With two of these
beasts and three camels I gladly wound my way from out of the pest-
stricken city. As I passed through the streets I observed a
fanatical-looking elder, who stretched forth his arms, and lifted
up his voice in a speech which seemed to have some reference to me.
Requiring an interpretation, I found that the man had said, "The
Pasha seeks camels, and he finds them not; the Englishman says,
'Let camels be brought,' and behold, there they are!"
I no sooner breathed the free, wholesome air of the Desert than I
felt that a great burden which I had been scarcely conscious of
bearing was lifted away from my mind. For nearly three weeks I had
lived under peril of death; the peril ceased, and not till then did
I know how much alarm and anxiety I had really been suffering.
CHAPTER XIX - THE PYRAMIDS
I went to see and to explore the Pyramids.
Familiar to one from the days of early childhood are the forms of
the Egyptian Pyramids, and now, as I approached them from the banks
of the Nile, I had no print, no picture before me, and yet the old
shapes were there; there was no change; they were just as I had
always known them.