Page:H. D. Traill - From Cairo to the Soudan Frontier.djvu/152

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134
FROM CAIRO TO THE SOUDAN

out." Another of his name in later days has been more fortunate.

"Would you like to see Ahmed the Carpenter's spiritual heir?" asked a well-known English resident at Luxor, as we stood watching the noisy crowd of Arabs before the Pylon of the Ramesseum. "His namesake, too, by the way," he added with a sudden touch of that mysterious satisfaction which is always aroused by the discovery of coincidence. "Curious! There must be something in the name of Ahmed that impels the owner of it to break into tombs. Yes, that's the fellow, the old man who has just shaken hands with the dragoman, and is now exchanging salutations with the native police. Oh, yes. On excellent terms with the constituted authorities nowadays. Still, they keep their eye upon him, and if our friend Ahmed Abd-er-Rasûl were often to be seen walking pensively at eventide in the direction of those hills yonder I have an idea that he would be shadowed."