The India Fan (32 page)

iss Philwright and Miss Delany,said the clerk at the desk. our room is on the first floor. It is small, but as you see we are very crowded. Here is your key.

The tall man was very close to us then. I wondered what he was doing there, as he was not one of our party. But Alice was pulling at my arm. ome on,she said. t only for one night. We shall be leaving early in the morning.

Excited though I was, I slept well, and I was awakened very early next morning by Alice telling me it was time we got up.

The trip across the desert was to be made in those covered wagons, which were very much as Monsieur Lasseur had described them. They were drawn by four horses and we were told that there were several caravanserais in the desert where we could rest while the horses were changed. Six people rode in each wagon.

Monsieur Lasseur said, et us go together. I feel I must keep an eye on you two young ladies. I know from experience how uncomfortable these journeys can be. The drivers are very handy with their whips and their one aim seems to be to get the wagon to the caravanserai as quickly as possible. I am afraid you will find the journey somewhat exhausting.

s I have already told you, Monsieur Lasseur, it is all so new to us that we are ready to face a little discomfort,I reminded him.

I shall never forget riding through Cairo in the early morning. The buildings looked mysterious in the half light. We passed elegant mosques, one of the palaces of the Khedive, and latticed houses which would have delighted Dougal, who would have seen the Saracen influence in their shadowy walls. Because it was so early the city had not sprung to life, which it would shortly do. I saw just a few donkeys led by small, barefooted boys. There was a hush over the place, but the sun was about to rise, and in the light of dawn Cairo looked like an enchanted city, as though it belonged in the Arabian nights. I could well imagine a loquacious Scheherazade entertaining her sultan behind the doors of some ancient palace.

There were six of us in the wagon: myself, Alice, Monsieur Lasseur, Mr. and Mrs. Carling and, to my surprise, the tall man whom I had noticed in the hotel.

I wondered if he was going to join the steamer that was taking us to India or whether his destination, like that of Monsieur Lasseur, was merely Suez.

Soon the desert closed round us. It was now light enough to see the miles of sand. It was golden in the dawn light. I was fascinated. Then the driver whipped up his horses and we had to concentrate on keeping our seats.

told you,said Monsieur Lasseur, t was hardly a comfortable journey.

We laughed as we were flung against each other. Mrs. Carling said it was a mercy it could not last for long, and Mr. Carling commented that when one undertook such a journey one must be prepared for discomforts. Monsieur Lasseur remarked that there were certain things in life that were wonderful to anticipate and look back on, but less agreeable to experience, and travel often proved to be one of them.

The tall man smiled benignly on us. He seemed to divide his interest between Monsieur Lasseur and me, and whenever I looked up I would find his eyes fixed gravely on one of us.

The horses rattled on.

hat happens if the wagon overturns?I asked.

hich,added Mr. Carling, t might well do if it goes on like this. I don think our driver realizes what he is putting us through.

is idea is to get rid of one load, receive his money and then on to the next,explained Monsieur Lasseur.

ut if there is an accident surely that would delay him,I suggested.

h, he is confident that Allah will look after him.

wish I shared his confidence,said Alice.

We were all relieved when the horses pulled up. Poor things, they must have been very weary. I knew we all felt considerably battered and we welcomed the short respite before the ordeal started again.

As we alighted I noticed the tall man stayed close to us.

The heat of the desert was intense, for it was round about noon. We had been going for some six hours and were glad of the shelter, although our resting place was like a hut, but the stables adjoining it were extensive.

Beverages were served, and I was glad to see that there was tea. There was foodread and meat of some indefinable kind, which I declined.

We sat at tableshe six of us who had shared the wagon. I saw no one else from the ship party and I presumed they would come later, as ours had been one of the first wagons to leave Cairo.

t least we have come safely through the initial stage of the journey,said Alice.

The tall man replied, here is still more of the same to come.

should not think it could be any worse,went on Alice with a grimace.

The man lifted his shoulders.

have heard of frequent breakdowns on the way,put in Monsieur Lasseur.

ow awful,I said. hat would happen then?

ou wait until the message gets through and they come with another wagon.

hat if we didn get to Suez in time to catch the ship?

hey would find some means of getting you there,said the tall man.

e don know your name,I told him. nd it does seem as if we are to be fellow passengers on this hazardous journey.

He smiled. He had very white teeth. t Tom Keeping,he said.

o you are English.

id you not think so?

wasn sure.

Monsieur Lasseur said, will find out when we are leaving.

He went to the table where a man who was obviously taking charge of the place was sitting.

Tom Keeping said, am an interloper. Your party have all come out from England, is that so?

es, we all sailed together.

nd Monsieur I forget his name the French gentleman.

onsieur Lasseur. Yes, he was with us also.

nd all good friends. People quickly become friends when they are travelling, I believe.

hey are thrown very much together,I explained.

hat must be so.

Monsieur Lasseur came back.

e are leaving in half an hour.

e had better brace ourselves,said Alice.

The next part of the journey was as hazardous as the first. I noticed that there was a pathway across the desert. Presumably it had been made by the wagons, and if the drivers had kept to this it would have been moderately comfortable, but the frisky horses, maddened no doubt by the frequent applications of the whip, kept straying into the sand, which sent up clouds of it over the wagon.

Several times during the trip to the second caravanserai I thought we were going to be overturned, but by some magic we survived and, after what seemed an interminable journey, we reached the second of the resthouses.

As we were making our way into the caravanserai Monsieur Lasseur slipped his arm through mine and drew me slightly away from the others.

He said, hat was a real shake-up. I feel quite bruised, don you?

I told him I did.

think,he went on, could get a better conveyance for us. Don say a word. I couldn take the others only you and Miss Philwright.

As he was talking Tom Keeping came up close behind us.

I said, ow could we leave the Carlings? They should be the ones to travel more comfortably.

et me arrange this,went on Monsieur Lasseur. l find a way.

I felt a little uneasy. I wished that I could have asked Alice for her opinion. It was not just the fact of the two of us going off with Monsieur Lasseur. We had travelled with him and knew him well. How could we explain to the Carlings, who were less able to stand up to the journey than we were?

We sat down and refreshments were brought to us.

Tom Keeping said, have a bottle of wine here, which I brought with me. Would you care to join me?

I declined, as did Alice and Mrs. Carling. We preferred tea, although it was not very good. Mr. Carling hesitated and finally said he, too, would take the tea.

That left Monsieur Lasseur and Tom Keeping. The latter went to the end of the room and procured a tray and two glasses, pouring the wine into them.

He brought it back to the table and offered one to Monsieur Lasseur.

o a successful journey,said Tom Keeping, lifting his glass. ay we all arrive safe and sound at our destinations.

We chatted for a while and then Monsieur Lasseur left us. He looked at me rather conspiratorially as he went. Mr. and Mrs. Carling were so tired that they were dozing off. There was a small room where we could wash and freshen up a little before we began the next phase of our journey. I signed to Alice to accompany me there.

I said to her when the door had closed, onsieur Lasseur has plans. He thinks he can get a better carriage for us, but he can take us all.

hen he had better take the Carlings. They are elderly and we can stand up to it better than they can.

mentioned that, but he wants to take us.

hy? We have endured the greater part of it.

e seems to be going to a lot of trouble.

t would be nice to travel in comfort, but it would be impossible to leave the Carlings. Mr. Keeping will be all right, but I really think Mrs. Carling has had enough.

es, wel insist that he take them.

don think hel be eager to do that. He wants to show you what a resourceful gentleman he is.

think he wants to be more comfortable himself. He said he was going to the stables to arrange it all.

ell, let see what happens.

We washed and prepared ourselves for the resumption of the journey.

When we went back to the table Mr. and Mrs. Carling roused themselves and went off to the rest room. There were two of them, naturally, one for men and one for women.

It was some time before Mr. Carling emerged with Tom Keeping, and as soon as I saw them I knew that something was wrong. Tom Keeping came quickly to the table at which Alice and I were sitting.

am afraid something has happened to Monsieur Lasseur,he said.

We half rose. hat is it?

h, don get alarmed. He is a little unwell. I think it may be something he ate at the last stopping-place. It happens now and then. I am afraid he will be unable to continue with us.

ut I began.

erhaps there is something that we could do,said Alice.

y dear ladies,said Tom Keeping, e have to catch the steamer. I believe Monsieur Lasseur business was in Suez. If he is a day late in arriving that could be of little moment. For us to arrive after the steamer had sailed would be disastrous.

ut what can we do ?

e is in good hands. They are used to this sort of calamity here. They will look after him. He will catch a later wagon.

here is he now?

n the men rest room. There is a little room there where people can lie down. He has asked me to convey his best wishes to you and tell you not to worry about him.

erhaps we could see him I began.

iss Delany, he would not wish that. Moreover the wagon is leaving at any moment now. If you miss it there may not be room on the next.

Mr. Carling said, his is the most uncomfortable journey I have ever undertaken.

ever mind, Father,said Mrs. Carling. ee come so far and this part is nearly over. Only one more lap to do.

Mr. Keeping hurried us to the wagon and we were soon galloping across the desert.

In due course we arrived at Suez, where we spent a day waiting for the rest of the wagons to arrive. To our amazement, Monsieur Lasseur did not come. Alice and I wondered a great deal about him. It was strange. Who would have thought that such a seasoned traveller would have eaten something that did not agree with him. It would have been understandable if it had happened to one of us.

The P. & O. Steamer was waiting for us. We went on board and settled into our small cabin for two, immensely relieved that we had survived the hazardous journey across the desert.

In due course we sailed. Monsieur Lasseur still had not arrived.

We discussed him a great deal during the first days at sea.

e was very attentive to us,I said to Alice.

always felt he had a motive,she said.

ust friendliness. He liked helping two defenceless females who ought not to have been travelling on their own.

could never quite understand him, and his disappearance was most mysterious.

wonder how he felt about not being able to get to Suez?

el only be a few days late, and as he hadn a ship to catch I don suppose it mattered all that much.

t seemed so strange. We were with him most of the time and then he disappeared.

om Keeping seemed to think it was a very ordinary occurrence. The food doesn always agree with us. I don suppose standards of hygiene are what they should be. But I thought he would be the sort who would be fully aware of all that and act accordingly.

think Tom Keeping did not care very much for him.

erhaps the feeling might have been mutual. However, Monsieur Lasseur disappeared, and it is doubtful that we shall ever hear of him again.

We saw Tom Keeping every day. I had a feeling that he was watchful of us and had instituted himself as our protector in place of Monsieur Lasseur.

The seas were calmer and the voyage enjoyable; one day seemed to slip by after another and there was a similarity among them. Many of the passengers who had been on the Oriental Queen were still with us, and it seemed just a change of scene, but we had picked up a few passengers at Suez and there were friendly exchanges between us as we sailed down the Red Sea to Aden.

The heat grew great and I remember lazy days when we sat on deck and, as Alice said, recovered from the gruelling time we had endured in the desert.

Tom Keeping often joined us. I noticed that Alice was getting very friendly with him. He was most pleasant to us both, but I detected that while he regarded me more as an object in need of protection he had a great admiration for Alice.

He was an experienced traveller. He told us that he had done the journey from India to England and back many times.

ost of the people who are going out are in the Army or in the Company; and I think the greater number are in the Company.

nd you,I asked, re in the Company?

es, Miss Delany. I am a Company man and I shall be making my way to Delhi as soon as we land.