Page:H. D. Traill - From Cairo to the Soudan Frontier.djvu/253

our English "Further back, please!" is administered there is a hasty scurrying of robes and turbans up the bank, as though a gust of wind had swept suddenly over a blue and white flower-bed; and for a few minutes the bare and dusty shore, lately hidden by a forest of brown legs, once more becomes visible, and a blessed silence reigns. No sooner, however, is the hand of "authority" removed than, pair by pair, the legs creep back again, wet and whipped, but supporting meekly, not to say abjectly, contented and unresentful owners, and again the bank is covered and the shrill, distracting clamour is renewed. Towards dusk it abates a little, but not with any signs of exhaustion on the part of the clamourers. It is merely that their audience is thinning as the hour for the Khedives arrival draws near, and the unspeakable beauty of the Nile sunset attracts us to the opposite side of the boat. The sun has not long disappeared behind the Libyan mountains, and we are still in the midst of