said the hadji; "I'll see that properly stowed; you'll find it in No. 3 van when you get to Cairo: and now, if you please, I'll lock you up, and if you are wise you'll pull up all the blinds till you get out of the station, or you may get a lot of foreigners in with you." Having said which, the benevolent hadji lifted his fez once more, and turned the key upon us. I expected that when our deliverance was complete he would turn into a gnome, or a genie, or something of that sort, but he didn't. I saw him again in Cairo in a carriage behind a pair of horses, when I was driving the other way. I caught his eye, though, and waved my hand to him he waved his in return. I'll take am positive, Bales, that he recog

my — that is, I

nised me.

For some little while after we were locked up we kept our blinds closed as we had been directed, and it would have been well for us perhaps if we had continued to do so till fairly running away for Cairo. But somehow we never find precautions answer without persuading ourselves that the results would be just as satisfactory without the precautions, and so impunity leads to foolhardiness. If Roderick Dhu

had held on by his trusty targe; if Mrs Lot could have refrained from examining into the set of her panier; if Baba Abdallah* had kept the ointment off his right eye; if the royal Calendar had not opened the golden door; or if mother Eve had let

See the Story of "Baba Abdallah, the Blind Man," in the 'Thousand and One Nights.'

the apple alone, how differently would a good many histories be written! To compare small things with great, how much more elbow-room should we have preserved if we had kept our carriage closed! But then, who the deuce could? The hubbub from which we were withdrawn was going on outside us just as before. It was only natural that we should wish to see how it fared with those on the platform, and to take a cautious peep at them, as we suppose the spirits of the just to do at those who are still struggling, and screaming, and blundering, and failing here below. First we opened the merest chinks, then we made the chinks wider; nobody came in, and so at last we said, "Oh, it's all right, nobody wants to come in here," and let the blinds fairly down. Mon Dieu! wasn't there a rush two minutes after! The foreigner was upon us as the hadji had predicted, and he not only crowded up the carriage, but he crammed it full of his wonderful bags and bottles, and kept everybody uncomfortable while he was shelving and arranging the same. The carriage was double, or triple for aught I know; and by the time the train was fairly off, many of the invaders had vanished, whether into air or into other compartments I know not, but our carriage was comparatively clear again. And now we saw the town. of Suez, but shot by it full speed. "Bravo!" we said, "the special train does not stop at Suez, why should it? And now we are all snug and comfortable till we get to Cairo." Oh, how miserably deceived we

were! It must have been a full mile beyond Suez where the train stopped; and from that distance it was backed with deliberate cruelty to the Suez station, where a scene of confusion, in comparison of which the scene at the goods station below was a quiet, orderly, and reasonable scene, ensued. Any attempt to describe the tumult would fail. Again the foreigner was upon us; again it rained trunks and carpet-bags, and cloaks and wicker-cases; and this time the carriages were so full that there was no subsidence or dispersion after the first rush, but rather an increased pressure; for the cross passages were thronged with passengers who never sat down except upon a bandbox or a baby, or anything they found lying about, and otherwise passed their time in driving in and pulling out leather cases and curiously-fashioned boxes below the seats and over our heads, keeping us from becoming inattentive or comatose. It was past noon before we escaped from the Suez station and its crush and clamour; but we did then start in earnest, and there was nothing there worth waiting for. The town is small and insignificant, with houses built of mud or native brick, or more rarely of European brick. To the right and left of it all is sand. The railway at first runs just behind the Canal-banks, but it leaves this direction and turns westward.

It was a comfort to be able at last to close the eyes and collect one's thoughts again after all this turmoil. Our party was strong enough to occupy the entire