Perceval Gibbon

“ Miss Gregory stood awhile to look at it. It was not that she had to make up her mind, for according to the plain standards of her life her way was clear. Alternatives were not for her; weak creatures who hesitate between two paths are not of her world. She looked across the water in the tideway at the silent houses, bunched together about a single minaret, speculatively. ”

“ Though she saw it almost hourly, it was always portentous, tragic, heart-breaking. Under its coverings the thin body on the angareb was suddenly awful and solemn; the dead have their pomp.
"No," she said. "I will get some sleep, too."
It was new a month and some odd days since Miss Gregory, making her gradual way beck to Europe, had ended at Andjerrah. She had come in a dhow from Aden, its sole passenger, allured by a map which showed the Red Sea coast of Arabia as a yellow blank, sparsely sprinkled with the names of unknown waterside towns. ”

“ He stood looking at her neatly-booted feet as she told him. She had learned with grief that the plague was in Andjerrah. Having some experience with epidemics, she hoped to be of use. She spoke colourlessly, with patient politeness; nothing could be so discouraging as the weary abstraction of the grey- moustached Turk who heard her.
"Ah!" he sighed as she finished. "Madame is very gracious. I cannot suggest anything that Madame could do. And His Excellency is away."
"There are many deaths?" asked Miss Gregory. ”

“ Men died everywhere, and none lifted a finger to aid them. They were carried away at night by a gang of negroes which Hamid had organised. From her place by some bedside, Miss Gregory heard that gruesome traffic—the pad of the blank men's bare feet, their call as they went, the doors that opened to them, and the clumsy carrying forth of the dead. ”

“ Miss Gregory gained somehow an impression that His Excellency had habits which were trying to his subordinates. As to the plague, he really knew very little. The orders to prevent escape from the infected area were peremptory; they were not to be evaded in any circumstances. The man in the red fez—yes, he had heard of him. A Turk, he believed, with some medical knowledge. He was doing what he could. No, there were no other doctors in the place. People might enter the infected quarter if they chose. Some had done so to join friends or relations. But they might not return. ”

“ The elderly official put the hand that held the other boot to his bosom and bowed over it profoundly. On the bed, Hamid smiled.
"The plague is out then," he questioned. "It has got into the town, eh?"
The grey Turk answered in his own language, bowing again. Miss Gregory stood by impatiently, comprehending nothing. Hamid's eye met hers with faint amusement.
"The quarantine has failed," he told her. "So it is raised. There is plague in Andjerrah. You can go out now."
"I'm not in any hurry," she answered stoutly. "But what does this man want with you?" ”

“ The cold light of early morning shone in upon them, the colour of woe and disaster. It made the lamp pale and futile, and showed up the disorder of the small bed. Miss Gregory turned her eyes from Hamid's suffering and stared through the window. The soldiers across the water were huddled about their dull fires, and in the square behind them there was a small crowd about the door of the palace. ”

“ The men stood watching in silence while the man with the fez half-carried, half-dragged the limp, white bundle back to the obscurity of the arch. He laboured in the sand as he went, paused a breathing-space on the threshold of the entry, and was gone. The shabby soldiers sat down again and resumed their lazy talk. The thing was finished. Miss Gregory moistened her dry lips mechanically and turned away. Obviously, there was nothing more to stay for.
In Andjerrah that night she was the one topic of conversation.
"She strides boldly like a camel," said those who had seen her in the forenoon. ”

“ Women like Miss Gregory have not common anywhere; among her acquaintances in various lands were some few who professed to find this fact consolation for her existence; but Andjerrah saw her the first time, a woman walking abroad unveiled, taking the middle of the way, daunting grown men with looks of criticism and appraisement.
She saw the great house of the Governor at the end of a little square, flanked by a mosque. A couple of ruffianly soldiers, one in uniform, the other nearly naked, lounged at its gate. The other side of the square was open ”

“ The ensign of the plague is as clear as the black flag. Miss Gregory bit her lip to steady herself, and groped with her fingers for the swollen gland that means death. There was no mistaking it in the light of her experience, the little, hard nodule like a marble under the skin; it shifted under her finger-tips as they lighted on it. For a moment the room darkened about her.
"You see?" she heard Hamid saying, in his tired voice, as he drew his coat on again.
"You must go to bed," said hfisa Gregory. "Now, at once. Hamid, you must get well. Go home now and go to bed ”

“ At dawn on the day of her arrival she had seen the sun come up, red and smoky, over the crowded, flat roofs and the two or three minarets of Andjerrah, squatting like a mushroom in the emptiness of the landscape. Banks of smooth sand complicated its passage to the sea; with its great lateen half-lowered, the gaunt dhow, a homing crow of the coast, swam slowly on level water towards the yellow beach. At her stern, muffled against the morning chi1l, Miss Gregory sat and let her eyes range in contented appreciation of the scene. It was her business in life to see end remember ”

“ The captain of the dhow had found her a lodging in the house of a Jew, and from this lodging she went forth in the cool of the early evening to pay a visit to the Governor. It was very clear to Miss Gregory that there were things to be done. The methods of civilisation must be involved in aid of the stricken town beyond the waterway. She felt authoritative and in some measure official as she approached the great gate where the shabby soldiers still sat and killed time. ”

“ You see, there is sickness."
"Sickness," queried Miss Gregory. "What sickness do you mean?"
"Sickness," repeated the fat man. "Peple die. People go walking like you an' me—well, comfortable. Then the tumble down—sick. By-'n-by they die. And so the governor put soldiers by the water. Nobody mus' came out, or else—shoot! Bang! Dead quicker than sickness. ”

“ Her compliment moved the fat man to his foundations; he looked after her sentimentally as she passed on her way through the Street of Merchants. She was already more at her ease since she had found an affair to concern herself with. ”

“ When they saw she was firm, they took her money willingly, and picked up her bundles and walked before her through the wet sand. She waved her hand to the rest of them, standing at gaze in the firefight, strange and wild in their robes and arms, and crossed over. The soldiers carried her things to within a few yards of the gate, and set them down in the sand. They grinned at her amiably, gave salutation, and trudged back. Miss Gregory saw the arch in the wall, tall and black before her, a witless mouth. wide open and dumb. ”

“ Malta, Gibraltar—bin everywhar."
"I see there are soldiers here," suggested Miss Gregory.
"Soldiers? Turk soldier. Arab soldier—tha's all." The fat man flapped a languid hand to dispose Of them. "Damn rascal, those soldier. Belong to the Governor."
"Rascals, eh?" repeated Miss Gregory. "Yes; I saw them shoot a man just now."
The fat man on the floor started. News at killing by soldiers may be a matter of everybody's business in Andjerrah. When once killing begins it may easily spread. ”