der that
gilded canopy and those ostrich plumes waved a ruddy blue flag,
denoting that the pharaoh was present.

The people in the boats were as if drunk, the people on the shore as if
mad. Every moment some boat struck or overturned a boat and some man
fell into the water, out of which luckily the crocodiles had fled,
frightened by the unparalleled uproar. On the banks men ran into one
another, for no one paid heed to his neighbor, his father, or his
child, but fixed his wild eyes on the gilded beak of the barge and the
tent of the pharaoh. Even people who were trampled, whose ribs the wild
crowd broke stupidly, and whose joints they put out, had no cry save
this,

"May he live through eternity, O our ruler! Shine on, Thou the sun of
Egypt!"

The madness of greeting spread to the barge of Ramses: officers,
soldiers, and oarsmen pressed into one throng and strove to outshout
one another. Tutmosis, forgetting the heir to the throne, clambered up
on the prow, and almost flew into the water.

Meanwhile a trumpet sounded from the pharaoh's barge, and soon after
one answered from the barge of Ramses. A second signal, and the barge
of the heir touched the great barge of the pharaoh.

Some official called to Ramses. From barge to barge they extended a
gangway of cedar with carved railings, and the prince found himself
next in the embrace of his father.

The presence of the pharaoh, or the storm of shouts roaring about him,
so stunned Prince Ramses that he could not utter a syllable. He fell at
his father's feet, and the lord of the world pressed the heir to his
sacred bosom.

A moment later the side walls of the tent rose, and all the people on
both banks of the Nile saw their ruler on a throne, and on the high
step of it Ramses kneeling, with his head on the breast of his father.

Such silence followed that the rustling of banners on the barges was
audible. Then on a sudden burst forth one immense roar, greater than
all which had preceded. With this the Egyptian people honored the
reconciliation of son and father; they greeted their present, and
saluted their future ruler.

If any man had reckoned on dissensions in the sacred family of the
pharaoh, he might convince himself then that the new royal branch held
to its parent trunk firmly.

His holiness looked very ill. After the tender greeting of his son, he
commanded him to sit at the side of the throne.

"My soul was rushing forth toward thee, Ramses," said he