My father will be
heartily tired of it all; for he loves plain food, and thinks that the
priests should eat none other. Still, as it would not be polite for a
guest to remark upon the viands set before him, I know that he will go
through it all. I have heard him say that it is one of the greatest
trials of his position that whenever he travels people seem to think
that a feast must be prepared for him; whereas I know he would rather
sit down to a dish of boiled lentils and water than have the richest
dishes set before him."

"Is it going to be like this all the journey?" Amuba asked.

"Oh, no! I know that all the way down the river we shall rest at a
temple, for did my father not do so the priests would regard it as
a slight; but then we leave the boat and journey in chariots or
bullock-carts. When we reach Goshen we shall live in a little house
which my father has had constructed for him, and where we shall have
no more fuss and ceremony than we do at our own farm. Then he will
be occupied with the affairs of the estates and in the works of
irrigation; and although we shall be with him when he journeys about,
as I am to begin to learn the duties of a superintendent, I expect we
shall have plenty of time for amusement and sport."

They strolled for an hour or two on the bank of the river, for the
moon was shining brightly and many boats were passing up and down;
the latter drifted with the stream, for the wind was so light that the
sails were scarce filled; the former kept close to the bank, and were
either propelled by long poles or towed by parties of men on the bank.
When they returned to the house they listened for a time to the music,
and then retired to their rooms. Amuba lay down upon the soft couch
made of a layer of bulrushes, covered with a thick woollen cloth, and
rested his head on a pillow of bulrushes which Jethro had bound up for
him; for neither of the Rebu had learned to adopt the Egyptian fashion
of using a stool for a pillow.

These stools were long, and somewhat curved in the middle to fit the
neck. For the common people they were roughly made of wood, smoothed
where the head came; but the head-stools of the wealthy were
constructed of ebony, cedar, and other scarce woods, beautifully
inlaid with ivory. Amuba had made several trials of these head-stools,
but had not once succeeded in going to sleep with one under his head,
half an hour sufficing to cause such an aching of his neck that he was
g