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quite something.
 Not just now, Holmes said.  We ve a bit more exploring down here to do. In
fact, he added as if at a sudden thought,  we might just have a meal,
something good and spicy. Have you ever eaten muttonpilau,Goodheart? The Arab
style of mutton is memorable. A trifle greasy, perhaps, and the eyeballs take
some getting used to, lying half buried amidst the rice 
Goodheart flushed a most peculiar shade of puce, swallowed convulsively, and
turned away, waving his hand in wordless farewell that attempted nonchalance.
 Enjoy yourself, I called. We turned into the nearest arm of the bazaar, and
in a dozen steps had lost young Goodheart in the crowd.
I laughed aloud.  Holmes, that was pure cruelty, the detail of the eyeballs.
 The young puppy deserved it, forcing me to guzzle all that bad champagne and
giving so little in return. I ve a head-ache myself, you know.
 Holmes, if we weren t in an Arab country, I d take your arm.
 If we weren t in an Arab country, Russell, I should allow it.
We wandered, amicable if apart, through the ethnic potpourri for an hour or
so, buying the odd item of foodstuff or decoration, dried figs and a double
handful of almonds,kohlfor the eyes and an ornate pair of embroidered slippers
for Mrs Hudson, shopping more for the delight of the purchase than the thing
itself, for the pleasure of fingering and sniffing and haggling in a variety
of tongues. The sun continued to beat through the awnings, but slowly it
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
shifted angle, until with reluctance Holmes drew out his pocket-watch to
confirm the time. He snapped it shut, and I had just stepped around a small
child to reverse direction when a rattling noise from over our heads was
joined by a single cry of alarm from the far end of the narrow street. Without
an instant s pause, Holmes lunged, scooping up the child with one hand and
tackling me with his other shoulder, shooting us through the adjacent doorway
at top speed. We three tumbled headfirst into the shop, sweeping before us a
group of robed matrons and landing with a stunning crash and clatter that
shook the walls. I felt for a brief instant that we must have dived into a
shop of pots and pans, such was the racket, but I quickly perceived that not
all the softness underneath me was human, and that the boom and clatter had
come from outside of the door, not all about us.
I sat up, only half aware of Holmes, who was full of ornate apologies to the
ladies and desperate attempts to soothe the terrified child before it could
loose its reaction. The horrendous din outside slid away into diminuendo, then
trailed off with a couple of clangs. For a moment, the world seemed a place of
remarkable stillness. But only for a moment, until the child s breath caught
in its throat and it filled the air with a roar as terrifying as the crash
itself. As if at a signal, a tumult of voices joined the chorus, soprano fury
within the door and excited horror without. I dusted myself off and went to
see what had so nearly come down upon our heads.
It was difficult to tell at first just what had happened, since the awning of
the shop it sold carpets, which explained the softness of our landing had been
crushed and ripped, and was being further demolished by a crew of eager
rescuers. The men seemed somewhat disappointed at the absence of corpses, or
even bloodshed (other than one of the outraged matrons, who had broken one of
her glass bangles and nicked her arm on it), but the shopkeeper s assistant,
miraculously preserved by the chance of having been leaning against the wall,
was first terrified, then ecstatic at the wails of the infant. He snatched up
the child, startling up a new round of screeches, and patted him all over,
unable to believe him whole. In familiar arms, the child s sounds gave way to
hiccoughing cries, and his tears and those of his father mingled down the
man s shirt-front.
When eventually the awning had been ripped from the front of the shop and we
could step tentatively out onto the paving stones, it became immediately [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]