The protestations of the men were fearful. They declared, with loud
voices, eager actions, and manifold English oaths, that an attempt was
being made to rob them. They had a right to demand the sums which they
were charging, and it was a shame that English gentlemen should come
and take the bread out of their mouths. And so they screeched,
gesticulated, and swore, and frightened poor Mrs. Damer almost into
fits.
But at last it was settled and away they started, the sheikh declaring
that the bargain had been made at so low a rate as to leave him not one
piastre for himself. Each man had an Arab on each side of him, and
Miss Dawkins and Miss Damer had each, in addition, one behind. Mrs.
Damer was so frightened as altogether to have lost all ambition to
ascend. She sat below on a fragment of stone, with the three dragomans
standing around her as guards; but even with the three dragomans the
attacks on her were so frequent, and as she declared afterwards she was
so bewildered, that she never had time to remember that she had come
there from England to see the Pyramids, and that she was now
immediately under them.
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