tomb,
with a wineflask and eatables. A memorial banquet was to be held at the
grave of their ancestors; and the little one, whose golden head rose
above the black, woolly poll of the negress, nodded gayly in response to
Melissa's smiles. The children were enchanted at the prospect of a meal
at such an unusual hour, and their parents rejoiced in them and in the
solemn pleasure they anticipated.

Many a one in this night of remembrance only cared to recall the happy
hours spent in the society of the beloved dead; others hoped to leave
their grief and pain behind them, and find fresh courage and contentment
in the City of the Dead; for tonight the gates of the nether world stood
open, and now, if ever, the gods that reigned there would accept the
offerings and hear the prayers of the devout.

Those lean Egyptians, who pushed past in silence and haranging
their heads, were no doubt bent on carrying offerings to Osiris and
Anubis--for the festival of the gods of death and resurrection coincided
with the Nekysia--and on winning their favors by magical formulas and
spells.

Everything was plainly visible, for the desert tract of the Nekropolis,
where at this hour utter darkness and silence usually reigned, was
brightly lighted up. Still, the blaze failed to banish entirely the
thrill of fear which pervaded the spot at night; for the unwonted glare
dazzled and bewildered the bats and night-birds, and they fluttered
about over the heads of the intruders in dark, ghostly flight. Many a
one believed them to be the unresting souls of condemned sinners, and
looked up at them with awe.

Melissa drew her veil closer and clung more tightly to her brother, for
a sound of singing and wild cries, which she had heard behind her for
some time, was now coming closer. They were no longer treading the paved
street, but the hard-beaten soil of the desert. The crush was over, for
here the crowd could spread abroad; but the uproarious troop, which she
did not even dare to look at, came rushing past quite close to them.
They were Greeks, of all ages and of both sexes. The men flourished
torches, and were shouting a song with unbridled vehemence; the women,
wearing garlands, kept up with them. What they carried in the baskets
on their heads could not be seen, nor did Alexander know; for so many
religious brotherhoods and mystic societies existed here that it was
impossible to guess to which this noisy troop might belong.

The pair had presen