"
"How a small difficulty looms into a fate in a case like this! I must
cling to this clue, though, till convinced it is a false one; I cannot
give it up so lightly."
"Of course not. And I'll think up something--trust me. Why don't you
write yourself, Anna? Make it a note that would mean something to Clara,
and nothing to others, and I'll send it to Debby, putting in a line
myself. That will be best, and then we need not say anything to the
girls, as you are so anxious to keep it all from them."
She bent her head in meditation.
"I was, at first, because I did not know them; now I do not so much care.
They are lovely girls, my friend, and so sensible! There comes Hope
now--I recognize her laugh. Well, help me in this, and you will but
forge another link in the long chain of favors I owe you. Good-night!"
"None o' that, now! I don't keep a log-book on little kindnesses--just
pass 'em along down the line, say I. And don't you give up the ship, my
lady! That's good sailor-like advice! Good-night to you, and good luck!"
The proposed plan was carried out, and the double enclosure quietly
mailed at the Arabic town upon Lake Timseh, which looked so fresh and
green to the wearied eyes of our friends, after the dismal marshes and
clayey banks of the canal. But all beauty has its blemishes, and the
other name for this lake suggests the blemish on Ismailia's shores. It
is "Crocodile Pool," and our young people spent their time mainly in
watching a couple of these monster saurians as they stolidly followed the
steamer, through the whole day, eagerly snapping up the refuse of the
caboose in their great ugly-looking jaws.
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