nkey-boy, were here; and the
"Big Four," with the exception of Louis Belgrave, who attended Miss
Blanche on the visit to the Ophir, accompanied by Don, went on a frolic
to the town. They made a great noise and waked up the place, but they
committed no excesses. When they returned to the ship, they found Louis
and Miss Blanche showing the captain and the surgeon of the big steamer
over the Guardian-Mother. The beautiful young lady had evidently
fascinated them, and they had been extremely polite to the party,
perhaps on her account. They appeared to be interested in the
steam-yacht, and expressed their belief that nothing more comfortable
and elegant floated.

The steamers got under way again, and proceeded through one of the two
channels through the blue lake. The ladies waved their handkerchiefs to
the officers and passengers of the Ophir; and their greetings were
heartily reciprocated, for the American party had plainly made an
impression upon the English people, partly perhaps by the style in which
they travelled, but probably more by the beauty of the ladies, with Miss
Blanche as princess, and the others were under forty and still
good-looking. The lake is only five miles long, and the steamers soon
passed into the cut at the south of it.

"Along this region many ruins have been found, some of them of Persian
structures," said the commander after the ship had left the lake.
"Pharaoh-Necho, 600 B.C., built a canal from Suez to Lake Timsah, with
gates, which Herodotus describes, and informs us that the vessels of the
period went through it in four days."

"I wish you would tell us something about Herodotus, Captain, for his
name has been frequently mentioned in Egypt," said Mrs. Woolridge.

"And about Diodorus and Strabo, also mentioned in the lectures," added
the magnate. "I have forgotten all that I ever knew about these
gentlemen."

"I am in the same boat, Captain," the doctor responded.

"I shall leave those subjects to the professor. But we are approaching
some objects of interest, and we will defer the matter to another time,"
replied the commander. "Do you see a white dome on the starboard? That
is the tomb of Shekh Ennedek; and it is rather a picturesque affair here
in the midst of the desert."

"Was he a fighting character?" asked Mrs. Belgrave.

"Not at all; far from it. He was a wealthy Arab chief. He made the
pilgrimage to Mecca, which is the duty of every faithful Mohammedan; and
he seems to hav