Complete Works of Rudyard Kipling (Illustrated) Read Online Free PDF Page A

here.’
    Throughout the night, when the troops were encamped by the whale-boats, a black figure danced in the strong moonlight on the sand-bar and shouted that Khartoum the accursed one was dead, — was dead, — was dead, — that two steamers were rock-staked on the Nile outside the city, and that of all their crews there remained not one; and Khartoum was dead, — was dead, — was dead!
    But Torpenhow took no heed. He was watching Dick, who called aloud to the restless Nile for Maisie, — and again Maisie!
    ‘Behold a phenomenon,’ said Torpenhow, rearranging the blanket. ‘Here is a man, presumably human, who mentions the name of one woman only. And I’ve seen a good deal of delirium, too. — Dick, here’s some fizzy drink.’
    ‘Thank you, Maisie,’ said Dick.
     

CHAPTER III
     
    So he thinks he shall take to the sea again
    For one more cruise with his buccaneers,
    To singe the beard of the King of Spain,
    And capture another Dean of Jaen
    And sell him in Algiers. — A Dutch Picture. — Longfellow
     
    THE SOUDAN campaign and Dick’s broken head had been some months ended and mended, and the Central Southern Syndicate had paid Dick a certain sum on account for work done, which work they were careful to assure him was not altogether up to their standard. Dick heaved the letter into the Nile at Cairo, cashed the draft in the same town, and bade a warm farewell to Torpenhow at the station.
    ‘I am going to lie up for a while and rest,’ said Torpenhow. ‘I don’t know where I shall live in London, but if God brings us to meet, we shall meet.
    Are you staying here on the off-chance of another row? There will be none till the Southern Soudan is reoccupied by our troops. Mark that.
    Good-bye; bless you; come back when your money’s spent; and give me your address.’
    Dick loitered in Cairo, Alexandria, Ismailia, and Port Said, — especially Port Said. There is iniquity in many parts of the world, and vice in all, but the concentrated essence of all the iniquities and all the vices in all the continents finds itself at Port Said. And through the heart of that sand-bordered hell, where the mirage flickers day long above the Bitter Lake, move, if you will only wait, most of the men and women you have known in this life. Dick established himself in quarters more riotous than respectable. He spent his evenings on the quay, and boarded many ships, and saw very many friends, — gracious Englishwomen with whom he had talked not too wisely in the veranda of Shepherd’s Hotel, hurrying war correspondents, skippers of the contract troop-ships employed in the campaign, army officers by the score, and others of less reputable trades.
    He had choice of all the races of the East and West for studies, and the advantage of seeing his subjects under the influence of strong excitement, at the gaming-tables, saloons, dancing-hells, and elsewhere. For recreation there was the straight vista of the Canal, the blazing sands, the procession of shipping, and the white hospitals where the English soldiers lay. He strove to set down in black and white and colour all that Providence sent him, and when that supply was ended sought about for fresh material. It was a fascinating employment, but it ran away with his money, and he had drawn in advance the hundred and twenty pounds to which he was entitled yearly. ‘Now I shall have to work and starve!’ thought he, and was addressing himself to this new fate when a mysterious telegram arrived from Torpenhow in England, which said, ‘Come back, quick; you have caught on. Come.’
    A large smile overspread his face. ‘So soon! that’s a good hearing,’ said he to himself. ‘There will be an orgy to-night. I’ll stand or fall by my luck. Faith, it’s time it came!’ He deposited half of his funds in the hands of his well-known friends Monsieur and Madame Binat, and ordered himself a Zanzibar dance of the finest. Monsieur Binat was shaking with drink, but Madame smiles