"It pays to be good," howled Hickey from the bow of the steamer to those still aboard. "If you're good you can go visit your friends, the mummies. I'll give your kindest to the caliphs."
With a shrill whistle the steamers headed for the landing, every jackie on board singing. Reaching the landing, the whole crowd rushed for the train that was waiting to convey them to Cairo.
"Oh, look at the man with the kimono," shouted Dan.
"That's no kimono; that's the conductor's uniform," answered a voice.
There were a number of American tourists aboard the waiting train, and many of these waved American flags from the windows.
The jackies went wild. They hurrahed for America; they hurrahed for the tourists, winding up with a "Hip, hip, hurrah, for the kings of ancient Egypt."
By this time the conductor was charging up and down beside the train as if he had suddenly lost his senses.
"Has he gone crazy?" called Sam.
"No; he is always that way when he is starting the train. He has a fit at every station on the line. He wouldn't think he were earning his salary if he didn't," answered a traveler.
The conductor's robe, a cross between a kimono and a bath robe, was taken in at the waist by a sash, while a bright red fez adorned his head. The fez was the wonder of the jackies.