amber at last and through it the courtyard.
Ramses looked around and drew one breath of relief after another.

"For all the treasures of the labyrinth I would not guard them!" cried
he. "Terror falls on my breast when I think that it is possible to die
in those stone prisons."

"But it is possible to grow attached to them," replied the priest
smiling.

The pharaoh thanked each of his guides, and concluded,

"I should be glad o show you some favor; ask for one."

The priests listened with indifference, and their chief answered,

"Pardon me, holiness, but what could we wish for? Our figs and dates
are as sweet as those in thy garden, our water is as good as that from
thy well. If wealth attracted us have we not more of it than all the
kings put together?"

"I cannot win these men by anything," thought the pharaoh, "but I will
give them a decision of the assembly, and a decision of Amon."

CHAPTER LVII

WHEN he left Fayum the pharaoh and his retinue advanced southward a
number of days up the Nile, surrounded by a throng of boats, greeted by
shouts, and covered with flowers.

On both banks of the river, on a background of green fields, extended
an unbroken series of huts of the people, groves of fig trees, groups
of palms. Every hour appeared the white houses of some village, or a
larger place with colored buildings, and the immense pylons of temples.

On the west the wall of the Libyan hills was outlined not very
distinctly; but on the east the Arabian line approached ever nearer to
the river. It was possible to see clearly the steep, jagged cliffs,
dark, yellow or rose colored, recalling by their forms the ruins of
fortresses or of temples built by giants.

In the middle of the Nile they met islands which had risen from the
water as it were yesterday, but were covered with rich vegetation today
and were occupied by birds in countless numbers. When the noisy retinue
of the pharaoh sailed near, the frightened birds flew up and, circling
above the boats, joined their cries with the mighty sound of people.
Above this all hung a transparent sky and light so full of life that in
the flood of it the black earth assumed a brightness, and the stones
rainbow colors.

Time passed, therefore, pleasantly for the pharaoh. At first the
incessant cries irritated him somewhat, but later he grew so,
accustomed that he turned no attention to them. He was able to read
documents, take counsel, and even sleep.

From a hun