CHAPTER CXV
SUEZ
We were obliged to take leave of our pleasant steamer friends at Suez. I was very sorry to part with the Crémazy, who hoped we might meet again and promised to write to me from time to time. When it came to saying good-bye to my Australian admirer, he hurt my hand squeezing it and pressing my fingers made me cry, whilst he expressed his despair at parting from me.
We lowered a boat that carried us on shore. When we entered it, my Australian waved his farewell tome and shouted from the deck, “I am so sorry to lose you!”
We had the intention on arriving at Suez to make an excursion along the banks of the Nile, and then to catch the Laos at Port Saïd. When we set foot on African soil, the train for Cairo had already started, and we were obliged to wait patiently until the next day. We set out piano pianissimo through the intense heat to seek rooms at the Hôtel Continental. Suez is in the full Carnival; masked groups walk about the streets. A man dressed like a cook, holding an immense sauce-pan, in which he was stirring with a big spoon a sort of gruel, sprinkled with this nasty mixture all the passers-by, shouting, “Vive la France!” Knowing that he was at our heels, we hastened to the hotel.
CHAPTER CXVI
CAIRO
February 24th.—We started for Cairo with the first train, and followed for a long time the Suez Canal. We are rolling now by the side of the Nile. The passengers, their faces at the windows, are looking out for the Pyramids. We came in sight of one Pyramid, and ten minutes afterwards, we enter Cairo station.
The winter season at Cairo was in full swing; the city was full of tourists and it was difficult to find a shelter. We made a tour of the hotels, but not a single room was to be had: “full up,” came the curt reply. We went to Shepherd’s Hotel, and the next hotel, and the next to that, and received the same answer everywhere. At last we found shelter at the Hôtel Bristol, but for two days only, as all the apartments were already let to a number of American tourists who were to arrive with the next boat from Alexandria.
February 25th.—The chances were that we should remain at Cairo for some days to come. We had just been informed that we must wait a whole week to catch the Laos at Port Saïd. Directly after breakfast we set to work to find lodgings, which was not an easy thing to do. At last we got apartments, consisting of a bedroom and a sitting-room, in the second floor of a private house, where we were made as comfortable as circumstances would allow. We’ll pay five shillings a day for our board and lodging. Our travelling companions have found rooms in the same house.