rmer times only an occasional ox-cart with creaking wheels was to be
seen, an Egyptian riding an ass or a bare-backed nag, and now and then a
few insolent Greek soldiers. On all sides he heard the sharper and more
emphatic accent of the sons of the desert instead of the language of his
forefathers and their Greek conquerors. Without the aid of the servant
who rode at his side he could not have made himself understood on the
soil of his native land.

He soon reached Amru's house and was there informed by an Egyptian
secretary that his master was gone out hunting and would receive him,
not in the town, but at the citadel. There, on a pleasant site on
the limestone hills which rose behind the fortress of Babylon and the
newly-founded city, stood some fine buildings, originally planned as a
residence for the Prefect; and thither Amru had transported his wives,
children, and favorite horses, preferring it, with very good reason, to
the palace in the town, where he transacted business, and where the new
mosque intercepted the view of the Nile, while this eminence commanded a
wide prospect.

The sun was near setting when Orion reached the spot, but the general
had not yet come in from the chase, and the gate-keeper requested that
he would wait.

Orion was accustomed to be treated in his own country as the heir of the
greatest man in it; the color mounted to his brow and his Egyptian heart
revolted at having to bend his pride and swallow his wrath before an
Arab. He was one of the subject race, and the thought that one word
from his lips would suffice to secure his reception in the ranks of the
rulers forced itself suddenly on his mind; but he repressed it with all
his might, and silently allowed himself to be conducted to a terrace
screened by a vine-covered trellis from the heat of the sun.

He sat down on one of the marble seats by the parapet of this hanging
garden and looked westward. He knew the scene well, it was the
playground of his childhood and youth; hundreds of times the picture had
spread before him, and yet it affected him to-day as it had never
done before. Was there on earth--he asked himself--a more fertile and
luxuriant land? Had not even the Greek poets sung of the Nile as
the most venerable of rivers? Had not great Caesar himself been so
fascinated by the idea of discovering its source that to that end--so he
had declared--he would have thought the dominion of the world well lost?
On the produce of thos