Dick Merriwell's Pranks Part 52

"Mine fine donkey, Teddy Rosefelt!"

"Mine best, Cha'ncey Depoo!"

"Tak' mine, G'orge Wash'ton!"

"Tak' mine, Carry Nation!"

"Well, say!" exclaimed Brad; "I'm getting some tired of being called Cha'ncey Depoo!"

Nadia laughed.

"And I'm not Carry Nation," she said.

"They are not calling us names like that," smiled d.i.c.k. "Haven't you discovered that those are the names other travelers have applied to the donkeys?"

"Oh, is that it?" said Buckhart, with apparent relief. "Why, I've happened to take the same donkey both times before, when I've not walked, and the driver kept shouting Cha'ncey Depoo, so I thought he meant me."

"He was talking to the donkey."

"Shall we take the donkeys to the hill?" asked Nadia.

"Of course we will," nodded Dunbar. "Pick your beast."

"Well, I like the looks of this boy," said the girl; "so I'll choose him."

"Girl-like," chuckled her brother, "she chooses by the looks of the boy, instead of the donkey."

Amid the confusion a man dressed in English clothes, yet with a decidedly Turkish face, came out of the hotel and stood on the steps, watching them.

Brad was a.s.sisting Nadia to mount when she saw the watching man and gasped:

"There he is again!"

"Who?" asked the surprised Texan.

"The man who has been watching me lately."

"There on the steps?"

"Yes."

"Has he been annoying you?"

"I feel sure he has been following me and watching me."

The boy from the Pan Handle country flushed and showed that he was angry.

"Wait a minute," he urged. "I'll just saunter up and inquire of the gent whatever he means."

Nadia caught his sleeve.

"Don't do that!" she whispered nervously. "Don't do it, Brad!"

"Why not?"

"I don't wish him to know that I have noticed him."

"Well, if the galoot keeps up his little game, he'll find out somebody has noticed him!"

She restrained the impulsive chap.

By this time all were ready. The boy drivers seized the chosen donkeys each by the tail, which they gave a twist, crying:

"Ah-ye, Reglay!"

Away went the little beasts, bearing their human burdens easily, while the boy drivers ran behind, clinging to the tails of the donkeys, which they seemed to manipulate for the purpose of guiding the animals.

The manner in which the tough little donkeys bore their burdens was really wonderful. Nadia was sympathetic toward the sprightly little beasts and kept asking her driver not to make the animal go so fast.

They turned from street to street. Some of the streets were very narrow, with picturesque overhanging balconies and latticed windows. They pa.s.sed several mosques, which were adorned with slender and graceful minarets.

They encountered Arabs, Egyptians and Turks. They pa.s.sed handsome carriages and gayly caparisoned camels.

Suddenly they came upon two barefooted, running black men, who were dressed in flowing garments and carried wands in their hands. These runners shouted out something, and waved their wands.

Immediately each donkey driver gave a twist to the tail of his animal, and the faithful little beasts turned aside to permit a handsome landau to pa.s.s. The landau contained a very dignified and very pompous Pasha, who did not even deign to waste a glance on the common infidels.

They were glared at by a number of officers, wearing handsome uniforms and displaying silver-mounted weapons. They were scowled at by an Arab soldier with a musket, mounted on the back of a dromedary.

But their travels in the East had made them accustomed to strange sights, and no expressions of wonderment escaped them. Instead, they laughed and joked among themselves.

At last they came to the hill of the citadel, where they dismounted. The donkeys and their dusky boy drivers waited at the foot of the hill, while our friends climbed toward the huge fortress which towered above the city.

This fortress was most imposing in appearance.

The professor was not there to explain how the citadel came to be built, but d.i.c.k had posted himself about it and was able to answer all of Nadia's questions. He told her how it was constructed in the seventh century by the victorious followers of the Prophet, headed by Saladin, the chivalrous foe of Richard the Lion Hearted. Saladin's architect did not hesitate to bring thither blocks of stone from the palaces and temples of old Memphis, and to raze several smaller pyramids, besides removing the polished outer stones from the larger pyramids.

"Only for that," said d.i.c.k, "it is not likely we would be able to climb the pyramids now. It robbed them of their greatest beauty."

"That was a shame!" exclaimed Nadia. "What good did the old citadel do after all?"

"It was a fine place for one of the successors to Saladin, the crafty old viceroy, Mehemet Ali, to butcher the Mamelukes."

"Oh, I've heard something about that. How did it happen?"

"It didn't happen. It was one of the most crafty and cold-blooded butcheries known in history. You know the name Mameluke signifies White Slave. The founders of the Mamelukes were originally Circa.s.sians, who had been brought into slavery in this country. They gradually became favorites, but finally turned to tyrants. They had helped Mehemet Ali to secure his position of power, but he feared and distrusted them. He finally decided it was expedient to get rid of them. So he invited them to a great banquet, to be held in the citadel. They came without suspecting his b.l.o.o.d.y and treacherous purpose. There were nearly five hundred of them, magnificently dressed and mounted. When the great gate had closed behind them, and they could not retreat, the viceroy's troops appeared on the walls and poured a withering fire on the entrapped Mamelukes. They were mowed down, men and horses, in a most horrible manner. Of all the Mamelukes only one escaped. He forced his horse to mount the heaped-up bodies of his bleeding comrades and their dying horses, and leaped the parapet, followed by a volley of bullets. In some manner he escaped untouched, although his horse fell beneath him. He fled into the desert."

Nadia gazed at the grim walls of the citadel and shuddered.

"It seems that every historic spot is stained with crime," she said.