Through green wavy fields of
rice, and pastures fresh and plentiful, and dived into the cold
verdure of groves and gardens, and quenched my hot eyes in shade,
as though in deep, rushing waters.
CHAPTER XVIII - CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE {30}
Cairo and plague! During the whole time of my stay the plague was
so master of the city, and showed itself so staringly in every
street and every alley, that I can't now affect to dissociate the
two ideas.
When coming from the Desert I rode through a village which lies
near to the city on the eastern side, there approached me with busy
face and earnest gestures a personage in the Turkish dress. His
long flowing beard gave him rather a majestic look, but his
briskness of manner, and his visible anxiety to accost me, seemed
strange in an Oriental. The man in fact was French, or of French
origin, and his object was to warn me of the plague, and prevent me
from entering the city.
"Arretez-vous, monsieur, je vous en prie - arretez-vous; il ne faut
pas entrer dans la ville; la peste y regne partout."
"Oui, je sais,{31} mais - "
"Mais monsieur, je dis la peste - la peste; c'est de LA PESTE, qu'il
est question."
"Oui, je sais, mais - "
"Mais monsieur, je dis encore LA PESTE - LA PESTE.
