But We Were All Faint And Languid From
Want Of Food, And Besides, There Were No Materials.
Higher up the
river there were bushes and river plants, but nothing like timber;
and the cord with which my baggage was tied to the pack-saddles
amounted altogether to a very small quantity, not nearly enough to
haul any sort of craft across the stream.
And now it was, if I remember rightly, that Dthemetri submitted to
me a plan for putting to death the Nazarene, whose misguidance had
been the cause of our difficulties. There was something
fascinating in this suggestion, for the slaying of the guide was of
course easy enough, and would look like an act of what politicians
call "vigour." If it were only to become known to my friends in
England that I had calmly killed a fellow-creature for taking me
out of my way, I might remain perfectly quiet and tranquil for all
the rest of my days, quite free from the danger of being considered
"slow"; I might ever after live on upon my reputation, like
"single-speech Hamilton" in the last century, or "single sin - " in
this, without being obliged to take the trouble of doing any more
harm in the world. This was a great temptation to an indolent
person, but the motive was not strengthened by any sincere feeling
of anger with the Nazarene. Whilst the question of his life and
death was debated he was riding in front of our party, and there
was something in the anxious writhing of his supple limbs that
seemed to express a sense of his false position, and struck me as
highly comic.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 141 of 325
Words from 38933 to 39211
of 89094
