CHAPTER VI.
ENTER THE ADVENTURER.Bab-us-Sahel had the advantage over Qadirabad that its natural torridity was tempered by the sea breeze in the daytime and the land breeze at night, but that was all. After the shady gardens which had at least looked cool, though they were not so, the staring bareness of the coast town was the more horrible. No trees, no vegetation even—save the unsightly milk-bush and the grey-brown thorn which was supposed to provide the camel with adequate nourishment—neutral tints everywhere, from glaring white to every possible dull hue that sand or dust or rock could assume. It was like Egypt without the Nile—the Egypt of those days, with half-starved donkeys, ragged children, diseased beggars, and mud-heap houses complete. That was in and around the native town, whi
