“We are strangers, Sir,” said Edric, advancing and addressing him: “we come here to see the wonders of your country, and we wish to explore the Pyramids—but the reception we have met with—”
“Say no more—say no more!” interrupted the worthy justice, for such he was. “Get about your business, you rapscallions, or I’ll read the riot act! Here, Gregory, call out the posse comitatus, and set a guard of constables to keep watch over these gentlemen’s balloon, whilst they go to explore the Pyramids. Eh! but where is the balloon? I don’t see it. I hope neither of the gentlemen has put it in his pocket!” laughing at his own wit.
“No, Sir,” returned Edric, smiling, “though it is a feat which might easily be accomplished, for that is our balloon,” pointing to the caoutchouc bottle, now shrunk to its original dimensions.
“Very strange, that!” said the Justice; “Very curious, very curious indeed! Well, gentlemen, if you wish to proceed immediately, you’ll want a guide of course. These cottages at the foot of the Pyramids are all inhabited by guides, who get their living by showing the sights. They are sad rogues, most of them, but I can recommend you to one who is a very honest man. Here, Samuel,” continued he, knocking against a small door, “Samuel, I say!”
Samuel made his appearance, in the guise of a tall, rawboned, stupid-looking fellow, with a pair of immensely broad stooping shoulders, which looked as though he could have relieved Atlas occasionally of his burden, without much trouble to himself. Coming forth from his hut in an awkward shambling pace, he scratched his head, and demanded what his honour pleased to want.
“You must show these gentlemen the Pyramids,” said the Justice.
“Aye, that I will with pleasure!” returned Samuel; “I’ve got my living by showing them these fifty years, man and boy; and I know every crink and cranny of them, though I’m old now and somewhat lame. So walk this way, gentlemen.”
“We are very much obliged to you, Sir,” said the doctor, bowing to the Justice; who was in fact one of those good-natured, busy, bustling men, who are always better pleased to transact any other person’s business than their own; and are never so happy as when a new arrival gives them an opportunity of showing off their consequence. Indeed, there is a pleasure in showing wonders to a stranger, that only those who have little else to occupy their minds can properly estimate: a man of this kind feels his self-love gratified by the superiority his local knowledge gives him over a stranger; and, as it is, perhaps, the only chance he ever can have of showing superiority, they must be unreasonable who blame him for making the most of it. Justice Freemantle was accordingly exceedingly delighted with travellers who seemed disposed to submit implicitly to his dictation; and he returned a most gracious reply to the doctor’s thanks.
“Don’t mention it! don’t mention it, my dear Sir!” said he; “I am never so happy as when I can make myself useful. Is there anything else I can do for you? You may command me, I assure you; and you may depend upon it, no injury shall be done to your luggage, whilst you are away.”
“What a very civil, obliging, good-natured old gentleman,” said the doctor, as they walked towards the entrance of the Pyramids; “I declare he almost reconciles me to the country, though, I own, I thought at first the people were the greatest brutes I had ever met with.”
“Which Pyramid does your honour wish to see?” asked the guide.
“That which contains the tomb of Cheops, man!” cried the doctor solemnly; who, encumbered with his long cloak, and loaded with his walking-stick and galvanic battery, had some difficulty in getting on.
“Won’t your honour let me carry that pole and that box?” said the man; “you’d get on a surprising deal better, if you would.”
“Avaunt, wretch!” exclaimed the doctor, “nor offer to touch with thy profane fingers the immortal instruments of science.”
The man stared, but fell back, and the whole party walked on in perfect silence.
In the meantime, Edric had advanced before his companions, completely lost in meditation. A crowd of conflicting thoughts rushed through his mind; and now, when he found himself at the very goal of his wishes, the daring nature of the purpose he had so long entertained, seemed to strike him for the first time, and he trembled at the consequences that might attend the completion of his desires. With his arms folded on his breast, he stood gazing on the Pyramids, whilst his ideas wandered uncontrolled through the boundless regions of space: “And what am I,” thought he, “weak, feeble worm that I am! who dare seek to penetrate into the awful secrets of my Creator? Why should I wish to restore animation to a body now resting in the quiet of the tomb? What right have I to renew the struggles, the pains, the cares, and the anxieties of mortal life? How can I tell the fearful effects that may be produced by the gratification of my unearthly longing? May I not revive a creature whose wickedness may involve mankind in misery? And what if my experiment should fail, and if the moment when I expect my rash wishes to be accomplished, the hand of Almighty vengeance should strike me to the earth, and heap molten fire on my brain to punish my presumption!”
The sound of human voices, as the doctor and the guide approached, grated harshly on the nerves of Edric, already overstrained by the awful nature of the thoughts in which he had been indulging, and he turned away involuntarily, to escape the interruption he dreaded, quite forgetting for the moment from whom the sounds most probably proceeded.
“Lord have mercy on us!” said the guide; “I declare that gentleman looks as if he were beside himself? and see there! if he hasn’t walked right by the entrance to the Pyramid
