"
Privately he had spoken thus, but before the world he had given way to no
impulse, in silence finding safety from the temptation to diplomatic
evasion. Looking back over five years, he felt now that the sum of his
accomplishment had been small.
He did not realise the truth. When his hand was almost upon the object
for which he had toiled and striven--whether pacifying a tribe, meeting a
loan by honest means, building a barrage, irrigating the land, financing
a new industry, or experimenting in cotton--it suddenly eluded him.
Nahoum had snatched it away by subterranean wires. On such occasions
Nahoum would shrug his shoulders, and say with a sigh, "Ah, my friend,
let us begin again. We are both young; time is with us; and we will
flourish palms in the face of Europe yet. We have our course set by a
bright star. We will continue."
Yet, withal, David was the true altruist. Even now as he walked this road
which led to his old home, dear to him beyond all else, his thoughts kept
flying to the Nile and to the desert.
Suddenly he stopped.
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