ly that mistaking
her for a flower kept fluttering around her.

Suddenly the boat stopped, although the bank was still some distance
away. Poeri, ceasing to scull, seemed to cast an uneasy glance around
him. He had perceived the whitish spot made on the water by Tahoser's
rolled up dress. Thinking she was discovered, the intrepid swimmer
bravely dived, resolved not to come to the surface, even were she to
drown, until Poeri's suspicions had been dispelled.

"I could have sworn somebody was swimming behind me," said Poeri, as he
went on sculling again; "but who would venture into the Nile at such a
time as this? I must have been crazy. I mistook for a human head covered
with linen a tuft of white reeds, or perhaps a mere flake of foam, for I
can see nothing now."

When Tahoser, whose temples were beginning to beat violently, and who
began to see red flashes in the dark waters of the river, rose hastily
to fill her lungs with a long breath of air, the papyrus boat had
resumed its confident way, and Poeri was handling the scull with the
imperturbable phlegm of the allegorical personages who row the barge of
Maut on the _bassi-relievi_ and the paintings of the temples. The bank
was only a few strokes off; the vast shadow of the pylons and the huge
walls of the Northern Palace--the dark pile of which was faintly seen
surmounted by the pyramidions of six obelisks through the violet blue of
the night--spread immense and formidable over the river, and sheltered
Tahoser, who could swim without fear of being noticed.

Poeri landed a little below the palace and fastened his boat to a post
so as to find it on his return. Then he took his palm stick and ascended
the slope of the quay with a swift step.

Poor Tahoser, almost worn out, clung with her stiffened hands to the
first step of the stair, and with difficulty drew from the stream her
dripping limbs, which the contact of the air made heavier as she
suddenly felt the fatigue. But the worst of her task was over. She
climbed the steps, one hand pressed to her quick-beating heart, the
other placed on her head to steady her rolled up and soaked dress. After
having noticed the direction in which Poeri was walking, she sat down on
top of the bank, untied her dress, and put it on. The contact of the wet
stuff made her shudder slightly, yet the night air was soft and the
southern breeze blew warm; but she was stiff and feverish, and her
little teeth were chattering. She summoned up