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My
interference
,
at
first
seemingly
unwelcome
on
both
sides
,
succeeded
at
last
in
effecting
a
truce
.
Sullenly
each
belligerent
composed
his
wrath
and
his
attire
,
and
with
an
assumption
of
dignity
as
profound
as
it
was
sudden
,
the
two
formed
a
curious
pact
of
honor
which
I
soon
learned
is
a
custom
of
great
antiquity
in
Cairo
--
a
pact
for
the
settlement
of
their
difference
by
means
of
a
nocturnal
fist
fight
atop
the
Great
Pyramid
,
long
after
the
departure
of
the
last
moonlight
sightseer
.
Each
duelist
was
to
assemble
a
party
of
seconds
,
and
the
affair
was
to
begin
at
midnight
,
proceeding
by
rounds
in
the
most
civilized
possible
fashion
.
In
all
this
planning
there
was
much
which
excited
my
interest
.
The
fight
itself
promised
to
be
unique
and
spectacular
,
while
the
thought
of
the
scene
on
that
hoary
pile
overlooking
the
antediluvian
plateau
of
Gizeh
under
the
wan
moon
of
the
pallid
small
hours
appealed
to
every
fiber
of
imagination
in
me
.
A
request
found
Abdul
exceedingly
willing
to
admit
me
to
his
party
of
seconds
;
so
that
all
the
rest
of
the
early
evening
I
accompanied
him
to
various
dens
in
the
most
lawless
regions
of
the
town
--
mostly
northeast
of
the
Ezbekiyeh
--
where
he
gathered
one
by
one
a
select
and
formidable
band
of
congenial
cutthroats
as
his
pugilistic
background
.
Shortly
after
nine
our
party
,
mounted
on
donkeys
bearing
such
royal
or
tourist-reminiscent
names
as
'
Rameses
,
'
'
Mark
Twain
,
'
'
J.
P.
Morgan
,
'
and
'
Minnehaha
,
'
edged
through
street
labyrinths
both
Oriental
and
Occidental
,
crossed
the
muddy
and
mast-forested
Nile
by
the
bridge
of
the
bronze
lions
,
and
cantered
philosophically
between
the
lebbakhs
on
the
road
to
Gizeh
.
Slightly
over
two
hours
were
consumed
by
the
trip
,
toward
the
end
of
which
we
passed
the
last
of
the
returning
tourists
,
saluted
the
last
inbound
trolley-car
,
and
were
alone
with
the
night
and
the
past
and
the
spectral
moon
.
Then
we
saw
the
vast
pyramids
at
the
end
of
the
avenue
,
ghoulish
with
a
dim
atavistical
menace
which
I
had
not
seemed
to
notice
in
the
daytime
.
Even
the
smallest
of
them
held
a
hint
of
the
ghastly
--
for
was
it
not
in
this
that
they
had
buried
Queen
Nitocris
alive
in
the
Sixth
Dynasty
;
subtle
Queen
Nitocris
,
who
once
invited
all
her
enemies
to
a
feast
in
a
temple
below
the
Nile
,
and
drowned
them
by
opening
the
water-gates
?
I
recalled
that
the
Arabs
whisper
things
about
Nitocris
,
and
shun
the
Third
Pyramid
at
certain
phases
of
the
moon
.
It
must
have
been
over
her
that
Thomas
Moore
was
brooding
when
he
wrote
a
thing
muttered
about
by
Memphian
boatmen
:
'
The
subterranean
nymph
that
dwells
'
Mid
sunless
gems
and
glories
hid
--
The
lady
of
the
Pyramid
!
'
Early
as
we
were
,
Ali
Ziz
and
his
party
were
ahead
of
us
;
for
we
saw
their
donkeys
outlined
against
the
desert
plateau
at
Kafrel
--
Haram
;
toward
which
squalid
Arab
settlement
,
close
to
the
Sphinx
,
we
had
diverged
instead
of
following
the
regular
road
to
the
Mena
House
,
where
some
of
the
sleepy
,
inefficient
police
might
have
observed
and
halted
us
.
Here
,
where
filthy
Bedouins
stabled
camels
and
donkeys
in
the
rock
tombs
of
Khephren
's
courtiers
,
we
were
led
up
the
rocks
and
over
the
sand
to
the
Great
Pyramid
,
up
whose
time-worn
sides
the
Arabs
swarmed
eagerly
,
Abdul
Reis
offering
me
the
assistance
I
did
not
need
.
As
most
travelers
know
,
the
actual
apex
of
this
structure
has
long
been
worn
away
,
leaving
a
reasonably
flat
platform
twelve
yards
square
.
On
this
eery
pinnacle
a
squared
circle
was
formed
,
and
in
a
few
moments
the
sardonic
desert
moon
leered
down
upon
a
battle
which
,
but
for
the
quality
of
the
ringside
cries
,
might
well
have
occurred
at
some
minor
athletic
club
in
America
.
As
I
watched
it
,
I
felt
that
some
of
our
less-desirable
institutions
were
not
lacking
;
for
every
blow
,
feint
,
and
defense
bespoke
'
stalling
'
to
my
not
inexperienced
eye
.
It
was
quickly
over
,
and
despite
my
misgivings
as
to
methods
I
felt
a
sort
of
proprietary
pride
when
Abdul
Reis
was
adjudged
the
winner
.
Reconciliation
was
phenomenally
rapid
,
and
amidst
the
singing
,
fraternizing
and
drinking
that
followed
,
I
found
it
difficult
to
realize
that
a
quarrel
had
ever
occurred
.
Oddly
enough
,
I
myself
seemed
to
be
more
a
center
of
notice
than
the
antagonists
;
and
from
my
smattering
of
Arabic
I
judged
that
they
were
discussing
my
professional
performances
and
escapes
from
every
sort
of
manacle
and
confinement
,
in
a
manner
which
indicated
not
only
a
surprising
knowledge
of
me
,
but
a
distinct
hostility
and
skepticism
concerning
my
feats
of
escape
.
It
gradually
dawned
on
me
that
the
elder
magic
of
Egypt
did
not
depart
without
leaving
traces
,
and
that
fragments
of
a
strange
secret
lore
and
priestly
cult-practices
have
survived
surreptitiously
amongst
the
fellaheen
to
such
an
extent
that
the
prowess
of
a
strange
hahwi
or
magician
is
resented
and
disputed
.
I
thought
of
how
much
my
hollow-voiced
guide
Abdul
Reis
looked
like
an
old
Egyptian
priest
or
Pharaoh
or
smiling
Sphinx
...
and
wondered
.
Suddenly
something
happened
which
in
a
flash
proved
the
correctness
of
my
reflections
and
made
me
curse
the
denseness
whereby
I
had
accepted
this
night
's
events
as
other
than
the
empty
and
malicious
'
frame-up
'
they
now
showed
themselves
to
be
.
Without
warning
,
and
doubtless
in
answer
to
some
subtle
sign
from
Abdul
,
the
entire
band
of
Bedouins
precipitated
itself
upon
me
;
and
having
produced
heavy
ropes
,
soon
had
me
bound
as
securely
as
I
was
ever
bound
in
the
course
of
my
life
,
either
on
the
stage
or
off
.
