous sobs
burst from her bosom in the tones of human misery. I doubted for a
moment whether I would give her a little rest, a relaxation of
pace, but I decided that I would not, and continued to push forward
as steadily as before.
The character of the country became changed. I had ridden away
from the level tracts, and before me now, and on either side, there
were vast hills of sand and calcined rocks, that interrupted my
progress and baffled my doubtful road, but I did my best. With
rapid steps I swept round the base of the hills, threaded the
winding hollows, and at last, as I rose in my swift course to the
crest of a lofty ridge, Thalatta! Thalatta! by Jove! I saw the
sea!
My tongue can tell where to find a clue to many an old pagan creed,
because that (distinctly from all mere admiration of the beauty
belonging to nature's works) I acknowledge a sense of mystical
reverence when first I look, to see some illustrious feature of the
globe - some coast-line of ocean, some mighty river or dreary
mountain range, the ancient barrier of kingdoms. But the Red Sea!
It might well claim my earnest gaze by force of the great Jewish
migration which connects it with the history of our own religion.
From this very ridge, it is likely enough, the panting Israelites
first saw that shining inlet of the sea. Ay! ay! but moreover, and
best of all, that beckoning sea assured my eyes, and proved how
well I had marked out the east for my path, and gave me good
promise that sooner or later the time would come for me to rest and
drink. It was distant, the sea, but I felt my own strength, and I
had HEARD of the strength of dromedaries. I pushed forward as
eagerly as though I had spoiled the Egyptians and were flying from
Pharaoh's police.
I had not yet been able to discover any symptoms of Suez, but after
a while I descried in the distance a large, blank, isolated
building. I made towards this, and in time got down to it.
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