188 ADVENTURES AT SEA. 



for this moment and now lowered the neck of the 

 bottle slowly towards his nose. When I touched it I 

 myself felt a strong concussion, to judge from which 

 the sheik must have received a violent shock. He fell 

 speechless to the ground, and several seconds elapsed, 

 making me somewhat anxious, before with a sudden 

 cry he raised himself, and sprang howling down the 

 steps of the pyramid with giant leaps. When the Arabs 

 perceived this, and heard the sheik's continuous cry 

 of "magic", they one and all abandoned their prey and 

 plunged after him. In a few minutes the battle was 

 over, and we were absolute masters of the pyramid. 

 Anyhow Napoleon had not such an easy "victory at 

 the foot of the pyramids" as I had at their summit! 



As the blowing of the Chamsin soon ceased, and 

 the sun again brightly illuminated the imperilled pyra- 

 mid, the Arabs recovered from their terror, and 

 clambered up again so as not to lose the expected 

 "backsheesh". Even at our peaceful leave-taking 

 however they evidently still regarded us with sus- 

 picion on account of our magical powers. 



Nor were there wanting some small adventures 

 by sea during this cable - laying. The weather was 

 thoroughly calm and fine, as is always the case in the 

 Red Sea, where a rain-fall is a great rarity; only the 

 enervating heat was inconvenient. My travelling thermo- 

 meter indicated by day nearly always 100 and by 

 night 102 Fahr. , a temperature, which with our nor- 

 thern strength is indeed borne tolerably long without 

 difficulty, but which in the long run becomes extremely 



