" said a voice,
scornfully
naming the best baggage-breed that
he knew.
he knew.
Kipling - Poems
Take me to where
the scouts sit when they come in from the desert. They sit by their
camels, and the camels eat grain out of a black blanket held up at the
corners, and the men eat by their side just like camels. Take me there! "
The camp was rough and rutty, and Dick stumbled many times over the
stumps of scrub. The scouts were sitting by their beasts, as Dick knew
they would. The light of the dung-fires flickered on their bearded
faces, and the camels bubbled and mumbled beside them at rest. It was no
part of Dick's policy to go into the desert with a convoy of
supplies. That would lead to impertinent questions, and since a blind
non-combatant is not needed at the front, he would probably be forced to
return to Suakin.
He must go up alone, and go immediately.
"Now for one last bluff--the biggest of all," he said. "Peace be with
you, brethren! " The watchful George steered him to the circle of the
nearest fire. The heads of the camel-sheiks bowed gravely, and the
camels, scenting a European, looked sideways curiously like brooding
hens, half ready to get to their feet.
"A beast and a driver to go to the fighting line tonight," said Dick.
"A Mulaid?
" said a voice, scornfully naming the best baggage-breed that
he knew.
"A Bisharin," returned Dick, with perfect gravity. "A Bisharin without
saddle-galls. Therefore no charge of thine, shock-head. "
Two or three minutes passed. Then--"We be knee-haltered for the night.
There is no going out from the camp. "
"Not for money? "
"H'm! Ah! English money? "
Another depressing interval of silence.
"How much? "
"Twenty-five pounds English paid into the hand of the driver at my
journey's end, and as much more into the hand of the camel-sheik here,
to be paid when the driver returns. "
This was royal payment, and the sheik, who knew that he would get his
commission on this deposit, stirred in Dick's behalf.
"For scarcely one night's journey--fifty pounds.
the scouts sit when they come in from the desert. They sit by their
camels, and the camels eat grain out of a black blanket held up at the
corners, and the men eat by their side just like camels. Take me there! "
The camp was rough and rutty, and Dick stumbled many times over the
stumps of scrub. The scouts were sitting by their beasts, as Dick knew
they would. The light of the dung-fires flickered on their bearded
faces, and the camels bubbled and mumbled beside them at rest. It was no
part of Dick's policy to go into the desert with a convoy of
supplies. That would lead to impertinent questions, and since a blind
non-combatant is not needed at the front, he would probably be forced to
return to Suakin.
He must go up alone, and go immediately.
"Now for one last bluff--the biggest of all," he said. "Peace be with
you, brethren! " The watchful George steered him to the circle of the
nearest fire. The heads of the camel-sheiks bowed gravely, and the
camels, scenting a European, looked sideways curiously like brooding
hens, half ready to get to their feet.
"A beast and a driver to go to the fighting line tonight," said Dick.
"A Mulaid?
" said a voice, scornfully naming the best baggage-breed that
he knew.
"A Bisharin," returned Dick, with perfect gravity. "A Bisharin without
saddle-galls. Therefore no charge of thine, shock-head. "
Two or three minutes passed. Then--"We be knee-haltered for the night.
There is no going out from the camp. "
"Not for money? "
"H'm! Ah! English money? "
Another depressing interval of silence.
"How much? "
"Twenty-five pounds English paid into the hand of the driver at my
journey's end, and as much more into the hand of the camel-sheik here,
to be paid when the driver returns. "
This was royal payment, and the sheik, who knew that he would get his
commission on this deposit, stirred in Dick's behalf.
"For scarcely one night's journey--fifty pounds.
