Page:Henry rideout--The siamese cat.djvu/226

 world unrolled familiar sights to beguile him into patience: the clinkered mounts of Aden; the scorching, breathless floor of the Red Sea; the steady host of ships that passed, close aboard, dipping their ensigns greedy ships of empire, sullenly racing for the treasures of the East; and then the solemn desert mountains of Asia and Africa narrowing in on either hand, sharp, crinkled peaks—changeless background of the Exodus—in dusty yellow, ashen grey, and ashen pink, with ghostly clouds of sandstorm lifting, swirling, falling about their bases.

In the mean time, Laura's letter had grown worn with folding and unfolding.

"We are very glad"—she had written—"to find your cable message waiting for us here at Colombo. I wish we were to stay here till you yourself follow it; but my aunt consents only to make a flying visit to Kandy, and then will