ashore and ran briskly along the bank for
about a mile, stripped and took a plunge into the river, and were
dressed again just as the boat came along with the four men towing
her, and the captain steering with an oar at the stern. It was light
enough now for him to distinguish the faces of his passengers, and he
brought the boat straight alongside the bank. In a few minutes the
girls came out from their cabin, looking fresh and rosy.

"So you have been bathing?" Mysa said. "We heard what you were saying,
and we have had our bath too."

"How did you manage that?" Chebron asked.

"We went out by the door at the other side of our cabin in our woollen
robes, on to that little platform on which the man is standing to
steer, and poured jars of water over each other."

"And you both slept well?"

"Yes, indeed, and without waking once till we heard Amnis call you to
get up."

"You disturbed everyone, you see, Amnis," Chebron said.

"And a very good thing too," Amuba laughed. "If we had not had our
bath when we did, we should not have got an opportunity all day. Now
we all feel fresh."

"And ready for something to eat," Mysa put in.

"What would you like, Mytis?" Ruth asked. "I am a capital cook, you
know, and I don't suppose the men will be preparing their breakfast
for a long time yet."

"I think that will be a very good plan, Mytis," Jethro said; "but we
will divide the labor between us. The two boys shall stir up the
brands smoldering on the flat stone hearth forward, I will clean and
get ready some fish, Nite shall cook them, while Mytis shall, under
her directions, make us some cakes and put them into the hot ashes to
bake. We shall have to shift for ourselves later on. There is nothing
like getting accustomed to it. Of course the men will cook the
principal meals, but we can prepare little meals between times. It is
astonishing how many times you can eat during the day when you are in
the open air."

In half an hour the meal, consisting of the fish, light dough-cakes,
which Mysa had with much amusement prepared under Ruth's directions,
and fruit, was ready. The latter consisted of grapes and melons. The
meal was greatly enjoyed, and by the time it was finished the sun was
already some distance up the sky. For an hour the party sat on the
deck forward watching the boats coming down the stream and the
villages on the opposite shore; but as the sun gained power they were
glad to enter into the cabin. The mats