“whoa, there! whoa!”
“hey, mate, this critter won’t steer right.”
“mine’s got a list to starboard.”
“mine’s lost his rudder and is all adrift!”
the jackies from the fleet, mounted on donkeys on which they were seeing the sights, had the bazaar in cairo in an uproar. natives in long robes and red fez caps were darting about trying to bring order out of chaos. donkeys were braying, jackies shouting with laughter, and american tourists cheering, as they saw uncle sam’s fighting men coming into town from the ornate railroad station which looked more like a mosque than a depot.
the jackies from the fleet ... had the bazaar in cairo in an uproar.—page 250.
in and out among the joyous tars darted beggars of all hues, black, yellow and white. nubians,[251] arabs, hindoos, even chinamen were in the throng, and they all rattled and banged on brass dishes yelling for alms. through the street occasionally an auto would come whirring along, carrying perhaps a veiled woman or a swarthy egyptian, or now and then a british officer in full rig.
at such times the flying squadron of donkeys scattered in every direction amidst the whoops and yells of their excited riders.
from the gutters mongrel curs snapped at the boys’ heels, and the uproar, din and sun were enough to upset the strongest nerves.
“these people must all be crazy,” exclaimed herc to ned as they maneuvered their donkeys in and out among the throng with more skill than most of the sailors showed. the boys had been brought up on a farm and knew something of riding.
“no, sir; that is, they’re only crazy for one thing, and that is money.”
[252]
“hookey! you’re right there. beggars and sand are about all i’ve seen in egypt so far. i wonder the beggars haven’t bankrupted the rest of the populace.”
“backsheesh! backsheesh!” wailed a filthy negro, getting in front of them.
“yes, yes, that’s what you are,” herc assured him, “a black sheep, all right enough.”
“tell you what, boys,” cried somebody, “let’s have a parade!”
the suggestion was greeted with cheers. the jackies began to urge their donkeys into line.
“columns of four, fighting bob’s formation!” shouted somebody.
“who’ll lead it?”
“strong! strong! we want strong!” chanted the crowd from the manhattan.
men from other ships cried for their favorites, but in the end ned was forced to the front of the parade. one of the sailors began pounding on a big brass bowl that he had bought in the[253] bazaar. the cavalcade began to move off with a perfect army of beggars and donkey drivers following behind.
“sing us ‘the kearsage and the alabama,’ harness cask!” hailed somebody, addressing the old sailor from the manhattan whom we have encountered before.
“if you’ll all join in the chorus.”
“sure we will!” roared all the tars.
“it was early sunday morning in the year of sixty-four!”
piped up the old man, while the sailor with the brass bowl beat time;
“the alabama she cruised out along the frenchman’s shore!
long time she cruised about, long time she held her sway,
but now beneath the frenchman’s shore she lies in sheer-bug bay.”
“chorus!” shouted herc, and they swung into[254] it with a vim that made the walls of the houses on each side of the street vibrate.
“hoist up the flag, boys,
long may she wave!
god bless america,
the home of the brave!”
old harness cask had about forty verses for his favorite song, and the procession marched about the town till they were all finished. then the return to the bazaar began. for some reason, as they entered its precincts herc’s donkey was seized with a sudden fit of balking. it braced all four legs together and refused to move. herc prodded and kicked, but all in vain.
“twist his tail!” shouted a sailor, and half a dozen hands proceeded to do so.
biff! like a flash, out shot the long-eared creature’s hind legs, sending the tail-twisting tars[255] down in a heap. lashing out right and left, the animal darted off.
“whoa! whoa!” shouted herc, who had been taken all by surprise at the unexpected success of the experiment.
“wow! i’m falling off!” he yelled the next instant. he fell forward and managed to clutch the donkey by the neck and one ear. this terrified the animal even more. plunging and bucking like a fishing cobble in a storm he rushed about the bazaar, eluding all efforts to capture him.
ned tumbled off his donkey and tried to grab herc’s beast. but he was shaking so with laughter at the other’s plight that he made a botch of it and landed in a heap, narrowly missed by the donkey’s threshing heels.
the tars yelled themselves hoarse.
“hang on, herc! you’ll come in a winner!” they yelled.
suddenly the donkey altered his tactics. as[256] swiftly as a rocket he sped for a large open store in which brassware of all descriptions and also oriental confectionery were displayed for sale.
“whoa!” yelled herc.
but he might as well have tried to stay the stars in their courses. with a wild bray the donkey dashed in a bee-line for the store.
“oh, glory! he’s going right through it!” roared the sailors.
“don’t strike your colors, herc.”
“stay on him; over the jumps!”
the shouts of the tars behind the donkey made him go faster. from the store the proprietor, an enormously fat egyptian, with a water-bowl pipe in his hand, came rushing out. he spread his arms and tried to stay the onrush of the donkey, to whose neck and ear herc was still clinging.
crash! the donkey collided with him like a battering ram. with a wild yell he fell over in the street, his pipe flying several feet and landing on old harness cask’s head.
[257]
next came the turn of a water carrier who went down in the midst of a flood of his own wares, to the accompaniment of crashing jars. never had there been such a time in that market-place. then came the climax.
with an uproar like the falling down stairs of a hundred cookstoves, accompanied by their respective pots and pans, the donkey with herc still valiantly clinging to it, plunged clean into the midst of the metalware shop. brass kettles, vases, knick-knacks of a thousand kinds flew in every direction. big pots of oriental confectionery showered about herc and the donkey, and to cap the climax down toppled a big jar of a sort of honey preserve, drenching herc from head to foot with sticky sweetness.
outside the store the jackies howled with delight. suddenly, however, through the mob came charging a squad of black police.
“gracious, if herc hasn’t done it again!” groaned ned despairingly.
