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Trooper Bluegum at the Dardanelles

Chapter 4 IN EGYPT STILL

Word Count: 1542    |    Released on: 06/12/2017

-THE SCOT AGAIN-EGYPTIAN ROADS-ARABIAN NIGHTS-CAIRO BY NIGHT-A MAG

in order to take part in the war, and here we were burning our heels on the Egyptian sand-day after day, week after week. No wonder many of us, as we tr

mels and Bedouins a few miles away seemed to be floating in the air. Like white wings gliding up and down the Nile were the triangular sails of the native dhows-wonderfully picturesque, with their tremendous spars that tower into the

and sang for us. The air was absolutely full of them, darkening the sun-big yellow and brown and black things, mostly about two inches long. They sounded like thousands of whirring wheels, and they dropped on the roofs with a noise like rain. Where they landed they left everything bare as a bone. All along the Nile the "gyppies" turned ou

re "spoiling for a fight," as the saying is-used at times to kick over the traces and paint the town vermilion; but there are compensations in Egypt for all who would seek them. What did it matter that we had no hot cross buns for Easter, no hard-boiled eggs, no ling, no salmon? We had omelettes and quail on toast, and chick

ge. Wonderful the things that Britain does! A board of eminent engineers examined the whole scheme and decided that it would cost over £2,000,000 to complete it. But a Scotsman came along-Sir Colin Campbell Scott-Moncrieff-and he fixed the whole show up fo

Nights. The very street scenes make one think of them. Motors glide up and down the streets with rich Syrians, Greeks, Egyptians, Italians, Frenchmen and Englishmen, going to the Continental, or to Shepheard's, or to private entertainments. It is a gorgeous splash of colour. They had no motor-cars that I remember in those old Arabian Nights, but the magic of the thing and the

m the Continent, plutocrats from America, tourists from the four quarters of the world, all meet and make merry here. This year of grace witnessed a somewhat different spectacle, it is true. It was a polyglot gathering of all nations, to be sure, but the tourist element was wanting. In the place of the tourists, however, was the "Army of Occupation." Hundreds of officers, British, French, Egyptian, Australian and New Zealand, in smart uniforms, gave striking colour to the scene, which was made additionally picturesque by the vari-colo

Hall, and while the orchestra played the ravishing strains

Roman candles, Catherine wheels, shooting stars and all the fireworks we loved as youngsters were there in full working order, but ever so many more and ever so much grander than at those "Queen's Birthday" exhibitions w

t," then at the Dardanelles. There was a great crowd present. In the viceregal stand was a distinguished gathering of generals, consuls, ministers and diplomats. Scores of beautiful French girls, escorted by British officers-by way o

.. and one girl of girls. Tall and stately, like a queen she moved amongst the revellers. The rest of the dancers were just th

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