CHAPTER II

The wind and sea both went down that night, and by noon of the next day the Mediterranean was as calm as a river. Everybody came on deck, and the people who had been most seasick the day before, were now among the liveliest of the passengers. Reggie's mother talked and laughed with the other ladies, and looked so bright and so pretty, that the little boy felt very proud of her.

"I think my mother's the prettiest lady on the ship," he remarked to Ellen, who had also quite recovered from her indisposition. "None of the others have such nice eyes or such pretty teeth." To which Ellen--who adored her mistress--answered readily--

"You're right there, Master Reggie. You can go a good way, and not find any lady to beat your mother in looks."

Phyllis and Nurse were also on deck, but somehow they did not seem as cheerful as the other passengers. Nurse was still looking rather pale, and there was a very stern expression about her mouth, and Phyllis was decidedly quiet and subdued.

But Reggie was not easily daunted and as soon as he caught sight of his little friend of the previous afternoon, he ran to her side, with a friendly greeting.

"Hello!" he remarked in his usual cheerful tones. "I'm glad you're out to-day. Is Nurse better?"

Phyllis cast a frightened glance at Nurse, but did not answer.

"Stay right here, Miss Phyllis," commanded Nurse in a very awful voice. "You are not to go gadding about again with strange children, remember. We had enough of that business yesterday."

"I think you are a very disagreeable person," said Reggie, indignantly. "I wasn't going to take Phyllis anywhere; I was only going to talk to her."

"You are the boy who led her into mischief yesterday," said Nurse, with unabated severity.

"I didn't lead her into mischief," began Reggie, preparing for an argument. He was very fond of arguing--a weakness which he inherited from his father, who was a lawyer. "I only wanted her to come out on deck, because it was stuffy in the cabin. She wanted to ask you, but you were asleep, so she couldn't."

"Well, she's not going to walk the deck with you again, that's certain," retorted Nurse crossly. "I've had one fright on this ship, and that's enough to last me for some time to come. Her aunt put her in my charge, and she's to do what I say till we meet her father."

"Come here, Master Reggie," called Ellen from her steamer chair. "Don't you know little boys mustn't stay talking to people who don't want them?" she added, severely, as Reggie turned reluctantly away from his new friend. "You leave that little girl alone or I'll speak to your mother about it."

Reggie was very much disgusted, and would greatly have enjoyed continuing the argument for some time longer, but Ellen was firm, and he was forced to submit to the inevitable. For the rest of that day the two children continued to exchange longing glances, but neither one dared speak to the other. The next morning the steamer reached Alexandria.

"It's the queerest place I ever saw," Reggie said to his father, as they stood watching the boat-loads of chattering Arabs swarming on board. "Why do those people wear such funny clothes? They look like nighties."

"I have an idea that you will see a good many unusual sights before we leave Egypt," said Mr. Starr, laughing. "Those men are Arabs, and that is their national costume."

"What's a national costume?" demanded Reggie, who was as fond of asking questions as he was of arguing. But he did not wait for his father's answer, for at that moment he caught sight of Phyllis standing only a short distance off, and, wonderful to relate, she was alone. Next moment Reggie was at her side.

"Where's Nurse?" he inquired eagerly.

"She's gone to see about having the trunk taken down. She says I'm not to move till she comes back."

"She didn't say you couldn't talk, though, did she? I've been waiting to talk to you ever since that afternoon. Was she awfully cross about it?"

"Rather. She's the crossest person I ever knew. I don't like her much."

"I shouldn't think you would," said Reggie, sympathetically. "Has she been your nurse for a long time?"

"Oh, no, she only came last summer. The nurse I had before was very kind, and I loved her, but she went away to be married, and Aunt Helen engaged this one because she had lived with some friends of hers. The father of the children Nurse used to take care of was a lord, and she's always talking about the 'haristocracy.' I don't think she likes us very much. She says Aunt Helen is frivolous--what does frivolous mean?"

"I don't know," Reggie admitted reluctantly, "but I'll ask mother. Aren't those the queerest-looking people you ever saw?"

"I don't like them," said Phyllis, with a little shudder. "I wish Nurse would come back. I don't like staying by myself, with all those horrid black people coming on board."

"My father and mother are right over there," said Reggie, reassuringly. "Let's go and stay with them."

"But Nurse said I mustn't move."

"Oh, she won't mind. She can see you just as well over there as she can here."

Phyllis yielded. She had taken a great fancy to Reggie's pleasant-faced father, and there was certainly a very comfortable feeling about being close to somebody grown up, at a time when strange things seemed to be happening every moment. Mr. Starr greeted the little girl with a pleasant nod and smile and Reggie's mother--who had heard of Phyllis and her disagreeable nurse--said, kindly:

"Is this your little friend, Reggie dear?"

"Yes," said Reggie; "her nurse has gone to see about the trunk, and she doesn't like staying by herself, on account of all those funny black men."

At that moment a very tall Arab approached, and bowing low to Mr. and Mrs. Starr, inquired, with a grin--

"Lady, gentleman, want dragoman? I very fine dragoman; good recommend."

Phyllis shrank close to Mrs. Starr, with a little gasp of horror, and even Reggie was somewhat startled, but Mr. Starr only smiled.

"No, I thank you," he said pleasantly. "My dragoman is to meet me in Cairo." Whereupon, the Arab bowed again, and walked away.

"What's a dragoman?" Reggie inquired with interest.

"A man who takes people about in Egypt, looks after their luggage, and makes himself generally useful. A dragoman is a most important person here, as not many foreigners understand the language or the customs. Ah, here comes the tender to take us on shore."

Reggie gave a little skip of delight.

"I think Egypt's great," he declared. "I'm awfully glad we came; aren't you, Phyllis?"

"Ye--yes," said Phyllis, doubtfully. "It's rather queer, though, don't you think so? I don't like quite so many black people. I wish my father would hurry and come."

"Do you expect to meet your father at Alexandria?" Mrs. Starr asked kindly.

"Yes, I think so. Aunt Helen telegraphed him we were coming on this ship, and she said she was sure he would be here to meet us. Here comes Nurse; I hope she won't scold."

But Nurse was far too much absorbed in her own grievances to have any thoughts to spare for her little charge. She was laden with bags and wraps and her crimson cheeks and flashing eyes assured Phyllis of the fact that Nurse was very angry.

"Will you be so good as to tell me, sir, if you please, where I'm to find a porter to help me with these things?" she demanded of Mr. Starr, without even glancing at Phyllis. "I don't see any one around here but black men in heathen clothes, and I don't care to trust my property to them."

"They are all right," said Mr. Starr, with difficulty repressing his desire to laugh. "They will take just as good care of your property as any one else."

Nurse tossed her head indignantly.

"One of them tried to snatch a bag out of my hand," she said, "but I told him I'd call the police if he didn't leave it alone. Not that I suppose there are any police in this heathen land."

"Keep close to us, and I will see that you are not troubled in that way again," said Mr. Starr, good-naturedly, determined for Phyllis's sake, to ignore past unpleasantness. "The tender is just coming, and we shall be going on shore in a few minutes. Has your trunk been taken downstairs?"

"It's down, but goodness knows whether I shall ever lay eyes on it again or not. If I had known what kind of a place it was that Miss Willoughby was sending me to, I would never--" But the rest of Nurse's sentence was drowned in a tremendous blast from the steamer's whistle as, at that moment, the tender, which was to land the passengers, came puffing up to the side of the big ship.

"Do you see your father, Phyllis?" Reggie inquired, eagerly.

"I don't know; I don't see any gentleman who looks like his picture." Phyllis's heart was beating fast, and she was trembling with excitement.

"Perhaps he'll be waiting on the shore with his regiment," Reggie suggested.

"I don't believe he would bring his regiment with him, do you?" said Phyllis, doubtfully.

"I guess he could if he wanted to. Soldiers have to do just what their colonels tell them to. Perhaps he'll want to give you a royal reception, like they're going to give President Roosevelt when he comes home from Africa. He must be pretty excited about seeing you; you've been away so long. Mother says if she hadn't seen me since I was five, and I came all of a sudden, the way you are doing, she thinks she would die of joy."

"Oh!" said Phyllis, and looked very much impressed. She had not been accustomed to think of herself as a person of such importance that any one would be likely to die of joy at her arrival. Her aunt was a busy woman, much absorbed in her own affairs, and though always kind to the child, had never paid very much attention to her, and her grandmother had been an invalid for years before her death, so Phyllis had known little of the petting so familiar to most little girls.

It was evident that Phyllis's father was not on the tender. Neither was he to be seen on the pier, when the passengers had been safely landed, and were standing in the midst of a crowd of jostling, screaming Arabs, waiting to take their places in the train which was to carry them to Cairo. Phyllis was sure she would recognize her father by his photograph, he having sent a new one to Aunt Helen only a few weeks before. She appeared equally certain that he would recognize her by the same means and explained that her aunt had sent him her picture in a silver frame for a Christmas present.

"Perhaps we shall find him at the station in Cairo," Mr. Starr suggested. "If he had come to Alexandria we should certainly have found him here."

Nurse, whose temper had not been improved by the landing, which she had found somewhat difficult, owing to her numerous belongings, which she had steadily refused to relinquish to any of the native porters, gave a reluctant consent when Mr. Starr proposed that they should get into the Cairo train, and they all entered a first-class carriage together. By this time Mr. and Mrs. Starr had made up their minds not to lose sight of Phyllis until they had seen her safely in her father's care. Nurse settled herself in one corner of the carriage, with a grunt of disgust, and Ellen--who was not much better pleased with her first impressions of Egyptian life than Nurse had been, ensconced herself in the opposite corner. Mr. and Mrs. Starr, however, were in excellent spirits, and quite prepared to enjoy every moment, and the two children found the journey a most interesting one. There were so many strange new sights to be seen from the carriage windows. The flat, barren landscape, the natives at work in the fields, and, strangest of all, the tall camels ridden by Arabs and laden with packs of goods. Reggie was deeply interested in all he saw and plied his father with questions at the rate, Mr. Starr laughingly declared, of three a second. The Starrs were very kind to Phyllis, and the little girl soon lost all shyness, and chatted away with far more freedom than she would have done to her aunt at home.

"You are not a bit afraid of your father, are you?" she said wonderingly to Reggie, when the two children were being regaled with a light lunch of sandwiches and sponge cakes, with which Mrs. Starr had provided herself before leaving the steamer.

"Of course not," said Reggie, indignantly. "What a silly question. People aren't ever afraid of their fathers."

"Aren't they?" said Phyllis, in a tone of relief. "I thought they were sometimes. I think I shall be a little afraid of mine, but then I haven't seen him in such a long time, and of course that makes a difference."

"That's all the more reason why he's sure to be awfully good to you," affirmed Reggie. "Daddy went away yachting once. He was gone nearly a month, and when he came home he brought me the grandest Indian suit you ever saw, and took me fishing the very next day. You can't think how good fathers and mothers are when they haven't seen you in a good while."

"I remember my father pretty well," said Phyllis. "He was very big and strong, and he laughed a great deal. He used to give me rides on his shoulder, and I liked it, only I was frightened sometimes when he tossed me up in the air, and pretended he was going to hit my head against the ceiling. He sends me beautiful presents, and once he wrote me such a nice, funny letter."

"He must be great!" was Reggie's cheerful comment, and nothing more was said on the subject of fathers during the rest of the journey. But when they had reached the station at Cairo, and were being pushed and jostled, and yelled at, by a crowd of native drivers, and still Colonel Willoughby did not appear, matters began to look more serious. Nurse became almost hysterical in her agitation, and talked so fast and so loud, that she was quite the centre of attraction.

"And what am I to do, I'd like to know?" she demanded. "Here I am in a heathen land, with that child on my hands, and her father nowhere to be found."

"There must be some mistake," Mr. Starr said soothingly. "You had better come to the hotel with us, and we will make inquiries. You are sure the little girl's aunt sent the telegram before you left Naples?"

"She said so, but she's that light-headed and frivolous--excuse me saying it of a lady, but it's true all the same--that there's no telling if she mightn't have sent it to the wrong address in her hurry."

"You have Colonel Willoughby's address, I suppose?" Mr. Starr asked a little anxiously.

"Oh, yes, sir, I've got it all wrote down on a card, but I can't get at it this minute, for it's sewed inside with the money."

"Well, we will go to the hotel first, and then you can give me the address, and I am sure we shall soon be in communication with Phyllis's father."

At that moment the young Englishman with whom Mr. Starr had played bridge on the steamer, joined the group, attracted by Nurse's loud protestations.

"What's the row?" he inquired good-naturedly, and Mr. Starr explained the situation in a few words.

"By Jove!" exclaimed the young man, when he had heard the story, "that's just like Helen Willoughby. A charming girl, but with about as much sense in practical matters as a kitten. Fortunately I know Willoughby's address, so there's no great harm done, but to send a child of that size off to a strange country, without even waiting to hear from her father first, is just a little too much."

Mrs. Starr privately considered Miss Willoughby a very dreadful person indeed, and her kind heart yearned over little motherless Phyllis.

The drive through the Cairo streets to the hotel, was a very interesting one, and as soon as Mr. Starr had seen his family settled in their rooms, he hurried away in quest of Colonel Willoughby, leaving Phyllis in his wife's care.

"It's the wonderfulest place in the world!" announced Reggie, bounding into the sitting-room from the balcony, where he had been stationed for the past ten minutes. "Come out and look at the camels and donkeys, Phyllis. Say, mother, can't I ride a donkey to-morrow?"

But Phyllis--who was nestled comfortably in Mrs. Starr's lap--appeared to have lost her interest in camels and donkeys.

"I want to stay here," she said, decidedly; "it's so comfortable."

"Don't you want to come out and watch for your father? I don't suppose he'll have time to bring the regiment now, if he didn't know you were coming."

"No," said Phyllis, and she hid her face on Mrs. Starr's shoulder, in a sudden access of shyness.

"You are not afraid of anything, are you, darling?" Reggie's mother asked, tenderly.

"N--no," said Phyllis, doubtfully, "I'm not exactly afraid, but--but do you think perhaps my father didn't want me to come, and that's why he wasn't at the steamer?"

"No, indeed, I don't think anything of the sort," said Mrs. Starr, with decision, her arms instinctively tightening about the little figure in her lap. "Why, didn't you tell us your father had asked your aunt to let you come and make him a visit?"

"Yes, but that was before Christmas, and he wanted Aunt Helen to bring me herself. I thought he might have changed his mind. Aunt Helen very often changes her mind about things."

"I am quite sure he hasn't changed his mind," said Mrs. Starr, cheerfully. "There has been some mistake about the telegram, but it will soon be explained. Now, wouldn't you like to run out on the balcony with Reggie while Ellen and I unpack?"

It was very fascinating on the balcony, and in her interest in all the new, strange sights, Phyllis almost forgot her anxiety about her father. Indeed, it was not until she heard Mr. Starr's voice in the sitting-room, that her heart began to beat uncomfortably fast again.

"Daddy's back!" exclaimed Reggie, at the same moment. "Perhaps he's brought your father with him." And he darted in through the open window, followed more slowly by his little companion.

But there was nobody there but Mr. Starr, and he was talking earnestly to Nurse.

"Colonel Willoughby evidently never received his sister's telegram," Reggie and Phyllis heard him saying. "It seems, he started on a camping trip in the desert about ten days ago, and is not expected back for another week."

"Another week!" shrieked Nurse, throwing up her hands in horror. "And whatever is to become of us here in this heathen, outlandish place, all by ourselves, for a whole week? I'll take the next ship back to England, that's what I'll do, and I'll give Miss Willoughby warning the minute I set eyes on her. I ain't strong, I never was, and such excitement and worriment as this is enough to kill a body outright!"

"I think you would be extremely foolish to rush back to England before Colonel Willoughby returns," said Mr. Starr, quietly, but with a twinkle in his eye. "Seems to me your wisest plan will be to remain where you are for the next few days. Mrs. Starr and I expect to spend some time in the neighborhood of Cairo, and we shall be very glad to look after you and little Phyllis until Colonel Willoughby comes home."

Nurse looked somewhat mollified.

"You're very kind, sir, I'm sure," she said, in a milder tone. "It would be a great relief to my mind, for I ain't accustomed to foreign ways, I've always lived in the best English families, sir, as I've got testimonials to show, and I never was hustled off at a minute's notice to a heathen country full of black people before."

"Very well, then, we will consider the matter settled," said Mr. Starr, cutting short Nurse's harangue with scant ceremony. "I will go and see about engaging a room for you at once."

"Nurse," said Phyllis that evening, when she was being undressed, "I think American fathers and mothers must love their children very much indeed. Reggie asked his father twenty-seven questions while you and Ellen were at your supper, and he answered every single one."

"Indeed, and I hope you won't learn bad habits from that spoiled little American boy," was Nurse's indignant rejoinder. "A nice time we should have with you if you started asking questions at that rate."

"I don't suppose you would be able to answer them," said Phyllis reflectively, at which Nurse said nothing, but gave vent to her feelings by an indignant sniff.