I did not hear of any instance in which a plague-
stricken patient had recovered.
Going out one morning I met unexpectedly the scorching breath of
the kamsin wind, and fearing that I should faint under the horrible
sensations which it caused, I returned to my rooms. Reflecting,
however, that I might have to encounter this wind in the Desert,
where there would be no possibility of avoiding it, I thought it
would be better to brave it once more in the city, and to try
whether I could really bear it or not. I therefore mounted my ass
and rode to old Cairo, and along the gardens by the banks of the
Nile. The wind was hot to the touch, as though it came from a
furnace. It blew strongly, but yet with such perfect steadiness,
that the trees bending under its force remained fixed in the same
curves without perceptibly waving. The whole sky was obscured by a
veil of yellowish grey, that shut out the face of the sun. The
streets were utterly silent, being indeed almost entirely deserted;
and not without cause, for the scorching blast, whilst it fevers
the blood, closes up the pores of the skin, and is terribly
distressing, therefore, to every animal that encounters it. I
returned to my rooms dreadfully ill. My head ached with a burning
pain, and my pulse bounded quick and fitfully, but perhaps (as in
the instance of the poor Levantine, whose death I was mentioning),
the fear and excitement which I felt in trying my own wrist may
have made my blood flutter the faster.
It is a thoroughly well believed theory, that during the
continuance of the plague you can't be ill of any other febrile
malady - an unpleasant privilege that! for ill I was, and ill of
fever, and I anxiously wished that the ailment might turn out to be
anything rather than plague. I had some right to surmise that my
illness may have been merely the effect of the hot wind; and this
notion was encouraged by the elasticity of my spirits, and by a
strong forefeeling that much of my destined life in this world was
yet to come, and yet to be fulfilled. That was my instinctive
belief, but when I carefully weighed the probabilities on the one
side and on the other, I could not help seeing that the strength of
argument was all against me. There was a strong antecedent
likelihood in FAVOUR of my being struck by the same blow as the
rest of the people who had been dying around me. Besides, it
occurred to me that, after all, the universal opinion of the
Europeans upon a medical question, such as that of contagion, might
probably be correct, and IF IT WERE, I was so thoroughly
"compromised," and especially by the touch and breath of the dying
medico, that I had no right to expect any other fate than that
which now seemed to have overtaken me. Balancing as well as I
could all the considerations which hope and fear suggested, I
slowly and reluctantly came to the conclusion that, according to
all merely reasonable probability, the plague had come upon me.
You would suppose that this conviction would have induced me to
write a few farewell lines to those who were dearest, and that
having done that, I should have turned my thoughts towards the
world to come. Such, however, was not the case. I believe that
the prospect of death often brings with it strong anxieties about
matters of comparatively trivial import, and certainly with me the
whole energy of the mind was directed towards the one petty object
of concealing my illness until the latest possible moment - until
the delirious stage. I did not believe that either Mysseri or
Dthemetri, who had served me so faithfully in all trials, would
have deserted me (as most Europeans are wont to do) when they knew
that I was stricken by plague, but I shrank from the idea of
putting them to this test, and I dreaded the consternation which
the knowledge of my illness would be sure to occasion.
I was very ill indeed at the moment when my dinner was served, and
my soul sickened at the sight of the food; but I had luckily the
habit of dispensing with the attendance of servants during my meal,
and as soon as I was left alone I made a melancholy calculation of
the quantity of food which I should have eaten if I had been in my
usual health, and filled my plates accordingly, and gave myself
salt, and so on, as though I were going to dine. I then
transferred the viands to a piece of the omnipresent Times
newspaper, and hid them away in a cupboard, for it was not yet
night, and I dared not throw the food into the street until
darkness came. I did not at all relish this process of fictitious
dining, but at length the cloth was removed, and I gladly reclined
on my divan (I would not lie down) with the "Arabian Nights" in my
hand.
I had a feeling that tea would be a capital thing for me, but I
would not order it until the usual hour. When at last the time
came, I drank deep draughts from the fragrant cup. The effect was
almost instantaneous. A plenteous sweat burst through my skin, and
watered my clothes through and through. I kept myself thickly
covered. The hot tormenting weight which had been loading my brain
was slowly heaved away. The fever was extinguished. I felt a new
buoyancy of spirits, and an unusual activity of mind. I went into
my bed under a load of thick covering, and when the morning came,
and I asked myself how I was, I found that I was thoroughly well.
I was very anxious to procure, if possible, some medical advice for
Mysseri, whose illness prevented my departure.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 63 of 87
Words from 63749 to 64756
of 89094
