m. The Pharaoh was the apple
of her eye and she worshiped him stubbornly.

Now he was returning from a bloodless campaign--one that neither
required nor brought forth any generalship--but it was a victory and
had been personally conducted by Meneptah, so Memphis was preparing to
fall into paroxysms of delight, little short of hysteria.

An hour after sunrise on the day of the Pharaoh's coming a gorgeous
regatta assembled off the wharves of Memphis. It was a flotilla of the
rank and wealth of the capital, with that of On, Bubastis, Busiris, and
even Mendes and Tanis. The boats were high-riding, graceful and
finished at head and stern with sheaves of carved lotus. Hull and
superstructure were painted in gorgeous colors with a preponderance of
ivory and gold. Masts, rigging and oars were wrapped with lotus, roses
and mimosa. Sails and canopies were brilliant with dyes and undulant
with fringes. Troops of tiny boys, innocent of raiment, were posted
about the sides of the vessels holding festoons. Oarsmen wore chaplets
on the head or garlands around the loins, and half-clad slave-girls
were scattered about with fans of dyed plumes. Bridges of boats had
been hastily run out between the vessels, and over these the embarking
voyagers or visitors passed in a stream. On shore was a great
multitude and every advantageous point of survey was occupied. And
here were catastrophes and riots, panics and love-making, gambling and
gossip and all the other things that mark the assembly of a crowd. But
these incidents drew the attention of the populace only momentarily
from the revel of the nobility on the Nile. For there were laughter
and songs, strumming of the lyre, shouts, polite contention and the
drone of general conversation among such numbers that the sound was of
great volume.

At the head of the pageant were the boats of the nomarch and the
courtiers to Meneptah who remained in Memphis. Near the forefront of
these was the pleasure-boat of Mentu.

Kenkenes dropped from its deck to the walk rising and falling at its
side, and made his way through the crowd in search of a vessel bearing
a winged sun and the oval containing the symbols of On. As he passed
the prow of a tall pleasure-boat he was caught in a rope of flowers let
down from above and looped about him with a dexterous hand. He turned
in the pretty fetters and looked up. Above him was a row of a dozen
little girl-faces, set like apple-blossoms along the