Townrow visits a bar he used to frequent while serving here as a sergeant. The owner of the bar, Christous, recognises him and kicks out his clientele for some privacy. Townrow asks about Elie's death. Christous tells him that Mrs Khoury, with great difficulty, took her husband's body back to Lebanon to be buried. Because of her actions, Colonel Nasser took the Suez Canal as Egypt's. Townrow is not sure whether to believe any of this and gets so drunk he blacks out. He awakens naked and alone, and is attacked by a passing camel-driver, causing his head and one eye to be bandaged for most of the remainder of the novel.
