A Sportsman at Large 217 



experience. So, for the time being, \ve gave the proposition 

 " a miss in baulk." 



Farag, having failed in his endeavour to lure us into the 

 wilds, would not leave me in peace until he had persuaded 

 me to charter a Dahabieh for the purpose of sailing up the 

 Nile to a problematical destination. And so it came about 

 that my Arab friend and I found ourselves, one fine morning, 

 in the office of the British Consul, where an agreement was 

 drawn up between us for the catering and general fitting- 

 out of this aquatic expedition. When it came to Farag's 

 turn to affix his sign-manual, which he proposed to do with 

 the impress of a scarab ring, the Consul looked him sternly in 

 the face, and then turned to me, exclaiming : 



' This man is an impostor ! His papers have either been 

 forged or stolen ; he is not Farag Hamedieh / " 



The object of the alleged misrepresentation threw up his 

 eyes and hands with an expression of injured innocence. 



' True, Ba-sha, I not Farag ; I Hassanein. Farag, my 

 brudder, all same ting, same papers, same mudder, same 

 fader " 



"Oh, but it's not the same thing, you rascal ! " roared the 

 outraged Consul ; then turning to me : " This man has 

 fooled you properly, Captain Cox ; but if you like to take 

 him on at his face value unprepossessing though it be that 

 is your look-out ; but don't say I haven't warned you ! " 



To tell you the truth, the man's colossal impudence rather 

 tickled my fancy ; besides, I had grown to look upon him as 

 a priceless scream. He appealed to my sense of humour, 

 and we had all grown to look upon him as our indispensable 

 guide, philosopher and friend. 



So the day came when we set foot on an archaic vessel 

 grandiloquently yclept The Cleopatra. Our crew was a 

 motley one, consisting of a polyglot collection, in which many 

 races were represented. 



Fellaheen of Egypt, ebony- visaged Soudanese, Arabs of 

 the Pyramids, half-castes, and other weird specimens of the 

 human race. Our head-steward, one Abu Zed, professed to 

 being half Turk and half Soudanese. He was a perfect figure 

 of fun, and a delightful character, a source of never-ending 



