That evening I took a train for Cairo. When I entered the sleeper to retire a few hours before leaving time, I thought that I was back in New York, taking the "Owl" express and that I would waken in the morning to find myself in Boston. But Pullman porters were not in evidence.

The bed linen was far from inviting. It had evidently been laundered with water that had been used several times, and left an odor which was stifling. Then I understood why everyone in Egypt carries perfume. After an eau de cologne shower I passed off to sweet dreams, while being whirled over the rails up the Nile to Cairo.

CHAPTER XIII

In the Streets of Cairo, where Pharaohs in Mummies recall the "Pomp and Circumstance" of Ancient Days

XXXII

There was a Door to which I found no Key:
There was a Veil past which I could not see:

Some little Talk awhile of Me and Thee
There seem'd-and then no more of Thee and Me.

XXXIII

Then to the rolling Heav'n itself I cried,
Asking, "What Lamp had Destiny to guide

Her little Children stumbling in the Dark?"
And-"A blind Understanding!" Heav'n replied.

From the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

"Main Street," Damascus.

"The Street Called Straight," which is mentioned in Holy Writ and has been on the map since the time of Abraham