Lost trumpet

221
the lost trumpet
“Well, well. Colonel, we won’t keep you against
your will. But I thought you and the Princess
Bourrin were by way of being friends ?”
.“I I will go and pack my luggage now,” I
said. “Perhaps I can take it into Cairo in the pro¬
vision tender ?”
Huebsch had resumed in his egg. He did not look
up. “Sure,” he remarked.
So that, I reflected, turning away and disregarding
again the inane grin of the boy, was that. And I
felt a little disappointed. Their indifference made me
realize how little my going mattered—so far as
archaeological research went. Kalaun could take
my place at the head of the third squad and do my
work with enough competence. So, like myself,
my employers realized.
Now, standing in my tent, I stared with no
enthusiasm at my scattered belongings. I felt in no
mood at all for the agile manoeuvrings and hot-faced
bouncings of packing an inadequate suit-case over-
adequately. But there was now no other course.
Without pleasure I set to work.
Huebsch’s voice made me wheel round. “You
didn’t breakfast, Colonel, so I’m telling Georgios to
bring you some up here. And here is your salary
up to the end of the contract.”
I protested. “But that is too generous. I shall
require payment only for the period in which I
have been employed.”
“Well, well. Colonel, it’s your legal right. You’ll
have to take it.” He turned away heavily, and then.