I found the idea of a camel ride across the desert rather attractive. It would be an adventure, another instalment of the utterly unexpected, a fitting end to this extraordinary voyage.
“You wouldn’t, of course, be seeing the Pyramids, or the temples that everybody goes to see, but of course you can visit them any time,” Captain Welfare continued, as though impartially weighing the advantages of his own suggestion, “and I don’t fancy many tourists get to see the western desert.”
“I should like it,” I said. “It would be intensely interesting. But how on earth am I to get a camel and a guide? I don’t suppose one can whistle for them like a taxi?”
“No; it’s a pretty lonesome part. But Jakoub will manage all that.”
“Jakoub?” I asked with instant suspicion.
“Yes; Jakoub has got to go that way.”
“Then he can go alone,” I said with sudden emphasis. “I will not go with him.”
“No? I’m afraid that settles it then. It’s a pity too, for I think you would have found it interesting.”
Captain Welfare walked away as though the subject were closed. If for any reason he wanted me to go with Jakoub, this was the cleverest thing I had known him do; for he left me longing to discuss the matter. Indeed, I came to the conclusion that he could not want me to go, for it was difficult to credit him with so much subtlety.
I resumed the question myself at dinner, anxious to know if Edmund had been consulted before the proposal was made to me. Edmund made no attempt to conceal the fact that it was their joint idea.