"
"But thou canst not be seen by the harbour walking with me in the daylight.
Figure to yourself if some English ladies----"
"There are no English ladies; and if there are, I have forgotten them. Take me
there."
In spite of this burning impatience it was nearly evening ere the lighthouse
boat began to move. Madame had said a great deal both to George and the captain
touching the arrangements that were to be made for Dick's benefit. Very few men
who had the honour of her acquaintance cared to disregard Madame's advice. That
sort of contempt might end in being knifed by a stranger in a gambling hell
upon surprisingly short provocation.
For six days--two of them were wasted in the crowded Canal--the little steamer
worked her way to Suakin, where she was to pick up the superintendent of the
lighthouse; and Dick made it his business to propitiate George, who was
distracted with fears for the safety of his light-of-love and half inclined to
make Dick responsible for his own discomfort. When they arrived George took him
under his wing, and together they entered the red-hot seaport, encumbered with
the material and wastage of the Suakin-Berger line, from locomotives in
disconsolate fragments to mounds of chairs and pot-sleepers.
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