‘That very night my brother Said rode into the old fortress as Viceroy of this country. The artillery had orders to defend the place should the necessity arise. Before daybreak we learnt that El Hami had arrived from Damietta, and presently the Ulema rode up and demanded the gates to be opened to admit the Viceroy of Egypt. Said admitted the learned scribe into the audience-chamber and complimented him on his zeal in coming so early to greet his new master. The Ulema stared as one bereft of his senses. Said, my brother, was a good-hearted man, and did not seize on this opportunity to destroy the enemy whom fortune had delivered into his hands. He was fond of a little joke, and felt that now he could afford to indulge in one: a barber was summoned to cut off the Ulema’s beard, and the poor man was sent off with a message to Elfy Bey to inform the latter that his game was up, and that he would be received by his new master as soon as he wished to present himself.
‘Elfy, though a devout Moslem, was not the man to bow to the decrees of fate—a self-inflicted pistol-shot ended the career of the Governor of Cairo and Egypt’s Minister of War. The Ulema did not long survive the loss of his beard, and the young prince El Hami was allowed to start once more for Syria for the good of his health.’
The reader may now be curious to learn how Abbas’s progress from Benha to Cairo was accomplished, for when we left that prince in his blood-stained bath his earthly journey was doubtless over.
Rames now continues the narrative:—‘By Allah, the compassionate, the merciful, how I rode back to Benha! What dangers I incurred in returning to that palace no one knew better than myself; but to serve my present master, Halim Basha, was my chief thought. It was barely ten o’clock, as you Franks reckon the time, when I and el Dogaan arrived. None of the horses in the stables had been attended to, and two of them were missing. I had hardly been ten minutes there when I was called and had to repair to the anteroom of the bath. The mamelukes who personally attended our late Basha had also been summoned there; but I noticed that of the twelve two were missing, namely Hassan and Husseyn. Their non-appearance was evidently accounted for and no one spoke of them. Presently Elfy Bey and the Ulema entered. They ordered us to repeat the profession of our faith, and each one had to take an oath that what we should now see should not be revealed to any living creature. We all solemnly swore that we would keep the secret, and then Elfy Bey warned us that if a word escaped our lips, our tongues should be torn out and our flayed bodies would hang from the walls of Sultan Hassan’s mosque. He then drew back the curtain, and by the light of day I again witnessed the terrible sight of the previous night.
‘Six mamelukes were ordered to lift the body out of the bath and to dress the mortal remains in the garments used on state occasions. I and three others had to return to the stables to prepare the state coach and to harness six white horses. When this was brought round to the door of the hareem, as ordered, the body of Abbas was placed in a sitting posture on the back seat of the carriage, and the Ulema sat beside it to hold it in position. Elfy Bey and the favourite eunuch sat with their backs to the horses. A veil was wound round the corpse’s turban, and an embroidered litám concealed the lower part of the face, as the fashion often is with the Bedouin, as a protection from the dust. Two sat on the box and two stood, as is the style of the Franks, on the backboard of the coach. Six cavaliers, of whom I was one, served as an escort.
‘Such is the manner in which we started on that progress to the capital! The fellaheen greeted us as we passed through the villages. I heard some remark that our lord looked ill, and they committed him to the protection of Allah. As I rode el Dogaan, which is famous for his speed, I was fortunately sent ahead with the second messenger to announce the viceregal progress to Halim Basha. I dared not speak; but hoped that my signs would be understood. By night-fall we reached Cairo and, as was customary, we carried lighted torches on each side of the coach. Thousands witnessed our progress through the streets; I heard again the remark that the Effendina looked ill, and there was also a silence amidst the onlookers which made me wonder whether any suspected the truth. When we had passed through the Bab en-Nasr and were crossing the tract of desert which separates that gate from the palace at Abbasiyeh, the Ulema praised God and let the corpse fall forward. Elfy Bey cursed the old man and lifted the body into position again.
‘Once inside the palace there was nothing further to do than to await the return of El Hami from Damietta. It would then be time enough to announce the death of Abbas and to proclaim his young son as successor to the viceregal throne. Elfy would then have been the virtual ruler of Egypt. By the mercy of Allah his plans were frustrated and a bullet ended his earthly career. I was not long in seeking out my present master, and what services I may have rendered have been liberally rewarded.
‘You may wish to know more of Hassan and Husseyn, whose disappearance after the murder I had noticed. I have since heard that they are now in the service of Princess Zohra, and, to tell you the truth, they were in her service before they ever set foot in Egypt.’
Zohra had at last avenged the death of her first love.