A SHIPWRECK OF SORTS 139 



forth. For three mortal hours had work to go on 

 in clearing away the wreckage, and then, indeed, 

 the mass of iron twisted into corkscrews and other 

 formations was appalling — at least, to those who 

 wanted to leave Cairo on Monday for the P. and 0. 

 boat. 



" There was nothing for it, however, but to make 

 the best of a bad job, and certainly the manager 

 and all concerned did their very utmost to prevent 

 time dragging unduly. Over a score of natives 

 arrived on the scene before long, and during the 

 morning these were made to run races or do tug- 

 of-war. The American ladies among the passengers 

 also had a special tug-of-war against the English 

 ladies — ^six a side — and, after two desperate con- 

 tests, one won by the English and the other by 

 the Americans, neither side would come up to the 

 scratch for the final, so that it was a draw. 



" Meanwhile, several people who fancied them- 

 selves as mountaineers were scaling some portion 

 of the cliff- side, and the always obliging 



shooting manager had provided Mr. Darling and 

 expedition in ■ ^ ^ i i 



my sell with a boat and three men to 



go shooting. Nothing was in view but half a dozen 



big birds on a sand bank, which we believed to be 



vultures. There was no pleasure to be derived 



from shooting such things, but then, on such a 



day, it was something even to let a gun off, and 



