“Yes. Everything is beautifully packed; the Sheikh’s men are all trained camel-drivers; and I never saw a finer set of animals since I first came to Egypt.”
“But hark at them,” said Frank.
“What for? It is their nature to, my lad. Your camel is a creature that seems to have been born with a grievance. I was talking about it to Morris just now, and he actually tried to make a joke about them.”
“The doctor did?” said Frank, smiling.
“Fact, my dear boy. He says it is on account of their having so many stomachs.”
“I always understood it was Nature’s blessing to them to enable the poor beasts to exist in these waterless regions.”
“That’s what I said to him,” replied the professor; “but he said that might be a great benefit, but his medical experience of patients was that most of their troubles from early childhood arose from disordered stomachs, and if human beings suffered so much from only having one, what must it be to have a plurality of these necessary organs like a camel! Enough to make anything ill-tempered, he said. Well, you don’t laugh.”
“No,” said Frank sadly; “my spirits are too low.”
“The time of day, my lad. I always feel at my worst about daybreak. You’ll be better soon. I say we are getting on capitally, and I feel no fear about our plan.”
“I do,” said Frank sadly.