WORRALS GOES AFOOT

by Capt. W. E. Johns

6. JOURNEY BY SEA (Pages 79 – 91)

Markoff’s car arrives and Worrals and Frecks set off on their journey. They go to the old coffee warehouse at the old port and collect the charas where it is loaded into the boot of the car by Maki and Ali. Markoff asks Worrals to wait for him whilst he delivers the charas and he returns in quarter of an hour. He then gives Worrals a letter of introduction and says he will take them to the point of embarkation. Worrals asks for Maki, “one of her personal servants” to come with her, to act as her interpreter. This is allowed and the car drives to Suez where they are taken to the captain, or nakoda, of a boat. “It was obviously native built, a clumsy looking craft of eight or ten tons, half decked-over, with a large triangular lateen sail”. There are seven or eight native crew members. Maki says they are “Danakils – savages. Not good”. Markoff speaks to the captain and Worrals, Frecks and Maki board the boat and it sets off. The girls are given some blankets to spread over the deck in the bows and get some sleep. They sail down the coast of Egypt and as night falls the following day, they come in close to shore and using a dinghy, the crew load boxes of small arms ammunition. A fairly large steamer can just be made out in the darkness under a cliff. The boxes are then covered with hides. They then sail east across the Red Sea in the light of the growing dawn.